ALA 2016 and Disney World

You may recall I mentioned I would be going this past week to ALA in Orlando. I left on the 22nd of June and got back on the 29th. I am (almost) recovered from a fantastic vacation but before I get to business as usual on the blog I thought I would offer up a recap of what I got up to while in Orlando.

First up, and obviously most important, is ALA itself. I loved that ALA is very low key compared to BEA. It may have been that there is simply less people, but ALA is way more relaxing. This allowed me more time to take part in buzz panels where the publishers discussed their upcoming fall titles. I also had more time to chat with the publishers about the books they were promoting. This allowed me to discover new titles that I would have perhaps not discovered otherwise.

Do I prefer ALA to BEA? That depends. I think I need to experience ALA again. BEA, for me, is an incredible rush. That rush comes with the excitement from other bookish fans. I didn't feel that same feeling at ALA. I did, however, like the opportunities ALA provided to really dig into the titles and learn more about them. I think I will do BEA for the foreseeable future but will attend ALA whenever it happens to be in a city I want to visit anyway.

I came back with a few titles that I am really excited about.

For Day 1 I really wanted to meet Emery Lord and that was my only real must do of the conference. I was successful and Emery is so kind. She is exactly what you expect her to be, and I immediately wanted to drink wine with her and have her give me life advice.

I also got to meet Jay Asher and get a copy of What Light (which was another one of my most anticipated titles of the conference). He was also really kind, and we joked about the length of his line as it was one of the biggest of the conference.

I snagged Die For You after the Penguin Random House representative told me a little bit about it. I didn't know much about it before Kelly mentioned I should look into it, but I was sold when I heard how passionately the publisher was about it.

Die For You by Amy Fellner Dominy (goodreads)

What Light by Jay Asher (goodreads)

When We Collided by Emery Lord (goodreads)

My second day was filled with pretty exciting discoveries. First up, I managed to get a copy of Glitter by Aprilynne Pike which is a book I've been REALLY excited about. It's been described as Marie Antoinette meets Breaking Bad which is basically like cat nip for me. 

Kelly sold me on the Graces because one of the characters is described as the school's version of Peter Pan. Immediately sold. I will be reading it as soon as I can sneak it into the reading schedule.

This Adventure Ends was a impulse pick up after I read the back of the copy Kelly snagged and I immediately wanted to read it. I hadn't heard much about it, but I am excited to find out if it is as good as it sounds. 

Lastly, for day two, I picked up a copy of Vassa In The Night after asking the Tor person to tell me a little about their fall titles. This one really stood out and the Tor representative seemed very passionate about it. 

Vassa In The Night by Sarah Porter (goodreads)

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills (goodreads)

 The Graces by Laure Eve (goodreads)
Glitter by Aprilynne Pike (goodreads)

The last day was also the most frenzied. It seemed that the publishers wanted to make sure that their titles got into the hands of librarians and reviewers. It was also when they were putting out anything they had left, rather than you inquiring about a title.

I read the back of The Girl In The Picture and immediately became obsessed. A picture of a girl is found by the body of the high school heartthrob. This murder mystery has the potential to heat up my summer reading if I can fit it in.

I've had my eye on Cherry for a while (basically since I heard it was a female American Pie) and was thrilled when I discovered it at ALA. It was hidden so I didn't noticed they had copies until I noticed it while inquiring about something else.

I am a sucker for Hollywood set mysteries and obviously Pasadena was a must get for me. I was happy to discover copies there and I am so excited to read it.

The Girl In The Picture by Alexandra Monir (goodreads)
Cherry by Lindsey Rosin (goodreads)
Pasadena by Sherri L Smith (goodreads)
Jess, Chunk, And The Road Trip To Infinity by Kristin Elizabeth Clark (goodreads)
Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia (goodreads)
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han (goodreads)

A huge thank you to the publishers and all the bloggers I chatted with who made this event so much fun. There were moments where I felt unwelcome as a blogger so I am so thankful to those who took the time to talk to me and were kind.

