Fabulous night at Jill Mansell's book launch for You and Me, Always

Long before I even knew of the world of book blogging I have always been a massive reader and booklover but never really had much of a chance to meet or speak to any of my favourite authors.  But since setting up the blog I have had the chance to interview authors via email and chat to them interactively via social media but it is just that virtual interaction.

So when I received an email invite to the book launch for Jill Mansell's 27th book You and Me, Always I immediately bought my ticket to the event as I couldn't turn down the chance to finally meet Jill having read all of her books since her first book Fast Friends was published back in 1991 (which ages us both!).

Despite having been laid up in bed most of the week with a sinus infection I was determined I was going to go to the event and fortunately I was feeling a lot better so yesterday afternoon saw me catching the train up to London.  The launch was being held on the top floor of Jill's publishers office on Victoria Embankment, the views from the Rooftop Terrace at night are spectacular but sadly none of my photos came out that well.

The start of the evening was a formal sit down affair with Jill being interviewed by Claire Frost, journalist from the Sun Fabulous magazine, who asked Jill to tell us a little bit about You and Me, Always which Jill admitted she's not very good at giving elevator pitches (I have to admit I've never really thought about how hard it must be for authors to describe their books in condense form as this is one of the questions I ALWAYS ask authors!), about her writing process (Jill writes all of her novels by hand and her daughter Lydia then types them all up for her), and which of her books is her favourite which I always think is cruel to ask an author but I have been known to ask it too ;)  It was then over to the audience to ask Jill a few questions.

Chrissie Manby Book Launch & Giveaway for a copy of A Proper Family Adventure

It's not very often that you get invited for a VIP tour round a luxury cruise ship so when I received an invite to the book launch for Chrissie Manby's latest book, A Proper Family Adventure, which was taking place on board the Royal Princess in Southampton it was too good an invite to turn down especially as it was so close to home.  So having swapped my day off work, this morning I headed off on the train to Southampton for what was to be a fantastic event.  Thank you Hodder Books & Chrissie for the invite and Princess Cruises for the wonderful hospitality.

Sadly the weather wasn't playing ball today and it was a dreary grey day but the Royal Princess still shone in all her glory as you approached the docks.  

Having never been on a cruise ship before I had no idea what to expect but it was luxury overload from the very moment we boarded. 

Paige Toon's book launch and giveaway for signed copies of 3 of her books

Over the last year I've been lucky enough to have been invited to some great publishing events but most of them I normally cannot go to due to work committments.  So when I received the invite to go to the book launch for Paige Toon's tenth novel The Sun in her Eyes I knew this was one that I had to attend no matter what so just had to cancel all other arrangements so that I could go.

And it was so worth the 3 hours in train journeys to and from London (perfect reading time) as it was a fantastic evening where I had the chance to chat to Paige, enjoy a couple of glasses of The Sun in Her Eyes cocktail (it tasted as good as it looked), meet up with a few fellow bloggers and chat to some other fabulous authors who were there as well.

Sadly I didn't take too many photos as the room did get a little crowded and I'm a short arse so you'll need to squint in the last photo which was of Paige in distance giving a speech.

When I knew I was going to be able to attend the book launch I decided to buy three of Paige's books to get signed by her for giveaway prizes so three lucky followers will each receive one of the following, One Perfect Summer, The Longest Holiday or her YA book The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson.