Tuesday night I celebrated the launch of UNTIL I DIE at the amazing Books of Wonder along with authors Kristi Cook and Jocelyn Davies. This was the first launch party I’ve ever had, since I was at home jumping around by myself with a party hat on last year. (Okay, I didn’t have a party hat. But I was doing lots of jumping around.)

Kate in NYC!!! (photo: my lovely friend Suzanne)

Since most of you out in internet-land weren’t able to fly to New York to attend the party, I’m going to give you a step-by-step account of what it was like to have my very own launch party in one of my favorite cities in the world.

5:00pm
Walk down 18th street and see the sign above. Smile huge smile and walk into store looking like some crazy lady who just won the lottery. And then see this…

(photo: blogger extraordinaire @xwritersblockx)

…and my head explodes. Clean up mess. Make way to party space at the back of the store where I am received by Books of Wonder staff who say they’ve got everything under control and they just want me to enjoy myself. Pinch my arm to make sure I’m not in a jet lag induced delirium.

Notice girl sitting on floor and ask if she’s there for my event. She says yes, that she’s been waiting for hours because she wanted to be the first to meet me. Decide I am in Wonderland and peer around to see if I can spot any hookah-smoking caterpillars or levitating grinning cats hanging around.

I start getting out my supplies: a mountain of DIE FOR ME and UNTIL I DIE bookmarks, and a pile of my sparkly Eiffel Tower bookmarks. Check to make sure that the 100 bottles of Orangina had been dropped off. And worry a little bit that my friend Lawrence got lost on his way to pick up the macarons. We are now t-minus-30.

Three girls approach my table, sporting the most amazing homemade t-shirts I have EVER LAID EYES ON. Check them out:

Rachel, Stella & Lauren of Hackensack, NJ!

These girls had decorated the fronts and backs of their shirts with their favorite quotes from DIE FOR ME. (See if you recognize any of them.) I was completely floored, tickled pink, and gobsmacked all at the same time. I wanted to hug all three of them. (I think I might have.) One of their dads, presumably their chauffeur, was lurking in the background trying to stay invisible as the girls and I chatted about them, me, and the book, only emerging to take a few photos before melting back into the background. (Is that the perfect dad-of-teenagers, or what?!?)

Back view of the winners of my Most-Creative-Readers-Ever contest.

More people began to arrive, amongst them some old friends I hadn’t seen for years, people I had worked with, and some new friends: my editor Tara Weikum and my agent Stacey Glick. Authors Natalie Zaman and Michele Jaffe showed up to give their support, and then my Special Guests Jocelyn Davies (who I had never met!) and Kristi Cook (who I met at the RT Con) arrived.

But the macarons were still MIA. I had begun to think that my directions (“somewhere on Laguardia Place…I don’t remember the actual address”) might not have been sufficient for my long-suffering friend Lawrence, when he dashed in holding boxes of pastries in his arms. The Books of Wonder staff rushed over, took the boxes, and arranged them next to the mountain of candy I had brought with me from Paris.

Table spread (photo: Tara, aka my editor)

Quick story behind the macarons. I had asked Reader Extraordinaire, Carli (who lives near NYC)…

to find the best macarons for my launch party. A couple of weeks later, she sent me an EXCEL SPREADSHEET with all of the bakeries in NYC that sold macarons, how far they were from Books of Wonder, cost, taste, and overall impressions. I took her advice and chose Mille Feuille. And I swear, they were the best macarons I ever put in my mouth. So a HUGE MERCI to Carli, the Macaron Queen!

Introducing the group (and forgetting everyone's names...my specialty) (photo: Agent Stacey!)

6:30 – time for the event. I began by introducing my books and talking about how I got the idea for revenants.

Reading from UNTIL I DIE (with Jocelyn Davies standing behind). (photo: Carli)

Then I did a short reading from UNTIL I DIE (Chapter 6, the graveyard scene where Kate sees someone mysterious in a long fur coat!) Jocelyn went next, reading from A BEAUTIFUL DARK, and then Kristi (who was losing her voice, so no reading) told us about her inspiration behind HAVEN and MIRAGE.

