I mentioned in my prior post that last week at my library was our first anniversary, and we celebrated with a week’s worth of events. The finale event featured a talk and book-signing by Mary Kay Andrews, the bestselling author of several books set in the South. I was really excited to be hosting this author, as she is very popular among our patrons and this was to be the first non-local adult fiction author event we have hosted, but I hope the first of many.

I confess that I hadn’t read anything by her, but one of my coworkers is a fan, both of her women’s fiction written under the pen name, Mary Kay Andrews, and her earlier mysteries written under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. Over the course of the week, I had several women express delight at the prospect of meeting one of their favorite authors, and as the week went on, my own anticipation continued to grow.

We arranged for our local independent bookstore, Scott’s, to come and sell books for the book-signing, and the patrons weren’t the only ones lining up to buy and get their books signed – we had several employees (myself included) eyeing the selection. We’d also made arrangements for a light reception following the event, serving petit fours and other dainty treats all served on pink polka-dotted plates. It was all very fancy and our patrons loved it.  We’ll definitely be doing something like that again in the future.

Ms. Andrews spoke with her trademark charm and humor, sharing how she’d gotten a speeding ticket on her way to the event (oops!) and how she and her husband have fixed up a beach house on Tybee Island. I visited Tybee this time last year and would love to go back – I’ll be keeping her house in mind for that! She talked about how she embarked upon her writing career, sharing that Celestine Sibley – that acclaimed and beloved Southern writer (my mother-in-law absolutely loved her) – was instrumental in helping her go from aspiring writer to published author. It was a lovely afternoon and a wonderful end to the week.

And of course, I couldn’t go without buying some books for myself. I ended up getting Savannah Blues, the first book written as Mary Kay Andrews, Savannah Breeze, since she told a funny story about it as well as naming her Tybee Beach house after the hotel in the book, and Little Bitty Lies, which takes place in Atlanta. I’ve got a vacation coming up and will be taking one of these books with me – the hard part will be deciding which one.

So, if you aren’t already a fan of Mary Kay Andrews, may I suggest you go to your nearest library or bookstore and find out for yourself how great her books are. These books seem like the perfect summer read, the mint in your julep, if you will!