Scholastic's This Is Teen event recap and GIVEAWAY of signed Abandon, Beauty Queens, and Forever!

If I were being honest, this post really would've been titled: In which I have a fangirl moment meeting Meg Cabot.

Because the instant I found out that Meg Cabot, Libba Bray, and Maggie Stiefvater were doing a This Is Teen signing in NYC at the Scholastic store, well... my reaction pretty much consisted of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then a little more.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You get the picture.

Meg Cabot is two very important things to me: She's my comfort author -- the author whose books, no matter what, make me happy -- and she's the primary reason I write contemporary YA.

(I must also, of course, note the awesomeness of Libba and Maggie, two of my favorite YA authors and the coolest people ever. I totally had a squeee! moment the first time I met them.)

Once I discovered I could meet the person who is primarily responsible for my falling in love with YA, I was like HECK YES LEAVING EARLY FROM WORK, Y'ALL. GOT ME A TRAIN TO CATCH.

Except I don't even say y'all, like, ever. That's how excited I was.

And then I was like, "Oh, wow, same day as BEA, hmmmm maybe I should take a whole vacation day." But it wasn't so much of a "maybe." So I went to BEA, too!

And THEN we found out about this Scholastic-hosted blogger reception an hour prior to the signing, and we were even MORE excited. I mean, a chance to chat with three of the most excellent YA authors out there? Fabulous!

So we arrive, and there are so many awesome bloggers there, and we all get name tags and are ushered past security up an elevator to this room with a delightful view and butlered hors d'oeuvres and a bartender serving This-Is-Tinis. (Nonalcoholic, of course, and sooo yummy!) And all these Scholastic staffers are there, talking about upcoming and current YA titles, just as enthused as the bloggers -- love it!

Then I'm, like, tapping Frankie's shoulder maniacally because THERE IS MEG CABOT, casually chatting with bloggers. And then Frankie asks me to stop because I've likely left a bruise.

She gently suggests that I forces me to go over and introduce myself, and I meander over, convinced that I'll probably sound like one of the other five thousand blubbering idiots who've said to her, "Your books were my inspiration to write YA, blah blah blah."

So Meg finishes up talking to these other bloggers and we shake hands, and then I'm telling her about my dog-eared, yellowed, bent-spine copy of The Princess Diaries that I got almost ten years ago. She's, of course, super sweet and friendly and gracious, and I try not to smile too wide when we take a picture.

Me, smiling so wide my eyeballs disappear and you'd think it's Christmas, and Meg Cabot.

Once we meet, I resume acting like a normal human being and talk to Libba and Maggie and mingle with bloggers and nibble on hors d'oeuvres (who am I kidding, they were my dinner) until the actual event begins at 6:30.

Frankie and I mingling with the fab ladies of Forever Young Adult

Crazy enough, Scholastic increased its awesomeness even more by providing the reception attendees goody bags of books -- specifically, an ARC of Forever, Beauty Queens, Abandon, Pretty Bad Things, a paperback of Shiver, and Strings Attached. (All of them were on my Goodreads TBR list too!)

The event was excellent, and the Scholastic store was PACKED.

So many people! And there were even more that I couldn't capture in this photo!

All three authors were so entertaining, and they had a lot of fun bantering with one another.

Maggie, Meg, and Libba

I managed to get a video of them all answering the quintessential question of where their ideas come from -- apologies for the shaky camera skills during the first half, but the audio is great, and it gives you an idea of what the event was like.

Afterward, everyone stood in three lines to get their books signed. (I brought that super-loved copy of The Princess Diaries to get signed, and it's now sitting proudly on my bookshelf!) Maggie, Libba, and Meg were all so friendly and personable, taking time to chat with everyone.

Sara, Frankie, and I with Libba! LOVE Libba!

Sara and Frankie being silly with Maggie.

A huge thanks to everyone at Scholastic for hosting such an incredible event! And thanks to Scholastic's goody bag generosity, we're hosting a giveaway! I had already bought copies of Abandon and Beauty Queens for myself, and I had an ARC of Forever from BEA, so I got my free copies signed for you guys! Yayyyy giveaway!!!


*** THE GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED. THANK YOU! ***

Ok, so tell me -- meeting which author(s) would turn you into a blubbering fangirl (or boy)? Make me feel like I'm not alone in the comments!

PS - This post reminded me of Stephanie Perkins' eloquent and generally awesome post on how Meg Cabot and John Green inspired her love of contemporary YA. (Coincidentally, John is another author I'd take a vacation day and travel to another state to meet. And I'll probably gush for ten minutes meeting Stephanie herself!)

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