Book Expo America 2012 - Day One

Nothing really compares to Book Expo America. It's an exciting, intense, whirlwind and a book lover's dream. A three day long book love fest filled with amazing authors, knowledgeable publishers, and excited bloggers and other industry professionals. I love being around people who love books just as much as I do and this whole event fills me with warm fuzzies for everything about it.

Upon arriving at the Javits Center I immediately freaked out over the amazing Cassandra Clare Shadow Hunter stairs. Each year the stairs get decorated with a book and this year honoured Cassandra's amazing series. While waiting to go into the exhibit hall Harper Collins had a bunch of people in Carnival masks and Carnival of Souls t-shirts to hand out masks advertising Melissa Marr's signing later in the day. I manged to snag a mask on my way in.

I also met up with Kelly from KellyVision in the morning and it was lovely to chat with her in line while waiting. It made it bearable and we ended up meeting up quite a bit during the week.

The mad rush to enter the exhibit hall is exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Forget staying with your friends because you will be separated in the crowd.

I attend the YA Buzz Panel first thing in the morning. The novels discussed were Crewel by Ginnifer Albin, What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang, Skinny by Donna Cooner, Skylark by Megan Spooner, and Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz. I left the panel very excited about each of these books and eager to read them. The editors love and admiration of the novels they were discussing was evident and it made you want to read them as well.

I went to autographing sessions for Gretchen McNeil's Ten, Amy Garvey's Glass Heart, Melissa Marr's Carnival of Souls, Tonya Hurley's The Blessed, and Kat Zhang's What's Left of Me. Meeting each of these authors was a highlight, and I am super excited to read all of their novels. 

The novels I picked up on day one are -

Ten by Gretchen McNeil (goodreads)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (goodreads)

Glass Heart by Amy Garvey (goodreads)

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang (goodreads)

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley (goodreads)
Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr (goodreads)
The Diviners by Libba Bray (goodreads)
Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman (goodreads)
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (goodreads)
Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant (goodreads)
The Prophet by Michael Koryta (goodreads)

Tuesday night also happened to be Teen Author Carnival. I went this year and was so glad I did. It is so much fun. If you attend BEA and love Young Adult novels this is a must attend event.

The two panels I sat in on were

Is This The Real Life? Or Is This Just Fantasy?

The authors on this panel were - Barry Lyga, Tom Pollock, Hannah Mokowitz, Michelle Hodkin, Corrine Jackson, Rebecca Serle, Eliot Schrefer, Crissa-Jean Chappell, Kody Keplinger, Tiffany Schmidt, Fiona Paul and Gretchen McNeil. All the authors were funny, happy to answer questions and it was a fantastic panel. Barry Lyga is less intimidating in person than I was expecting (I Hunt Killers is seriously scary, sue me) and Tom Pollock has a lovely accent that was making all of the audience swoon. Of course, Michelle Hodkin is lovely, so pretty, and awesome (but everyone already knows this). Gretchen McNeil was a fantastic moderator, kept things flowing and was hilarious (she is also so pretty). 

My second panel was 

Where Have You Been All My Life (Let's Talk Boys)

The authors on this panel were - Hannah Mokowitz, Scott Tracey, Michelle Hodkin, Kieran Scott, Jackson Pearce, Crissa-Jean Chappell, Jennifer E Smith, Kody Keplinger, Sarah Tregay, Victoria Schwab and Jen Calonita. Also a fun, interesting panel. I enjoyed Victoria Schwab and found her really sweet. Her Tom Hiddleston crush was shared by a majority of the audience. She had an ARC of The Archived and I may have squealed a little. Michelle Hodkin got a huge round of applause for her answer to the "Marry, Kiss, Kill" question involving the Hunger Games Boys (for those curious Michelle would Marry Peeta, Kiss Finnick and Kill Gale).

In both these panels the highlight was getting insight into how these authors write the novels we love. Many questions were about the writing process, and what they hoped to convey while writing. Unanimously, the authors wanted to provide an experience for the reader, instead of teaching some lesson.

*so this happened! :)

After the panels there was a mass signing. I was able to chat with Michelle Hodkin for a bit about Noah, her teasing us with a bind up of The Evolution of Mara Dyer, and she signed my hardcover. I also got to chat briefly with Jackson Pearce, Fiona Paul, Lauren Morrill, and Aimee Carter (who recognized me from Twitter). All of the authors were incredibly nice. It's pretty mind blowing when an author recognizes you or your blog.

