An Evening full of elegance, pretty gowns, and books: The Wedding Dreams-Release Party
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In an evening full of elegance, evening gowns, and great readings, the new publishing house PureBelle and the book Kiss the Right Bride by Daniela Hartig celebrated its release with a “Wedding Dreams - Release Party.” There, we met the German bestselling author Jane S. Wonda, whom we had an Interview with, and of course, many fans of the dark romance or new adult genre, with whom we had many interesting talks about their love for the genre and Jane's books. Other authors of the publishing houses PureBelle and BlackEdition could also be found during the evening. Some even gave an exclusive sneak peek at their upcoming books in various readings. My highlight of the evening was the reading of Kiss the Right Bride by audiobook narrator Marlene Rauch. As someone who had not read the book's previous edition yet, it left me wanting to read it, not only for the promising plot but also for the gripping narration. Another highlight was the beautiful interior of the Palais, which reminded us of a beautiful dancing hall in a castle.
Prior to the event, fans of the publisher and especially Jane S. Wonda's books could go to a pop-up store where they could buy books with beautiful colored edges, get books signed by the authors that were already at the Palais, and buy some bookish goodies while at it. Around 5 pm, the venue closed for the part of the event that was ticketholders only, and the event started with an open reception. Guest were mostly dressed in evening gowns or tuxes, but some guests came fitting to the theme in a wedding dress. This may be the only event where those brides had the chance to recycle their beautiful white dresses and get a book package as a gift in return for it. While everyone was getting in, guests had the chance to take pictures at the photo machine, buy books, talk to Jane S. Wonda, and, most importantly, meet other lovers of the genre. The Twins Julian and Luka, mostly known for their success in the TV-show Germany's Next Topmodel came as surprise guests as both recently gained traction on social media with acting videos of the twin characters from Jane's most popular book series Very Bad Kings.
The guests each got a little "Bridal" Bag with various beauty and bookish goodies and a bath bomb throned each plate. Once everyone was seated at the beautifully decorated tables, the author spoke not only warm welcoming words but also about the emotional story of her late best friend and author Daniella Hartig, whose work would now be rereleased in the new romance and fantasy publishing house PureBelle. Hartwarmingly the family of Hartig was in attendance to celebrate her life and accomplishments with everyone. The Dinner was served between each program point. After the first appetizer, Hartig's first chapter of Kiss the Right Bride was read with the beautiful voice of audiobook narrator Marlene Rauch. After listening to the book we were intrigued by the storyline of the wedding planer and wanted to hear more - something which was certainly fulfilled after the maincourse. In between those meals, fans gathered to get their books signed and pictures taken with Wonda and we took the opportunity to meet those in attendance.
We spoke to various guests throughout the evening. They all gave us very positive feedback and impressions of the bookish night. Friends Leon, Giselle, Laura and Regina thought the overall package was the best, according to Regina it was the overall package of the event that impressed her “you get dressed up, there's good food and great books”. Giselle, who also appeared fitting to the theme in her wedding dress, agreed and reported on the new bookish friendships she had made during that evening and commented about the beautiful sentimental side of the event because of the tribute to Daniella Hartig's works. Two other friends Rebecca and Pauline, who we met after dinner, were particularly enthusiastic about the glamorous location, decoration and the readings, they were looking forward to a first glimpse of Kiss the Right Bride and talked about Jane's inspiring story as a self-publisher and that they are happy to be part of events such as this to support her and others of the publisher. For them, Dark romance as a genre is what kept them with Jane's books, Dark Romance is interesting to them because the “things and ideas which are built into the story are new, intriguing and far from real life.” One of the few male guest Elio talked about the beauty of the night and how an event like that should be more public. He became a fan of Wonda through his best friend, with whom he is in attendance with at the event, he pointed out how she writes stories written for women beautifully, but he still fell in love with her writing style, worlds and instantly became a fan of the writer. Interestingly, many guests we spoke to during the event mentioned the great connections they've made through the event and the wish for more of such bookish nights in the future.
Around 9:00pm the cake was served and soon after the second part of the evening started. In honor of the freshly founded Publisher PureBelle, some authors of it read from their unreleased material. The first author Lisa Kismet engaged the audience with the question of who has a fear of flying. I have to admit, my own hand rose up so she had my full attention from the begining. With a beautiful voice she read an excerpt from her unreleased book The Truth between us. There, the mysterious Juna and lovable Honey survived a plain crash and try to find their way back. Once they come back Juna is accused of planning the plain crash and things apparently just seem to unravel in all the wrong directions. The premises was definitely something new and catching! I really hope she is considering reading her own audiobook, since I kept listening to her words and of course it was also because of her talent for writing and not only her narration.
A highlight for us was the shy but beaming author Becca S. Hale as she choose an Interview to present her upcoming romantasy series Kingdom of Light. The main character Adalyn has to pass three deadly challenges to become a light warrior, but simultainisly handle the goodlooking grumpy general Draven. One can just say, as fans of romantasy both of us were eager to read her debut after the event - it definitely sounded promising for all fans of ACOTAR !
In between the break until the next readings, author Jane S. Wonda showcased her talent on the piano. As she played more and more people gather to listen to her play. We interviewed some more people at the photobooth and the tables afterwards about the night. The mood was bussing and many people seemed to have a good time. The anticipated event seemed to perfectly match the expectations. For guests Alina und Diana, the highlight of the evening were the later readings of four authors, as those gave them new stories and authors to read in the future. Their favorite introduction of those readings was Kingdom of Light as the Mulan like story is something new which they haven't read yet. From them we even heard about dedicated fans on their table that drove the long way to the german south from the capital Berlin - we couldn't believe it.
Yet soon after the readings had to continue since the venue had a tight timeframe. The third unreleased book Ten songs about you was by author Jane Aiven. It is a second-chance romance within the london dating app sphere and follows the pure opposites, eventmanager Carla and lawyer Liam on their path to love. Aiven talked about the important message the book has - one of acceptance and that it is a lesson that everyone has something they have to carry. But we can't say too much about it as it only releases in the upcoming year - so be prepared to check those upcoming stories out if you liked the premises as much as we did.
The last point of the night was the reading of Love and ruin by Daphne Bühne. The darkromance book is a tragic forbidden romance story. For us she read an intense dancing scene of the enemies where the energy between them was pullable, interestingly the scene was written in the male perspective. This aspect and the tension caught me directly. I can't wait to go back and read more about the lovers / enemies Pierce and Thea.
The night was a glamourous night with all its decor and dresses, but more importantly as we viewed the scene from the side of the room, everyone was chatting wildly and having a good time while talking about the hobby of the night: reading. The passion for reading once again was not only in the solidarity of ones home, but became a social occasion. Although the prefered genres of everyone may differ and dark romance isn't for everyone, it can be said that due to the romantic plots of the various PureBelle Books it was an event where both dark romance and normal romance readers could come together to celebrate their love for books within the two publishing houses BlackEdition and PureBelle. We enjoyed it deeply and went home with new books to read after the amazing presentation of all those authors.
Want to see more impressions of the night? Check out the full album below:
WRITTEN & PHOTOS BY
Maxine
I love to capture little moments in busy streets, but for our magazine, I mostly take editorial, portraits and concerts shots. You can sometime find me reviewing concerts or talking about all and everything during a hot chocolate in interviews with our guests.
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