I apologize in advance for not taking very many pictures of BEA itself. It was very hectic and I was oh so giddy of all the books and the people that I was just starstruck most of the time, too dazed to even think of getting my phone out.
So we left on Tuesday morning since we drove over. It's about a 12 hours drive and I was super excited so it was a fun road trip. We stopped 3/4 through to sleep in Massachussets where I texted Amy at Book Loving Mom to say I was only an hour from her house! (Crazy, right?). we arrived in NYC on Wednesday - and oh my god they made ME drive to our hotel!! With 5 to 6 lanes in crazyballs NYC traffic (I'm from like the smallest of small towns ok this was epic!)! Thank goodness my cousin Micheline from Lunar Rainbows was the GPS queen because I may still be there trying to find my way!
Ok sorry, time for actual BEA:
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| Source: BEA Press Room |
First we had the Harlequin Teen Breakfast where we met 4 fantastic authors: Julie Kagawa, Amada Sun, Katie McGarry, and Elizabeth Scott.
I loved this! What was even greater was that for 5 minutes, each author and a few editors at Harlequin took their turn to go to each table so we got to personally chat with everyone and get some books signed. It was great. We also met a few bloggers and had great food!
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| Waiting with Kara (Great Imaginations), Chrsitina (Reader of Fictions), and Steph (Cuddlebuggery) for the breakfast! My very first taste of BEA (I was behind the camera, d'oh)! |
After the breakfast we got on the floor and that's where shit got real! I loved it! I met bloggers, I met authors, I got some books. It was all a great flurry of imaginable bookish activity that I could not get enough of. You can get books a lot of ways at BEA. There are tons of signings which you get in line for and meet bloggers/chat while you're waiting:
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| Micheline at Lunar Rainbows in line with me! |
There are also book drops where publishers just pile up tons of the same book for people to grab, some are scheduled like so:
Other drops are random so you get lucky by being at the right place at the right time, and some are just on the floor right when the doors open which is where you can get shoved and trampled and all those good times O.O (we missed it on day 1 but on day 2 & 3 it got pretty crazy, but I did not get any bruises! Win!).
Then I got to meet one of my favorite authors ever, Holly Black, during which I was uber giddy and likely making a fool out of myself:
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| Meeting Holly Black! |
I also met another fave, Gennifer Albin, which was super awesome, giraffe balls and all!
I met tons more authors during signings but no pics from those! :(
But I saw Grumpy Cat:
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| Grumpy Cat |
I also met some bloggers and more authors (pretty much the best part ever!) whom I've been talking to for ever online so it was awesome to see they weren't just figments of my imagination! - For captions on each picture check out my Facebook album here:
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| Hannah from Girl in a Cafe, me, and author Juliana Haygert. |
Alexa of Alexa Loves Books and me Nori (Noris's Closet), me, and Mimi
Mandee (Vegan YA Nerds), Tara (Hobbitsies)
Eileen and me Me and Katrina (Kindred Dreamheart)
Picking up Kara at the airport!
Since it was my first time and we decided for some dumb reason to get a hotel in NJ (do NOT do this!), I was too pooped to attend any evening events. It was impossible to get to the hotel and back in any reasonable amount of time and money. However, I plan to make some of those events next year for sureness!
I had the time of my LIFE at BEA and I really encourage everyone to go. It's an event you'll never forget. I met authors who recognized me from Twitter and even one who remembered my review of her past book which was all kinds of awesome. This was my very first bookish event, my very first signing, my very first time meeting bloggers at all (aside from my cousin), so I was out of my mind happy! I'm already missing the excitement of the event and I can't wait to get back next year! This time I feel more prepared knowing how it all works. It's honestly not as violent and intense as I was told it would be so don't worry about being bit and stampeded at all! Ha! And tune in this weekend for my filled to the brim book haul post!
But first, I gotta share it because it's awesome! We went to the How I Met Your Mother pub! It's the pub that inspired the set in the show, and while it's not identical it's very similar with the same vibe and the food is amazing! The cast also goes every year for a huge party!
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| Me and Mimi (Lunar Rainbows) at McGee's pub |
Time to go home:
Will I see you there next year? :D
Because:
Because:
