Book Signing & “Puffs”

Last Saturday January 6th was an AMAZING day!!

First, I went to the Great Teen Reads event at Books of Wonder in Downtown NYC. Three YA authors were there talking about their books: Amy Giles (Now Is Everything), Alyssa B. Sheinmel (R.I.P. Eliza Hart), and Lianne Oelke (Nice Try, Jane Sinner). AND… the moderator was none other than the lovely emmmabooks, one of my absolute favorite booktubers! Her videos really got me into booktube and I was SO excited to meet her. I got to talk to her for a while and she was so nice, funny, down-to-earth, and relatable.

I also met Lianne Oelke and got my book signed! Nice Try, Jane Sinner didn’t officially come out until January 9th so I was thrilled to get it a few days early and get a head start on it. (I just finished it this morning and LOVED it so I will be posting a review soon!) Hearing about Oelke’s writing experience was hilarious. She explained that none of her friends or family knew she was writing a book so when she found out she was getting published, she had to “come out” as a writer to all of them. As I was reading Nice Try, Jane Sinner, I kept in mind the story of how Oelke wrote it and it just made the story that much more fascinating. She said that she when she was struggling with depression during her college years, she wrote her negative thoughts down in a journal. Later on, she went back and made the journal entries more humorous. Eventually she added a plot and Nice Try, Jane Sinner was created. I love the fact that she turned something so dark and personal into something so funny that everyone can learn from. In general, I thought this was a really creative writing process.

After the book signing, I went to see the off-broadway show Puffs, or: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic. This parody was basically a story of what happened at Hogwarts during the years Harry Potter was there but from the perspective of the Hufflepuffs. It was HILARIOUS and easily one of the best shows I have ever seen. There were SO many clever references to the books, movies, and Potterhead community. The whole point of the show is to see the well-known story from a different perspective. Not only are Harry and his friends hardly seen, but they are mostly made fun of when they do appear. The underdogs are definitely valued. And although many of the Puffs were embarrassed to be sorted into this Hogwarts house at first, they began to see that being a Puff is awesome. The main message to take away from this play is to embrace who you are! If you like Harry Potter, you HAVE to see this play! I whole-heartedly recommend it.

Overall, I’m so grateful for the experiences I had last Saturday. I met my favorite booktuber, got an amazing book signed by a really funny author, and saw a hilarious off-broadway play 🙂