Books and the City Spring Blogger Evening

Books and the City, the women's fiction spin-off from Simon & Schuster, has a special place in my bookish heart. Not only is it headed up by one of the most passionate and inspirational people in the publishing world (I'm looking at you Sara-Jade ♥) but my first book event after I moved to London was one they organised, and I've been hooked ever since.

The Spring Blogger's Evening is always super fun. Held at the Simon and Schuster offices near King's Cross, they are all about some of the biggest women's fiction titles they'll be publishing that year, with readings and Q&As with some of their star authors. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make last year's event, so I was extra excited for the 2017 edition. The day of the event I did have some bad news (hence this post being delayed too) but I decided to go anyway, which was a good choice as bookish distractions with wonderful people was just what I needed.



This year the authors in attendance were Alice Peterson (A Song for Tomorrow), Dani Atkins (This Love), Milly Johnson (The Queen of Wishful Thinking), and Kate Furnivall (The Betrayal), with special last-minute guest appearances from Sarah Vaughan (Anatomy of a Scandal) and Juliet Ashton (The Woman at Number 24). All their upcoming books sound ace but I'm especially excited for A Song for Tomorrow and Anatomy of a Scandal, which both sound SO intriguing. Sadly for me, the new Sarah Vaughan isn't out until 2018! Time to reread The Art of Baking Blind in anticipation... A really fun part of the Q&A this year was that all authors told two truths and one lie. And their truths were super good too, including ghosts, earthquakes and Bryan Adams.



After the event it was time for a good ol' bookish chinwag with the BATC team, fellow bloggers, and the authors. This is usually one of the highlights of my evening, but sadly I wasn't able to stay long this time around (I did have a super early Eurostar train to catch the next morning, after all. Considering that was also from King's Cross Station, maybe I should've camped out in the S&S offices so I could've stayed longer? Next time.). I did get to enjoy some of the stunning cupcakes that had been made especially for the event by Restoration Cake with elements from the authors' book covers on them and even took one home. They were almost too pretty to eat but that didn't stop me from stuffing my face with them, of course.



Thanks so much to SJV and the rest of Team BATC for another fun-filled evening (and for spoiling us rotten with cakes and bookish goodies. You're too kind to us ♥