Midnight in Austenland Book Release Party

As an English major, my opportunities to meet many of my favorite authors will have to wait until the next life: Leslie Norris, Ellis Peters, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien ... sadly, they have released all the books they are going to in this life. Fortunately, one of my very favorite authors, Shannon Hale, is alive and well and she just released her newest book called Midnight in Austenland. It's a follow-up to Austenland. I can't really call it a sequel because the protagonist is a different woman this time, although there are supporting cast remembers who return.

I have only attended one other book release party, for Brandon Mull's last Fablehaven book. The exciting event filled the Cottonwood High School auditorium. It was there I got to see Shannon Hale for the very first time as she performed her hilarious master of ceremony duties for the party. But with the couple of thousand people attending I didn't feel like we could wait for our turn to get books signed. It was a school night and we had a long drive home with (by now) hungry, cranky children.

This event was much more intimate and relaxed. Shannon seemed temporarily overwhelmed at the crowd waiting for her in the Children's Room at the King's English Bookshop. It's a small place, but Bronwyn and I were so excited to get up close to hear what stories she had to tell. And isn't that why we go to a book release party? To hear stories about the how the newest story came to be? Shannon certainly didn't disappoint. She shared stories, answered questions, and introduced the fun events in the store going on for those waiting for books to be signed. One of the events was a treasure hunt through the store for 8 different foreign editions of two of her books, as well as an audiobook, which Bronwyn was dying to find.

Shannon relates a hilarious, somewhat embarrassing tale from the film set of Austenland, the movie. It seems at the end of a long day on the set, suffering dehydration (her excuse!), she expressed a willingness to not only sign an actor's copy of her book, but anything else ... including his underwear. It ended quickly (and tastefully!) as three assistants rushed black Sharpies to the set and she signed his waistband. Full confession to husband later!

We were in the second group to line up for the book signing, held up in the Mystery Room. Bronwyn had searched diligently through the entire store while I held our place in line, trying to find one of the books with the Special Bookmark designating it a prize in the treasure hunt. As we reached the top of the stairs just before reaching Shannon's table, Bronwyn caught a glittery glimpse of ribbon of a Special Bookmark out of the corner of her eye. She discovered the final prize: a Brazilian copy of The Princess Academy. She was thrilled. Shannon signed it for her: "For Bronwyn, who has a keen eye." She was so charming and gracious.

Bronwyn's two signed books. We thought at first it was Italian, but I looked closer later and realized it's in Portuguese instead. Justin will have to read it to her.

I had put off buying Forest Born because the publisher had changed covers three-quarters of the way through the series. I didn't like the new cover, which I have already blogged about. I finally got my wish with the new cover and got it signed. Before I can read it, though, I want to reread the first three to get reacquainted with the characters again.

I went home and read Midnight in Austenland that night. Loved it. Shannon Hale excels at creating believably real characters, people who we can identify with or recognize. Not that they are stock characters either. Although she partly classifies this as a gothic romance (with mystery, comedy, and many other genres blended in -- see her recent blog entry on gothic romance), the characters are by no means one-note characters. Each of them has depth revealed as the story progresses. I loved the book, and loved how I came to know different things about characters we had met before. My opinion of several of them changed ... for the positive ... as I finished reading.