The rest of my time in Orlando was sent relaxing, and visiting Disney World. I am a huge Disney fan (which surprises nobody) and will take any chance to visit a truly magical theme park.

There was a lot that was new at Disney. First up was the Tangled area with Rapunzel's tower and the town square. This is a themed restroom area, but I can easily see it expanding to include a restaurant (The Snuggly Duckling, of course) or other attractions.

One of my favourite rides is Peter Pan's Flight

It is a must ride for me every time I go and I was thrilled to discover they had made some serious modifications to this attraction. The biggest update was to the waiting area which is now a lovely walk through the Darling house. I was fangirling all over the place but especially loved the bedrooms for Wendy, John and Michael and how they incorporated Tinkerbell into the new waiting area.

I loved the pictures on the walls, and especially the little details (like the blocks on Michael's bed spelling out Peter Pan). It made the experience all the more vivid. 

We ate lunch at Be Our Guest which is, obviously, a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant. We selected the West Wing to eat in and it was perfection.

We got to see the (incredibly well done) rose that is the centre piece of the movie.

We also saw the portrait that Beast destroys after he is cursed. They had thunder and lightning that would flash at various intervals and transform the picture into the beast.

We got to try the grey stuff, and it was indeed delicious.

And this incredible artwork was the perfect way to leave this stunning attraction.

Outside the restaurant is Gaston's Tavern and in front of that is a Gaston's gift to the village.

A fountain of himself, naturally. It is so perfect that I just cannot. The plaque in front makes it even more priceless and it's little things like this that Disney gets just right.

One of my favourite parts of Magic Kingdom is getting to see Cinderella's Castle. It looks particularly pretty at night during the fireworks, but it is honestly so iconic that I could take pictures of it all day.

I also managed to try Dole Whip for the first time, and it was life changing. I now need to have it every single time I visit Disney. If you have never tried Dole Whip be sure to next time you visit.

Pineapple drinks are delicious and frozen pineapple drinks are even better, just saying. 

The two biggest additions since I last visited though were The Seven Dwarfs Mine ride, and Frozen Ever After. I managed to ride both. The Seven Dwarfs Mine ride is similar to Big Thunder Mountain (I feel it is the less intense of the two) but it has a lot of charm, particularly when you go into the mine and visit the dwarfs while they are busy working. Adorable. Sadly, the ride is a little too quick to get photos, but the attention to detail (especially the inside parts) is typical Disney.

I jumped over to Epcot to visit Norway's pavilion and the new Frozen Ever After Ride. I arrived first thing in the morning and this is what I was greeted with... 

Some people left the line, and it did speed up which shortened my wait time to just about 2 hours and I happily waited. The ride itself? Totally worth it. It was magical. So magical in fact that I decided to get in line and ride it again. This ride has minor thrills as you go down a few 'waterfalls' (one of which is done backwards) but if you rode Maelstrom you'll be well prepared for the (small) drops.

The attention to detail is, once again, perfection and I was especially impressed with Olaf who is a dancing, moving, bundle of cute. Seriously. 

I had the best time at Disney. It truly is one of the most magical places and I am so excited to go back.

Did you attend ALA? If so let me know what you were most excited about. If not, what book would you want to read first that was at ALA?

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! 

Book Expo America 2016 - Day Two

Day two was slightly more busy for me (but not as crazy as day three) but with the larger space, and less people it still felt very manageable. It was an early start for me because I wanted to score one of these ...

I was super excited to meet Leigh again and get a glimpse of Crooked Kingdom. Leigh was, as always, wonderful. My favourite part was when Leigh asked who my favourite character was from this series. I answered Kaz with a definate emphasis on his name. She and the publicist assisting at her signing both laughed and said that everyone who answered Kaz put some kind of emphasis on his name. We joked a little about it and it was a really fun highlight for me.

While browsing the floor this totally flail worthy thing happened ...

