The Fashion Fair Barnes & Noble, which opened its doors in November 2024, brought in New York Times bestselling author, Monica Murphy, for a book signing celebrating the release of her newest novel, “You Were Never Not Mine,” on Tuesday afternoon.
Approximately 20 fans lined up to take photos, get their books signed and speak with Murphy. Among the attendees was Naila Gonzalez, who traveled an hour from Woodlake to meet the author.
Gonzalez brought roughly 20 books from her personal collection for Murphy to sign.
“It’s one of those dream come true type of things,” Gonzalez said. “She seems so loving and she was able and willing to sign all those books.”
Murphy grew up in Northern California, but has lived in Coarsegold for almost 25 years. In an interview with The Collegian, she discussed her early introduction to books.
“It started [by] just being a reader,” Murphy said. “[I] found a bag of books in the hall closet where I grew up of romance books, [and] started reading them when I was probably in high school.”
“You Were Never Not Mine” follows the protagonist, August Lancaster, through a sticky journey with a girl he did not expect to see at his university, Lancaster Prep. Murphy described the book to be a “spicy romance.”
“This book, which is the last in it [the series], is the son of the couple that is from the very first book,” Murphy said. “So it felt like a good way to wrap it up; start with his parents and then end with his book.”
Leahluh Diaz was first in line at the event and later spoke about how Murphy’s books worked their way into her reading routine.
“I actually got into her through a friend,” Diaz said. “She recommended me this book. It’s ‘A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime’ and it’s the first book I annotated, and then after that, it just kind of took off with liking her as an author.”
Being a mother of three children, Murphy said allocating time to write can be a challenge. She recalled an instance where she wrote 60,000 words in just a matter of days.
“You have to be disciplined, but I’m also a giant procrastinator and will write a book in a very short period of time sometimes,” Murphy said.
Her daughter, Amy Dindia, attended the book signing with Murphy. Dindia recently graduated from cosmetology school and received her license the same day as the event.
Although she is pursuing a different path, she says she views her mom’s work as a motivation for her own success.
“It’s really inspiring to see her do something that she loves and gives me that drive, too,” Dindia said.
However, Dindia supports from the sidelines because she decided to refrain from reading her mom’s books.
“Especially [with her books] being a little bit on the spicier side, I definitely just choose not to,” Dindia said.
The surge of “BookTok,” a term used to describe the reader community on TikTok, has allowed authors to thrive and tier toward Gen Z and Millennial readers.
“I appreciate them so much and publishing appreciates them so much because your guys’ age and a little older, you guys love paperbacks,” Murphy said.
