About Last Night…


My Monday started off with me trying to finish reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, a book that has been talked about & praised all over social media. It was my shameful little secret that I had not yet read this beautiful black paged book, until it was announced that Leigh Bardugo would be coming to New York City Strand Bookstore as part of her #Troublemakerstour. I could NOT put it off any longer because I’ve heard such amazing things not only about Six of Crows but the author herself. I have read the Grisha trilogy but I wasn’t too much of a fan on how that wrapped up. Six of Crows however, BLEW ME AWAY! I finished reading SOC on the train ride to the event signing for Crooked Kingdom & got off the train to immediately text Gretchen at Chicnerdreads that I had DONE IT! I had finished the book in time. I was also reeling from how it ended but nonetheless feeling pretty euphoric lol. Review for Six of Crows to come, gathering all of my thoughts & feels so that I’m not just saying I LOVED IT! over & over again lol.

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The night was made all the more special because I was also meeting Gretchen (pictured above) for the very first time after many months of communicating through social media, our blogs, gchat, text, & HILLARIOUS voice messages LOL. I met Gretchen earlier this year when she was still a booktuber, thankfully I came across her before she left Booktube & started her blog. She is actually one of the people who motivated me to start my own (4 days later to be exact haha!) & for that I am very thankful for this friendship. It should come to no surprise that a couple of bookworms decided to do a little book & comic book shopping since we arrived super early for the event…

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$18.00 for hardcover = WINNING!!! 🙂

The event was to start at 6:30pm but the crazy long line started forming by 4pm, luckily we were in the front of this line. We also happened to be standing in the exact spot where Leigh Bardugo & Jesse The Reader’s car pulled up which meant she had to cut through us…

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Gretchen took this photo because I was author struck & froze, as a matter of fact it took considerable effort to move out of Leigh’s way so that she can get through *hides face* LOL!  Leigh Bardugo arrived promptly at 6pm (early) & did not keep us waiting. We were in the first group of 20 to be let in & be seated which was great because the place quickly filled up to maximum capacity. Some artwork was brought in & placed in different corners…

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I tried unsuccessfully to take a selfie with Jesper, he is hella tall & I am nothing but a shrimp next to him. Leigh & Jesse came out shortly after we were seated & from the moment she sat down it was non stop laughter from everyone because she is one funny lady! Jesse asked her a series of pop culture questions like “if the crew of Six Of Crows were Youtubers, what would each of their channels be about?” or “which drink would each of the characters order from Starbucks?” we were also given a chance to ask questions & she answered everything with sincerity, honesty, and gave some really good advice to aspiring writers. She spoke briefly about Wonder Woman; the YA book she is writing under DC but couldn’t give away too much of course. When asked about the possibility of more books in the Grishaverse she made no promises but said there are plenty more stories to tell & she’s not quite finished with that world sOOOo *fingers crossed* 

Fact:  Leigh is also donating 10% of book sales to GEMS, a charity for young girls ages 12-24 who’ve been victims of sexual exploitation & domestic trafficking. This charity works to empower young girls/women by giving them the tools they need to leave the commercial sex industry & develop their full potential. This charity is also close to the theme in Six Of Crows. 

Can we just take a moment to admire this woman’s style?!?! Fierce! after a few rounds of questions we were then asked to form a line for the book signing & again arriving early truly makes a difference (signing expected to run till 10:30pm). We were the first 20 to line up & while we waited…smh…we realized there were other authors present for this event. We spotted Zoraida Córdova author of Labyrinth Lost (I recently reviewed & LOVED this book here), Daniel José Older author of Shadowshaper (on my TBR, probably will get a copy at Bookcon next week), and Libba Bray author of The Diviners series (I own & need to stop procrastinating). It happened again, I froze & didn’t woman up to talk to Zoraida but ummm there will be other times *cough* for sure…smh LOL. Back to Leigh Bardugo, it was finally our turn to get our books signed and take a photo  with Leigh…

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This was simply AMAZING! she struck up a convo when she saw my name on the post-it (Lilly) & told me that when she was a little girl, her parents used to call her LeeLee which is what my parents call me in Spanish. I got to pick up one of the playing cards that were face down on the table & drew Inej which YESSSSS!!! I LOVE!!!! also got a pin & a crow shaped cookie but that broke into bits so no pic lol.

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Gretchen & I ended the night by going to Chipotle since we had skipped lunch and it was around 8 or 9pm. We chatted up a bit about the event AND already prepping for next week’s BookCon @ NYC Comicon. It was a great night & I had so much fun with Gretchen that I cannot wait to do it again! Thank you Gretchen for taking the photos at the event cuz you know you had the heels/height, what would I have done without you?!?! 🙂

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Six of Crows bookmark was part of the September Owlcrate, got it just in time for Crooked Kingdom!

Author: LairOfBooks

"I didn't choose the Book Life, the Book Life chose me"

39 thoughts on “About Last Night…”

  2. I’m reading this in the car and I’m like “awwwwww mami look at what Lilly said” “maaaaa awwww I love herrrrrr” “she’s so cute” lol! Seriously gushed over and over while reading this. I loved yesterday! We had such an amazing time together and the event was A+. I can’t believe it all happened and you were there. Eeeeeek. I so look forward to comic con next week. I’m beyond happy that you started the blog and we are both in this journey together. You have no idea how good it feels to talk to you about everything!

