Book Expo America 2016 - Day Three

The final day of Book Expo America was certainly the busiest for me. It's the day I had the most signings and the most galley drops I wanted to check out. 

My day once again started early because I wanted to ensure I made it to the Macmillan booth in time to secure one of these 

Caraval was one of my top 'must gets' of BEA. I have been intrigued since the announcement was made and was thrilled it was going to be available in galley form at BEA. Meeting Stephanie Garber was a highlight of the conference. We've chatted over Twitter and she was just as kind as I expected her to be. I may have spent the rest of the day hugging this book because I was so thrilled to have it.

My other most anticipated title at BEA was Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco! I was able to go to her signing and she is just as lovely in person as you would expect from her Twitter. So sweet. This book not only sounds incredible but has real photographs included from the time period the novel is set. I've flipped through and some of the photos are unsettling. It makes me even more excited to read it.

 The people at the Jimmy part of the Hachette/Little Brown booth were amazing and went out of their way to find me the bookmarks. There were not any on their swag table but when I asked they helpfully tracked some down in the back for me. They are fantastic and I was really happy to have managed to snag since I kept missing them whenever they were put out.

The only book from the ones I was interested in that I missed was Jay Asher's What Light. I was in line to get the new Disney Descendants novel for my niece and when I got to the galley drop they were all gone BUT there was some amazing swag left ...

HOT CHOCOLATE! I love it. I am hoping to snag this one at ALA 2016 and will keep this hot chocolate to drink while reading the book. It was really clever since this seems like the perfect read for the Christmas season and what goes better with the winter season than hot chocolate?

I stopped by the Simon and Schuster booth. They had two amazing adverts for upcoming celebrity 'memoir' type books that immediately caught my eye.

I am especially excited about Anna Kendrick's novel. The advert for Amy Schumer's was buzzy and attracted a lot of attention though. Sadly, while the adult imprints of S & S seemed to have a lot going on, I didn't see much as the young adult end of the spectrum. The buzziest title was The Diabolic (which does sound great) but I didn't see much buzz other than that particular title. I spent a little bit of time chatting with them about The Diabolic and some of their titles which was great.

The books I got on my third are some of the titles I am looking forward to reading first (as soon as I can fit one in my schedule). There are some pretty exciting titles that I was fortunate enough to get copies of.

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (goodreads)

Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (goodreads)

Blood For Blood by Ryan Graudin (goodreads)

The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon (goodreads)

The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles (goodreads)

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid (goodreads)

Gemina by Amiee Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (goodreads)

The wait for Gemina was EXACTLY what you would expect and they only had the one change to obtain a copy. I waited for just over 2 hours and am really looking forward to reading it. Jay Kristoff came to check out the line up for the galley drop and was promptly treated like a rock star. There was plenty of screaming and excitement to be had. 

We ended the day with some delicious desert ...

and great company! It was lovely to meet Jennifer Park, Laurie Devore, and J.C. Davis. All three ladies are hilarious, and you should check out their upcoming 2017 releases! 

This night was so much fun and the perfect way to end BEA before I headed home the next day. My time in Chicago was way too short and I did not get to see half as much as I wanted to (but there is always next time). 

Book Expo America this year, for me, was an over all success. Holding it in Chicago was certainly a nice change of pace but I am excited to get back to New York where you really feel the pulse of the book industry all around. I loved being part of a such a large group of book fans who were excited to be there. There was random singing of Hamilton songs while in line, authors are treated as pop idols, and everyone is incredibly friendly while waiting in line. It's an experience not be missed and I cannot wait for next year.

Will you be headed to BEA 2017 in New York City? Let me know in the comments!