When the Heart Dreams Mixer in Charlotte, NC February 11th, 2017

I was PRIVILEGED to win a pair of tickets to When the Heart Dreams, an author/reader mixer that was held on Feb. 11th here in Charlotte, NC. I entered the contest last week, I honestly didn't think I'd win, but I did and IT WAS AWESOME. You can read my entry here. I won two tickets which were about $150 each, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I went alone. 

I arrived just a little after 10 am and signed in. I was given a badge and a "Swag" bag. Not many people where there when I arrived which surprised me. I immediately found a little seat in the corner, because I've been so sick lately and coughing up a storm. I didn't want to push it too far. My swag bag was pretty awesome. It contained two books, a plethora of book marks, a pen, a notepad and and a calendar.

Kianna Alexander Speaking

The first panel discussion was held by Kianna Alexander. It was pretty much just industry discussion and Q&A. which lasted a little over an hour. I did buy a few raffle tickets, it was for a good cause which is near and dear to my heart. At my table during that panel, four authors sat there, I was so excited! Apparently, I'm funny.

Once that was completed there was about a 30 minute interval, BATHROOM BREAK! During the first panel I met a lovely lady named Lee Ann, she helped me find the bathroom, she really is very sweet and I enjoyed talking with her. Not the bathroom in this hotel was swanky. They had real towels and "bath salt" hand cleanser. I used the regular liquid and paper towels. I'm not fancy like that.

After the bathroom break, we had lunch, which was VERY fancy, it had some interesting flavors and the cheesecake was divine. Here are a view photos for you!

Karen Witemeyer and I

Karen Witemeyer panel,
I'm the one in the pink.

After lunch there were two more panels, one was Food and Love hosted by Andria Gaskins which so SO funny. I enjoyed watching her talk, she has a natural comedic bend that I love and she is definitely a story teller. The stories she has about her mom are great and you can tell she is exactly as she portrays herself to be. She is so down to earth.

The second was a Plotting panel hosted by Karen Witemeyer. She is so very sweet! I had met her earlier in the day while talking with my new found friend Lee Ann. Lee An was a huge fan of hers, and I can see why! She is so very sweet and the covers of her books are BEAUTIFUL. I loved meeting her and I picked up a book of hers to go with the one that was in my swag bag! I enjoyed our panel and our little group wrote a story about a man named Cash Murdoch. How perfect is that name? Our groups theme was small town, it had to include a prize winning pig (we named her Cat) and a teacher named Daffadil Wilson (we called her Daffy for short). It was fun and there were lots of M&M's to be eaten, which I did.

At this point they did the drawing. I had bought 5 tickets originally so I wasn't really planning on winning anything but I won TWO gift baskets. The first one was a giant basket by an author I'm not familiar with named E.E. St. Ores. I haven't been able to find anything about this author but there is a release party on March 3rd, I may try to go to that so I can meet the author! I also plan on reviewing the book that was in the basket. It contained a bunch of Hawaiian themed food which is fun. The second thing I was was a bag from Emma Long! She had put in two signed books, a digital copy of another book I can redeem, and some fun swag. Lee Ann won the same bag so we were both pretty happy with that. Later on as I was flipping through the books a $5 Amazon gift card fell out. How awesome is Emma?

Karen, Andria, and Sabrina

"Every woman at the party should wear
a ball gown." ~Elizabeth Michels

On to lunch! Lunch was a very fancy affair with three courses. I was sat at table #1 with Elizabeth Michels! I was so happy to be sitting at her table, she is a very cool hostess and has a very infectious laugh. I enjoyed myself greatly. There was a quick panel as we waited for lunch to be served and Sabrina Jeffries, Andria Gaskins and Karen Witemeyer answered questions that Elizabeth put forth to them. They are each such different individuals that it was pretty interesting to hear their answers.

Salad with goat cheese, walnuts and I
THINK raisins with a balsamic vinaigrette

Chicken with roasted potatoes and
spinach. Had sweet tea as a beverage

Once lunch was served we had a "mad libs" type of task that each of the 8 tables participated in. Each one got a different sub-genre and our table got Erotica. I know, ironic right? I was SHY. I wanted to say the things that came into my head but I didn't want to get looks so I kept most of what I wanted to say to myself.

