Book Signing Event with Nicholas Sparks

It was so wonderfult to finally meet Nicholas Sparks. He was super nice. The event was at Books & Greetings, Northvale, NJ. This was his first book tour location. Below is the book tour schedule.

Goodreads Blurb

1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until she meets Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce gradually shows her how much there is to love about the wind-swept beach town—and introduces her to photography, a passion that will define the rest of her life.

By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.

As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.

Author Biography

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.

Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), The Longest Ride (2013), See Me (2015), Two by Two (2016), Every Breath (2018) and The Return (2020) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His twenty-second novel, The Wish, will be published on September 28, 2021.

Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including The ChoiceThe Longest RideThe Best of MeSafe Haven (on all of which he served as a producer), The Lucky OneMessage in a BottleA Walk to Remember, The NotebookNights in RodantheDear John and The Last Song, have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars. The Notebook is also being adapted into a musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.

Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4×400 meter, in New York. The record still stands.

The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to improving cultural and international understanding through global education experiences for students of all ages was launched in 2011. Between the foundation, and the personal gifts of the Sparks family, more than $15 million dollars have been distributed to deserving charities, scholarship programs, and projects. Because the Sparks family covers all operational expenses of the foundation, 100% of donations are devoted to programs.

Book Mail: Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of The Mistress of The Dark by Cassandra Peterson

I am so excited that I was able to snatch a signed copy of Barnes & Nobles. If you live in the area and would like to meet her, she will be at Books & Greetings in Northvale, NJ, at 6:30 pm this Friday.

Goodreads Blurb

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself.

On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn’t good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price.

Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul “Pee-wee” Reubens, honing her comedic skills.

Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn’t shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heart-breaking tale of a Midwest farm girl’s long strange trip to become the world’s sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon.

Author Biography

Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation. Her wickedly vampish appearance is offset by her comical character, quirky and quick-witted personality, and Valley girl-type speech.

Born in Manhattan, Kansas, Peterson grew up near Randolph, until the area was flooded to create Tuttle Creek Reservoir; her family then moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. According to a 2011 interview, Peterson states that as a child, while other girls were occupied with Barbie dolls, she was more fascinated by horror-themed toys.[1] During her teens, Peterson worked as a go-go dancer in a local gay bar.[2]
She graduated from General William J. Palmer High School in 1969. Days after graduating, she drove to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she became a showgirl in “Viva Les Girls” at The Dunes, where she met Elvis Presley. She had a small role as a showgirl in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, played a topless dancer in The Working Girls (1974), and purportedly posed for the cover of Tom Waits’s 1976 album, Small Change.[3] However, this story is apparently unverified as Peterson has since described it as “a giant mystery”, claiming that while she has no memory of the event, the picture looks enough like her that she feels “pretty sure” that it is.[4] She is a vegetarian[5][6] and has appeared in a humorous Halloween-themed ad for PETA promoting a vegetarian diet.[7]

Jennifer Weiner Book Signing Event at Books & Greetings

Finally, an in-person event was held at a local bookstore by me. I was so excited to meet Jennifer again. She is such a sweet and funny author. They even had ice cream from Conrad’s in Westwood, NJ. I had a great time meeting new people.

Goodreads Blurb

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Summer comes another timely and deliciously twisty novel of intrigue, secrets, and the transformative power of female friendship, set on beautiful Cape Cod.

Daisy Shoemaker can’t sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful; her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she’s got it good. So why is she up all night?

While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she’s also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. While Daisy’s driving carpools, Diana is chairing meetings. While Daisy’s making dinner, Diana’s making plans to reorganize corporations. Diana’s glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy’s simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental. Who IS this other woman, and what does she want with Daisy?

From the manicured Main Line of Philadelphia to the wild landscape of the Outer Cape, written with Jennifer Weiner’s signature wit and sharp observations, THAT SUMMER is a story about surviving our pasts, confronting our futures, and the sustaining bonds of friendship.

Author Biography

Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen books, including Good in BedIn Her Shoes, and, most recently, Mrs. Everything. Her new novel, Big Summer, is out now. A graduate of Princeton University and contributor to the New York Times Opinion section, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com.

The first picture was when I met Jennifer at Book Expo 2019 and of course today’s picture is the one on the right.

Virtual Book Event May 5 at 7:00PM

FoxTale Book Shoppe is delighted to be the featured bookseller for this week’s Friends & Fiction! We are celebrating the launch of Mary Kay Andrews’ THE NEWCOMER on Wednesday, May 5, 7:00PM!

By purchasing a book from FoxTale Book Shoppe, you are not only supporting a local, independent business, but you are also showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to FoxTale.

Thank you for supporting Mary Alice Monroe, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan and your local independent bookstore! If you’ve already purchased all of their fabulous books, please consider purchasing a different title.

Link https://foxtalebookshoppe.com/friends-fiction/

TLA 2021 April 22-24

Texas’ premier librarian gathering is going virtual! Visit our virtual booth for exciting resources PLUS check out our amazing authors on virtual panels throughout the conference!

THURSDAY, APRIL 22

3:00-4:00pm CT
Read With Pride: YA LGBTQ+ Lit panel
Featuring Dahlia Adler (COOL FOR THE SUMMER) and Julia Lynn Rubin (TROUBLE GIRLS)

4:15-5:15pm CT
Radical Misinformation: How Extreme Ideas Attain Legitimacy
Featuring Anna Merlan (REPUBLIC OF LIES)

5:15-6:00pm CT
Book Buzzed
Featuring forthcoming titles from all your favorite publishers

7:15-8:30pm CT
Evening with the Authors panel
Featuring Lily Menon (MAKE UP BREAK UP)

FRIDAY, APRIL 23

10:15-11:15am CT
Diverse Voices in YA Lit panel
Featuring Asha Bromfield (HURRICANE SUMMER)

10:15-11:15am CT
Lariat List panel
Featuring S. A. Cosby (BLACKTOP WASTELAND + RAZORBLADE TEARS)

1:45-2:45pm CT
The Suspense is Killing Me panel
Featuring Kim Liggett (THE GRACE YEAR)

SATURDAY, APRIL 24

10:15-11:15am CT
Authors for Your Book Club panel
Featuring Justin Deabler (LONE STARS), Gabriela Garcia (OF WOMEN AND SALT), and Casey McQuiston (ONE LAST STOP)

1:45-2:45pm CT
A Tale as Old as Time: Fairy Tale Retellings panel
Featuring Melissa Albert (TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND)

1:45-2:45pm CT
Teen Mental Health in YA panel
Featuring Kat Spears (THE TRAGEDY OF DANE RILEY) and Jennie Wexler (WHERE IT ALL LANDS)

VIEW THE FULL CONFERENCE PROGRAM HERE.

YALLWEST Is Coming

It’s that time of year for YALLWEST book festival. YALLWEST 2021 is a full day of panels + a Friday preview and two weeks of giveaways, Instagram Lives and special events!

Here you will find the full event schedule and fabulous giveaways https://www.yallwest.com/schedule?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=6074d242756c035e30f73db4&ss_email_id=607740d09e2ca423e3d7293f&ss_campaign_name=YALLWEST+Schedule%21&ss_campaign_sent_date=2021-04-14T19%3A22%3A33Z

Order signed books https://bluebicyclebooks.bigcartel.com/category/yallwest-2021

List of authors in attendance https://www.yallwest.com/authors-2021