Everneath Launch Party

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jenni Elyse

On Tuesday, I went to the Everneath launch party at The King’s English to help support Brodi Ashton. The launch party was a lot of fun. It was the largest I’ve ever been to. And, by that, I mean more people showed up to this launch party than any other launch party I’ve been to. My friends and I showed up 35 minutes before it started. We were in the process of saving seats for our other friends who were on their way when all of a sudden every seat in the place was taken. The King’s English staff got more chairs, but it took less than a minute for them to all be taken as well. The gallery was packed like sardines, standing room only for more than half of the attendees. And, that is no exaggeration!

Brodi talked about her road to success by doing her first ever PowerPoint presentation. It was a huge success! The crowd was laughing at her hilarity. (She’s really a very funny person. If she ever gets tired of writing novels, she should be a stand-up comedian or a writer for TV or movies.) She also showed us about a quarter of the rejection letters she received in the querying process for her first novel, Echo. She was “excited” to receive her first personalized rejection rather than just all the form-letter rejections. It was interesting to find out that that rejection was actually from Suzanne Collins’ agent and the agent rejected Brodi’s manuscript because he/she already had The Hunger Games manuscript on her desk getting ready to be published. After her presentation, the crowd was able to ask some questions. Some of the questions were:

“Is it harder to write under deadline?” She answered yes.
“Where did you get your idea?” She said that Sam, her husband, challenged her to write a heroine completely different from her first heroine. So, she thought of writing about a heroine who was broken yet strong. And, as she started thinking about that, she started thinking about why she was broken and Everneath was born.
“Was the title always Everneath?” She said no. At first, it was Broken, then it was Underneath. Then, she and Bree Despain, friend and fellow author, decided to play with the words “forever” and “underneath” and came up with Everneath.
***spoiler*** “Did you mean to write a love triangle?” She said she doesn’t think of the book as being a love triangle. Cole is the villain. Nikki knows who she wants and it’s not the villain. ***end of spoiler***

After the questions, Brodi signed books. She started around 7:30 pm. My friends and I were the second to the last in the line and our books were signed around 9:40 pm. Two hours of signing for a debut author! Isn’t that incredible?! The wait was definitely worth it.

I’m so glad I was able to go and show my support for Brodi. I absolutely love her writing style. I’ve had a chance to read both Echo and Everneath and I love them both. I hope that one day Brodi can also publish Echo. But, if not, I’m sure whatever she does publish will continue to be fantastic.

Celebrating Matched with Ally Condie

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jenni Elyse

I wasn’t going to post this until tomorrow or Monday so that I spread out my posts a little bit. But, I’m just way too excited not to share this right away.

Last weekend, my book club had the amazing opportunity to host Ally Condie in celebration of the release of her book Matched. When we invited Ally to come to our party, she told us she didn’t do many of these anymore because she just didn’t have the time. But, since we were the only book club to ever invite her to celebrate her book Freshman for President, she wanted to come back.

My friend Debbie and I planned the party. We wanted it to be big and to embody the essence of Matched as much as possible. I think what we came up with did a really good job! We decided to have dinner and that the dinner would be served in tinfoilware and to have a dessert buffet. When Ally came in, she said, “It’s my final banquet.” If you’ve read the book, you’ll understand. ;) I was thrilled that she got what we were trying to go for.

We decked our friend’s house in green and silver balloons to match the cover of Matched. We had bowls of red, green, and blue jelly bellies and M&Ms to represent the pills. (Debbie did a great job of finding them! The colors were perfect!) We even had green cups, napkins, and plasticware. Debbie put together two posters representing the 100 list of poems and music that were approved by The Society.

At the party, we had everyone bring a memento and explain why they’d choose that item as their memento. I had mine all ready and ended up leaving it in my purse in my car. I got a ride from Debbie to the party, so that’s why it was such a big deal for it to be in my car. It was really fun finding out what people would choose as their memento if they had to live in Cassia’s society. After we shared our memento, we decided that some of the ones we had chosen wouldn’t have been allowed because they were too valuable (e.g. wedding rings, ivory necklace, ruby ring).

Afterward, we spent about an hour or more just asking Ally questions. She answered some and held back on others, not wanting to ruin our anticipation of the other two books in the trilogy.

We wanted to thank Ally for taking the time to come to our party, so I had the idea of having a vinyl lettered sign made with the quote, “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas because that poem was a big deal in Matched. I just didn’t know how to have it made, but my friends Nancy and Shelli offered to handle the logistics of the gift and it turned out absolutely fabulous! They even gave her a little bush of roses. (Again, if you’ve read the book, you’ll know why that’s important.)

