Today was a long day. Starting with maybe three hours sleep, I got up at 3am and left at 4am for the early morning drive to Brisbane. I was lucky enough that Penguin Australia allowed me to attend the Rachel Caine breakfast (author of The Morganville Vampires and Weather Warden series’) with my friend Brittany (Nice Girls Read Books) since I was driving her. Rainstorms, roadworks, strange coloured lightning and impossible to see through fog pursued, yet we managed to make it there in one piece.

After a little sightseeing up wrong streets and a painfully steep climb up a hill we panted our way into the lobby at the hotel. We spotted Rachel getting her morning cup of coffee while we regained our breath. Not long after Melissa from Spellbound by Books arrived we grouped in the hotel’s dining hall, plated ourselves a breakfast and sat around a cosy table while Rachel told us of her little mishap with the elaborate yet painfully slow toasting machine. A messy breakfast was destined for whoever was behind her in the queue.

Once Lisa from Badass Bookie got there our little breakfast group was complete. After today I have to say, Rachel Caine has to be one of the most amazingly friendly authors around (albeit this is my first author meet and greet). She took on any and all questions with ease. Being in such a small group I thought it would be daunting, but to my surprise it was very easy going and a whole lot of fun.

Me, Brittany (Nice Girls Read Books), Rachel Caine,
Lisa (Badass Bookie) and Melissa (Spellbound by Books)

She even took the time to sign our books during breakfast rather than lining up later in the day at the public signing. I only had my bind-up edition of Glass Houses and The Dead Girls’ Dance with me (still waiting on the other bind-ups to arrive in the mail).

Before we said our goodbyes we all got to take some photos with her by the couches. I’m so happy and thankful to Felicity from Penguin and Rachel Caine herself that I got to take part in this extremely fun event. As a special treat, she gave us each a shiny purple ‘Bite Club’ lenticular bookmark and a little Morganville Resident ID Card which she gladly signed on as my ‘Protector’.

On top of that we got to go on a tour of the Brisbane CBD with fellow blogger, Melissa, before she had to get to work. We scooped all of the bookstores we could find and each came away with our own heavy bag of goodies and lighter wallets.

By midday, I was running on empty, but we managed to make our way across to Dymocks (Bookstore) again and say another hello to Felicity and Rachel while she signed a load of books for her fans. One woman actually did have a load, a backpack with about twenty books from across her different series I think, and Rachel happily signed them all for her.

After the signing we made our way for the long trek home loaded with energy drinks and iced donuts. All in all it was a fantastic day.