I’ve been fortunate to attend two launch parties in the last month.  At the beginning of the month, I attended the launch party for Matched, a book by Ally Condie.  Yesterday, I attended the launch party for The Lost Saint, the second book in The Dark Divine trilogy by Bree Despain.

To say that I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of these books would be a gross understatement.  Fortunately, I was able to read Matched before it was released so going to the launch party was just so I could say hi to and get my book signed by Ally.

At the launch party, Ally revealed the purpose of the color scheme of the covers for the books.  Matched‘s cover is green because it focuses on the green pill.  (If you haven’t read the book, then this won’t make any sense to you.)  Crossed‘s cover, although not finalized, will be blue because the book focuses on the blue pill.  (This little bit of information kind of prepares the reader for what to expect in the next book.)  The third book’s cover will be red because it will focus on the red pill.  Knowing that the third book is going to focus on the red pill does little to calm my nerves about how this series is going to play out.  I’m excited for what is expected to be a roller coaster of emotion.

Yesterday, I went to the launch party for The Lost Saint.  First, I’m so excited to finally have my hands on a copy of The Lost Saint.  Now, I just need to reread The Dark Divine so I can read The Lost Saint.  Bree talked about how writing sequels are hard.  Before The Lost Saint, she had never written a sequel; she’d always written stand-alone stories.  There were times when she didn’t think she could deliver, but through the help of her critique group and author friends, she was able to stand up to the pressure she was feeling.

I was able to attend this launch party with a few of my friends.  It was fun to hang out with them.  I also met a few people that I had been corresponding with via Twitter, blogs, comments, etc.  One of the people I met was fellow book blogger Heather from Fire and Ice.  She’s also a jewelry maker and photographer.  In fact, she took the first photo below of some of my friends and me at the signing.

I feel really lucky to live in Utah where there are so many authors.  Other than living in New York or California, I don’t think many other states, or countries for that matter, have as many chances as Utahns do to interact with authors.  Not only is there a plethora of authors who live in Utah, the local bookstores and libraries do all they can to bring in authors from all around.  It’s so much fun to be a part of the literary world here!