Just got to fangirl over Heartless with @marissa_meyer. She is so lovely! @RaincoastBooks

— Kathy Coe (@kathycoe) May 12, 2016

As I was lucky enough to have read Heartless already I was thrilled to get to fangirl over it with her in person and express my utter love for Jest (who is, without question, the most swooniest of Marrisa's book boyfriends). She is lovely and seemed so thrilled I loved the book so much. This was,  hands down, one of my top moments of BEA. I am a huge fan and it was surreal to get a few minutes to tell her how much I loved something she created.

This was also the day of the big cover reveal for Sarah J Maas' Empire of Storms at the Bloomsbury booth. It was incredible to see people come out in such large numbers for a cover reveal. There were a lot of us and we got to record a group hello for Sarah who couldn't be there. This is totally my favourite of her covers.

I mean. Look at how pretty that is. How bad ass does Aelin look with her sword and fire and that fierce look in her eyes? I cannot wait to put this pretty on my bookshelf.

It was a little busier today so I had less time to talk to the publishers but I did get to chat with the lovely people at Bloomsbury about Danielle Paige's Stealing Snow. After talking about it with them I am even more excited to get to read it. It sounds incredible. I hear that it was quite the popular book to get at BEA as well. The galleys at the galley giveaway apparently went VERY quickly.

Day two was an incredible success. I got some amazing swag (the tote was won at the Sarah J Maas raffle and the tattoos came inside the chapter sampler for Crooked Kingdom)

I also some books I am really excited to promote on the blog and hopefully will get to read very soon. I was so excited to get my hands on the sequel to Dash and Lily's Book of Dares! Such a cute Christmas-y type book and The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily seems poised to be just as cute.

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (goodreads)
Seven Days Of You by Cecilia Vinesse (goodreads)
The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (goodreads)
The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet by Natasha Farrant (goodreads)
Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven (goodreads)
The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia (goodreads)
Leave Me by Gayle Forman (goodreads)
Frostblood by Elly Blake (goodreads)

After an amazing day at BEA it was time to get pizza! I couldn't leave Chicago without getting deep dish pizza and it did not disappoint. It was delicious and we had a lot of fun that night!

I forgot to mention that my roommate at BEA, Dawn, also provided me with a copy of her next book the first night she arrived (which was after day one). I, for some reason, decided to include it in day two haul. I loved her first book (Anne and Henry) and am so excited to devour Overdrive!

Overdrive by Dawn Ius (goodreads)

She also surprised me with the fact that I am in the acknowledgements. I was incredibly touched and want to say thank you to her again! It's been great to gain another amazing friend out of this and I am so thankful to have met her. (Side note - if you like fast cars, sexy romance, and Las Vegas this needs to be on your TBR list immediately).

I, also, apparently forgot to include a picture of my pass within my first day recap. They mistakenly put me as 'retailer' when they registered me. It proved quite interesting while on the exhibit hall floor.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the recap of my final days at BEA (and final thoughts on BEA in general)! If you were there let me know in the comments. If you weren't there - which author would you have liked to say hello to?

Book Expo America 2016 - Day One

Book Expo American is the equivalent to a book lover's paradise. This year may have offered a change in pace with it's location but did not fail to deliver it's usual bookish awsomeness.

The Chicago setting offered up a lot of changes. The first being McCormick Place.  A convention centre even more spacious than Javits in New York City. This larger space combined with visibly reduced attendance offered up a less crowded and more comfortable exhibits hall. Getting to walk around and scope out the publishers booth was much easier and it offered me plenty of opportunity to see what the publishers were heavily pushing for the upcoming season (and beyond).

Day one was a much quieter day for me, with no signings on my schedule I was able to browse around and talk to a few of the publishers in attendance. There was plenty of buzz for The Thousandth Floor at the Harper booth and I left there incredibly eager to read it. They also cemented my need to read The Female Of The Species with their gushing comments.