I volunteered to ask an author a question that was selected out of a box of pre-written questions. I was given a box of goodies for doing this. Included in the box were

The City's Son by Tom Pollock (goodreads)
Level 2 by Lenore Applehans (goodreads)
The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter (goodreads)
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce (goodreads)
Narc by Crissa-Jean Chappell (goodreads)
Winter White by Jen Calonita (goodreads)
Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney (goodreads)
The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney (goodreads)
Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey (goodreads)
Demon Eyes by Scott Tracey (goodreads)

Another highlight of Teen Author Carnival was running into Katherine (from The Lady Critic's Library) and Katie (from Bookishly Yours). Both ladies are awesome Ottawa bloggers whom I love hanging out with and getting to see them in NYC was so fun.

So that was day one of my BEA/NYC experience. Tomorrow's day two post features my reaction to meeting Chris Colfer, getting to meet Bethany Griffin, and line ups from hell! 

Weekly Obsessions!

The awesome Kelly at KellyVision started posting a weekly post highlighting whatever she happened to be obsessed with that week. I LOVE this idea, so much in fact that I will be doing it myself every Saturday.

Here are my obsessions this week:

BOOKS

There are so many amazing books that have been announced in book deals recently. I don't have pretty covers to show this time, but I do have lots of awesome sounding future releases to share.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

This sounds AMAZING! Slated for a 2013 release, Bloomsbury has purchased the publishing rights. The writer? She's 20 YEARS OLD! I am in awe. Oh and this is the first in a SEVEN book series. Here is the synopsis on Goodreads

The Bone Season begins in 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. She works as an envoy between secret cells: she drops in an out of people's minds. For Paige is a lucid dreamer, a clairvoyant, and in her world, the world of Scion, she commits high treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes forever. Attacked, kidnapped and transported to Oxford, a city that has been kept secret for two hundred years, she meets Warden, a Rephaite with dark honey skin and heavy-lidded yellow eyes. He is the single most beautiful and frightening thing she has every laid eyes on – and he will become her "keeper".

Warden already sounds yummy and I love that the character is almost 20. A little older is nice. I want more fun, twisty, intense novels that feature 25-30 year olds.

Vicious by Victoria Schwab

The author of The Near Witch has some amazing sound novels coming out. The Archived sounds awesome. It's her other novel that has me pining though. Here is the Goodreads synopsis

About two best friends whose college experiments to create supernatural abilities wind up turning them against each other.

Amazing right? A 2013 release by Tor books. This is being called a more adult read, and the characters are college aged. I am dying to find out more about these "supernatural abilities" that they are trying to create.

Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Twin Peaks meets The Village? YES PLEASE! Harper Collins has this awesome sounding novel scheduled for a 2014 release. Check out the Goodreads synopsis

Natalie Parker's BEWARE THE WILD, pitched as Twin Peaks meets The Village, in which a claustrophobic Louisiana town is dominated by its sinister, encroaching swamp, which swallows up a boy who is instantly forgotten by everyone except his sister, and replaced by a mysterious girl from the past who is intent on taking over his family and his life.

I enjoyed Twin Peaks. It's weird, a lot quirky and it had a pretty great mystery surrounding it. The synopsis has me pining and Harper really does have awesome titles.

City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster

Once again Harper strikes with an amazing sound title coming out in 2013. The City of Thousand Dolls sounds creepy,and awesome. Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Nisha Arvi is a casteless orphan in an empire where caste and tradition are as unchanging as the roof of gray sky above her head. The only exception is the City of a Thousand Dolls, an estate where abandoned girls are trained to be anything from assassins to courtesans to nobleman’s wives.

Nisha is not so lucky. When she finds out that the City Council want to sell her as a slave, and also that they are hiding a series of mysterious deaths among the girls, Nisha makes a desperate bargain. If she can find the killer, she’ll have a chance at a caste and a future.

But it won't be easy, because in the City of a Thousand Dolls missteps are as easy as wearing the wrong robe. And when Nisha suspects an old friend of the murders, she puts both of their futures in jeopardy.

I love the mystery surrounding the storyline and the creepy feel of the estate itself. I think this one is going to be fantastic!

TV

Vampire Diaries season finale

Elena chose a Salvatore, some people left Mystic Falls, and lots of awesome, insane and crazy twists happened. The Vampire Diaries knows how to do a season finale (and season premiere). I was on the edge right until the jaw-dropping ending that will have a serious impact on all our beloved characters next fall. If you are not watching this show I just planned your summer for you. You can thank me later.

OTHER

Teen Author Carnival

Teen Author Carnival is a huge event that happens in New York around the same time as Book Expo America. It gives the chance to meet some of your favourite teen authors. This year Michelle Hodkin will be there so I am so freaking excited. I am going to bring my hardcover of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for her to sign. Lots of other fantastic authors will be there and I am excited to chat with so many of them. If you want to learn more check out the Teen Author Carnival website.

So what you are obsessed with this week?