Mara Purnhagen’s Tagged Launch Party

On Saturday March 6th, I packed myself into the car for a 4 hour drive up to Cleveland. Where was I headed? Mara Purnhagen’s launch party for her debut novel, Tagged, of course. The party was held at the Chagrin Falls Library, a rustic location in the beautiful little town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

There was a nice sized crowd to help celebrate, including a really cool blogger named Chelsea from The Page Flipper.

Mara had prize baggies with awesome coffee mugs – inspired by the location of Something’s Brewing, the coffee shop where Kate, the MC in Tagged, works. And everyone was happy with the selection of cookies, brownies, and punch. (There was probably more to eat, but my eyes pretty much stopped roaming the table when I saw the sweets.)

Mara took the stage and read the following excerpt from Tagged:

      There is nothing more awful, more cringe-worthy or more makes-you-wish-you-were-suddenly-invisible than having your dad pick you up in a police car. It might be worse if he picked you up in, say, a hearse with a fresh coffin in the back. Maybe. But a police car is pretty much at the top of the list when it comes to the worst possible ways to take a guy home. A hearse might have a creepy-cool vibe. A police car? Creepy-uncool vibe. I warned Eli ahead of time.
      “We’ll have to sit in the back,” I said. “We’ll look like criminals.” I glanced out the window, expecting Dad to pull in at any moment.
      “It won’t be the first time,” he said. I must have looked shocked, because he laughed. “Kidding.”

And she also signed a bunch of books!