Party Like It's 1813!

Once upon a time I read a novel called Edenbrooke. It was the most wonderful little Jane Austen-esque love story. So I read it five more times. And my wistful sighs and giggles of delight accompanied each reading. Then the author, Julianne Donaldson, wrote another book called Blackmoore. And they were having a launch party for it. So I called up my friend, Emmeline (who read Edenbrooke 12 times), and we went to celebrate the birth of a book into the world.

I'm usually not one to go to book signings. First of all, I don't really buy books. I'm all about the library. But some books I have enjoyed so much that I start to think I owe that author some money. Also, since I have been writing my own book, I am more interested in the kind of people authors are. Could I be like one of them someday? And let me tell you that writing a book is really hard. It's as hard as you imagine it would be. So I wanted to show my support for Julianne Donaldson because I think she is bringing something good into the world.

So I picked up Emmeline on a Tuesday night and drove to the bookstore where we thought the party would be. But we couldn't find any party. It was a bit anti-climatic. The ladies at the front desk told us that the party was next door at the art gallery. So we bought our copies of the book and went on over. Our letter for the signing line was H, and the line was at B, so we had some waiting to do.

We walked in the door and saw Sarah M. Eden. She writes Regency Era books just like Julianne Donaldson. She probably would have taken a picture with us, but I didn't ask because I felt too guilty about all the mean things I'd said in our book group about her Courting Miss Lancaster. It was her first book, and it was quite bad. But many of her other books were very entertaining. You should read them (Friends and Foes, Seeking Persephone). Have I satisfied karma yet? Sarah M. Eden looked adorable in her Regency clothes. I love her red hair.

Emmeline and I didn't have any Regency Era clothing, and I didn't think it was worth $15 to buy an old empire waist prom dress from DI. But we did get our pictures taken with the Regency dressed men hired to be there. They did their job well, walking around looking Mr. Darcy-ish. It reminded me of Austenland.

Do you know what crumpets look like? I don't. But I've always imagined them looking something like this.

We nibbled on them very daintily. 

And some people had awesome dresses on. The lady on the right sewed hers. It was really beautiful. 

While we were waiting, a woman came over and asked us to be interviewed for a promotional video for the book. We said yes, although we both ended up feeling like dorks for the things we said or the way in which we said them. Emmeline did great, though, with her "Ken Jennings for President" shirt.

Letter H came around, and we met Julianne Donaldson.

She's a great author and a lovely person. I hope she writes many more books.

And Emmeline is just one of the best people I know. She's always up for an adventure. I'm glad she came with me. 'Twas a highly amusing girls' night out. I say! The most fun I've had in a fortnight. Tally ho! Wot, wot!