A Round-up of Intriguing Titles From Book Expo, Day Three! (The Day I Somehow Met FOURTEEN Authors!!!)

Hey Bookworms!

Sorry it took me two days to get this post up. I was SO TIRED on Friday night and opted to sleep instead of stay up late blogging, and I didn't have enough free time on Saturday. Sunday, I felt like sleeping and being lazy again.

This is a loooong post, though, so hopefully it's worth it? ^.~

For those who haven't been following along, I have a couple of other BEA posts to share:



A sneak peek at the BEA Show Floor and a recap of the Teen Author Carnival

The first day of BEA

The second day of BEA

Day 3, my schedule was CRAZY. There were about ten things I wanted to do between 10-11 am alone!! I knew it would NEVER happen. So I figured out what I wanted to do the most. I thought I'd be standing in long lines all day and get maybe 5-6 books.

I WAS OKAY WITH THAT.

Buuuuut because there were so many "big name titles/authors" clumped together, there were at LEAST three super-long lines (Two of which were for SIX OF CROWS by Leigh Bardugo, which had a line TWO HOURS early and BLACK WIDOW by Margaret Stohl, which was equally crazy). Because everyone was in monster lines, I was able to get the book I most wanted in that hour, then line hop into the lines of a few other books I'd really wanted and ruled out! Likewise, at the end of the day when waiting for the Meg Cabot line to start lining up, I line-hopped into three books I was interested in and didn't think I'd get.

YOU GUYS. I thought I'd get 5-6 books on Day 3. I got SIXTEEN. And only TWO weren't autographed! That is INSANE!!!!

Books of Wonder Fantastic Fiction Author Panel

After BEA, I hurried downtown to Books of Wonder for the Fantastic Teen Author Panel! The panel featured Virginia Boecker (THE WITCH HUNTER), Michael Buckley (UNDERTOW), Rae Carson (The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy, the upcoming WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER), Melissa Grey (THE GIRL AT MIDNIGHT), Kass Morgan (The 100 Series), and Chinese author Cao Wenxaun plus his translator (THE AMBER TILES).

I brought two books from home. A friend had my novella collection,
so I repurchased it at Books of Wonder along with THE GIRL OF MIDNIGHT.
Rae also graciously signed an ARC of her new book. I've already read it,
but will be sharing it with colleagues. I'll just cut the signed page out with an
exacto knife for my finished copy! ^.~

 I'd stood in line with Virginia Boecker earlier in the day, plus seen her at the Carnival panel on Tuesday night, so I have more interest in THE WITCH HUNTER now, but I was afraid to buy it blind because it's not a normal genre for me. PLUS I was buying THE GIRL AT MIDNIGHT by Melissa Grey blind for the signing, and I will only let myself buy one book blind at a signing.

SO THERE IS THAT.

I didn't realize until too late that Michael Buckley had written a MG fairy tale series I've been eyeing for a long time or I may have bought that blind! (Not that I had the space for it...)

Mostly, though, I was there for Rae Carson! It was my second time meeting her because she was at Books of Wonder with Tamora Pierce back during her debut. But THIS time, I got to meet her as a fan of HER and SHE was the draw to the event, not someone else!!! I was very happy!!!


THE TWO BOOKS THAT *WEREN'T* SIGNED:

I'd seen a poster or an ad somewhere this past week for THE BLACKTHORN KEY by Kevin Sands and really wanted to take a peek because the cover is pretty awesome. I think it will be a fun MG fantasy!

I'd had SOUNDLESS by Richelle Mead on my list as something to try and get. There was a signing later in the day at 2 pm, and in my head, it was, "Do I go get an ARC of SOUNDLESS or do I meet Felicia Day?" I chose Felicia Day and decided to wait to read SOUNDLESS when it came out.

BUT THEN THERE WAS A SECRET DROP AT 9 AM!!!

I was pretty close to the door because I'd gotten to the Javits Center at 7 am to get my Meg Cabot Ticket. So I was very lucky!!!! BUT I wasn't running and rushing and grabbing like the swarm of people ahead of me. Some bad behavior there, but that's another story!!

  THE SIGNED BOOKS:

I was SO EXCITED to meet so many amazing authors and get so much of my wish list, since I didn't think this would happen!

Making a schedule really helped, because it kept me organized, and I was able to do so much more!

PLUS a lot of these books were finished copies, which was AWESOME because I pass my ARCs on and don't keep them. But I WILL keep a published copy of a book!!!

*DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE by Carrie Ryan

~I knew that Carrie Ryan would have a long line, so I headed over to the signing area about 40 minutes early. And....there was NOBODY in her line!!!!

I was FIRST IN LINE and that has never ever happened before. NOT EVER. So that was pretty cool! And Carrie was SUPER nice!!!! I'm excited to read this thriller!

What does it look like when no one else is in line?

Such a cool moment!!!

*THE GIRL WHO COULD NOT DREAM by Sarah Beth Durst

~There weren't a lot of people in this line when I got done with Carrie Ryan, so I ran into it while waiting for my next line to form! I adore Sarah Beth Durst. She is a fantastic human being!!! It was so nice to see her again!

