Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin.

Two words describe how I feel after this afternoon’s blogger lovefest party at Random House Canada’s office: Overwhelmed and speechless.

On the invite we got from Lindsey, it said there were some “very special guests”, but none of us really knew what to expect. Even when we walked into the reception area and saw the three books on display, it didn’t click in until Lindsey flat out told us that those three authors were joining us for the party today.

We then walked into their decorated boardroom, helped ourselves to some refreshments and chatted with other fellow bloggers, both those we knew and those we knew of. So great to finally put a face to the name/twitter handle/blog name!

(Not sure what’s going on with the camera flash… Keeps reflecting off the same part of my glasses! >_< )

Lindsey did a mini presentation with some blogger appreciation and love of their books (That’s my pic in the presentation!), showcased some of the amazing upcoming new books and then turned it over to the three special guests: Erin Morgenstern (author of The Night Circus) said that she was told to, and I quote, “Say something about bloggers.. yadayadayada…” 😀 Paula McLain (author of The Paris Wife), and Ami McKay (author of The Virgin Cure and The Birth House).

We were gifted with copies of the three books so that we could get them signed and spent the next little while chatting with the lovely and talented women who wrote these fantastic novels.

Speaking with Ami McKay, I admired her lovely moth ring (apropos to the main character’s name in The Virgin Cure) and I told her how I actually just started reading it on my Kobo. She said she definitely wanted to hear from me afterwards on how I found the difference, reading it on an eReader vs printed copy since there are sidebar notes that don’t necessarily translate well onto electronic format.

Meeting Erin Morgenstern and getting to chat with her and Christa (Hooked on Books) about BEA and other blogging events was fantastic. She admired my star earrings, which I coincidentally wore, not knowing she was going to be there. (Or maybe subconsciously I did! 😉 )

Paula McLain is so very sweet, and was such a pleasure chatting with her. It wasn’t until I read the recap from Sabrina (of Lit, Laugh, Love) that I realized Paula McLain is a fellow Harry Potter fan. Amazing. I have heard nothing but great things about The Paris Wife and can’t wait to get started on it.

After conversations about books, blogs, the hotness of David Duchovny and awesomeness of flashmobs, we made our departure at about 4pm. The 2 hours flew by way too quickly! What an absolutely amazing afternoon. Thank you to Lindsey and the rest of the Random House team and thank you to the authors who partied with us bloggers!