I think I should written these posts up soon after I arrived home, instead of over a month after, because I'm afraid I am missing some of the small details that really made the trip that much more fabulous... oh well. Guess I know that now for future reference.
So the alarm clock worked this day. Actually I ended up getting up before the alarm clock and getting ready, but I'm sure it would have worked had I been able to sleep until it went off. I got ready and then woke Erica up. We were leaving Cat to head to Javits insanely early to get in line for the exhibits. They only had three hundred copies of The Clockwork Angel
by Cassandra Clare and we both wanted one!
We made it to Javits without a hitch and then it was a lot of waiting. We were too far back in the line. (which didn't really matter because as soon as we got the okay, everyone rushed forward!) Carol from Book Lover Carol sat with us too, so we just mingled. I ended up hitting up the Starbucks there and had a delicious blueberry scone and coffee. Thank god for caffeine or I would have been dragging ass all day!
So when they finally let us in, it was a mad dash to the Simon & Schuster booth... and I am not exaggerating about the mad dash... people were RUNNING! I ended up getting a ticket to get a copy and somehow met up with Khy from The Frenetic Reader and we stood in line to get our copies together. And they let us keep the ticket!
After I grabbed my coveted copy of The Clockwork Angel
, I headed over to the Little Brown booth hoping to grab one of the grab bags that they had handed out the day before but I had missed because I was at the breakfast. Unfortunately they weren't handing out any of their YA titles, so I ended up not taking a bag. I really wanted a copy of Immortal Beloved, but I finally gave up after many failed attempts.
Alexander, Me and Simone!
My first signing of the day was Rules of Attraction
by Simone Elkeles. I love Simone's books and was able to met her last year at ALA Chicago and get my copy of Perfect Chemistry signed, so I was very excited to see her again! And she even had Alexander who plays Alex in the PC and Rules of Attraction book trailers with her! How cute is he! I was glad that I got in Simone's line early because it was moving really slow since she was letting people snap pictures and talking to them.
Rebecca & Me!
I finished up with Simone's signing in record time, so I was able to explore the exhibits and meet some wonderful people. Who would I happen to run into again, but author Rebecca Maizel! This time I asked if she wouldn't mind snapping a picture! After my chat and picture session with Rebecca, I happen to stumble upon Andrea Cremer author of Nightshade
signing some arcs so of course I jumped in that line right away! And she knew my blog! Speaking of knowing my blog, I was super surprised at the people that knew my blog! I mean freaggin Melissa Marr knew my blog! INSANE! After I met Andrea, I headed over to get in line to meet Ivy Devlin!
Orginally I didn't know Ivy would be signing, but luckily I saw it in the printed schedule they gave out at BEA. It was only earlier in the week, that I found out that Ivy Devlin was a psuedonym for one of my favorite YA authors! I was so very excited to get a signed copy of Low Red Moon
! Woo! Luckily I was close to the front of the line for this one too and I headed over to see Alyson Noel!
Alyson Noel
I was so excited to finally meet her! I'd emailed her a few times and done an interview with her for the blog, so it was wonderful to meet her in person. She was signing copies of her new middle grade series, which is sort of a spin off of her Immortals series... it's called Radiance
. I had a pretty good spot in line so I was hoping to rush over and meet Chelsea Campell... but her line was crazy, as was Leah Cypess's line for Mistwood. I noticed there was already a line started for Sophia Jordan's Firelight
, so I just got in line there. I was number two! Woot.
After I got my signed arc of Firelight, I went to get into Chelsea's line because she was to be signing for a while longer, but when I got there they said she has just left, but that I should head over to the Egmont booth because they were sending the few copies that had left over there. So I headed over there, only to run into Bree Despain and EgmontGal Elizabeth that were at the booth! They did have a few copies of The Rise of Renegade X
left and they were happy to hand one over to me! SCORE! They even mentioned that Chelsea was walking around... so I went on a mission to find her! As you can imagine the place is huge so it didn't happen. After I had been walking for a while, something told me to head back over to the Egmont booth, and who happened to be sitting there but Chelsea Campbell herself! WOOHOO! I introduced myself and she let me hug her! lol! Plus she signed my book and we also snapped a picture together! Chelsea is awesome! So glad that I stalked her down... I mean ran into her.
Chelsea Campbell and Me!
The people at Egmont where wonderful and loaded me with some books while I was there! Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart, Rich & Mad by William Nicholson, and How to Grow Up and Rule the World, by Vordak the Incomprehensible by Scott Seegert.
The rest of my day could also be called... the adventures of Kristi & Erica... lol.