My first day, as you can see below, ended up being a mix of different genres. That was pretty on par with the entire convention. There didn't seem to be a specific genre that was prevalent, and nothing hitting at something being the next big trend.

Replica by Lauren Oliver (goodreads)
Female Of The Species by Mindy McGinnis (goodreads)
How To Hang A Witch by Adriana Mather (goodreads)
The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee (goodreads)
A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess (goodreads)
Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally (goodreads)
The Movie Version by Emma Wunsch (goodreads)
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (goodreads)

Day one of BEA was relaxed, and quite a change of pace from it's usual New York City bustle. I left filled with bookish excitement and eager to start my second day at the convention. I spent the evening relaxing with room service since I had arrived late the previous evening and was still pretty exhausted from travel. The upside was that room service was delicious and the hotel was great.

Be sure to check out my day two recap on Thursday and day three recap on Friday.

Book Con and Other BEA Week Events

Last year's Book Con was a mess. Describing it as a mess may in fact be putting it lightly. This year, from what I understand, was no different. My experience this year, however, was of a much more relaxed Book Con.

My primary goal in going to Book Con was to see both Gayle Forman, and Marissa Meyer's panels. I didn't want to venture too much on the show floor, or attempt the autographing area.

I took a quick browse of the floor before venturing into the panels. The morning allowed me a quick peek at what was being promoted without a huge crowd. Most people were in line to get wristbands for the bigger panels being held in the Special Events Hall so I was able to move around freely.

I ended up getting some pretty amazing samplers! Ones for books I was really excited about.

They were handing out Lady Midnight teasers for Cassandra Clare's new Shadowhunter series. I was also able to score a copy of On The Merits Of Unnaturalness by Jaxon Hall (Samantha Shannon).

I have been DYING to learn ANYTHING about - Marissa Meyer's Heartless. I need this book. Seriously NEED. This sampler was handed out during her panel though. Not on the floor.

After taking a quick browse I went and sat in on the panel featuring Gayle Forman, Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen. These three ladies are all smart, insightful, and wonderful. They discussed friendships mostly, particularly in how they related to the books they had just written. Jenny Han's mention of her own 'bff' Siobhan Vivian was sweet, and each of them had plenty to say about friendship breakups and how they are just as devastating as romantic ones. They expressed the importance of friendships, and how female friendships tend to be more intense than those of their male counterparts.

If you want to check out the full panel, you can do so thanks to Penguin Random House putting them up online.

I decided to stay to check out the next few panels (after a quick lunch break) so that I could be front row for Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo's panel.

The next panel was offering up a sneak peek at the Star Wars books that are coming out. On the panel there were 

Alexandra Bracken - The Princess, The Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy (A New Hope)

Adam Giowitz - So You Want To Be A Jedi? (The Empire Strikes Back)

Tom Angleberger - Beware The Power Of The Dark Side (Return Of The Jedi)

It was a pleasant surprise to see Alexandra there as I was very excited about Passenger. The panel ended up being funny, and was a great choice. I am a casual fan of Star Wars, but I found this panel to be a lot of fun. Tom Angleberger's comments on Leia and how she should have been given more respect for her contribution to the rebellion were a particular favourite.

The last panel had Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo playing Truth Or Dare. Both ladies were incredibly funny and charming. Highlights were Leigh Bardugo rapping while pretending to be the Darkling, Marissa Meyer acting like Carswell Thorne and tons more. If a video of this pops up I will link to it, but I do not believe it was recorded. Getting to hear a little bit about Heartless was amazing. I am already dying to meet Catherine, Jest (I believe that is his name), and the King of Hearts after Marissa's little tease. My heart is probably going to be crushed as this is the origin story of the Queen Of Hearts (and we know what happens to her). The chapter in the sampler is STUNNING and has made me ravenous for the rest of the book. 

Pretty much Book Con only increased my need to actually meet Gayle Forman and Marissa Meyer some day.

I also had the chance to say a quick hello to Mackenzi Lee. She was working during BEA but we got a few minutes to discuss her book and other fun things. Not nearly enough time, but that is the nature of BEA. She also gifted me with some AMAZING swag for her book!