 

*NEVER NEVER by Brianna Shrum

~I'm really anxious to read this because Peter Pan retelling!!! I even participated in Brianna's cover reveal for this book recently. I was excited to meet both her AND her publicist, who I've worked with before! It's always so nice to put a face with a name!

*NONE OF THE ABOVE by I. W. Gregorio

~I read this book way back when it was a manuscript because Ilene kindly asked me to blurb it, but I didn't have a signed copy of the book. I line-hopped in and got into the tail end of her signing!

*DUMPLIN' by Julie Murphy

I didn't think I'd get anywhere NEAR this line. It was huge all morning. I knew HarperCollins kept dropping galleys at their booth, and I'd already downloaded an e-galley onto my nook, so I wasn't super concerned. BUT I passed by after her line ended, and she was still signing, so it wasn't a long wait at all! 

THEN later that night at Books of Wonder, Rae Carson really sold this book, so now it's bumped up my TBR stack!!!!

*THE PRINCESS IN BLACK AND THE PERFECT PRINCESS PARTY by Shannon Hale

~This was YET ANOTHER book on my list that I didn't think I had time to get to because of conflicting schedules. Her line was just forming and I had time to kill, though, so I hopped in!

I've met Shannon Hale twice previously, but it was a long time ago, so it was great to see her again and pick up her new MG title, which is really exciting in the genre!

*ALICE IN WONDERLAND HIGH by Rachel Shane

~This was the book I was killing time for after NEVER NEVER that allowed me to line-hop so many times! I'm really excited to read this modern-day retelling! It sounds like so much fun!

*YOU'RE NEVER WEIRD ON THE INTERNET (ALMOST) by Felicia Day

~I was so excited to meet actress/writer/producer Felicia Day! She starred in Dr. Horrible and her series The Guild. She's also on Supernatural. An excerpt of her upcoming autobiography was handed out and it's hilarious. It's going to be a really engaging read because her voice is so honest and real, just like her whenever you hear her in interviews!

We hovered around the Simon and Schuster booth about half an hour before 1 pm, when the real line was formed. Then we waited an hour to meet Felicia, but we were near the front of the line, so it wasn't bad at all!!! I just wanted to get through her line so I could be at Meg Cabot's 3:30 signing and out of THAT in time to make my 4 pm signing!

*PIP BARTLETT'S GUIDE TO MAGICAL CREATURES by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefvater

~I did NOT think I'd make this signing! I grabbed a ticket along with one for Meg Cabot in the morning, but the signing was 1:30-2:30 and I was in line to meet Felicia Day at that time! BUT there wasn't a huge line when I went to the autographing area to wait for Meg's line to start forming. I was able to get right in! I loved meeting these two talented authors!!!

*SCORCHED by Jennifer L. Armentrout

~I didn't take a picture, sorry! BUT SCORCHED had also been ticketed and was at the end of the line. It was also right next to the line I'd just come out of for PIP BARTLETT. SO I hoped right in. I always love seeing Jen. She's such an amazing human being and so kind to her fans!

*ROYAL WEDDING by Meg Cabot

~I have enjoyed so many of Meg Cabot's novels over the years, so it was wonderful to meet her! I was sad the book was a galley, though! Nikki from Fiction Freak had kindly brought her extra copy of ROYAL WEDDING from home for in case I couldn't get a ticket. She told me to share it with someone else because I had my ticket. So I gave it to a school librarian who wanted finished copies for her library. I don't regret doing this AT ALL because it will get so much more love this way! But I was still a bit sad because I really don't keep ARCs!!!

*THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH by Ali Benjamin

~Again, I didn't take a picture, sorry! There wasn't a line for this when I got done with Meg. I don't know much about this MG, but it's been getting a LOT of buzz, and it may be a Newbery contender next year, so I grabbed a copy and met the author while I could!

*THE ACCIDENT SEASON by Moïra Fowley-Doyle 

~After I finished with Meg and snagged JELLYFISH, I hurried all the way to the other end of Javits to make my 4 pm in-booth signing at Penguin Random House. They had two authors signing at the same time that I wanted to see, and it was a little confusing!

I'm really excited to read THE ACCIDENT SEASON because I want to know EVERYTHING about this intriguing mystery/curse/what-have-you!

*ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES by Jennifer Niven

~I had messed up my schedule for 4 pm, so I should have gone into this line first. The line was longer than for THE ACCIDENT SEASON because ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES has gotten A LOT of buzz and acclaim since it came out earlier this year AND it was a finished hardcover, not an ARC. I started to get nervous I might miss my Books of Wonder panel or come in late! But all was good in the world and worked out in the end! I left Javits at 5 pm as soon as I was done with this signing, hurried to the hotel, dropped off my stuff, grabbed my books for the panel, and scooted back out. Thank goodness for subways!!! If I'd had to walk that many blocks, it would have been impossible!!!

And....that was my Friday!!!

I'll do one more post regarding Book Con, because it was a really interesting experience.

But all in all, I had a fantastic BEA! I was being SO selective, but I somehow still wound up with so much more than I thought possible, and I'm very grateful to have met so many amazing authors!!

WHICH TITLES ARE YOU MOST INTRIGUED ABOUT???