Sabirina Jeffries
Signing my Books

Sabrina Jeffries and I

After another two our interval came the book signing and party. We were told it was "heavy hors d'oeuvres" but I wasn't sure what that meant until I got there. They had a bunch of little hand held foods you can eat like spanakopitas and little quesadillas. They also had rolls and a roasted turkey that a man was carving. Pretty awesome. I never did hit the dessert table but it looks like they had some great cupcakes. I met all the authors and spent time talking to a majority of them. I spoke with SABRINA JEFFRIES! I'm a huge fan of her work and was so excited to have been able to spend that time with her. She signed both of my books (one was in my swag bag and the other I purchased off the table). She is so nice and I love the story of how she became a writer. It gives me hope that I can do this myself.

Karen Witemeyer
signing my books.

I also spoke again with Karen (she was actually the first table I walked up to as she is so welcoming and inviting it's were I wanted to start!) She also signed two books for me and two post cards. One of the books was in my swag bag, I purchased another book and also picked up two of her post cards from the earlier Plotting panel. I plan on giving one of these bookmarks to my friend! The other...just stay tuned as I have an idea!

Vivienne Hunt
signing my books.

Also I met and spoke with Vivienne Hunt who was very nice and she told me about her books. I hadn't read anything from her before but I'm ALWAYS open to new authors. She had a little deal going at her table where if I bought one book, I'd get the second book for free (and it's an ARC) as well as a cute little goodie bag. I can't pass up a deal....so I took her up on it! She signed both books and a bookmark for me, so excited to read those! And I did speak with Andria Gaskins, sadly I didn't have her book, but I did ask that she sign a bookmark for me and the same with April Alieda and Cindy Holby. I'm hoping I can get autographed books from them and photos at the next event. I greatly enjoyed speaking to both of them as they were very insightful and talented women.

Elizabeth Michels
signing my books

Next I spoke with Elizabeth Michels. She is so very nice (I know I'm saying everyone is nice but they really are!) She signed the book I bought off the table and a book mark for me. She said there was supposed to be a book in our swag bags but I didn't get one, bummer, I would have LOVED it.


Please keep in mind that through all of this I was meeting the great group of readers and some of the authors. I had a great conversation with April Alieda about the RT Convention when I am dying to go to in May. I have plans to be there

My Book Haul

I did get sick a few times. Wound up going back to the ER on Sunday, but it was worth it to meet all of these authors.

Now I'm thinking of starting a Book Blog to post reviews of books and so on, what do you think? This is kind of a "catch all" blog where everything kind of falls. I'm looking at going to a convention in Columbia in November and of course RT in May. This was so much fun I can see how it could be addicting.

Ahh, Monday, Wish it was Sunday!

This weekend was a major let down. I had a laundry list of things I wanted to get done but I only got a few of them marked off. Why you ask? Well, Friday after work I took a tumble down the stairs at home. I have some bruises in some really interesting places. This is what my Casey-Do (Since I don't have a Honey to do a Honey-do list) list looked like on Friday morning.

1.) Complete Invitations and get them in the mail.
2.) Complete Gift Swag Bags (8 total)
3.) Finish painting the ugly 70's inspired foyer with a fresh coat of Buttercream Yellow.
4.) Cut out 100 Barbies with the Cricut.
5.) Laundry
6.) Gather up all the recycling.
7.) Clean room, change sheets (I'm fanatical about sheet changing)
8.) Repaint 3 chairs Pink and cover them in my damask fabric.
9.) Bake Oreo Cupcakes and Smore's Cupcakes
10.) Grocery Shopping for the next 2 weeks.

You may ask well Casey, since you were pretty much flat on your back on Friday and Saturday what were you able to accomplish?

1.) I cut out 4 Barbies.
2.) Grocery shopping for 2 weeks. (Did this Friday BEFORE I got home and fell down the stairs)
3.) Cleaned room, changed sheets (I'm VERY fanatical about sheet changing)
4.) Laundry (Well at least 2 loads.)

