CHASING SHADOWS LAUNCH PARTY!!!!!!

One of the great things about (1) owning a bookstore and (2) having an awesome business partner who supports your writing, even though your book absolutely does NOT fit the store’s focus (spicy romance vs self-help / spirituality???)… is that you can throw a helluva launch party for your debut novel!!

Since the Chasing Shadows release date is March 3, the day before Mardi Gras, we decided to throw a Mardi Gras-themed launch party and wow…has it come together in so many fun ways:

·      The awesome business partner agreed to throw in a $50 store gift certificate for a drawing for folks who sign up for my newsletter at the launch. 

·      I found fun ‘book stickers’ for everyone who buys a book. (They get to choose whether they want one from the ‘Everything Nice’ collection or the ‘Everything Spice!’ collection.)

·      Our very own ‘Tea Mistress’ at the shop – an herbalist extraordinaire who makes the most extraordinary teas —favorites include Namaste the F*ck Away, Spicy Disaster, and Too Glam to Give a Damn — made a new tea JUST for my book launch and dubbed it My Book is Spicier than Your Tea. . Folks will be able to enjoy a hot cup of tea at the launch and/or take home a free sample or buy a whole jar to enjoy later.

·      We have King Cake flown in from the Big Easy!! (All my business partner on that front!)

·      We have Hurricane mocktails (because we don’t have a liquor license, though there might be a slightly stronger version in the back office for staff. Maybe. Just because I’m making a Rum run before the launch begins, I mean… who knows? It could be for anything, right?)

·      We have free Mardi Gras feather masks AND free Mardi Gras beaded necklaces for everyone who walks in the door. As the sign next to said beads says, “No flashing required! Or allowed.”

·      Everybody who buys anything at the shop today gets a free VERY cool incense burner. (Which might be because yours truly thought she was ordering individuals when she was actually ordering boxes of six so we wound up with several hundred more than planned, but hey … whatever.)

·      And we have Mardi Gras Mystery Bags of cool HBS merchandise folks can buy!

All in all, it looks to be a great time for all and I’m both super-excited and super-appreciative.  

And yes, okay—there were a FEW hiccups. Like the fact that my publisher lost my book orders (TWO of them), so I had a few high blood pressure days when I thought I might be throwing a book launch party WITH NO BOOKS, but they came through with a rush order at their expense and voila! We have books. 

So HERE WE GO!!  Chasing Shadows is about to wing her way out into the world. WOOT!!!