Wednesday, June 10, 2015

BEA Recap

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Hello everyone! Today I am going to do my best to recap the awesomeness that was BEA! This was my first time going, and it was both amazing and overwhelming. Luckily, I was with some pros, so it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.

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So off I go to NYC by train on Wednesday, while those already there enjoyed their first day atBEA. It was actually a pretty good trip. I just listened to an audiobook and enjoyed the ride. I got into NYC around 6:30pm and headed to the hotel to join Giselle from Xpresso Reads, Micheline from Lunar Rainbows, and Rashika from The Social Potato. We had so much fun! We had dinner and settled in for the night to prepare for day 2 of BEA.

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Approaching the Javits Center. It’s really a beautiful building, the pic doesn’t do it justice.

Once it opens, it’s like an obstacle course of people. I just followed Giselle since she knew what she was doing. Within the first half hour, I had gotten a few really great books that I’m excited to read, and then we hopped in the signing line for Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. I won’t go into every detail, but the first day flew by in a rush of book drops and signings. I met some cool people, and fan girled over some authors. My day 2 BEA haul was great!

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Libba Bray signing Lair of Dreams! OMG I have been waiting for this book forever!! I’m about 1/4 done reading it and I’m really enjoying it.

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I got a pic with Marissa Meyer! She was signing Fairest.

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My day 2 haul. I have already read Illuminae and loved it! I read the whole book the day after I got home from BEA.

Then we went to Rockefeller Center for dinner. We ate outside (even though it was hot and humid) by the fountain. The food was really good. Then back to the hotel to rest up for the 3rd and final day of BEA. Of course there were silly shenanigans going on like having my pic taken wearing a frilly pink shower cap haha! That may have been the next night though, I’m not sure.

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Pretty fountain at dinner.

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The view above me at dinner.

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Pic of me, Giselle, and Micheline. (Rashika went back to the hotel)

Day 3 of BEA brought more awesome signings and I got pics with some fabulous authors, including one of my favorites, Ellen Hopkins! We were all pretty exhausted after the day was done and just grab some food and ate in our hotel room and relaxed.

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Yup, up, that’s Carrie Ryan!

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Eeep! I got a pic with Ellen Hopkins! I was so excited I forgot to hold the book up.

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Richelle Mead is so pretty! I also look like I’m photo bombing my own pic.

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Patrick Ness is so funny. We had to do the pic over because he didn’t like the first one.

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My day 3 book haul. I shipped some home, so it might be missing a few. But there’s lots of awesome there.

It was such a great experience, and I was so glad to get to see Giselle again and meet Micheline and Rashika. It’s fun to see all the excitement of people who love books as much as you do. I am so happy that I was able to go and experience how awesome it is.

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Our last night before going our separate ways in the morning. I miss those girls!

And of course, my full book haul all together. I will be doing a stacking the Shelves post this weekend if you want to know exactly what I got.

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Thank you to all the publishers, authors, event coordinators, and everyone who was a part of this event.

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I'm no good at this, but I'm a mom of one little girl who really thinks she is a princess. I love reading all sorts of books (horror being a favorite genre of mine), love meeting new people, drinking lots of coffee, and eating chocolate. If you want to know anything else about me, just ask.
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35 Responses to “BEA Recap”

  1. MIchelle @ Book Briefs

    It looks like you had an amazing time at BEA! And you got some INCREDIBLE books! I hope you love, love, love them all! I have never been to BEA. Maybe next year will be when I finally get to go šŸ™‚

    I hope you have a fantastic week šŸ™‚ Happy Reading!

    Michelle @ Book Briefs

    • Amy

      It was really fun! It was pretty crazy too. It’s very overwhelming the amount of people that are there, but there’s so much going on too. I have read 2 of my BEA books so far. šŸ™‚ It was my first time going, but I don’t think I am going to get to go again since it’s moving to Chicago. That’s a bit too far for me. NYC was easier to travel to.

  2. Carrie

    It looks like you guys had a grand old time! I would love to go to BEA sometime, but I can’t see it happening. I’ll live vicariously through all of you guys instead for now.

    Glad you both had a good time… and look at all those books!!! šŸ˜‰

    • Amy

      I have been wanting to go for years and was finally able to make it happen this year. Unfortunately, now it’s moving to Chicago so I won’t be able to go again. That is too far for me.

  3. Vane

    Awesome! I’m glad you had fun! I’ve never gone to a BEA and I didn’t know what it was until this year, but it seems like a totally amazing event.

  4. Ange/Libby Blog

    Too fun! Someday I’m going to go to BEA and I’m going to meet so many of you gals I adore! Going to ALAMW was just a taste, but WOW was it good. I loved it. Now I get why people love going to these.
    BTW, this is a great post that tells what you did but isn’t obnoxious about certain aspects. LOVE IT!

