Historical Romance Retreat Wrap-Up

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Let’s talk about anything bookish!

Finally, I’m sharing my wrap-up post for this AMAZING EVENT! I was mostly in vacation mode in the month of September and the first couple of weeks in October had me catching up to real life!

Anyway, I had an awesome time at the Historical Romance Retreat (HRR)! This is the first bookish event that I attended for ALL THE DAYS and I LOVED it so much! I have been to other bookish events, but normally, I would always get the weekend pass instead of the full event!

The Hotel

HRR was held at the historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, CA! Prior to this event, I did not know that there was an amazing place right out of history in Riverside! Granted, I live about 2 hours away (in LA traffic), so I don’t go to Riverside often. Let me tell you, this place is amazing and I felt like I was transported to another time! Think the Mask of Zorro time!

Seriously, this hotel has a lot of courtyards and weird hallways! While I did not take photos of the inside, I was able to do so with my room!

The Event

There were a bunch of workshops that we could attend during the event. I was able to go to a few and I also went to all the evening parties! It was really fun! Because this was my first time going, I was a bit hesitant about dressing up – until I saw everyone else who dressed up for the day! While it is not required to dress up, a lot of attendees did and I wish I also dressed up! I did for the masquerade, though!

I also wished I took a lot of photos of the other attendees but I was too timid to ask them! I should have asked but I did not grow any balls until the last ball (LOL).

Evening Parties

There was the SpeakEasy party, the Highlanders and Highwaymen Gambling Night, and the Grand Masquerade Ball!

I dressed up a bit for the SpeakEasy party but not for Gambling Night. I also won a gift basket from Laura Landon at the Gambling Night!

Grand Masquerade Ball

I made a huge mistake in dressing up all day Saturday, leading up to the Grand Masquerade Ball and it was – hell! I did not expect that wearing a freaking corset ALL DAY was going to be exhausting – and it was!

The People

I think the best thing about HRR is the people and the authors! Because it is a small event (under 200 attendees), there was a lot of mingling! I love getting to know other historical romance readers and also bumping into authors at breakfast, lunch and dinner!

I met and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the following authors: Kathryn LeVeque, Amy Jarecki, Collete Cameron, Lauren Smith, Annabelle Anders, and Stella Riley. It was fun just chatting about books and everything with them!

I also met up with one of my favorite authors, Sabrina Jeffries! It was fun meeting with her again! Also, she remembered my name for the second time! haha

I met up with another reader, Tracie and I basically tagged along with her since I didn’t know anyone at the event! I also met Sharlene from OSRBC! I had no idea she was going and she’s actually a frequent commenter on this blog! I also had lunch with her that first day!

And lastly, this awesome shot with the two models at the Grand Masquerade Ball was EPIC! Suuuuure, I think I needed a stool! LMAO

Conclusion

Overall it was an AWESOME event! I will definitely go again next year and this time, I will be fully prepared!

Also, I did not have time to take photos of the books that I got, I will do so at a later time! hahaha, I seriously HAVEN’T UNPACKED all the books and swag that I got from last month! Eeep!

 

What is your favorite book event?

Do you attend a lot of book events? 

 

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