Meeting Sarah J. Maas! (and why you'll want to meet her too...)

I am a huge fan of Sarah J. Maas and her Throne of Glass series. When I found out she was signing copies of her latest, QUEEN OF SHADOWS, at a Bensalem Barnes and Noble (an hour from my house), I jumped at the chance to meet her.

In case you haven't been swept up by the THRONE OF GLASS craze yet (in which case, where have you been?) the series follows Celaena Sardothien, the kingdom's most deadly assassin. In the first book she enters a competition to become the King's personal assassin in order to gain her freedom from the salt mine where she's been imprisoned.

The latest installment, QUEEN OF SHADOWS, came out September 1st. It. Was. AMAZING. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say it's my favorite of the series so far. It's action-packed, and many of the events tie back to the prequel novellas (THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE). I love the novellas so much, and revisiting some of those characters and plotlines was fascinating. Sarah J. Maas has such a solid grasp on the world she's created. Every character, every reference, every seemingly random piece of information has its place, and this lady knows EXACTLY where it is. Stellar worldbuilding and character development!

The Bensalem stop was toward the end of her book tour, and she'd just flown in from Albuquerque. So she was tired but full of things to say. About Celaena, about Chipotle, about OUTLANDER (which I think I need to finally add to my TBR after all this talk about Jamie). Not to mention, her Disney princess hair looked FLAWLESS, and she was sporting this super sparkly leopard ring:

Leopard ring is officially ON. Headed to the 92nd Street Y for my NYC launch event with the amazing @sashaalsberg!! Can't wait!! Thanks so much for all the support and love today, you guys!!💍🎉🎉💖💖😎😎 #QOStour #queenofshadows #iwearthisringtoeveryevent #toremindmyselftobeaBAMF #alexisbittar

A photo posted by Sarah J. Maas (@therealsjmaas) on Sep 1, 2015 at 2:33pm PDT

Sarah did a half-hour Q&A moderated by the fabulous Steph from No BS Book Reviews, and then the signing line started. Since I'd arrived suuuuper early I was lucky enough to be number eleven in line, so I was one of the first to talk to her. And she is FANTASTIC.

Here's why you should run to the bookstore next time Sarah comes to town:

Talking about Sarah's time-traveling/insane writing schedule

1. She took her time talking to everyone. I respect authors SO MUCH when they actually make eye contact with you while signing your books. Sarah not only did that, but she asked me as many questions as I asked her. She wanted to know where I'm from, what I write and if I'm looking to send my work out. We probably talked for a solid two minutes, which is actually a long time for a signing line.* And from those two minutes, it's apparent how genuine a person she is and how much she cares about her readers.

*MAJOR points to the Neshaminy Mall B&N staff for not rushing readers through the line. I was in the first group to go through, so I don't know if it continued, but they let Sarah take her time talking to everyone I saw. When the facilitators have a low-stress attitude, it makes the event a thousand times more fun. Thanks, B&N!

2. Sarah is HILARIOUS. Between referring to her teenage years as "back when we still drove oxen up and down the roads" and calling her husband Dobby, she had everyone cracking up.

3. Relating to my second point, I burst out laughing (see photo evidence) when Sarah and I were talking. I asked her how she's managing to write two books a year, one THRONE OF GLASS novel and one A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES novel, both of which are enormous beasts of books. "I have a time-turner," she informed me. We started talking about how her life has become so scheduled and filled with deadlines, and she insisted that was why she was so pale. "Because of the time travel?" I asked, figuring time travel had to be pretty exhausting. "No, because I never leave my house." She said it's okay, though, she'd much rather be inside anyway.

4. You will want to be part of her squad. During the Q&A, Steph asked Sarah who would be in her "Bad Blood" squad, a la Taylor Swift. I'm pretty sure everyone in the room was about a second away from volunteering as tribute. Sarah has a posse of writer BFFs, including Susan Dennard (the SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY series, and TRUTHWITCH coming January 2016) and Alexandra Bracken (THE DARKEST MINDS series, and PASSENGER coming January 2016). Writing is such a solitary job, and having a group full of supportive writer friends (especially ones you can sometimes do book events with, like these ladies do) is awesome.

5. She's so motivating. She started writing THRONE OF GLASS when she was sixteen, and now there are six books on my shelf with her name on the spines. I left the event ready to get back to my own writing.


