Tonight I was lucky enough to attend the Penguin Teen Australia Live event being held at Black Cat Books in Paddington. 

Felicity from PTA is one of those fantastically passionate people and I enjoyed hearing all the things she had to say (most especially those Fiery Heart quotes! If I wasn’t already anxiously anticipating the fourth Bloodline book – I would be now!). I loved the message of it being okay (more than okay) to love YA fiction even when your teen years are a little way behind you. 

I learned a lot – I didn’t know that they were making On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta into a movie – and found so many incredible sounding books coming out later this year to add to my ever-growing to-read list. 

We got a sneak peek at the new PTA website and I got to meet some fantastic bloggers that I’ve long admired. I have to admit I felt pretty important when whYAnot had a mention on the bloggers slide (although next to all those gorgeous other blogs it has made me more aware than ever that I need to create a proper image and brand for this blog. It’s coming soon!)

It is a really incredible thing to be able to discuss books with people who are as passionate about them as I am. The talk about Vampire Academy: Blood Sister, the Bloodlines series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, John Green – I could go on. The First Third by Will Kostakis and The Cinderella Moment by Jennifer Kloester (I’m pretty thrilled that it’s going to be the pink cover that I voted for) are definitely going to be book I know I’ll buy when they’re released later this year. 

There was some swag (The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is sitting on my coffee table in front of me wishing that I didn’t have an assignment to work on later tonight) and I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Rachel Caine’s Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires #14) which was nice.  And I bought a copy of John Green & David Levithan’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson! 

If you ever get the chance to go to a PTA Live event – I strongly recommend it. I had such a great time! Not even getting lost on the way there and spending over 90 minutes in traffic would take away from the experience. Great people talking about incredible sounding books and movies. Sounds kind of perfect, right?

One last thing before I stop fangirling and get knee-deep in text books – Black Cat Books is a gorgeous little bookstore. If you find yourself in the area – check it out!