Bookish News: Kate Quinn, Rockin' Indies, and Giveaways!

 I have a couple pieces of bookish news for you as you're enjoying your last dredges of the weekend:

Kate Quinn's Author Event:

So a couple weekends ago, I went to an author event for the lovely Kate Quinn. She recently released "The Serpent and the Pearl," a novel of the Borgias. I've been dying to read this book but I'm desperately trying to save it for my upcoming vacation. Anyhow, the author event was wonderful. It was held at the Ivy Bookshop, a precious little bookshop in Baltimore, very close to where I went to undergrad. All I can say is that I'm glad that I didn't know about that bookstore when I was actually in school or I would have been poorer than I was already in college. Kate answered questions and we were even treated to a reading from "The Serpent and the Pearl." There was chocolate and champagne and it was wonderful to catch up with a couple lovely people from my local Historical Novel Society chapter (HNS- Chesapeake Bay FTW!!!) and tell them my story about the crazy author who thought it was appropriate to look up my phone number because she had a beef with my review of her book.

I even got Kate to sign my copy of "The Serpent and the Pearl" and I gotta say, I think I want any book I get autographed made out to me this way:

This counts as a contract, right??? RIGHT???

Rockin' Indies:

If you've  followed my blog for any length of time, you probably gathered that I love Indie books and bookstores! I just think their awesome and add a lot of variety to my reading life. Indie authors have a hard road to tow when it comes to selling books. You're in charge of your own destiny, which can be both a blessing and a curse. I'm always excited when I hear Indie success stories. I was very excited when Richard Due, author of the Moon Realm series contacted me to tell me that the series made it to the shelves of  Barnes and Noble! Talk about the little Indie that could! Read more about it at his site here.

Giveaways:

Now because I really want to win this book for myself, I'm not sure I should really tell you about this giveaway but we're good friends now and friends share so here you go! M.D. Waters is getting ready to release a speculative fiction book called Archetype, which has been compared by some to The Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaiden's Tale," which sort of sells me on it right there. Check out her website to see how you can win this awesome book!