Monthly Archives:: June 2015

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.

Review: Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout

Review: Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout

Posted by on 06/09/2015 • 14 Comments

A sweet, feel-good kind of read, Hello, I Love You transported me to Korea with its highly descriptive and atmospheric writing.

I had a good time reading this novel, the romance is cute and full of chemistry, buuuut (you knew it was coming) the hot and cold nature of their relationship for a good 90% of the book does get frustrating. Even though Grace ends up having a reason behind her inability to trust and open up her heart, I couldn’t help but find myself annoyed at her sudden bursts of coldness. She was so blind by what transpired in her past – which we only find out about at the very end – that she becomes this cold-hearted bitch every time they actually start to get close. She…

Review: Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler

Review: Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler

Posted by on 06/04/2015 • 3 Comments

Going into this, I thought it would be a typical story about the sweet looking celebrity who is really a nightmare, and in a way it was, but it was so much more than that. I loved that it is told from Holly’s POV, who is ghostwriting Daisy’s book. I did find it to drag a bit, but I really did end up enjoying it. I admit that I did almost give up a few times early on, but I am happy that I continued on. It really goes inside the life of a young star and what happens all around them. We  see that even if Daisy is horrible, it’s because of her fame and how everyone treats her. She’s not really all that bad of a person. And…

Review: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Review: A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Posted by on 06/03/2015 • 11 Comments

Don’t be fooled by my 3-star rating. Because despite all my problems with it, I actually… liked this book. O_O

First of all, you guys know me – anything with science and traveling through space/time, I’m 100% game for that. I like exploring all kinds of possibilities and going beyond what we deem as reality. There’s a kind of poetry in it, you know? The feeling that there are still so much out there that we need to understand and discover, that the universe is so much bigger and grander than we could possibly perceive, and that amazes me. It’s a romantic, philosophical, and awe-inspiring concept, so seeing it as the central concept in a book made me giddy with glee.

However, I didn’t expect that the book would largely be… romantic-driven. I…

Review: Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

Review: Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

Posted by on 06/02/2015 • 10 Comments

I have loved every book by Stephanie Kuehn so far, and this one is no exception. Her books are so… bizarre and unique and wonderfully compelling. You feel as if you’re being played with, as if the book is making sure you’re never quite certain of what’s happening, except for the fact that it’s terrible and disturbing and wholly messed up!

In Delicate Monsters we’ve get ourselves 3 perspectives, and while I fear this would be a bit much – multiple perspectives can be so tricky – it ended up being the perfect choice for this story. Each perspective is very much distinct, with voices you could not confuse for another even if you tried. We meet Sadie first who we quickly learn is trouble. She’s angry and bored with…

Review: Blood Will Tell by April Henry

Review: Blood Will Tell by April Henry

Posted by on 06/01/2015 • 0 Comments

I love a good mystery, and I did enjoy the first book in this series. I guess it’s not really a series as much as companion novels, but whatever. This was actually a really cool one since you actually know rather quickly who the killer is, but all evidence points to the wrong person. So instead of trying to figure out who did it, you are trying to find out how it all points to someone who is innocent. Much like the first book, this is told in numerous POV’s, which took me a bit away from the story, but it also gives you a full picture of what is going on. I have to say, I had no clue how in the world the evidence could be possible until…