*drum roll*
The final book part of Readers on the River! Readers on the River took place over two days. I found out it is actually biannual, versus annual. So the next time it’ll occur will be 2025.
This is J.R Ward’s event so readers could meet her and take a photo. I haven’t read anything by her, so I didn’t stand in line.
We stopped by the party before walking to the Spaghetti Factory. It was so cool inside and had great food and drinks.
One of the panels I watched was Put My Heart Through the Wringer featuring Skye Warren, Lexi Blake, Jennifer Probst, Kennedy Ryan, Laurelin Paige, and Dylan Allen. I’ve watched many panels over the years, and this was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
From there it was signing time!
Kennedy Ryan was a definite must meet. Fangirling happened, though nothing will top the time I met Maggie Stiefvater. I said I loved her books and she proceeded to ask what I’d recently read that I enjoyed. My mind blanked and I just blinked at her.
I said I promised that I read books, and we both laughed.
Nothing of the sort happened at Readers on the River! Kennedy Ryan was so nice. She gave me a hug and she signed two books for me. Being the very best sister on earth, I got a copy of Before I Let Go signed to Kendall. I had Longshot signed to me.
Next came seeing Xio Axelrod and having my copy of The Girls With Stars In Her Eyes signed to me. I love music world set books, so I enjoyed this one. When I ran Well Read Black Girl book club, this was one of the books I did!
When I was waiting to get my last one signed, I plopped down to wait for my number to be called. Someone sat next to me and we got to talking. I will talk to literally anyone at book events, so we found out we come to Kentucky for a horse event. We figured out that we’re both model horse hobbyists! This is how I met Sara Parr. What are the chances that out of all of the people I’d run into a fellow hobbyist?
After a full day of signings and meeting people, Readers on the River came to a close. My signed loot minus the Kennedy Ryan books.
But the journey wasn’t over yet. The next morning we began our journey home and that included a roundabout pitstop at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Kristian Beverly 