Move over, Tyra. Tempe is about to get a little more fierce when the Fierce Reads Spring 2015 tour arrives on Thursday, May 14, at Changing Hands.
Four young-adult authors will discuss and present their new books, ranging from stories of revenge to a girl trapped on an island where she has only 365 days to escape. But this isn't going to be four authors recapping their books to the audience.
"It's going to have the feel of everyone hanging out, having fun," says Katie Finn, author of Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold who also goes by Morgan Matson. "This is not a dry bookstore event."
See also: 10 Graphic Novels to Read This Summer
The event is meant to feel like a party, Finn says, complete with pizza, bingo, and a photo booth. But more importantly, Fierce Reads allows authors to interact one-on-one with the fans and creates a space for fans to interact with each other.
"Bookstores that do events like this are so great because they do foster a community," Finn says.
And by grouping authors together, Fierce Reads enables fans to learn about books and authors they may have never heard of before, Finn adds.
Of the four authors on this first leg of the spring 2015 Fierce Reads tour, three have toured together before: Finn, Marie Rutkoski, and Lindsay Smith.
"We played off each other really well," Finn says about touring with Rutkoski and Smith last year. "It just felt like a conversation.
This year, Finn will bring the next book in her Broken Hearts and Revenge series where characters Gemma and Hallie find themselves in a dangerous revenge cycle.
Rutkoski, a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, will present the second book in her Winner's series, The Winner's Crime, where Lady Kestrel struggles with her engagement to Valoria's crown prince and becomes a spy on the brink of discovering an alarming secret.
Smith brings Skandal, the sequel to Sekret, in which Yulia and Valentine work with CIA psychics in Washington, D.C. after escaping Russia.
Lynne Matson, the fourth author on the tour, is both new to the tour and new to the YA fiction genre, which she entered after leaving her job as an attorney.
She will be sharing the newest installment in her Nil series, Nil Unlocked. This survival-thriller takes place on the island of Nil where seventeen-year-old Charley doesn't know inhabitants only have 365 days to escape the island before they die. She must race against the clock to save herself and the boy she's fallen in love with who is almost out of time.
"Everyone's books are fabulous, and I'm so excited to be on tour with these women," Finn says. "I hope [attendees] just gave a great time...and hear about new books."
The party kicks off at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, at Changing Hands in Tempe, 6428 South McClintock Drive. Admission is free. If you visit the store between now and May 14, enter the Fierce Reads Raffle for a chance to win all four of the authors' books and more prizes. But you must be present at the event to win. For more information, visit changinghands.com.
