* by guest writer I Heart Monster

We held our first ever Young At ♥ Book Club for Adults who read teen fiction at Bookman's Mesa on Thursday, June 21. Phew. That felt like a mouthful. How did it happen? Here's the lowdown:

We chilled out in the cafe and chatted all things The Looking Glass Wars for about forty minutes. We talked about how much we love Hatter Madigan and what a great character he is. We talked about Alyss's plight and how her time on earth followed the historical account of the real Alice Liddell, whom Lewis Carroll (whose real name was Charles Dodgson) based the books on, how the real Alice actually dated Prince Leopold and all kinds of fun tidbits like that.

We chatted about Dodge and Alyss and how we hope that they get together. We talked about Jack of Diamonds and how much we abhor his demeanor and actions. We talked about the Cat and how unique of an assassin he is.

We also talked about how we connect (or in some cases did not connect) with the characters. We talked about what we understood in the world, got some enlightenment from each other about our interpretations of the world, and what a fun and unique element the Heart Crystal is even though we don't begin to understand what it is, where it came from, or how it got its power.

Pamela and Lizzie were my partners in crime for the discussion. Oh what fun we had, giving away copies of Hatter M and The Espressologist for next month's read. Won't you join us? The Espressologist by Kristina Springer is a whopping 184 pages long with lots to discuss. Download a copy -- be it Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc. Pick one up from Bookmans or order one online if you can't get to Bookmans in time. We've got more door prizes this month including an espresso bundle from Bookmans and a copy of next month's book by local-ish Jannie Lee Simner (Tucson), Bones of Faerie and Espressologist bookmarks for all. Get to Bookmans Mesa at 7 p.m. on July 19 in the Cafe for The Expressologist.

Check out the schedule and what we're reading all year.