    • Amy

      I would love to go to ALA sometime. If it is ever closer to where I live I definitely will. I don’t like flying, so it has to be somewhere I can drive, or take the train.

      • Ange

        ALA comes to Chicago on a semi-regular basis, and is only about 2 1/2 hrs from us which makes it much more convenient then New York. I just cannot afford to fly on a teacher librarian salary sadly. C’est la vie. Some day. šŸ™‚

        • Amy

          The good thing is, next year BEA will be in Chicago so it will be close to you!! I won’t be attending next year though since it’s further away from me now.

  5. ShootingStarsMag

    Okay seriously – how did I not know you and Giselle were at BEA? I really need to go next year so I can make SURE to meet with some bloggers. I’m too shy to just approach anyone. You got some awesome books though. I really wanted Bream Gives Me Hiccups and Auggie and Me. šŸ™‚

    -Lauren

    • Amy

      I’m not a shy person, but even if you are, it’s so easy to talk to people. Especially when you are waiting in a signing line. You are surrounded by other people who love books so it’s not like you won’t have anything to talk about. šŸ™‚

    • Amy

      I wish I had gotten to meet some other bloggers that where there, but it’s really hectic with so much going on. We had our lists of signings and book drops so we were pretty much bouncing from one place to another really quickly. I did get to meet a few great people though.

  6. Bonnie @ A Backwards Story

    BEA was so much fun this year!

    There were so many great books!!!

    I didn’t run into Giselle at all this year, boo! And I don’t think I ran into you either!!

    I gave my friend/co-worker/sometimes co-blogger ILLUMINAE to read first. She’d never heard of it, but loves sci-fi and was so thrilled to read it! She put aside the book she requested from Erin Bowman to read this one first!

    • Amy

      Illuminae was awesome!! I can’t believe I read that monster of a book in one day!! I was exhausted and recuperating from BEA, so I just lounged around with my book all day lol!! I don’t think that we ran into you. Giselle was telling me who certain bloggers were that she had met before when she would see them, and I don’t think that we saw you at all.

  7. John

    Aw, man- didn’t know you guys were at the BEA; would loved to have met up with you and put faces to names, maybe hung out a little. How’d you like the Chinese Exhibit?

    • Amy

      SO many people at BEA, it’s hard to meet up with everyone you want to. I would have liked to meet you too. We didn’t really explore the Chinese Exibit much, but I think we totally ruined a photo moment when we walked through it at one point lol!

  8. Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows Reviews

    I saw that Giselle tweeted this yesterday, so I had to come over and read it šŸ™‚ It was awesome to finally meet you Amy after years of chatting online!! ā™„ I’m so happy that your first BEA experience was such a success. I definitely wasn’t at my best, considering the exhaustion+lack of sleep but I still had a blast with you girls! You totally were better at taking pics than I was, looking at them all brought back lots of memories šŸ™‚ Hopefully ALA hits up Boston or somewhere close by soon so we might get to meet up again! Awesome recap post xx

    • Amy

      It was so good to finally meet you!!! I totally miss you girls!! You really made my BEA experience great. I would have been so lost and overwhelmed without you guys! I hope that there is a book event that happens close to us so we can meet up again. Or maybe we could plan a blogger meet-up or something that’s between our locations and we can all get together. Make a weekend of it or something. šŸ™‚

  9. Dreams

    Sounds like you had a great time! I am super jealous about Patrick Ness I really wanted to go to his signing but the line was super long and I was having a claustrophobic moment.

    • Amy

      We just made the cut in the Patrick Ness signing line. We jumped over there right after Richelle Mead and there were only 75 books. People were also using the jump to the front of the line signing passes so by the time we got to the front there were only like 4 books left after us. We were getting nervous we would get pushed out. He was really funny and I can’t wait to read the book!

  10. Carina Olsen

    YAY šŸ˜€ Stunning recap Amy. <3 It sounds like you had such an amazing time at BEA. Sigh. Stunning pictures too šŸ™‚ You got to meet so many awesome authors. <3 And yay for the books šŸ™‚ Happy reading sweetie. <3

  11. Rashika

    It looks like you had a great time at BEA, Amy! (I just really wanted to say that…. :P)

    I am probably going to regret not getting in that line for Patrick Ness for a long time. He sounded so awesome from the way you and Giselle described him! Plus I loved his Monsters Walking trilogy.

    Also that picture of you wearing your shower cap??? Totally put it in my recap šŸ˜‰ You can enjoy being embarrassed now. (I LURVE YOU)

    I am glad you got to meet several of your favorite authors, Amy!! šŸ™‚ And I am glad I got to spend time with you at BEA!