Speaking of amazing swag, the Spencer Hill Press booth had the most amazing buttons! I love them and immediately grabbed some while walking the exhibit hall.

The other events I took part in while in New York City were a blogger dinner and the celebration of the release of Proof Of Forever and Paper Lantern Lit's anniversary.

The blogger dinner, which Tiff from Mostly YA Lit organized, was TONS of fun. I mostly got to chat with Nikki from There Were Books Involved. It was great to meet a new blogger, and we fangirled over Sarah J Maas quite a bit (Dorian in particular). This was one of my favourite things about BEA week as I got to see how excited everyone was to be surrounded by fellow book lovers, and it was just a nice way to spend part of the evening.

The Paper Lantern Lit event was just as fun. I got to fangirl over Rebecca Serle and discuss the upcoming TV show (and how great I think Bella Thorne is going to be). Rebecca is seriously the kindest person, and I was happy I had finished Truly Madly Famously so I could gush in person. I wish we had talked more about Vampire Diaries but mingling had to be done.

I also got to say hello to Eleanor Herman who wrote Legacy Of Kings. She's lovely. I told her how much I enjoyed the book and that I was definitely on Team Hephaestion and Alexander kissing! If you haven't checked out Legacy of Kings, DO IT!

I cannot wait to go to BEA next year (it may end up being ALA instead because of the fact it's in Orlando! Universal Studios Blogger Day!!) as it only invigorates and inspires me to do better on my blog. 

Lastly, before ending my recaps, I got to meet the awesome blogger behind a Sarah J Maas Philippines Twitter/fansite. Her Twitter handle is @ThroneofGlassPH and she made these AMAZING bookmarks.

A huge thank you to her for them. They are AMAZING! Be sure to follow her Tumblr and her Twitter!

All said and done I had an amazing BEA/Book Con. I am sad that I did not get to meet Sarah J Maas again (hopefully next BEA or she does an event in Canada) as I would love to gush in person again. Her panel at Book Con was one of the things I was incredibly sad to miss by leaving NYC on Sunday.

Let me know in the comments if you'll be attending either BEA or ALA next year! 

BEA Day Two and Three

Day two proved to be another early one. I am one of those weird people who like getting up early for BEA and waiting in line and talking to other bloggers while I wait. I was excited to get a copy of Passenger and knew it was going to be a busy signing so I made sure to arrive early for that as well.

Spending time chatting with Kelly (from Kellyvision) in line is always fun, and I met so many other bloggers as well. I could attempt to list them all but I am pretty sure I would end up forgetting a lot of them. Needless to say, if I met you during BEA let me know so that I can be sure to follow you.

The Thursday was the day I got a copy of my most anticipated read of BEA - Rebecca Serle's Truly Madly Famously. It also happened to be the first book I read while I was waiting in lines. Rebecca is lovely, and adorably sweet. I loved getting to chat with her about Stefan, Vampire Diaries in general and to gush over Jordan in person.

One of my fellow Ottawa Blogettes, Emilie, told me that she managed to snag a copy of Kill The Boy Band on day one, so I was determined to secure one for myself. Scholastic was extremely kind, and helpful. I was lucky that they still had a few copies when I asked. This one has been on my radar since the Publishers Weekly announcement so I was BEYOND thrilled to have a copy.

The Passenger line was a crazy as I anticipated and the cover is even more stunning up close. I am hoping to dive into this one as soon as possible (that pesky review schedule getting in the way). Alexandra Bracken is also really funny.

Heather Demetrios is one of my favourites and her Dark Caravan series is one I am very eager to continue. They are steamy (and apparently the third book features a fly carpet make out scene!). I was excited to get to talk to her again, and secure a copy of Blood Passage. Her signing line was REALLY long and one of the busiest I had waited in. We ended up being moved over to a new table as the half hour time limit ran out and the next signing had to start.