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    1. Awww lol! 😊💕Mom is a Leo (don’t tell her I said that cuz she probably doesn’t believe in that lol) so she & I are destined to get along 😉 lol. I have a VERY good idea of how good it feels cuz I seriously didn’t see myself taking the leap into blogging if it wasn’t for you! So I’m very happy to have a new friend that I talk to every day now lol. Til next week, a pre-cursor to BEA next year 🙌🏼 I love mom! 💕 She’s too cute, I hope Izzy & I have as good a relationship as you & your mom cuz you gals are #goals

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      1. I can’t mention anything about horoscopes to my mom cause she will catch the biggest heart attack lmfao. But yes you two will get along just great. And I have a feeling that Izzy and you will get along great. During her teenage years, she might drive you nuts but everything will be okay lol. Next week is going to be awesome!!!!!!!!!!

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      2. Lol I figured as much, my besties mom is the same way so he & I purposely annoy her by telling that it’s cuz she’s a Taurus for everything but she’s known me for 16yrs 😂😂😂 next week will be EPIC! I can’t wait.

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  4. I’m so glad you had fun. I am jealous that you got to meet her. I loveeee the bookmark. I kept staring at it when I opened the box. I can’t wait for my copy to arrive, it might be next week. Happy reading! 🙂

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  5. Ahhhh! It looks like you guys had so much fun! Bookish events are always better with a friend 😊. Not only did you get to meet Leigh Bardugo, but got to see Zoraida too?! Ugh I wish I lived in NY! I am going to desperately try to get SOC read THIS year. EVERY blogger friend has been on me to read it for ages. I’m so glad you had such a wonderful experience 😁

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    1. Thank you Amanda! We had a blast! book events are definitely better with a friend 😃 Six of Crows was EPIC, I did forget to include one very important fact. Leigh Bardugo is donating 10% of book sales to GEMS, a charity for young girls age 12-24 who’ve been victims of sexual exploitation & domestic trafficking. I’m adding this now…another great book though, def recommend 😉

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  7. First of all: Leigh Bardugo is a woman?! GASP!! I always figured it was a guy :’). (but had never seen any photos of her of course, and damn, she is rocking it! love the hair!)

    Second: this is sooo cool! You guys are too cute! :3 And that ‘selfie’ with Jesper is hilarious XD I also wouldn’t have had a picture of that cookie, but it would be because I ate it right away ^^.

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    1. Bwahahaha! Yes she most certainly is a woman! I’m going to start referring to her as my Dark Queen, seems appropriate😂 her hair is fierce! She also walks with the help of a cane (also very stylish & black) due Osteonecrosis a degenerative bone disease. Which is why she wrote her main character with a cane as well. Overall an AMAZING woman & night.

      Thank you, the beginnings of Thelma & Louise 😂😂😂 my Jesper selfie almost didn’t make the cut but I included it for comedic relief lol. That was one of many attempts before I decided I was looking a bit silly & there was no way he & I could fit in this shot especially with him being an inanimate object that couldn’t assist in bending a bit 😑 the cookie def was eaten by me that same night😉

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      1. Dark Queen…me like! Oh, that sucks for her :(. But at least she’s handling it like a pro then! 🙂 Hahahaha, you could’ve cut out some of his middle parts! Who needs knees anyways right?! 😉 Haha, I KNEW it!! XD I hope it was delicious!

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  8. That’s so awesome that you and Gretchen finally met! If I wasn’t moving on Saturday, I’d drive over and chill with you guys. Love all of your pics! And you guys bonded over books and Chipotle too cute. 🙂 I loved Labyrinth Lost. Too bad you didn’t get an autograph. That must’ve been cool just to be in the presence of such talented authors. I bought Six of Crows and it came about a week or two ago. I was waiting for the second book and now it’s out! Yay! It’s on the TBR for November along with ADSOM. I plan out my books. I’m such a dork. 😂

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    1. OMG Yes! that would be awesome to meet up one day, we’ll make it happen one day in the near future 😉 thank you Jill, she took most of the photos cuz I legit was author struck smh lol. I need to get a hold of myself & prep for BEA 2017, next Friday we are doing BookCon @ Comiccon so that should serve to get my feet wet at a big event. I really wanted to talk to Zoraida especially since she looked super approachable but I froze smh, this won’t happen again! all of the authors present looked really cool & laid back. I can’t wait for you to read Six Of Crows, I predict you will LOVE IT! I read ADSOM but I’m holding off til December/January to read AGOS so that I’m closer to the release of book 3. I’m right there with you in planning my books with the exception of random ARC approvals that can throw things off (story of my life @ the moment lol).

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      1. I would’ve been the same way meeting famous people. I could’ve met my favorite band back in the day and I ran away from them but my friend had the nerve to approach them. I might fly back for BookCon in May. I’ll have to see how everything shakes out with new a job and everything. I think I’ll love Six of Crows, too. It sounds amazing! The ARCs have been killing my list. I need to stop requesting them. I requested a book of short horror stories for October and got approved. I have no idea why I asked for it when I have two King books and R.L. Stine and a bunch of others. 😂

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      2. Lol oh that would be awesome if you could make BEA-Bookcon next year! Hope it all works out in your favor😉 I had finally managed to get my ration up there on NetGalley when all of a sudden books that I had “wished” for were all of a sudden granted 😑lol. It’s like, thank you but could you not bring me down to 46% since technically this is your fault m. I requested this way back when I was good & ready 😂😂😂 omg! That’s a lot of horror, might be desensitized by the end 🙈

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      3. I hope I can come to BEA. I did the same thing. My radio was at 90% after finishing all those ARCs and then the approvals come pouring in. Go figure! 😂 I’m reading so much horror and mystery next month I cannot wait. I love it! 🙂

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  11. I’m so jealous you guys got to hang out together…AND meet Leigh Bardugo!
    I know I’m in Michigan, but if you guys have a book event that you plan on attending, Tweet me! Maybe I can drive up and we can go together!

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