Event Recap: Marie Lu Bloggers' Forum + Book Signing

I cannot even tell you how much I looked forward to the Marie Lu event. Not even enough, seriously. After a ridiculously hell-ish week in school, only getting the magic email in my inbox and the thought of meeting the Marie Lu got me through it all. By Saturday, I absolutely could not contain my excitement, I legit almost peed myself because I was that excited to meet her. Fortunately, I was able to hold in all bodily fluids (thank you, Lord). And when Sunday finally came, it was glorious.

They don't just look pretty, they smell good too.

Upon arriving at an undisclosed venue, I was met with the cheers of my fellow book bloggers and the sight of a lovely Marie Lu book display. Of course, seeing the pretty books piled together only added to my excitement and all that was really left was the wait. Luckily, I had the amazingly crazy companionship of my blogger friends and the wait didn't seem as long. And finally, the guest of honor arrived with a special introduction from our ever fabulous host, Chad Dee.

Marie and Chad looking very sharp
(from the back row, lol).

And with that, the forum quickly began. And here are a few things we learned from the interview:

• If anyone had asked Marie who she was most like in the books, she'd have told you Day pre-Legend and June post-Champion.
• Marie is least like June because June is very left-brained while Marie is more in touch with her creative side. Also, in the scene wherein June goes into a very deep discussion about paper clips and their elements, Marie had to read a whole Wikipedia page about paper clips for about an hour or so just for that dialogue.
• Between Day and June, June is more of the rebel because she chose to sacrifice and change her whole life (instead of choosing to live the sheltered and luxurious life she did) for Day and the cause.
• Marie used to work in the video game industry at Disney and yes, princess games and also Prince Caspian (yum!) were involved. She chose that route instead of attending law school. (That is also where she met her Elector Primo. #kilig) She also thanks her experience in the video game industry for the very cinematic and badass action scenes in her book.
• Marie actually doesn't know what happens after Champion but she is very optimistic. *hint hint*
• Marie turned in the first 100 pages of the original draft of The Young Elites and her editor strongly disliked *cough*hated*cough* it but Marie asked for a second chance because she could not imagine a life wherein she could not write a Fantasy novel.
• The original protagonist of The Young Elites was a goody two shoes guy with Clark Kent tendencies aka he loved everyone. Adelina was originally the villain of the original novel and since Marie enjoyed writing her the most, she decided to rewrite The Young Elites in Adelina's perspective.
• Marie grew up reading a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy so she knows that she will definitely be staying between those two genres.
• Marie can only write while listening to music with either no lyrics or sung in a different language but anything she can understand messes with her train of thought. Also, she loves writing in trains even though she has only done it once.
• Before she writes any of her books, Marie draws her characters to properly get a visual and characterization from them.

Marie answering some questions.

Well, that's it! And now, onto the fun part: the book signing.

Marie signing this very shiny book.

Marie drawing on my copy of Prodigy.

Marie drawing on my copy of The Young Elites

Celine's (Two Ends of a Bookshelf) doodled copy of The Young Elites.
(Yes, that is indeed Adelina and Enzo smooching.)

Marie and I complementing each other's prettiness. Lol.
Srsly tho.

The Hardest Selfie Ever 8.0! Holy crap, we've done that many? Also,
welcome to the family Sab (Sab the Book Eater)!

And after all that fun, we took our last shot of the day.

Group photo! Whoot.

I then ate at Chili's with my #TeamActiveRomance baes.

Then off to the public signing we went!

Marie Lu's stage. Very comfy looking couches over there.

Honestly, it was very difficult getting into the book signing itself because by the time we got there, there were over 700+ people in attendance, and the crowd just kept growing. I was amazed at how they were able to fit that many people in their store. But seriously, looking at that crowd.

A bit of the crowd from above.

A bit of the crowd from the side.

People waiting by the doors for Marie Lu to arrive.

Fans cosplaying as Marie Lu's characters! They look awesome.

I seriously look up to all the people who waited for Marie Lu. The earliest bird in attendance arrived at 9:30 AM the day before, that is so crazy but admirable at the same time. #dedication I wish that I had gotten more photos from the book signing but I just couldn't, I tried to penetrate the crowd but they were tight. Lol. Here are the last of the pictures I took:

More book displays! The pretties.

Met Kevin (Tomebound) and Selva (Cuckoo For Books)!

I seriously had so much fun but by the time I left for good, I was exhausted. The walking, the wait and the heat killed me but meeting Marie Lu and seeing my blogger friends was worth all those things. I had an amazing time and it was a pleasure to meet Marie Lu, seriously.

My signed copies of Marie Lu's books.
Let us happy cry and fangirl together.

As always, there are so many people to thank and I will do my best to get everyone. The biggest thanks goes to National Book Store, their team (Sir Chad, Sir JB, Sir Louie, Miss Loraine, Miss Malou and everyone else I may have missed, thank you so much) and to Marie Lu for agreeing to come to the Philippines (please bring your hubby next time, lol). Thanks to Kai (Amaterasu Reads), Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs) and Jesselle (The Lifelong Bookworm) for the pictures! A big smoochy thank you to my #TeamActiveRomance babes, I love you all. Seriously. And last but never the least, my parents for supporting me and for everything and God for blessing me and also for everything. Thank You.

For more Marie Lu love, check out Marie's message to her Filipino fans:

And gorgeous Champion-inspired nails done by Nicole (The Twins Read), feel free to talk Nicole and her awesome nail creations at

Instagram / Twitter / Tumblr :

Also, be sure to watch our Facebook page (link here) because we will be doing a Marie Lu giveaway soon. Thanks for reading, y'all! Have a great week! :)

Recaps to check out:

A Legendary Sunday: Marie Lu in Manila!