A Bookworm's Night to Remember - Meeting Kate Morton and Susanna Kearsley

I'm a big ol' book lover and I proudly wave my book geek flag high!  Books are a big part of my life so when have the opportunity to meet authors who consistently provide me with amazing reads I jump at the chance like a twelve year old girl with a chance to meet Taylor Swift.  Ya, I've got it bad.

When fellow book blogger Margaret from Just One More Chapter kindly informed me that a book store in Uxbridge, Ontario would be hosting an event for Australian author Kate Morton I was over the moon.  For those who don't know, Kate Morton is an internationally bestselling Australian author whose books include The Secret Keeper, The Forgotten Garden and her latest, The Lake House to name just a few.

Her books are filled with vivid descriptions, complex, intertwined storylines and characters who you will continue to think about long after you've turned the last page. And she's got a great sense of humour. Yup, she's pretty awesome.

Needless to say I was more than eager to meet her.  I called my oldest friend and fellow book lover supreme Beth to join me and bought our tickets for the event almost two months ago.  But the icing on the cake? When I called the bookstore who was hosting the event for more details they informed me that none other than Canadian author Susanna Kearsley would be interviewing Kate for part of the evening.  Susanna.  Kearsley.  

I simply adore her.  

She has written many books and actually, her book Mariana was my first blog post. But it's Susanna's book The Winter Sea (which I read years ago, well before this blog came into existence) that still haunts me.  It was perfection.  Anyway, after finding out Susanna would be there too I GEEKED OUT and texted Beth who proceeded to geek out in her own fashion during a business meeting. Oops.

Uxbridge isn't in my neck of the woods but I had no qualms about making the 350km round trip to meet these two authors. The evening was wonderful.  Susanna asked some very poignant questions to Kate and the 50 or so fans got to know more about how Kate comes up with her detailed plots, characters and imagery.  It was amazing to learn more about the writing process.  

Susanna interviewing Kate on her writing process and inspiration.

After the interview we got our books signed and while Kate had a rather large line up of fans to meet and greet she never had you feeling rushed and is quite charming and funny. Beth and I were also lucky to get a chance to speak with Susanna for quite awhile.  She was so approachable that she put these two awestruck fans immediately at ease and we had a great (yet slightly surreal) time chatting with her.

Sadly, the PR rep didn't take a clear picture of Kate and I.

Susanna and I

Needless to say Beth and I will be scouring online to find more book events.  There's nothing like talking to an author and getting one of their books that you adored signed.  I really treasure the books that I have autographed (Diana Gabaldon, Julie Lawson Timmer also signed books for me) but this event felt so much more personal and down to earth than other venues.  The entire evening was book geek heaven, y'all!  We left there with big old smiles on our faces and an evening that we'll never forget. 

Big thanks to Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, Ontario for putting on such a wonderfully run evening.