My dearest Readers,
I have to say it was a pretty exciting year for me. My first book, Mistress of Pleasure came out in September 2008 and received an amazing review and a K.I.S.S. award (Knights in Shining Silver) from Romantic Times Book Reviews. As if that weren’t exciting enough, I discovered RT nominated Mistress of Pleasure for Best First Historical Romance. I knew there was no way I was going to win going up against Meredith Duran and Sherry Thomas (the way I saw it, I was the only cotton candy in the crowd, everyone else was serving steak…). But there was no way I was going to miss going to the Romantic Times Booklover’s Convention either. So off I went, not knowing what to expect.

Let me tell you, it was the best event I have EVER attended. I have the pics to prove it.

Models, anyone? These awesomingly good looking group of gentlemen could be seen everywhere. And funnier, more charming men you’d never find. Here they were collecting their awards.

Costumes and balls galore!!!

Every night there was an exciting themed event to go to. And though some people didn’t dress up, most did. And they certainly knew how to put on a show!

Harlequin celebrates its 60th anniversary and boy did they put on a party for us! With free gifts, posters, such as the one above showing covers from the past. Oh, those 50′s. And we thought the 80′s was all about bodice ripping…

What, pray tell, is that martini glass full of???? Harlequin had an amazing Mashed Potato Martini Bar. You grabbed yourself a martini glass, put in your mash potatoes and topped it with whatever your little heart wanted to. It was a delicious experience!

The RT book signing. OMgosh, what an event!!! The amount of people who came to the RT book signing was ASTOUNDING. I hardly got a break and there were people constantly walking by and people running up to me telling me how much they loved my book (and making me blush). Above was my beautiful neighbor at the signing, Liz Maverick. She sat on my right and had the awesomest sense of humor. Loved her.

On my left was the fabulous Melissa Marr. We both have iphones so she was showing me the coolest applications ever. Then the people started coming and boy did they love Melissa (and rightfully so. My own daughter is in love with all her books).

The Wall of China, as I like to call it. Or rather, Melissa Marr’s books. I had only 15 before me. Snort. I want to be just like Melissa Marr when I grow up!

One of my highlights, without a doubt was my roommate, author Alisa Kwitney/Alisa Sheckley. RT randomly put us together, since we were looking for roommates. And this woman was a RIOT. What made the signing even more fun was that she sat right across from me at the booksigning. We had little name tents in front of us, so we would write messages on the back and flip them over to “talk” to each other during the signing. Her message was “Grinch Dog.” Mine was “Slut.” Don’t ask. Just know that a lot of people didn’t see Delilah Marvelle at the signing, but rather SLUT.

I simply HAD to add this to the experience, since I’m talking about Alisa, my roommate. So. The thing you see above is my traveling shaver. It say on a towel on top of the toilet seat throughout my stay. Alisa toward the end of RT finally confessed that she didn’t dare to look at it because she thought it was my own personal dildo which I had brought along. Seriously. I never laughed so hard in my life. And because my historical romance actually features a leather dildo, it really was quite fitting…

And last but not least. The above is the lovely Jill. I hung out with many, many wonderful people like Jill. The best part? She’s not a writer, but a reader. And that was by far the best experience of RT. I got to hang out with readers the whole time. And listening to what they love and hate (I took notes…) Le sigh. I miss all the wonderful people I have met but I am really, really looking forward to next year’s RT. Ardently. And if I’m rooming with Alisa again, you better believe I plan on bringing a REAL dildo. Grin. I highly recommend all of you experience RT at least once in your lifetime. It’s worth every single penny and every single breathing moment.
Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle