Friday night in Utah. Who knew it could be this freaky?

So, what happens when you cross a Vegas girl, an LDS bookstore, and a vampire book? The launch party for Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Myers. Although this series is far from the best literature I’ve ever read, it probably one of the most engaging and engrossing.

The first three books had me consumed, reading more than 2,000 pages in less than a week. That has to break a record for me. I doubt I ever read that much that fast, even when cramming for finals back in college.

So when the planets aligned and it was apparent that I was not going to be in Vegas for the midnight launch party at my local chain bookstore, I came up with plan B. Hello Google? Find me a bookstore in Cedar City.

I figured my odds were pretty good that I could get my hands on a copy, given that the books are penned by an LDS SAHM and I was heading to the motherland.

I was right. Not only was I able to pre-order my copy from a local retailer, I got myself invited to their party.

On Friday night, I got Homer and the kids unloaded at the condo and backtracked my way to Mountain West books in Cedar City.

When I opened the door, this is what I saw.

A small bookstore filled with teenage and pre-teen girls and more than a handful of moms chattering in cliques around the room.

I squeezed my way to the counter and asked the girl behind this about picking up my voucher.

Hmmm. She looked on the list. My name wasn’t on it, but she remembered me and handed me a voucher anyway. (Think this would happen back home? Heck no. Small town life has its benefits.)

I worked my way around the room to check out the games and activities that would fill the next hour and a half.

There was a quiz about the first three books, graded by this Edward look alike. (I got 30 out of 40 – not bad for only one read-through on each book, if you ask me.) I got myself a spiffy bookmark.

I walked my way around the store, taking in the snippets of conversation to be overheard here and there. Gotta love small town gossip (e.g., who was on who’s “marriage list”). There was a slide/video show with images from the Twilight movie (to be released in December).

There were coloring contests…

Something tells me these kids were rooting for Jacob.

And a “guess how many drops of blood are in this vial?” contest.

I have no idea who this woman is. I just asked her to hold it and smile.The freakish grin was an unanticipated bonus.

They even had a “pin the kiss” on Edward or Jacob game. I took a pass on that one and grabbed a piece of floor to eat my cake and punch.

As a side note, you’re probably noticing that some of the girls in these shots are REALLY dressed up for a small town book party. Apparently there was a Ward dance that night, so they had come straight from the dance to the store – some even still had their dates in tow. If this wasn’t Utah, I would think those boys were so going to get to third base for doing this. The guy with the “Team Edward” shirt was at least getting to second after his girlfriend could put the book down.

Okay, back on track.

So, as it got to be about 11:45, the herd started to flock around the front counter. Our psuedo Edward host started announcing the winners of the coloring contests and the blood vial. I am proud to say I was the runner up with a guess of 75 drops. I am so Angelina Jolie (circa Billy Bob).

At the end, they were throwing out swag like a candy on the day after Halloween.

Finally it was time. They herded the crowd into a neighboring store space and traded vouchers for books.

The crowd filtered into the parking lots and cars streamed into the warm night,

I have a feeling that few nightstand lights were tuned off that night. As for me, I managed to keep Homer and the kids alive and happy in spite of having the tome attached to my person for 36 straight hours. I managed to finish it by the time we got home on Sunday night.

It was a fun experience. One that I was happy to be a part of. Especially when I get shots like this.