Author Visit - Amy Reichert

Last year for book club we read The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy Reichert. It was my type of book -- chick lit. So when Kimberly-Little Chute Library was having Amy Reichert talk at the library, I was excited. I bought her next book (Luck, Love & Lemon Pie) and read it on vacation. It was not at all like Coconut Cake and I didn't really enjoy it but that didn't stop me from going from going to hear Amy speak.

I am so glad I went. Amy is hilarious. She talked about how she got started writing books. It all started with NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month. It took her a few years and a few attempts to get published (and a few lucky breaks). We also got short synopsis of her books, all of which are set in Wisconsin.

We then got to ask questions. Because most of her titles have food in them or the books are at least food themed, I wanted to know if the recipes were family recipes or not. They aren't family recipes per se but definitely are part of her family. I received a nifty new magnet for my collections as an added bonus.

Because her books deal with food, the library also served coconut cake, lemon pie, and apple cider. The coconut cake in the book was much better than the coconut cake we had. It seemed dry. The lemon pie on the other hand was very tasty, extremely light and airy.

Of course there was a meet and greet afterwards. Because my book I picked up for vacation was already signed, I broke down and bought her other two books I didn't read. Then I wanted in line to get them signed. I also snagged a photo of us.

I love when libraries have authors come. I am disappointed when the author visits are during the day. Book festivals are the best. I can't wait for the book festival next month. Anytime I can hear an author speak, even if I don't buy a book, it's interesting especially to learn how they got started. I'm glad we have such good library systems by us that offer these events.