That's pretty much it. I was still very sore on Sunday but I had to get the room cleaned at least, that way I wouldn't imagine the dust bunnies rising up against me in a fit of anger over the state of my room. I didn't get my curtains hung yet. I have these Blackout Curtains, basically they are a very pretty purple but if you untie them and put them in front of the windows 0 light gets in. Picked those up at Walmart - awesome!

My ribs are pretty sore, I don't think I broke anything but it was rough going there on Friday evening and Saturday.

Here is some cool news, I was chosen to receive an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) of JK Beck's When Blood Calls. I was chosen because I do tend to blog about what I read and tell you how great I thought the book was, so stay tuned for more information on that, once I receive it you guys will be the first to know!

 I finished two books by Karen Robards while I was laid up. She has a trilogy about the Banning sisters Scandalous, Irresistible, and Shameless. I was able to pick up Scandalous and Irresistible at the local goodwill for a great price of .50 each. Which was quite cool, I've always been a Karen Robards fan and I hadn't read these two books before. (On a side note I also picked up The Pursuit as well, and am almost finished with this one)

We will start with Scandalous. Basically you have the Plain Jane story with a twist. Our Plain Jane is possessed of a temper and she has a bum leg. I can so relate to the Gimpy leg she has. Anyway, the story is set in 1810 and Lady Gabriella (Gabby) receives word that her half-brother who she has only met a hand full of times has been murdered. See, her father was kind of a nut-job and left her and her two sisters with no provisions in the will, so everything passed over to her Half-Brother Lord Wickham. Gabby wanted to do a come out for her sister Claire so that she could find a match (yay, 1800's London!), but since her brother died everything would go over to her much to be desired cousin and his witch of a wife. So Gabby did the only thing she thought she could do. She pretended her brother was still alive and set about arranging Claire's come out.

This where things go horribly wrong for Gabby. When she and her sisters arrive in London to the home their deceased brother owns, they find that he is in residence. Wait. You are totally going, but Casey, you said he was dead! He IS! That is the weird part, there is this man that says he is Wickham and Gabby is the only one who knows he is definitely NOT. Soon London is watching the pair fall in love and the scandal rocks the old biddies down to their pinafores. I mean come-on they think that the two are brother and sister and are carrying on like an illicit affair (which they are but seriously they AREN'T related, but in public they have to appear to be). Well you got to read this one, I thought it was exceptionally good. Any book that contains, love, illicit romances, scandal, spies (yes there are SPIES!) and 1800's London is always fun.

And now on to Irresistible. Irresistible is Claire's story. Claire is already married to an insanely annoying man who she thought she was in love with, but on her way home she gets besieged by some crazy people who kidnap her, she manages to escape by bashing one over the head with a chamber pot (If you don't know what a chamber pot is, imagine a little kids porta-potty in porcelain, yeah real heavy and kinda nasty.) She gets away but gets caught on the beach by some other dudes who take her on a boat and ship her clear across the ocean to France. See what happened is that Claire was mistaken for a French spy and Hugh Battancourt is the man tasked with bringing in the spy, so when Claire makes it to the beach where the REAL spy is supposed to be she is snatched up by accident. But you are so totally wondering who had her kidnapped to begin with. I'm not gonna tell you, I refuse to ruin the book for you, but just think about it and you will figure it out. Anyway, she and Hugh fall in love of course, since she's married and he's a Spy for England nothing can come of it, or so you think. You totally have to read to find out exactly WHO Hugh winds up being and what that means for Claire.

I enjoyed both books, the only downfall I can see is that I don't think there was that many Spies in England and the who spies in the books (Hugh and fake Wickham) aren't related or know about each other in any way. There is a third book, Shameless, which I bet also has a spy. I just kind of find it weird that those particular three sisters fall in love with spies. I mean, what is the likelihood?

I am now reading The Pursuit about the murder of the first lady so I will let you know what I think when I'm done with that!