After we had given the gift to Ally, Nancy gave each one of us a box to open at the same time. We had no idea what it was or that it was even coming. When we opened the box, we were all stunned to find a beautifully jeweled compact. Ally was shocked and said it was the perfect thing to get. She told us that she had told her husband she wanted to find a compact to commemorate Cassia and her memento.

The party was so much fun! I was so glad Ally took the time to come. But, it wouldn’t have been nearly as great if it hadn’t been for my friends. I’m always amazed at the things they can pull off to make our parties so much fun! They’re such an awesome group of people and my life is definitely better for knowing them. It was a night to remember! :D

Utah Book Bloggers 2010 Summer Social

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Jenni Elyse

In August (I know this is very late and not typical of me to do but I realized I hadn’t blogged about this event and I wanted to repent of my omission), I had the chance to attend another book blogger social for local authors and book bloggers in Utah. Twice a year, Natasha at Maw Books hosts this social to encourage hookups between authors and book bloggers to get to know each other and have fun.

Natasha enlisted the help of fellow book bloggers Suey and Becky. They did a great job organizing the party. It was a potluck and I heard the food was fantastic. I brought a salad from Subway so that I wouldn’t break the rules for boot camp. I was tempted on many occasions to partake of the wonderful desserts, but I abstained.

I was able to meet Lisa Mangum, the author of The Hourglass Door and Golden Spiral. She told me she was an editor for Deseret Book and I told her I was currently going to school in pursuit of a career as an editor too. She told me about her job and what to expect and that Deseret Book does internships every once in a while. I’ll have to look them up when I get done or close to being done with school.

After we ate, we all introduced ourselves to each other. There were a ton of book bloggers there and several authors as well–Bree Despain, Matthew Kirby, Lisa Mangum, Emily Wing Smith, and Sheralynn Pratt to name a few.

Natasha had us all bring a book to swap. I brought Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus. I had to read it for my class in spring. I picked up Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant and A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell. I’m not sure what either of them are about, but I’m excited to find out.

Matthew Kirby and Bree Despain had ARCs (advanced readers copies) of their new books The Clockwork Three and The Lost Saint (respectively). My friend Debbie and I were chomping at the bit to read a little bit of The Lost Saint and possibly take it home with us. But, we were good and left it in Bree’s hands. Matthew decided to send his book on a blog tour. Debbie went home with it first and it just got to me. I’m excited to start reading it.

It was a lot of fun to mingle with other book bloggers and local authors. I’m excited to be a part of this group, to experience it with Debbie, and I can’t wait for our next social.

A Wedding Fit for a Princess

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Jenni Elyse

On Friday, my niece Cami married her sweetheart Anders. Just like with my niece Carlee’s husband, I don’t know Anders as well as I knew some of my other nephews-in-law before my nieces were married. But, he seems like a very nice guy. And, he’s very smart–he’s currently finishing his PhD in Biomedical Science. When Cami was telling me about him, she told me he’s a nerd because he likes Harry Potter :roll: , Warcraft, and other things she’s not into.

Most of Anders’s family lives in California–the San Diego area to be exact. When I found this out, I told Cami I was disappointed she chose to get married in the LDS Logan Utah temple when she had a chance to get married in my favorite temple, the LDS San Diego California temple. She gave me some lame ;) excuse that her hair does weird things in the California climate so she chose to get married in Logan. I decided to forgive her since we have “getting married in the Logan temple” in common now.

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day–hot–but beautiful. Cami looked gorgeous! Her dress, hair, makeup, and jewelry complimented her figure and complexion flawlessly. (I wish I got a better picture of her, but hopefully, you’ll be able to see how pretty she was by the pictures I do post.)

As I stated in a previous post, all my siblings were at Cami’s wedding, and the last time all seven of us were together was at my wedding 12 years ago. Two of my sisters and my brother live out-of-state so getting us all together at the same time with everyone’s crazy schedules is hard. In fact, we still haven’t had the entire family (my siblings-in-law, nieces, nephews, nephews-in-law, and great-nieces and -nephews) together for about 20 years or so. But, we take what we can get.

I enjoyed watching Cami on her day, seeing her interact with her friends and family, and seeing her in a blissful state. It was great to spend time with my family and see some of my nephews and most of my nieces with their families. I hope Cami’s wedding was everything she wanted it to be. I sure thought it was beautiful. ;)

A Wedding Story

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Jenni Elyse

Last Thursday, my niece Carlee married her sweetheart Eric. I don’t know Eric as well as I knew some of my other nephews-in-law before my nieces were married, but he seems like a very nice guy. And, most importantly, he loves and adores Carlee.

