Sassy in Savannah 2015

Last Saturday was the Sassy in Savannah author event and it was a *fantastic* experience! I'd had my tickets for at least two months so I'd been anticipating this event for quite a while. My reason for going? Krista and Becca Ritchie, authors of the amazing Addicted series. Sure there were other authors in attendance that I knew of, and even had some of their books, but it was Krista and Becca that had me (and my oh so sweet and patient husband) making the 2.5 hour drive to Savannah.

After waiting in line for about an hour and finally getting inside, I made a beeline for Krista and Becca's table. Meeting them and having a chance to tell them, in person, how much I enjoyed their books and loved their characters was so amazing. They graciously signed all 8 of my books, shared some swag (a tee shirt, a pen, some bookmarks), and posed for photos. They commented on all the tabs in my books (I go tab crazy with scenes and dialogue that I love, that make me laugh or cry, or are just meaningful to me in some way). Becca even took a picture and Instagrammed it. LOL

Top row: Krista and Becca Ritchie
Middle row: T.M. Frazier and Aly Martinez
Bottom Row: Aurora Rose Reynolds and Seth King

While meeting Krista and Becca was the reason I was there, it was a real treat to be able to meet so many other authors who were there. There were several authors that were familiar to me since I had their books on my TBR. For those, I ordered physical copies of their books in advance and had them signed while there. Every single author I met was kind and gracious and some were just so warm and friendly, despite the crazy crowds and sometimes overwhelming lines. 

Top Row: Alessandra Torre and Corinne Michaels
Middle Row: Natasha Boyd and Aly Martinez
Bottom Row: Leddy Harper and Harper Sloan

Here are just some of the books I had signed:                       

Now all of that sounds like a pretty good day. And I could have gone home happy at that point. But, my friends, it got even better. Because while I was talking to Becca and Krista, their lovely mom Gina, who was at the event with them, invited my husband and I to join them for dinner that evening. Say what?! My husband turned to me and said, "Gina just invited us to dinner" and all I could think was "remain calm, remain calm, do not fangirl, do not flail." LOL 

Left: From left - me, Becca, Gina (Becca and Krista's mom), a guest whose name I forgot (sorry!), Krista
Center: Krista and me outside after dinner
Right: Becca, unnamed guest, Krista and me outside after dinner

We met up at Bonefish Grill that evening and it was one of the best evenings I've had in a long time. And it had little to do with the food and everything to do with the company. :) Becca and Krista even gave me a gift: a beautiful flower crown (a la Daisy Calloway) that they'd made themselves. We talked about the Addicted series (obviously) and college and books and YallFest and WWE (yes, they're fans LOL) and TV shows. They even shared a few secrets about the Addicted series that haven't been released yet. These ladies are sweet and funny and smart and completely genuine and down to earth. For someone who admires their work so much and is so invested in the stories and characters they have created, it was an experience like no other.

As a kind of funny/weird side note: a few days previous I had been talking to my sister about how excited I was for the event. I was half-serious/half-joking when I told her that I had this whole fantasy about meeting Becca and Krista. I'd meet them at the event, we'd hit it off brilliantly, somehow we'd end up having dinner together (I hadn't worked out just how that would happen), we'd all become BFF's and live happily ever after. LOL And believe me, that was very much on my mind as I was sitting at dinner Saturday night. I had several moments of "What is this life?!" :)  

Needless to say, this was a phenomenal event and I loved every minute. And funnily enough, Krista and Becca will be right here in my city next year for Sassy in Jacksonville 2016. I'll be there with my copy of Long Way Down to be signed (it releases next month) and who knows... maybe this time we'll just have dinner at my house. ;-)