BEA Recap- Thursday, May 27 & Friday, May 28

Thursday- We went into BEA with a plan- Susan was off to get Clockwork Angel, Meaghan and I off to Little Brown, though we decided to stop by Penguin first, which was a good idea. They had put out copies of their fall titles, so I was able to grab a copy of The Replacement and Meaghan got a copy of Nightshade. Before we left to go over to Little, Brown, we asked if there were any copies of Grace by Elizabeth Scott and there were! So we got a copy each and then we went to LB and got a bag of middle-grade novels, which we thought would be YA but alas.

Meaghan and I stood right outside LB's booth and waited for Susan. While we waited, Sarah (I think) came over to chat with us and during that, PJ Hoover and Jessica Lee Anderson stopped by and talked for a bit. It was great to see PJ again because she's just so sweet and funny. They left and Susan came up, got her LB bag, and then we went back over to Penguin where Susan snapped a picture of the baby carriage being used in The Replacement's display and it still had some books in and around it, which was awesome. We got in line for Simone Elkeles' signing and we weren't far from the beginning of the line but 15 minutes into the signing, we had barely moved, so we left to get in line for some signings.



Between 10 and 11:30, I stopped by several signings- Siren by Tricia Rayburn at 10, Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell at 11, Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin at 11, and then stopped by PJ Hoover's signing where she was signing copies of her first book. She had a HUGE line, which made me so happy for her! I also stopped by Alyson Noel's signing of Radiance which was awesome because Alyson is so sweet but also because she recognized me! That's a big feat because I haven't emailed her in a long time, but I guess I left a lasting impression or something, lol. I wish I'd gotten a quick picture with her since the line wasn't too long but again, still very shy with the camera, lol.

At 11:30, I was in line for Firelight and Meaghan was in line to get Reckless, and like at 11:32, she texted me to say she was going to have some lunch. I was shocked at how quickly she got done, though I was done pretty soon after. While in line though, I got to meet Melissa Bruno, another Harper contact of mine, and she introduced me to Sophie as one of the big book bloggers, which I of course blushed at and was humble about it. Sophie then said that if I ever wanted to do an interview or anything with her, I should just email her. After that I went to go find Meaghan and had some lunch (slice of pizza + small coke = $7.00) where I chatted with her and Monica about our hauls so far. It was luckily a smaller day for books since most everything happened Wednesday. We finished up, then went to find Susan and then split up once we got back onto the floor.



I went to Rachel Vail's signing and she remembered me, which was awesome. After that, I wandered off and just strolled around for a while. On my way over to the Downtown Stage, I witnessed the most amazing sight I had seen so far at BEA- a hot guy just walking around in his underwear (black undies). He was holding up a book and had some writing on him, though I'm not sure what it said since I didn't want to stare (at least, not while he was facing me). I completely regret not taking a picture (or several) but it will forever be burned into my brain and that is an awesome thing. I'm hoping someone else got a picture of or with him. I don't even know what booth he was affiliated with.

Once I was done ogling, I went over to sit by the Downtown Stage to wait for the 2pm panel. Then I went over to where the Midtown Stage was to hang out with Susan, Meaghan and others, but then we walker back over to Downtown to sit in on that panel, which featured the authors from the Editor's Buzz panel of the previous day. The panel contained Rebecca Maizel, Erin Bow, Ally Condie, Sophie Jordan, and Kody Keplinger, all of whom have books coming out that I really want to read (and I have 4 of 5!). It was a really interesting panel and I'm so glad I took the time out to see them. Cat (Beyond Books) sat next to me for some of the panel and before it started, we were able to chat a bit more, which was awesome cuz Cat is like one of the coolest people ever.



For the rest of the afternoon, I went to several signings and stopped by Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (I believe she recognized me), Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart (saw Nico Medina again- he was handing out sticky notes to put your name on if you wanted it personalized; I saw him a couple times at the Egmont signings), Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White, and Plain Kate by Erin Bow. During all these signings, I kept following Shanyn from Chick Loves Lit around. Most people would call that stalking, but I just call it having the same interests. ...ok, so maybe I was stalking her too. But she's just so cool! Who wouldn't stalk her?!

After BEA, Susan and I dropped books off back at hotel room, then met Drea, Jessica, and Pam for dinner at Stardust Diner where all the wait staff took turns singing. It was a really interesting experience. Also, most of the male waiters were very cute so I enjoyed watching them walk around and sing. Once we finished there, we walked over to Junior's for cheesecake, there was a minion war between Pam and Susan back at hotel room and I curtsied while giving Susan her laptop. We decided to go to the Strand so we took the metro over. I bought two books (Albatross by Josie Bloss and Finally by Wendy Mass), went back to hotel room, did some packing and reading. While getting ready for bed, some bloggers stopped by like Chelsea, Mitali, Sarah and some others, and they left shortly after, then I went to bed.



My Friday was very uneventful, which was good, lol. I got to sit and read Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala and Grace by Elizabeth Scott. I got to write a few reviews, chat with some people. At the beginning of the day, I tried to get a glimpse into Maureen Johnson's keynote speech at the Blogger Convention, but unfortunately, I couldn't hear her from outside the room even with the doors open and that made me sad. BUT! I did see her walking out of the room when the whole keynote thing was done. I probably should've stopped her and seen if she could take a picture with me, but it would have been one of those self-taken pictures since none of my friends were around. So instead I just gaped as she walked by and thought "OMG IT'S MAUREEN JOHNSON!!!" over and over again until she was out of my sight. Yes, I'm a Maureen fanboy. And that is my BEA experience! I can't wait for next year!! :)



Pictures:
1) Tricia Rayburn signing her book Siren
2) A picture of the YA Buzz panel (left to right) Ally Condie, Sophie Jordan, Kody Keplinger, cute gay bookseller (or librarian- can't remember which) who I saw again at ALA with his boyfriend (maybe?) and who I stared at a bit and I'm pretty sure he thought I was a stalker. No, just lusting from afar, lol.
3) Very blurry shot of the other side of the panel. Erin Bow is the brown blob toward the left and Rebecca Maizel is the one on the far left bending out of the shot.
4) Tim Gunn from afar. I took this a few lines over while I was in another autographining line. He was there like all afternoon signing books, chatting, and taking pictures.
5) My whole BEA haul. LOOK AT ALL THOSE BOOKS! HOW WILL I READ THEM ALL?!!?!?