Because most of Carlee’s immediate family live in Tennessee, all of the festivities were scheduled back to back so her family could be there for everything. I’m glad I had the chance to participate in most of the festivities surrounding this joyous occasion since my life is so busy right now. The only things I wasn’t able to go to were the family get together, Carlee’s bachelorette party, her endowment session, and wedding luncheon.

My niece Aymee, Carlee’s older sister, and Carlee’s new sister-in-law Maren threw a bridal shower. Aymee made all the cute decorations for the shower and the reception, including Carlee’s bouquet. (Aymee’s very talented and definitely received some of my mom’s crafting genes.)

Carlee and Eric got a lot of really great gifts that should help them get started on their new life together. Everyone even brought their favorite recipe to help them start a collection of recipes they can use.

The shower was a lot of fun. There was a lot of yummy food. My favorite was the water because it was slightly flavored with strawberries and lemons. And, even though my brownies didn’t look very pretty, they still tasted fabulous, if I do say so myself. ;)

I enjoyed seeing my mom, some of my sisters, and some of my nieces at the shower. (I just reread that sentence, and it sounds like I wasn’t excited to see all of my sisters or nieces, but that’s not it at all. What I meant is that I was excited to see the sisters and nieces that came to the shower because not all of them could make it.)

I was the only one who brought a camera so I was assigned as the official photographer for the party. Unfortunately, I forgot to have someone take a picture of me while I was there. :?

Carlee and Eric were married in the LDS Salt Lake Temple. It was a very nice ceremony. The sealer said many profound things as they often do during the ceremonies. I always enjoy listening to the sealer because it helps me imagine the types of things my sealer would’ve said to Corey and me since I don’t remember most of the things said during our ceremony.

When Corey and I walked into the waiting room of the temple, we were greeted by several of my family members. My brother Jared came down from Seattle for the festivities. My dad, my sister Shari, my sister Cindy, my brother-in-law Brett (Cindy’s husband–one of three brothers-in-law named Brett), and of course, my niece Aymee, my nephew-in-law Dave (Aymee’s husband), and my sister Becky and her husband Brett (Carlee’s parents) were there. I saw Becky at the shower, but I hadn’t seen Brett yet. The last time I saw him was last summer when the family came out for Sophie’s blessing.

When I saw Brett, my jaw dropped. I knew he had lost weight from a picture card Becky and Brett sent us for Groundhog Day, but I didn’t realize how much weight he had actually lost until I saw him in person. He has lost 55 pounds, which is awesome except that I can’t get over how much he doesn’t look like my brother-in-law anymore. (I was glad his voice sounded the same so I had some frame of reference from the past.) His face is different enough that he just doesn’t look like the Brett I know. It totally creeps me out. 8O

I kept giving him a hard time that he looked like a cancer patient who just got done with chemotherapy (other than the no loss of hair thing) because he doesn’t look like he has a lot of muscles anymore either. I also gave him the nickname of Auschwitz. (I realize now that nickname was kind of tasteless. It wasn’t meant to offend or make light of the Holocaust in any way, nor to make Brett feel bad. It was said in fun or at least meant to be said that way, and to help me cope with his sudden change in appearance.) Obviously, those of you who don’t know what he looked like before won’t realize how much of a change this really is. Also, this picture doesn’t do his weight loss justice!

After the ceremony, the family (and a friend) gathered on the temple grounds for pictures. It was a beautiful day! :D Many of the flowers were in bloom and the grounds, of course, were beautiful. Carlee’s pictures should be gorgeous.

I wanted to show the progression of getting Sophie to smile for us in the picture I used for Project 365. It’s kind of funny and really, really cute. The picture used for Project 365 is the third in the series.

Carlee and Eric had their reception at the Salt Lake Hardware building. It has really neat aesthetics and went really well with their theme and colors. Their colors were a dark purple, fuchsia, and black, and their theme was very vintage. They served cookies and milk as their refreshments, which are the best wedding refreshments I’ve ever had. And, they had a program in which Jessie Clark Funk, Brett, and Carlee and Eric sang. It was really cute and caused a lot of tears, especially the song Brett wrote about Carlee.

Because I don’t get to see Becky and her family very often and because I wasn’t able to attend the family get together the previous Sunday, Corey and I decided to stay the night at Aymee and Dave’s place after the reception. Becky and her family wanted to leave early Saturday morning because they drove from Tennessee and they wanted to stay ahead of the predicted snow storms in Wyoming. Even though I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them, it was nice to spend some time with them, with no worries about the wedding, before they left. :D