Sunday ~ May 4, 2014
I had heard about Elin Hilderbrand's book signing through a friend's post on Facebook two days prior to the signing. Luckily, I didn't have anything planned for that afternoon, so I was excited I could attend.
I had been to this small, used book store for the first time a month prior.
I was extremely surprised they had such a big name author at their store because they hadn't been at this location for very long.
There were about 10 people there when I arrived, so I got in line and bought the book that she was signing. Elin had posted on her Facebook page that you could bring books with you for her to sign, but unfortunately I've only read one book by her and it was in e-book format. (This is one time when buying books and having them on hand comes in handy....Author Book Signings!!!) When it was my turn for her to sign my book I told her that I'd only read one of her books, 'The Blue Bistro' (read my review here) and that it was one of my favorite books. She said that book is definitely a favorite among all her readers. She then flipped to the page in the front of the book I purchased (Beautiful Day) and numbered her previous books in the order she recommends me to read them. I then had 3 photos taken with her, as her assistant said '3' is a good number to at least get one good shot.
This is the order Elin recommended I read her books
after I read Beautiful Day & The Matchmaker.
Here's my signed copy of Beautiful Day.
I sat down and waited as she continued to sign more books for her readers.
Two of the women waiting I knew from church and another woman I recognized because her son was in my daughter's Pre-K class and she is the author of the new book 'I Just Want To Be Alone' and blog owner of Keeper Of The Fruit Loops. At this point there were probably 30-40 people there. Not too bad, but as I said, I don't think a lot of people knew about this signing, so I felt overjoyed to have known about it at all!
Elin then read an excerpt from her forth-coming book, 'The MatchMaker.'
It was only three and a half pages that she read, but now I can't wait to read it!
She gave away one copy but I wasn't a winner,
which is okay because I have a lot of catching up to do on her books!
They allowed three questions from the audience.
Someone wanted to know where she got her inspiration from when she first started writing. She said she was in Iowa, where she attended graduate school and started writing about Nantucket because she missed it. She says people who are from the area say that her writing truly makes you feel
like you are there. Here is a nice article from 2011 where she describes missing Nantucket, how she still writes her books longhand in notebooks, and insight as to what her tenth novel, 'Silver Girl,' was based on.
Another audience question was about book ideas and if she sets the ideas aside while she is writing other books. Elin explained that she has books in mind when she signs a book deal. Her current book deal is for four books, which she explained sometimes includes a short story, which in this book deal's case is the prequel to 'The MatchMaker.' This short story is called 'The Tailgate' and will only be sold in e-book format for $1.99.
She said she will also have a Christmas book coming out.
They had a nice table with flavored seltzer water and baked goods, but I had eaten lunch before I left and really wasn't hungry. It was a very nice turn out and not over crowded. I imagine there were more people that stopped in the bookstore after I left. If I had read more of her books I may have stayed longer, but since I consider myself a relatively new fan,
I didn't have a lot to chat about.
Connect with Elin at her website and on
About the Author
