BEA Recap- Tuesday and Wednesday

I got into New York City late Tuesday afternoon around 3:30pm and immediately high-tailed it to the Javits Center from Penn Station. I got my badge and checked my suitcase in the baggage claim before heading into the hall. I made it to Daniel Nayeri's signing with a couple minutes to spare; he was signing a portion of his upcoming novella compilation. It's a collection of 4 novellas and they just put out the fourth novella so I have to wait for the release date to get the whole book. Daniel and I chatted for a bit, and I gave the Candlewick publicist with him my business card. I absolutely love my business cards and I was so happy to have them on hand this year.

After that, I went to Ilsa Bick's line for Draw the Dark. I was going to go to Leigh Fallon's line for Carrier of the Mark but it was way too long. I had tweeted Ilsa the day before about going to her signing and she told me to let her know it was me when I got up to her, which I did. She was so happy to meet me and I'm really excited to read her book.

I wandered around to a few booths after that but everything was winding down for the day so there wasn't much going on. So I went and met Susan and the others out in the lobby to head home for the BBQ. When I found them, Susan had a surprise for me- an ARC of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, which I made a huge happy face over. While trying to get a cab, we saw a car that was picking up Ice-T, but I only saw his wife Coco get into it and then they drove away. Still, it was a cool experience. Also, our cab driver that night hated books and had never finished one in his life, yet he was probably also the nicest driver we had all week.

We arrived at the Blogger House and I met everyone staying there. It was a really fun evening and we had some wonderful people come by and join us for the BBQ. There were some great conversations and awesome food. It came to an end though and soon it was time for bed. I had the luxurious bed seen above for that night (I then took the couch the rest of the nights- except Saturday when I had a real bed- which was much better).

Wednesday morning came way too soon. We arrived early and while we waited for the conference to open at 9am, we made a plan of action. When it opened, Susan and I stopped by a few booths to pick up some ARCs, then went to Lauren Kate's signing (I went to get my friend Meaghan a signed copy of Passion, the newest book in the Fallen quartet). Once that was done, we went to stand in line for Crossed by Ally Condie. I got a ticket from my good friend Linda and we waited for the signing to start; while in line, I also got to say hi to Elyse, who's a wonderful publicist friend of mine. Ally was excited to see me too and Elyse actually caught the moment on film.

After that, I rushed over to the autographing area to get signed copies of Undercurrent by Tricia Rayburn and The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle. Tricia recognized me from ALA last year and we got to chat a tiny bit while she signed, which was really nice. I had also been hoping to get a signed copy of You are My Only by Beth Kephart but they closed off the line before I got there. I then went to get into the line for Graveminder by Melissa Marr because I had my own ARC with me since I wanted to review it soon and I was going to try to get a copy for my new friend Lynsey, who was staying at the Blogger House. The line was just way too long though and I had other signings to get to so I just decided to give Lynsey my ARC instead.

I went off to Wendy Delsol's signing for Frost, which I'm really excited about because I loved the first book Stork. Wendy was excited to meet me too because we've chatted a bit on Twitter. I then moved to Jocelyn Davies' signing and unfortunately, there was a limited supply of books. I had gotten behind the cut-off and just planned on saying hi to Jocelyn since I knew her, but this lady in front of the last person gave up her spot for me. I refused for a couple minutes because I felt bad. I'm a blogger and can get the book some other way but she was not letting up so I took the spot and thanked her profusely. She wasn't all that into A Beautiful Dark but really wanted the book being signed after, Beautiful Days (Book 2 in Bright Young Things series) so she started a line for that. Jocelyn was really sweet and I'm glad I got to see her again; I got introduced to her last year as Michele Jaffe's editor for Rosebush and she sent me an ARC of it after Michele prodded her to.

While I was waiting in Jocelyn's line, I had noticed that Amy Garvey's line one over was empty. They'd run out of copies to sign but I had grabbed one earlier in the day so I stopped by and had her sign it. Then it was off to Macmillan for a signing of The Fox Inheritance by Mary Pearson, which I was so excited to get because I loved Adoration of Jenna Fox. The line was way longer than I expected but it went by kinda fast. After that, I got some lunch out in the Javits lobby and ate alone; the chicken tenders and fries were really good. It was nice to get some sustenance and fuel for the rest of the day.

After eating, I went back onto the floor and got in line for Candace Cameron Bure (DJ from Full House), who was signing her book Reshaping It All. I got it for my roommate who was really excited for it. I had my name put on the personalization sticky because I was so used to saying my name but luckily, I caught myself before getting up to the front and crossed my name out and put my roomie's on the note. Candace was really nice and I was happy to have met her. The American Girl booth was next up on the signing list. Lisa Yee was signing her Kanani books and I've loved some of her previous books so wanted to go meet her. While I was in line, I chatted a bit with a fellow blogger and it was really fun. That's one of the best things about BEA- chatting with other book lovers. Anyway, I was really surprised that Lisa recognized me because it had been a while since we'd talked so that was sweet. We chatted for a few minutes and she was really nice. I also got to see the famous Peepy! I was too starstruck to say something to Peepy but I was able to get a photo of her from afar.

Once I finished there, I went and saw Lisa Desrochers who was so nice. I actually didn't realize that you needed a ticket to see her so I just kinda wandered up to the table and stood there expectantly until a person there was like "Do you have a ticket?" and I said no. So I got one and then got into the line, which took forever and I was wondering why I couldn't just go see Lisa while the people ahead of me went to the adult romance author also signing. But I got up to her and we chatted, and got a picture, then I saw her again (with Lynsey) while waiting in line for The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler galley giveaway at Penguin. I got the book then went to stand in line for the Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan galley giveaway at Macmillan (right across the row from Penguin) with Alex and his friend Erica. I did also stop by Bloomsbury next to Macmillan and get a copy of After Obsession and also tried for Jackie Dolamore's upcoming book but they had run out sadly. While there, I also got to chat with a publicist I've worked with before, Kate, so it was fun to meet her in person. We all grabbed our copies of Glow, and then I went to Marie Lu's signing of Legend, which I'm really excited about. The final thing on the agenda was getting in line for a Beautiful Creatures t-shirt which I'm really excited to have. I'll take a picture or wear it in a vlog sometime soon so you can all see.

Alright, so this is WAY too long so Wednesday evening will have to wait.