Spring Blogger Evening at Books and the City

Last night I had the privilege to have been invited to the Spring Blogger Evening at the Books and the City HQ in London where we were once again welcomed with open arms by Sara-Jade (SJ) Virtue, Dawn Burnett, Clare Hey and the rest of the Books and the City team for what was another fabulous evening.  SJ sure does know how to throw a party...

I met up with Laura from Lozza's Book Corner earlier in the afternoon as both of us were travelling via Waterloo so we enjoyed a coffee and then moved onto the pub across from the venue until it was time to head over at the alloted time.  The evening began with us all mingling and getting the chance to catch up with blogger friends who we normally only speak to online before we headed next door to listen to the authors, and what a line up we had, talk about their books.

SJ did a very brief welcome speech before passing the baton over to Editorial Director Clare Hey who was the compere for the evening. Clare then introduced us to the authors alongside her, Juliet Ashton, Holly Hepburn, Paige Toon and Penny Parkes.

Each of the authors in turn read an extract from their books, and were asked questions about their stories by Clare, to whet our appetites... not that it was needed as all four books sound fantastic (only one I've read and reviewed so far is Juliet Ashton's These Days of Ours which can be read here),

Some of the topics covered were that Juliet Ashton wanted to explore the bonds of female friendship, as well as romance, in These Days of Ours, hot blacksmiths and barmen, and the formidable postlady, in Holly Hepburn's Star and Sixpence series (I've not read any yet as am waiting for the whole series to be complete so that I can read as a whole but Em has read and reviewed part one, and I know she's dying to read the rest but sorry Em you can't have my proof copy of Summer at the Star and Sixpence as Holly has signed it to me).

Paige Toon then talked about her 10th novel The One We Fell in Love With which is out on 19th May (it doesn't seem possible that this is her 10th book as I can still remember reading her first Lucy in the Sky) which features triplets Rose, Phoebe and Eliza who as teenagers who all fell in love with their new neighbour Angus...

Last but certainly not least was Penny Parkes who talked about the sense of community in Larkford, dishy doctors and the eccentric Elsie in her debut novel Out of Practice which is being published as an eBook in May and then will be available in paperback format at the end of July.  Earlier in the day Penny had tweeted a picture of her inspiration for Dr Dan Carter and I have to say that if he was my doctor I might turn into a hypochondriac ;-)

As an added bonus we were introduced to the newest author to the Simon & Schuster Women's Fiction empire Georgia Clark who had flown in and came straight from the airport. Georgia's book The Regulars will be out in late Summer.

Afterwards it was a chance for us to mingle, enjoy a glass of fizz and sample some delicious cupcakes courtesy of Crumbs & Doilies before getting our books signed that were in our goodie bag (thanks SJ & Team BATC for the very generous gifts).

Sadly it was then time to say our goodbyes and go home which was probably just as well as Laura and I still had separate journeys to take which would get us both home around midnight. But it was so worth feeling a little tired today for another fabulous evening with fellow book lovers.

But I didn't forget about you guys, as I already had a signed proof copy of These Days of Ours as well as eBook that I'd bought, Juliet has signed the proof copy that was in the goodie bag with a special message which I am giving away.

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below, winner will be selected at random once giveaway has finished.

a Rafflecopter giveaway