Stephanie Plum from Trenton, NJ is out and at it again collecting FTAs and accidentally solving mysterious crimes in Janet Evanovich's 15th novel of the series featuring Stephanie in Finger Lickin' Fifteen. So what's the big deal? Only that this is my favorite author of my favorite series and I have been patiently waiting for this book to come out for a year now. But it gets better!!! Janet Evanovich toured a book signing, starting in Cherry Hill! Did I go? Hell yes! And I brought my sister along with me.
Tuesday the book came out and Diane and I had planned on meeting with Janet that night at the Cherry Hill Barnes & Nobles. The signing started at 6 so we decided to get there around 3:30. A big block party was planned. We get there, and get our bracelet and information for the signing. We are number 673 and 674 and we were told to report back at 6:45 to get into line to get our books signed. We read our packet and it said we were only allowed to get our books signed if we bought it at B&N. Opps. We went to Target. 30% off, duh. We quickly removed the target sticker, problem solved, haha. We went up and down the block looking at the vendors. There was free food and games. Diane and I stepped up to the spinner game. You know, where you spin the wheel and you win whatever prise it landed on. Of course there were many slots for pens, and t-shirts, and a few for a coffee mug. There was only one for a gift certificate. I was first, I spung the wheel and landed on the gift certificate. Yeah me!!! I had my pick of Home Depot or a free handbag with a GC inside. I first thought of the kitchen and choose Home Depot, but got selfish and got the handbag. Good thing too, bc it was a $25 GC. AWESOME! Diane spung next and landed on... Gift Certificate! "It's rigged" I said. The lovely assistant was surprised, and Diane picked out the same prise, just a different color handbag. So yeah, we both won two handbags and GC for $25.
We go to the handbag store and picked out items to buy. I bought a cool hat to match my outfit and Diane bought another handbag. The handbags we won were worth $15. Not bad for a spinning prise huh? We went to put the bags in the car and guess what?! Diane got pooped on by a bird on her shoulder. She didn't even know it. Some got in her hair but it wasn't bad at all. My brother randomly called as we were walking to the car and I answered the phone by "Guess what, Diane got pooped on." Not your traditional "Hi".
Afterwards we got some frozen yogurt at a store called Sprinkles. Cute name. You go in and get greeted by the cashier who explains how the store works. You get your own cup, fill it with whatever flavor(s) of frozen yogurt, top it with what you like, weight it, then pay for the weight. There were about 15 flavors to choose from and a lot of toppings. I went with NY cheesecake and Peanut Butter yogurt and topped it with reeses cup and snickers. MMMmmm.
By the time we finished our yogurt it was 5:45. 15 minutes until Janet arrives. We went in the store and it was mobbed. U boats kept making their way to the front to satisfy the demand of crazed fans. Diane & I got a couple balloons that tied into animals of the books and made our way to the area where Janet would sign the books. After a few minutes we heard "Excuse me, Excuse me. Make way". We got frightened and back up, thinking someone was hurt up front or needed medical attention. Why did we think this? Seriously, we were the youngest readers there. Nuts! But no, there was no medical emergency. Janet was making her way to her table. She touched us! So cool. I took a picture and this is what I got.
So we then proceeded to the area where you get in line. Since our bracelets read 673 and 674 we thought they started around 600. Wrong! They really started a 1. People were being called in groups of 50. We started getting nervous. Will she get to us? Look at all these people. We timed how fast she was signing and it appeared to be 100 every 30 minutes. So by calculation, we would not get up to her until 9 o'clock. And B&N estimated 6:45. Good job on that one.
While we waited, we ran into some people we knew and some new people that were fun & interesting. There were readers from all over the Northeast. It was awesome. The last we heard, there were over 1400 bracelets given out. On the same calculation, that would mean they would not meet Janet until 1am. Whoa.
Our numbers were finally called at 9:40. We went through our line, got pins that say "I heart Morelli" and took our picture with Janet who look exhausted! Poor Janet. I know I was. 9:30 is my bed time!
It was an awesome time, the whole 7.5 hours. Of course here are more pictures.
