Amor Deliria Nervosa: My Lunch Date with Lauren Oliver!

I live in a place where author signings are few, there's no point in denying that. So imagine how excited I was when I found out that a (my favorite) bookstore was bringing not just any other YA author who's books are in my favorite shelves, but someone I really wanted to meet, Lauren Oliver.

Suddenly, I got the opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime. I must've earned some really good karma during the past month that I won the privilege to chat, eat and even breathe the same air as her! I loved Delirium, and as if that wasn't enough of a sign, I just finished reading Pandemonium days before I received my lunch invite, and raved about it! It was meant to be, I tell you!

I was more than ready to have my books signed. Look!

All 10 winners can bring a companion with them, and I brought with me a good friend and a fellow book blogger, Precious of Fragments of Life. Being both the geographically challenged girls that we are, Precious and I met around 11 am, an hour before the lunch party so we have enough time to find the place in case we got lost. Good thing we didn't. Then there it was... Recipes by Cafe Metro.

They serve amazing Filipino cuisines, you know!

I met a few people I recognized, some from blogging, some from Twitter / Facebook and that made the experience all the more exciting! We got inside and waited for a few minutes before Lauren arrived. It was safe to say I was starstruck (and speechless) when I saw Lauren come in to the restaurant, with a huge smile on her face and she was as happy to see us as we are to see her. I mean come on, Lauren Oliver? My fangirl hormones were on overdrive mode and I knew I had to sit near her. And I did manage to sit close to her. Well, in front of her so I got to see everything as it happens. And I can't even remember how I managed to put words together and form coherent sentences and introduce myself to her. (In case you don't know, we've had Lauren join some of the blog events Precious and I hosted before)

Then we get to chat with Lauren!

After fighting the initial bout of nerves, most of us calmed down enough that conversation started. We talked about John Green and The Fault In Our Stars, which books of him we've read. And we wouldn't pass up the chance to talk about The Hunger Games, of course! And then we started talking about other author signings here and how Lauren Kate tried eating Balut. Lauren, if you're reading this, my dare is still on! Eat Balut!

After lunch, the signing began. Those of us invited to the private lunch had 1 of our books signed by Lauren. (I had 4 books w/ me, so I had to chose which one she should sign.) And since she was moving seats every few minutes so she can talk to all of us, she sat again in front of me. Of course I took that time to snap some pictures.

Lauren signing some books!

Precious and I didn't miss a single second and asked to have some photos taken with Lauren.

Ignore that really creepy goofy smile on my face.

Then two fans gave Lauren a gift! A lovely scarf, some dried mangoes and letters. I was grinning all the time she was reading. I love how she appreciated the gesture. The girls got hugs! I want a hug from her too! Then another fan gave her a clock necklace, which she wore through the whole signing!

Lauren reading the letters from these two lucky ladies!

Lauren wearing the lovely necklace. No that's not a ghost.

When lunch was finally over, it was time to take a group photo, a commemorative shot of the most memorable two hours of my life. And there were tons of cameras snapping photos Lauren was like "okay, some of the last shots!". And before we all left, we had ONE BIG GROUP HUG!

One of the best moments of my life, captured in one awesome photo!

Days like this doesn't happen often, and I feel like loving books goes on to a whole new level once you've met the author of the book you really, really loved. Thanks National Book Store for making this possible, and thank you Lauren Oliver for spending a very memorable lunch date with us! Sa uulitin! ('Til next time!) I'll bring tons of dried mangoes and balut for you! :)

I'll be blogging about the actual book signing next, so watch out for it!