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A Stillwell, Kansas, native, is releasing a soccer-themed romance novel just in time for World Cup fever in Kansas City.
Today Show co-host Jenna Bush Hager, who owns the publishing company Thousand Voices, joined author Anna McCollie for a special question-and-answer session moderated by KSHB 41 News anchor Caitlin Knute at the Unity Temple on the Country Club Plaza.
The event was hosted by independent bookstore Rainy Day Books and drew an estimated crowd of 1,200 people.
"Abby Offsides" is a romantic comedy about a woman who moves from the U.S. to Liverpool following a broken engagement and takes a job with a local football — or soccer — club.
Although the book was not scheduled to hit store shelves until June 23, Bush Hager and her team surprised McCollie with a video they shot at Newark Airport of a store already selling her debut novel. The publisher explained it is not unheard of for airports to sometimes get new releases slightly ahead of box stores.
Bush Hager and McCollie discussed everything from the work that goes into writing and publishing books, to their favorite authors, to the book itself.
Grace Kennedy, an event manager at Rainy Day Books, said the evening came together as a celebration of both the book and the city's soccer moment.
"It was fantastic! We had so many local organizations join together to make this evening extra special with all the soccer celebrations in town," Kennedy said. "It was just the perfect match to bring this book to Kansas City this June."
For bookstores like Rainy Day Books, events like this serve a purpose beyond promoting a single title.
"We have multiple author events every single week, and the reason I find they're so important is it brings together a community you just don't get to engage with in person as frequently," Kennedy said. "Especially in this time when publishing and independent bookstores are up against so many hurdles, it's so heartening to see a room of over 1,000 people getting together to celebrate a book."
Among the upcoming events at Rainy Day Books, authors James Patterson and Mike Lupica will be at an event July 14 to promote the book they co-wrote, "Country Road Murders."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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