Kate Scelsa recognized my name and blog as we had done an interview together for the 2015 Most Anticipated feature I ran on the blog. She was thrilled that I was the first book she signed as I was the first blog to feature her as well. It was such a great moment and I cannot wait to read this book. BEA always makes you realize that your blog doesn't exist in a vacuum and that it is being seen.

I ended the day by getting Lair Of Dreams by Libba Bray. The Libba Bray signing was, in all honesty, a bit of a mess. It was not organized or controlled in any manner. There were a few tense minutes when the unofficial lines merged to create an official line and everyone got shifted and moved out of place. Luckily, the publisher was able to get it under control quickly, but everything prior to that was rather mishandled. It shouldn't have been the chaos situation that was it.

An observation that was prevalent by the end of the second day was that the autographing area lines were much more controlled and better organized than in previous years. They had proper overflow areas so that the main walkway was not blocked by people trying to line up. I do think previous concerns were actually listened to in this case. I found that area better handled than the in booth signings.

My day two haul....

Truly Madly Famously by Rebecca Serle (goodreads)

Kill The Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky (goodreads)

Fans Of The Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa (goodreads)

Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler (goodreads)

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (goodreads)

Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios (goodreads)

Lair Of Dreams by Libba Bray (goodreads)

The final day of BEA, and the most busy for everyone it seems. Once again a much sought after signing was being held first thing in the morning. Margaret Stohl was signing copies of Black Widow and I knew I wanted to be there. This line wasn't as intense as Truthwitch or Passenger but it was still pretty busy.

I had been given a pass that allowed me to line jump one of the autographing area signings as a Christmas gift from my sister and mother. I knew I was going to use it for Six Of Crows as that seemed to be the biggest signing. I made a great decision in using it for that line was it was incredibly long, and I heard that they ended up running out of books before they got to everyone who wanted one at the signing. 

Suman, who runs the Harper Collins Canada Frenzy Twitter account (and who is also an all around amazing person), has been singing the praises of Dumplin' loudly and I couldn't ignore her advice. I made sure to grab a copy at one of the galley drops and it's high on my list for books I want to sneak into my reading schedule early. I haven't heard a bad thing from anyone who has read it and I fully trust Suman's opinion so I am expecting to fall madly in book love with this one.

My last BEA signing was for The Accident Season. Vikki, from Penguin Canada, had mentioned this one and gushed over how excellent it was. I wanted to make sure to get a copy so I could read it based on that alone. 

Here are the novels I picked up during day three of BEA....

Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl (goodreads)

Until Friday Night by Abbi Glines (goodreads)

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy (goodreads)

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle (goodreads)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (goodreads)

Outside of BEA was just as fun as the event itself. I got to spend Thursday night at a dinner with Kelly and some other people from Spencer Hill Press. A low key, more relaxing evening which was just what I needed. BEA is much more exhausting than you anticipate and the notion of a BEA hangover is real.

The Friday evening was spent at a huge blogger dinner that Tiff from Mostly YA Lit planned. Full details of that will be in tomorrow's post, along with Book Con details and the recap of the Paper Lantern Lit anniversary celebration/Proof Of Forever launch party.

If you attended BEA - what was your favourite non BEA thing to do while in NYC? If you didn't attend BEA, what would be your must see while in New York?

Pre BEA and BEA Day One Recap

You most likely saw all the excitement coming out of BEA via Twitter, and other social media. I am back from New York totally exhausted but filled with bookish love. I saw so many amazing bloggers express excitement for books and the industry. I saw bloggers helping out bloggers while in lines. I saw friendships being formed. Oh, and obviously I got to meet a whole bunch of amazing authors.

This post is going to focus on any pre-BEA stuff I did, and the first day of BEA itself. I arrived into the city after a long overnight bus ride. I had plans to attend two different events that night and am proud of myself that I made it to both, even while exhausted.

Pre-BEA I attended Teen Author Carnival and also joined up with a group of bloggers at a hotel to mix and mingle.

