Event Recap + Giveaway: Ransom Riggs Press Forum & Book Signing

Last March 3rd' 2013, Ransom Riggs had a reading and a book signing over at Fully Booked (in their Fort branch.) Geraldine and I were lucky enough to have been invited to Fully Booked's Press Forum for Ransom Riggs that happened before the book signing itself. Unfortunately, Geraldine couldn't make it because she had to study for our Chinese exam (boo.) Ge and I actually met Ransom during the Tahereh Mafi signing the day before and Ge totally crushed on him. Yuuuup. Never gonna let her live it down. Moving on... I ended up taking Maricar from Black Plume *waves* who always seems to be my forum buddy. Haha! There were only a few people at the forum at least less than 10 bloggers and media people and of course, the Fully Booked Team. (Hi, Victoria!) We also met up with other book bloggers: Kate from The Bookaholic Blurbs, Leslie from bibliophilekid and Kazhy from My Library in the Making. Now get read for an influx of pictures and tiny little captions:

Ransom Riggs answering questions during the press forum.

Here are a few things I learned about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Ransom Riggs:

• Miss Peregrine's sequel will be out on January 2014 (After 5 years! *faints*)
• He didn't know that Miss Peregrine's was actually a Young Adult till Barnes & Noble shelved his book there.
• Ransom Riggs had over 300+ pictures picked out for Miss Peregrine's but only used 50 or so images (sad Ransom.)
• He likes looking through bins full of pictures to look for ones that intrigue him.
• He has sold over 1,000,000+ copies of his book (not in a day though!)
• When asked if the pictures or story came first, he answered that the pictures did.
• He is extremely tall.
• He's written about 800 pages for Book 2... but deleted over 700 of them.

Well, that's it. Back to the pictures:

Ransom Riggs signing my books.

Me with Ransom Riggs. (Ha! I'm taller than him.)

Maricar, Ransom and I. (Now we're both taller than him! :D)

Now this is at the actual book signing itself. There were A TON of people! More than 200+ fans went and the place was packed! Lookie here, homies:

HOLY MOTHER OF APRONS!!

Ransom Riggs reading an excerpt from his book to us. (And yes, I am flying.)

Ransom chatting with a fan and he's totes about to sign her book. Just you wait.

Ransom signing a book. Yes, this is a legit play-by-play of everything he does. *stalker smile*

Just a random group picture with other book bloggers. (Kate, Maricar, Me, Leslie and Kazhy.)
(Picture taken from Kate. Thanks, lady! ;D)

#TeamHandsomePHILIPPINES Group photo!
Ransom remembered us from the day before and whispered to us that Tahereh would be there in 5 minutes. OMGG!! Thanks, Ransom! ;)

And this part (below) was one of the highlights of the event. The other book bloggers and I met this lovely girl, Maureen, who drew a spectacular sketch of Ransom Riggs just a few minutes before. She told us that she wasn't even there for the signing but just to draw random people. I fangirled when I saw her sketch because it looked so awesome. I told her to go up to Ransom and give it to him but she was adamant and didn't want to, so I told her that I'd give her a signed copy of his book if she gave him her drawing. In the end, she gave in and decided to hand him her drawing. Thank heavens that Maricar still kept her number because her number was up next (I think it was #155?) Ransom said something about her drawing being so accurate that it was creepy. Haha! He even personalized the book for her so there's two signatures from him there now! Whoot! Anyhoo, here is her awesome drawing:

My eyes are blinded by its sheer awesomeness.

Here is Maureen holding her new signed book with Ransom and him holding his new sketch. Whoot!

Message to Maureen: In case you ever see this, I forgot your last name so I can't tag you in the pictures. Sorry, girl! (Eeep. O.O) And I hope you enjoy your new book and good luck with your drawings! You rock!

Other highlight: Tahereh DID show up! Maricar saw her first and we were all pretty shocked even though we knew that she was going to be there. Apparently, she really wasn't suppose to go but she did tell me the day before that she'd be there and Ransom warned us as well. So, yay! Tahereh remembered us and asked Kazhy and I if all we did was hang out at book signing and obviously, we said YES. There were actually people who recognized her and wanted to get their books signed but they just didn't know how to approach her since she was busy talking with someone (the owner of Fully Booked, we were told.) But in the end, a couple of people were able to get their books signed and so did I! Again. I talked to Tahereh the day before and she told me that she'd deface my other copy of Unravel Me during Ransom's signing so she asked me if I brought my copy for her to deface but I told her that I had decided to give my extra copy to my friend. I also told her that she could deface my friend's copy but she declined and said that I was very sweet for giving my friend my extra copy and that she wanted to deface my copy. Tahereh Mafi = THE NICEST PERSON EVER. So yeah, I got a book signed for my friend and Kazhy did too. Here's our group picture with Tahereh (sans Kate. D:):

Leslie, Me, Tahereh, Kazhy and Maricar.
We're Tahereh's Mafia the Philippine branch. Hahaha!

We actually also got a little something for Lyra that she requested either Leslie or I do, and we did! It was a pretty funny experience that involved Adam, a Hello Kitty notebook page and Tahereh. *wink*

Well that's it! It was absolutely amazing seeing everyone again and hanging out with the other lovely bloggers. A big, big thank you to Ms. Victoria Velasco and Fully Booked for inviting us to the press forum and for making the event happen! It was a rousing success and I'm pretty sure all the attendees had a lot of fun, so thank you! HUGS.

Oh and here's a little something for you, guys...

Eeeeep!! *massive flail*

This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway and all you need to do is fill out the form and you're entered! Good luck, everyone!!

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