Thursday, August 4, 2016

A WORLD WITHOUT YOU Book Tour, Days 5 & 6: Connecticut and New York City

After all the sightseeing and recording and mac and cheese from the Boston area, it was kind of a relief to take the train to Connecticut for a well-deserved day off with bestie and fellow author Lauren DeStefano.


The view from my lovely hotel. All the spires of churches and Yale University looked like little outcroppings of magic, no? 


For dinner, we went to Louis' Lunch, which, according to legend, is where cheeseburgers were invented. They take the recipe to heart, serving them exactly the same way as they did in the old days:


White bread, tomatoes, and onion. No ketchup.


You can see a bit of the bread toaster and burger griller in this pic, but by far the best thing about it was the two men cooking and serving. They were a riot!

After my short break, we got an early train and hitched a ride to New York City! 


Taking the train meant we ended up at Grand Central Station; it's always so wonderful to step off a train and into this gorgeous station. I love the constellations looking down on all the people scurrying about. Anyone else ever notice that the Orion constellation is right next to the bee? (low key Across the Universe and The Body Electric reference ftw!)


First things first--before we even were able to properly check into the hotel, my mom and I hoofed it over to Times Square for her to check out the bustling center of the city. We saw where the New Year's Eve ball is...


...and then bumped into the singing Naked Cowboy...


...before I got her some cheesecake at Junior's. After that, we went back to the hotel where I got ready for my event at my beloved Books of Wonder


I had my mom with me, which is my excuse for taking the classic cheesy shot of author-with-sign ;)

The brilliant author of Rock Fall, Everyone Dies, Lindsay Ribar, hosted me for the event, and it was a blast. Lindsay's one of the best people I know, and I adored sharing the stage with her--almost as much as I adored her latest book, which is hilarious and heart breaking and brilliant! (Psst: signed copies of both our books are available from Books of Wonder!)


And whoops! I think I forgot to grab my own picture of the event, so shout-out to Books of Wonder for recording it (and thanks for letting me steal it)...

After the event, I had to take my mom to the Empire State Building. We got there at the perfect time, just a few minutes before the sun was going to set. So we have brilliant evening photographs...

The top of the tower

Freedom Tower + the Statue of Liberty


Me and the Mother

...and then before we even made it all the way around the top, we got beautiful nighttime shots of the city.

The Chrysler Building

Downtown

The Empire State Building from the street level
 The next morning, we went to Eataly, a huge Italian market. The cheese display alone is drool-worthy:


Then we walked around Madison Square Park for a bit. It really is perfectly located, with a fantastic view of the Empire State Building on one side...


...and the lovely Flat Iron Building on the other. One day. One day I will get to go inside this briallint building, and it will be amazing.


Afterwards, I got to hang out with my fantastic and amazing agent, Merrilee Heifetz. (Ignore the goofy smile on my face--I just am so happy to be around her!) And I got to meet with my foreign rights agent (who is working hard to get A World Without You to other countries!) and meet Merrilee's new assistant, Allie, who is happiness in human form.


After lunch, my mom and I split ways so that I could continue the book tour elsewhere and she could meet up with family. I had a lovely long and rainy train ride as I continued south, perfect weather for getting a bit of writing work done.


 And when the train finally stopped, four hours later, I was in Washington, DC, ready to start the next leg of my tour!



Stick around all this week for more updates and travelogue of my recent tour--including a literal whale, a makeover, and a naked cowboy! 

And don't forget to enter my on-going giveaway--100 people who take a photograph of A World Without You and post it online will get a free surprise gift in the mail! 

More details and entry form are located here.

And hey! Why not get yourself a fancy signed copy of the book? 

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