In case you couldn't tell, I had a little bit of fun at this event! Thanks again to Sarah for being wonderful and the Neshaminy Mall Barnes and Noble for facilitating the signing in such a friendly manner. And if you haven't started THRONE OF GLASS yet, what are you waiting for? Check out my spoiler-free reviews of THRONE OF GLASS and THE ASSASSIN'S BLADE (the novella bind-up).  

After I wrote this post, Sarah announced on Twitter that THRONE OF GLASS has been optioned for TV! *happy dance* Who else would LOVE to see this story on their TV every week?

Book Review: A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas

After Feyre kills a wolf in the woods while hunting to feed her family, a beast bursts into her home demanding retribution. Turns out it wasn’t a wolf she killed but a faerie in wolf form. The Fae are lethal, and humans live in a small corner of the land, fearing the Fae may one day attack like they did years ago. The beast gives Feyre two options: die or come live in his court. She soon discovers the beast is actually Tamlin, one of the Fae.

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES is a new series by Sarah J. Maas based on Beauty and the Beast mythology. The story was also inspired by the fairytale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.”  

Like many Sarah J. Maas fans, I went into this book with Celaena and THRONE OF GLASS in my mind. Celaena is a tough gal to compete with, and while Feyre is a solid heroine with character development, she fell short of Celaena for me. Celaena’s personality is bold and sarcastic, while Feyre keeps everything bottled up inside. It might be an unfair comparison for me to make, since these are two different women in different worlds. Both do what they need to do to survive: Celaena (at the beginning of TOG) enters the contest to become the King’s Assassin to get out of slavery, and Feyre’s actions (hunting, leaving with Tamlin) revolve around saving her family.

I also anticipated more action in ACOTAR than we get (probably another unfair TOG comparison). When I went back and thought about Beauty and the Beast, though, most of the story is Belle living in the Beast’s castle and getting to know him, so ACOTAR’s structure makes sense. The last third of the book, though, HOLY COW it steps up the action! So that made up for the book’s slower middle.

Sarah J. Maas is excellent at developing a well fleshed out cast of characters, from Tamlin’s right hand man, Lucian,  to Rhysand, the ruler of another faerie court. By the end of the book I’d started to like Rhysand, which I’m not entirely sure about (he’s one of those morally ambiguous characters), so I can’t wait to see where book two takes the story.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, and the faerie magic system is different from the lore in THRONE OF GLASS, so nothing feels repetitive. Sarah J. Maas took on a fairytale retelling but gave it a life of its own—it doesn’t follow Beauty and the Beast to the letter, so there is still room for surprises. If you enjoy high fantasy and fairytales, A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES might be for you!

My Auto-Buy Authors

You know those authors. They announce they’re publishing a new book and, without even knowing what it’s about, you count down the days until you can run to Barnes and Noble and buy it. No matter the story, you MUST have that book. These are the authors you trust.

Here are my auto-buy authors:

1. Sarah Dessen (The Moon and More, This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever). I can count on her for solid female narrators, secondary characters with colorful personalities, and plots I can reach out and touch. They feel real. Much of what I know about writing internal conflict, I learned from reading Sarah's books. I own all of them, and SAINT ANYTHING is my most anticipated book of 2015! 

2. John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Looking For Alaska). Snarky humor and stories that make me think, question, and reevaluate my point of view. So far, he's published a great mix of funny books and sad ones. I can't wait to read whatever he comes up with next!

3. Jandy Nelson (I'll Give You The Sun, The Sky is Everywhere). New to my auto-buy list. After I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN, I would read that woman’s grocery lists. Any piece of paper her words touch, gimmie! Lush prose and imagery, complex and well thought out characters, emotional resonance. I read I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN twice in four months while writing my thesis. It never ceases to inspire me! 

4. Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire). I’ll be testing my auto-buy tendency with her in May, when her new series A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES launches. I’m so enthralled by THRONE OF GLASS, and I can’t wait for more well-developed high fantasy with action and delicious character development. I used to consider myself someone who was easily overwhelmed by high fantasy, but after reading Sarah's books, I've learned that I love it!

5. Cassandra Clare (City of Bones, Clockwork Angel). This is cheating a little bit, because she has a few books I haven’t bought (like THE IRON TRIAL, which she co-wrote with Holly Black), but I’m game for anything set in her Shadowhunter world like THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS and THE INFERNAL DEVICES. I love her humor and talent for world building in the urban fantasy subgenre. I've been reading her books since high school, and every time I pick up CITY OF BONES, I'm eighteen again (in a good way).  

How about you? Whose books do you automatically buy?