FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Kiley Reid, a New York Times Best Selling author, hosted a book signing event at the Fayetteville Public Library on Wednesday.
She debuted her new book titled "Come and Get It," which takes place at the University of Arkansas.
According to Audible, the story is about "a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students." It describes it as "A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption, and reckless abandon."
Reid nodded to multiple of her favorite spots in Fayetteville, as she lived there for a few years, and remembers doing lots of her writing around town. Reid is now an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
"She's just so energetic and has such a spark. And so, I feel like that was the best part. Just getting to see that like off the page," Bella Sotlar, an English major at the U of A, said.
Sotlar said Reid's writing inspires her own, especially her first book "Such a Fun Age," which was also a New York Times Bestseller.
"After I finished it, I just remember thinking to myself, this is one of those books that everyone should have to read," Sotlar said. "When I turn to fiction that's more realistic. I like someone who can illustrate the like small details of life in a way that seems fantastical."
"She really did a great job describing all of the different locations" Jes Summerset, another reader at the event, said. I liked the kind of smaller things that she mentioned that if you're not really from here, you probably wouldn't know about it. I really liked the mention of the Co-Op; I go there pretty often. I like the mention of the trail, because that's one thing that I really enjoyed is the walkability that we have here. And just even small little nods to in the book. She mentioned one girl having a coffee cup with Arsaga's on the sleeve of it."
Summerset said she enjoys Reid's books because she feels like she can relate to them.
"I also worked on the res (residential) staff when I was in college. And so, it was nice having that kind of story and background to seeing the different characters have different reasons that brought them to Fayetteville," Summerset said. "I liked that it was more of like a younger feel of writing in this book, particularly. I think I was maybe reminiscing."
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