BEA Highlights

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend the week in New York City and attend Book Expo America! I had a wonderful time reconnecting with friends and making new ones. It’s so great having an excuse just to talk books all the time!

I thought I’d share some of my highlights during the week with you!

Sunday

I attended the Simon and Schuster preview party! This was one of my favorite events of the week! The fabulous and freaking hilarious Jenny Han interviewed Lenore Appelhans (Level 2), Shannon Messenger (Let the Sky Fall), Tonya Hurley (The Blessed), Carmen Rodrigues (34 Pieces of You) and Siobhan Vivian (Burn for Burn). They were all hilarious and full of awesome! Jenny asked a variety of questions like “kiss, marry, kill” and “plea the fifth.” In turn, I discovered my love for author Tonya Hurley. After the interviews we were able to mix and mingle! It was a great night!

Books:

Not to mention there were some really cute goodies like: a play list and ear buds from the Summer Lovin’ tour, a battery operated fan with the tagline “a love story that will blow you away!”, nail polish some “don’t get burned” sunscreen and a Level 2 magnet!

Monday

BEA Bloggers Conference was Monday morning. I had so much fun at the breakfast. We only had two authors, Siobhan Vivian and Kitty Kelley. I want to be Kitty Kelley when I grow up! That lady was classy! And although she was pitching me her book, that wasn’t a YA book at all, I was simply fascinated with her story!

Books in my Goodie Bag:

Cat and I also made a trip to the Hershey and M&M stores in Times Square. The yellow M&M made an appearance!

I also attended the HarperTeen preview party! It was fabulous! We got some sneak peeks at their new site Epic Reads! Which is now live, you should check it out! We also got to see the cover for The Madman’s Daughter and learn about the entire cover process. It was absolutely fascinating. I had no idea that so much went into the design of a cover. WOW! We also got to see the new paperback cover for Shatter Me! Then we also heard about some of the upcoming titles that Harper has to offer. One that really grabbed my attention was a new middle grade novel called The Peculiar!

Books:

Tuesday

This was the first official day of BEA. I didn’t really have a plan so Cat and I wondered around the floor picked up a few books. The one thing that I wanted to be sure and do was attend the Ruta Sepetys signing for Between Shades of Gray. Not to be confused with that other shades of gray book. I LOVED Ruta’s book and I had yet to meet her, so this was my chance.

Books:

Tuesday night was the Teen Author Carnival! After grabbing a bite to eat with Cat and an author friend we headed over to the Jefferson Market Library. Such a gorgeous library! I’ve attended TAC for the past three years and this year by far was the best! They did an EXCELLENT job with the entire thing. I was really impressed. Of course I bought way to many books, but I couldn’t help it. And I got them all signed! YAY!

Books:

Wednesday

Wednesday started off on a high note with the Children’s Book and Author Breakfast. I go to the breakfast every year. It’s one of my favorite things about BEA and this year by far was the best to date. The authors; Chris Colfer, John Green, Lois Lowry and Kadir Nelson. I laughed and I cried, it was absolutely incredible. Chris Colfer was an excellent MC, he made me love him even more!

He called John Green the “Justin Beiber of the literary world.” And after Lois Lowry’s speech in which she mentioned that she didn’t have to take off her shoes at the airport, Chris says something along the lines of “it’s a good thing you don’t have to take your shoes off, because there isn’t anyone who could fill them.” Her speech was heart-wrenching to begin with and his comment just sent those tears right over the edge!

Books from the Breakfast:

I also was able to get a signed copy of Chris Colfer’s book The Land of Stories and also meet Rachael Ray and got a signed cookbook! It was a successful day on the BEA floor! I was walking through an exhibit when a guy sucked me into getting a signed book about a rescue dog. The dog was even there. How could I say no!

Books:

That night I went to a dinner party hosted by Katherine Tegen. Yes, that Katherine Tegen! (The HarperCollins imprint!) Her home was absolutely beautiful and I was so honored to be invited! There were a lot of food and drinks and mingling. There were some to die for cupcakes. Seriously to die for. And several fabulous authors in attendance; Veronica Roth, Sarah Tregay, Courtney Allison Moulton, Kevin Emerson, Elisa Ludwig, Christopher Krovatin, and S.J. Kincaid. Kevin even played guitar and sang us a song.

Books:

After the party was a late night Pinkberry run, my first time, with some fabulous bloggers! Shanyn, Em, Anna, Jessica, Sasha and Tirzah.

Thursday

Had breakfast with the lovely people at Macmillan books! Talked about the Fierce Reads tour as well as other things. It was great to give them some feedback!

Went to the wrong subway stop.

Found the right subway stop!

This was the last day for the exhibits. I headed to Fed-ex first to mail my books. There were only three people ahead of me in line, with three Fed-ex workers, but somehow I was there for an HOUR!

I missed the signing for Fathomless, but luckily Tara was AWESOME enough to get me a signed copy. THANK YOU TARA!

I ended up leaving BEA around 11 and walked back to the hotel.

Books:

Grabbed a bite to eat with Cat, Shanyn and Tara.

Visited Ground Zero with Shanyn and Tara it was very humbling and heartbreaking.

Books of Wonder had a debut author signing! YAY! I love Books of Wonder it’s such a great bookstore! Of course I bought way to many books again. They had a signing on Wednesday night too, so they had a bunch of signed stock. I couldn’t let that opportunity pass me by!

Books:

  • The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova (signed!)
  • The Complete Winne-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (got this one for free since I spent so much :P )
  • Wildefire by Karsten Knight (signed)
  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (it’s the 40th anniversary version and it’s signed!)
These authors were actually at the signing:

Friday

Friday was my day to enjoy NYC!

Wafles from Walfes and Dinges in the morning. Chelsea Market, The Strand, Wafle truck again, FAO Schwarz.

POTTED POTTER!

I’m always ready to leave NYC by the end of the week, but I always miss it when I do make it home. Thanks for another great experience NYC!

Related posts:

  1. Intro to BEA
  2. Giveaway: BEA Prize Packs
  3. NYC/BEA Wrap-Up Post
  4. Are You Going to BEA?
  5. Winners: BEA Prize Pack, Prophecy of the Sisters Prize Pack & Life After
40 Comments