Here is my pre-BEA haul from the events I attended before the big event.

Never Never by Brianna Shrum (goodreads)

Hello? by Liza Wiemer (goodreads)

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell (goodreads)

Tonight The Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales (goodreads)

Charlie, Presumed Dead by Anne Heltzel (goodreads)

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp (goodreads)

Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid (goodreads)

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (goodreads)

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery (goodreads)

First and Then by Emma Mills (goodreads)

Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt (goodreads)

Never Never is a Peter Pan re-telling that has been on my radar for awhile and I am BEYOND excited to read it. The Disney fanatic in me is excited to check out A Whole New World which twists the Disney version of the Aladdin tale. Leila Sales' Tonight The Streets Are Ours is one that has me dying to ignore my reading schedule and devour it immediately.

Thanks to the panels I attended at Teen Author Carnival I am very much looking forward to This Is Where It Ends. It sounds like a harrowing, taunt read and I am hoping to sneak it in soon.

The panels I got to experience at Teen Author Carnival were both interesting and fun. The Rebecca Serle moderated panel was my favourite as it was quite insightful. I even managed to stump the authors when I asked them to pair up characters from different books in terms of friendships. I got to talk to Rebecca Serle prior to the event and she's incredibly sweet. All the success with her TV show and everything is so deserved and I cannot wait to see where her career goes from here.

The second panel featured Alexandra Bracken and Susan Dennard. The panel was packed as both ladies had highly anticipated titles being featured at BEA. While the panel was packed, it ended up being a rather organized event and I enjoyed listening to all the authors discuss their current works.

If you've never taken part in Teen Author Carnival before it really is a can't miss event and the sheer number of amazing authors that attend every year is reason enough for a book nerd to want to attend.

The first day of BEA is always exciting. There is an excitement that is never quite as high after that first day. Part of it is the anticipation, and part is the exhaustion that gets a little worse each day. It's all the anticipation about the show floor, and experiencing everything for the first time that makes everything a little more exciting. It's a rush and experiencing it with other book nerds is something I will never forget.

This year the excitement was even higher because everyone wanted to get their hands on Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. There was a palpable buzz in the crowd. I was fortunate to obtain a golden ticket in the morning order to secure my copy later that day.

Here are the books that I was interested in enough to snag a copy of during the first day.

The Copper Gauntlet (Magisterium #2) by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (goodreads)

The White Rose by Amy Ewing (goodreads)

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (goodreads)

Edgewater by Courtney Sheinmel (goodreads)

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (goodreads)

Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson (goodreads)

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly (goodreads)

I loved the twists that were in The Iron Trial, and the sequel (The Copper Gauntlet) was therefore a must read. I am looking forward to see what Holly and Cassandra have in store for this series. Rae Carson's newest sounds AMAZING and there was plenty of excitement on the floor regarding this one. Of course one of the biggest titles at BEA was Truthwitch. It was one of the must talked about, most sought title of the conference. I predict it'll be a big hit for Susan and her publisher.

After the first day I was invited to join Epic Reads (Harper Collins) at a roof top party. We got to mingle with some Harper authors. I got to say hello to Patrick Ness, and fangirl over Heather Demetrios! She's lovely and getting to see her again was a highlight of the trip. They had a photo booth set up at the party which was SO MUCH FUN! They also gifted us with a bag of goodies before leaving and literally the best swag item I have ever received was inside it - a portable charger with the Epic Reads logo!

They had DELICIOUS rice krispies treats too! They were sparkly which sadly the picture couldn't capture.

Whomever included the charger is brilliant, and the treats were a lovely touch. A huge thank you to Harper Collins for an incredible event and a night to remember.

Tomorrow will focus on day two and three of BEA. Thursday will recap one day of Book Con, and other events that I attended before leaving the city (including a fun blogger dinner and a book release party).

If you attended BEA let me know what your favourite part was! If you haven't, what title at BEA are you most looking forward to?