After that I was starving, so I headed to the overpriced eating area... Erica and Carol were already there, so I sat with them. There was another lady there are well sitting at the table but for the life of me I cannot remember who it was! So sorry! After I ate Erica and I decided we would meet up in the line for Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution
. I happened to be walking by and noticed that Laurie Halse Anderson was still signing copies of Forge
and there were only a few people of line so of course I ran over there. I hadn't even tried to go earlier because I knew it would be insane. I was so freaggin excited! At ALA Chicago I had gotten to meet Laurie and get a signed copy of Chains, so this was fantastic!
Erica met me in line for Revolution and we were fairly close to the front. Apparently they also handed out a red ribbon necklace with a key, but they forgot to put them out until well after Erica and I had made it through the line. I was so disappointed! Erica and I then headed over to the Harlequin book to get a signed copy of Spy Glass
by Maria V. Snyder! This time they had a separate line for each author... a little more organized, but still a little disappointing if you wanted to see more than one author.
Walking to out next destination we also stopped by the Sourcebooks booth and were able to get a signed copy of The Water Wars
by Cameron Stracher!
Erica and I also wanted to get a copy of Raised by Wolves
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, it was still an hour early, but once we got in line, it magnified quickly. After waiting for about twenty-five minutes, the Jennifer Lynn Barnes informed us that the time and line for the signing had been changed! WHAT! So instead of hanging around, Erica and I ran over to the Romance Writers of America booth, because Jeri Smith-Ready was going to be signing copies of Shade
and they only had a limited number. Luckily we got there early enough that we had an excellent place in line and got a signed copy and chatted with Jeri for a few minutes.
Then we booked it back over to the Jennifer Lynn Barnes line! We still got our signed copies of Raised by Wolves as well, so it worked out rather nicely for the two of us. Erica also snagged me a copy of Monster High
!
It was around two o'clock, so I headed over to the Little Brown booth hoping to score an arc of Beautiful Darkness
! There were some lovely bloggers in line so we all chatted while we were waiting. And the lovely Linda of The Optimistic Pessimist gave me a copy of The Mockingbirds
by Daisy Whitney that she had gotten extra!
Jenny, Me & Sarah (lovely ladies from Forever Young Adult!)
After that I headed to the FedEx area to ship my books. Since it was the last day, the FedEx area was a madhouse. As I was packing Violet Haberdasher showed up. She is the hilarious author of Knightley Academy
. She actually ended up giving me a signed copy of Friend is Not a Verb
, it was signed to her, but still! Lol. After I finally got my books sent out... I was off to find the reception for the BBC... I walked around the basement for a while, before an awesome person on the janitorial staff showed me where the reception was! Thank you Janitor Man!
The BBC reception was fantastic! I finally met some of the lovely ladies from Forever Young Adult, Sarah and Jenny! I love these ladies. They have one of my favorite YA blogs! They are hilarious and only wish they lived closer so we could be BFF's!
Diana and Me!
Diana Peterfreund was there! YAY! I was able to snap a picture with her! Isn't she soo pretty! Not only is she pretty but she is a dog lover AND she writes about unicorns, killer unicorns to be exact... made of awesome. So after the reception I caught the shuttle back to the hotel. Funny story... on the bus some of the other passengers were complaining about the presence of bloggers at the convention. Saying and I quote... "I guess you can post anything online and be considered press. Just ridiculous." I felt like turning around and saying something, but I just kept my mouth shut. Amy of My Friend Amy and Natasha of Maw Books Blog were sitting in front of me on the shuttle, and I wondered if they heard the conversation as well. And since I have the most fabulous luck, as soon as the bus stopped to let us off, it started pouring down. I had a short walk to my hotel, but it didn't matter, I was soaked, as was my Rules of Attraction poster! Damn it!
A couple hoodlums... aka Erica and Me.
Changed into some dry clothes at the hotel. And then Erica, Cat and I were on a mission to find some grub. I didn't want to do chain restaurants while I was in NYC, but Cat doesn't have any T.G.I. Friday's in Canada, so we thought that would be quick and easy and we could get some mashed potatoes which we all seemed to be craving... Well it ended up taking over an hour to get our food even though people kept coming in after us, getting their food and leaving. Once we did finally get our food, our order was wrong. Erica just ordered ice cream and they didn't even get that right. We did get free dessert out of the deal, but it was not a good experience. :P It was so late that we ended up heading back to the hotel instead of meeting The Book Smugglers for drinks like we had planned. It was off to bed for us.
Books got at BEA Day Two:
Signed:
- Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
- Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
- The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (arc)
- Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder
- Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin (arc)
- The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell
- Radiance by Alyson Noel (arc)
- Friend is Not a Verb by Daniel Ehrenhaft
- Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
- Firelight by Sophie Jordan (arc)
- Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson (arc)
- Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (arc)
Advance Readers Copies:
- Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
- Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
- Rich & Mad by William Nicholson
- The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
- iDrakula by Bekka Black
- Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales
- Monster High by Lisi Harrison
- How to Grow Up and Rule the World by Scott Seegert
- Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Read: Day One or Day Two or Day Three.