Event Wrap Up: Rock The Boat Blogger Brunch!

Hi guys! I'm here today with something a little bit different, because the other day (Saturday 5th September) I was invited to London to the One World Publishing house for the Rock the Boat Blogger Brunch! 

Being my first blogger event, you can imagine I was ridiculously excited. Not only did I have to opportunity to talk to the publicists about ILLUMINAE (the main book we were there for) but we also got to discuss about the publishing house themselves and what books they had lined up for the future! On this day I also got to meet some of my amazing blogger friends that I've never met in real life before, so this was an awesome get together! 

So when we arrived we all stood outside the door of the publishing house debating who should ring the doorbell. I mean, we're totally not childish, I promise! 

After entering the publishing house we were introduced to the lovely Cailin and Sarah and shown to this table that was stockpiled with food! Cheese, ham, bread, cakes. You name it, everything that you could imagine! While we were dined with luxury brunch, Cailin and Sarah introduced us to Rock the Boat as a publishing house and informed us of their aims and objectives for the company.  They entail in publishing 12 books per year so that they can focus specifically on finding quality, plot driven titles that will entice their readers instead of acquiring and pushing out hundreds of titles that might not settle with their target audience. I really appreciate their drive in this matter - I think it's extremely effective and I fully support it!

Next we discussed the book we were mainly there to talk about, ILLUMINAE by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff! Cailin had a video prepared by Amie and Jay that gave us insights into their writing process. Who wrote each character, which scenes were their favourite to write ect. This video was extremely fun to watch because you can really see the authors enthusiasm of working together and also their enthusiasm for the series!

Caitlin also showed us the ILLUMINAE website (which you can view here) and all of the features that it has on it. Not only are their options to pre-order the book, but there are exclusive video clip,  diagrams about the spacecrafts involved in the book, information about the characters and obviously information about the authors! It's a really pretty website and really easy to navigate. It even has a timer that counts down to the book launch! A really amazing feature!

Following on from the ILLUMINAE discussion, we were informed of two new titles coming to Rock the Boat in the near future. You can look forward to the release of an ebook of The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen which has a stunning cover! You can expect a cover reveal for that book which publishes in April 2015 sometime soon from one of my fellow bloggers! 

However, that wasn't the only book cover that we were exposed to! We were also shown the  absolutely phenomenal cover for The Island by Olivia Levez! I wish I could show you the cover now because it is literally so stunning and probably one of my favourites published from Rock the Boat, although Nest comes a close competitor! Look forward to a cover reveal from somebody soon! 

Now we were extremely lucky because we had Olivia in the offices that day and she came to speak to us bloggers about her debut novel! Both Sarah and Cailin sound extremely enthusiastic about this book and promise how amazing it is! The book, published in March 2016 is about a girl marooned on  a desert island after an air crash and her struggle for survival. Interwoven with her island story is the story of her life leading up to her journey, the poor choices she made in London and the reason for those choices! Doesn't it sound interesting! I cannot wait to get to read this thoroughly intriguing novel! Below is a more official synopsis found online:

Fifteen-year-old Fran Stanton is a rock. She is an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries.

When she sets fire to the school science lab, she is given a choice: either spend two years in confinement or take part in a social experiment – a month on a remote desert island with other rebellious teens and learn to work as a team.

Fran’s not exactly a team-player and it seems like she’s got what she’s wished for when her plane crashes and she’s cast away on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Alone with only her memories, self-destructive Fran must try to survive.

Until she discovers that the island’s not as deserted as she first thought.

It seems that words from a washed-up dictionary, a dog and a boy named Ru have a funny way of melting even the stoniest of hearts. 

So overall we all had a phemonenal time at the brunch, and learned a lot about the upcoming titles and more importantly, about the publishing house itself. As my first official blogger's brunch I have to admit that I was thoroughly impressed. Rock the Boat seem really enthusiastic about all of the titles they're publishing, being focused on getting people to enjoy reading and to become absorbed in the plots of the book they publish.

As aforementioned, it was the first time meeting all of my online blogger friends, so here is a lovely picture of everyone together! Don't we all look so happy! 

I just want to say thank you to Sarah and Cailin for having us at the publishing house, it was wonderful. Also, thank you for the amazing tote bag filled with swag! I can't say no to bookmarks, postcards, ILLUMINAE extras and the early manuscript of Katherine Howe's new novel!