During the event (photo: Natalie Zaman)

Then came the Q&A, with excellent questions from the audience on subjects such as the importance of location in our books, if we wrote specifically with teenager readers in mind, and who in our books we would marry, die for, or throw off a cliff.

Jocelyn and Kristi during the event (photo: Agent Stacey)

After that we all descended on the refreshment table like macaron-starved zombies:

Refreshment table: Macarons from Mille Feuille, candy from my local Paris supermarket, and Orangina! (photo: @xwritersblockx)

and the real fun began: meeting the readers while signing books. I am so grateful to everyone who turned up for the reading: super-supporting Books of Wonder Staff, old friends and new, and anonymous readers and those who keep in contact on FB and Twitter. Thank you ALL for making my launch party a night I will never forget.

It's the perfect New York day to celebrate UNTIL I DIE's book birthday!

Yes, this is the British version. But I don't have a U.S. one yet! Photo to be updated this afternoon!

The day is finally here. It is UNTIL I DIE’s book birthday. And I would love to celebrate it with you if you are anywhere in the vicinity of 18 West 18th Street in New York City tonight from 6-8pm! (Books of Wonder) I’m providing bottles of Orangina, macarons, and French candy. Plus, a sparkly Eiffel Tower bookmark for everyone who shows up! Can’t wait to see you all!

If you are too far to come (like that’s an excuse!!!), I would be overjoyed if you ordered the book anyway. Here are some options, and THANK YOU FOR CELEBRATING MY SECOND EVER PUBLISHED BOOK WITH ME!!!!

*puts on party hat*

*blows out candles*

*opens door to find Kate, Vincent, Jules, Ambrose, Charlotte, Georgia and the rest singing ‘Happy Birthday’*

*faints*

For a SIGNED copy, order here from Books of Wonder.

IndieBound
Amazon US – Amazon UK
B&N
Book Depository (Worldwide)

I am OFFICIALLY in the UNITED STATES!!! WOO HOO!!!

Sing it, Frankie!!! ("Start spreading the news...")

Okay, so it’s not even 6am and I’m wide awake, but jet lag’s a good thing when you have a lot to do! Would you like to know what Day 1 of the Revenant Road trip holds?

Breakfast with the lovely and very funny Michelle Jaffe (who I met at RT Conference in Chicago).

Lunch with Claudia, my friend and Beta reader. Claudia’s the person who reads stuff assoonasIwriteit and gets back to me right away so that I can know if I’m on the right track or being completely delusional. e.g. Claudia is amazing. And a lot of fun, to boot.

In between: errands, including buy 100 bottles of Orangina and 100 macarons for tomorrow night’s launch party!!!

Dinner with my very good friend and all around shoulder-to-lean-on, person-who-makes-me-laugh-when-I’m-crying…Lawrence.

So…I’m kind of busy. But the real reason I’m in NY is not to see friends, although that is an extra bonus. It is for this:

Books of Wonder is overjoyed to host the launch party for international best-selling author AMY PLUM. Heady with romance and rife with danger, Until I Die the second book of the Die For Me trilogy  follows Vincent and Kate as they search-separately-for a solution to their plight, pursuing their quest from the glamorous streets of Paris to the city’s squalid underbelly. The battle between good and evil wages on, as  the bardia-the good revenants-try to overthrow their murderous enemies, the numa, forever. The party begins at 6pm and Amy has invited two of her good friends to be special guests for this great event. Joining us will be 2 debut authors of teen thrillers KRISTI COOK who penned Haven, and  JOCELYN DAVIS author of A BEAUTIFUL DARK. There will be refreshments served as AMY PLUM introduces Until I Die, answers questions from the audience, and then all three authors in attendance will sign copies of their books for fans. Ages 12 and up. Tuesday, May 8th, 6-8pm. Click here for more.

And while all of this stuff goes on in Real Life, in the Online world, my UNTIL I DIE blog tour continues!

Since the list in the last post, here are two new stops:

Day 16 Over-the-top Jules character interview on Books Complete Me

Day 17 UNTIL I DIE steamy excerpt on We Fancy Books

And only four more days to go!!!

