Recap: Becca Fitzpatrick Manila Book Signing!

Summer started in a really good way with the arrival of NYT best selling author Becca Fitzpatrick in Manila for a signing last March 29th.

Photo from Algel @ Tea-rrific Reads

I've mentioned it before, and I will say it again! The reason why book signings are so fun for me is not just because I get to meet YA authors of the fabulous books I read, but it's also the time where I get to meet my lovely book blogger friends and fangirl over anything and everything book related (and sometimes other things too!).

I had the privilege to attend the bloggers forum and ask Becca Fitzpatrick, author of the popular Hush, Hush series, a question. My question was this: Patch is a "bad boy" and Hush, Hush is a story about Patch falling from grace. How did you get the idea? Did Patch just appear in your head?

Her answer was: Patch was inspired by a guy she knows way back when she was in high school. When she wrote the first draft of Hush, Hush, Patch then was not a fallen angel at all, just a regular guy with a dark secret but she had no clue what it was at first. Becca wanted to show how he was once a good guy, at some point of his life, someone you can look up to but he fell from grace and so he became a Fallen Angel. She did say that Fallen Angels were the original bad boys!

Bloggers asking questions and recording / filming the Q&A!

Some points worth highlighting:

- Does Becca agree with people comparing Nora with Bella? Becca said it's okay to compare, but since she doesn't read reviews of her books, she had no idea that Nora was being compared to Bella. She's okay with it though, since people can say whatever they want with her books but Twilight is different from Hush, Hush and she wrote Hush, Hush before Twilight even came out.
- She didn't have a lot of fears when Hush, Hush was released because she didn't think that a lot of people will read her book.
- Becca said the story for Black Ice was inspired by a family trip she went to when she was in high school, in Wyoming. She got sick and ended up watching a horror movie and she thought what if she wrote a story but with a girl who accompanies two people down a mountain and ends up falling in love with one of them.
- Becca has two books coming out soon, Black Ice and another book called Sapphire Skies.
- We got a sneak peek of what Sapphire Skies is about! It's about a girl named Stella who's from Philadelphia and she was a witness to a brutal crime, and ends up in a witness protection program that lands her in Nebraska. Stella just wants to go home, but she was gradually falling in love with the cowboy who lives next door and ends up being torn between staying in Nebraska or moving away so the bad guys who are after her won't find her.

You can read the whole transcript of the Q&A here at The Bookaholic Blurbs! 

Becca: "Want to take a picture?" And I'm like "YES PLEASE!"

Becca was really nice! She calls herself an introvert, but you wouldn't notice because she talks passionately about her books and stories! She's also got a pretty sharp memory since she remembered a friend who was a member of her Fallen Angel street team years ago when Hush, Hush first came out! Also, Becca surprised everyone by giving each blogger a BLACK ICE ARC!

And of course we didn't pass up the chance to bond, take some photos and try our luck with our Ellen Oscar type of selfie! We really (well, I did!) try, but you still win, Ellen!

You know it's a "Kai selfie" when you see a partial shot of my face, never my whole face.

After chilling for a few minutes at Burger King (we chilled out here the last time we went to Gayle Forman's signing!), we made our way to the public signing and there were a ton of people there already!I spotted a person with sticker numbered "515" but I heard there were more than 700 people in line. Also, 3 lucky early birds received their own ARCs of Black Ice as a prize! They lined up for registration at 6 am!

So obviously, while we were there at the corner of the stage, it was time for another round of crazy photos while we try not to wreck the bookshelf that accidentally dislodged itself from the rest of the shelves before the signing started. It was not our fault!

What else can I say? Angels!

A few lucky fans got to ask Becca a question, including a rare male ultra fan of the series! Also, it's not a National Bookstore signing if the author doesn't get to have a selfie with the bookish crowd!

I had to run to the stage and join the press to snap a photo of this when it happened.

Thank you so much National Bookstore, Becca Fitzpatrick and Simon & Schuster for making such a wonderful, wonderful event possible! Becca, I hope you come back soon and I wish you had a great time in Manila!

*Photos grabbed from Kate @ The Bookaholic Blurbs and Algel @ Tea-rrific Reads!