I think I will give away a prize every day of the Revenant Road Trip to those of you who can’t make it to the locations I go to. SO…to win a signed paperback of DIE FOR ME (to accompany your new copy of UNTIL I DIE :)), comment telling me which 4 American cities are included on the Road Trip!   24 hours, international, random drawing!

I am quickly posting these photos of last night’s event at Foyles, because I have 10 minutes before I have to go jump on a train. But i’lltellyouaboutitreallyquickly…

The event was organized by my amazing publishers at Little, Brown/Atom along with Neil Jackson of Foyles, who had EVERYTHING SET UP PERFECTLY (down to the invisible stage mics and signing pens awaiting us near stacks of our books). You don’t know how much the “little things” matter at one of these events – it made the whole thing go really smoothly.

A big MERCI to Atom (Sam, Maddy, Rose & Kate) and Neil!

On the eve of UNTIL I DIE’s U.K. book birthday (HURRAY!!!), I was joined by the wonderful authors CJ Daugherty, Ruth Warburton and Sara Grant. We were given a few minutes ahead of the event to get to know each other in the Green Room. Which was kind of a problem. Because the more we chatted the more I wanted to chat, and before we knew it Neil was announcing that the event was starting! (More chat time later, girls!)

Hanging out in Foyles's Green Room with Ruth Warburton, CJ Daugherty and Sara Grant. Photo: @ninadouglas

We arrived into the event room to find the front few rows FILLED WITH BLOGGERS. @Serendipity_Viv, @BbookLbook, @chooseYA, @darkreaders, @raimy_rawr, @sisterspooky, @DistrictYA, were all there (Bungle…where were you?) I felt like I was in the presence of greatness with all of these fantastic readers/bloggers/all around amazing people lining the front rows and smiling encouragingly at us, as well as lovely readers like @flutterbyroom.

Bloggers getting restless with the wait decide to warm our seats for us. Photo @Serendipity_Viv

Being introduced by the amazing Neil Jackson @devilslibrary (who organized the event). Photo @foyles

I gave the audience a choice between a reading of a steamy make-out scene and the Paris opera scene, and guess which one they chose? (I think they were just having mercy on me, preventing me from turning bright red while reading…which I do during kissing scenes. I know…sad.)

Me reading the Opera Scene from UID (with Sara Grant doing her "interested" look.) Photo @darkreaders

The audience pitched in with some great questions during the Q&A, and we authors all said afterwards what a great crowd and fun event it had been. So THANK YOU ALL for an all-around an amazing evening – one I hope to repeat!

And now…au revoir London. Bonjour Paris!

Here’s Atom’s post about the event.

Catch Big Book Little Book’s account of the evening here.

And here is Serendipity Review’s version…

And yet another from Sister Spooky!

I am in a slightly soggy London getting ready for my event tonight 6:30 at Foyles Charing Cross with CJ Daugherty, Ruth Warburton and Sara Grant.

Because tomorrow is UNTIL I DIE’s UK book birthday!
*holds purple and silver cake out to everyone*
*sings*
*but not too loudly – doesn’t want to injure neighbors’ eardrums*

Last night I saw the UK version of UNTIL I DIE…in real life…for the first time. And I have to tell you – it is gorgeous. Johanna Basford’s swirls are in SILVER. Yes. It’s shiny. *fondles book cover*

In other news, UNTIL I DIE is coming in 2nd in RT’s Best Book Cover of the Month! Now, I don’t have anything against waxed abs, but I had to vote for Purple-Kate-in-Paris myself. Check rippling abs and all the rest out here!

And…to catch you up…we have two VERY SPECIAL stops on the UNTIL I DIE blog tour.

1. An UNTIL I DIE exclusive KISSING SCENE teaser on Jean Booknerd’s blog.

and

2. An INTERVIEW WITH VINCENT on Once Upon a Twilight.

Contests with each. I hope you enjoy!

And separately, here is a “Setting the Scene” post that I did for British blogger Vivienne at Serendipity Reviews on why the DIE FOR ME trilogy HAD to be set in Paris!

And if you haven’t yet pre-ordered UNTIL I DIE, here’s your chance! (Pre-orders and 1st week purchases mean so much to the success of a book, so THANK YOU ALL in advance!)

Amazon US – Amazon UK
B&N (ebook)