BEA 2016 Recap: Day Three

BookExpo America 2016 Day Three: May 13

Well, here we are, at the time of the year where I have to say goodbye to my gorgeous recap of BEA. Okay, there's one more post tomorrow, but today I will be discussing the last and final day of the convention that makes my life complete. 

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I think that Friday was the best day throughout my whole Chicago trip. I got to spend time with new friends (sorry, Mom) and got the best books out of the whole three-day convention. I finally understood how BEA worked this year, and I understood the crowds and how to get the books I wanted the most, and how each publisher worked. All that time the two days before spent on waiting in line for Replica especially during galley drops where I actually had no chance of getting a copy because I was last in line, I could have been somewhere else, knowing that Friday was the day!

I was extremely anxious that morning because of: A Torch Against the Night, Gemina, Replica, Heartless, Passenger, The Sun is Also a Star and The Amateurs. I NEEDED THEM. My life depended on them. I barely ate breakfast (but I had to fuel up!) because I thought I wouldn't get them.

OH YEAH, HARLEQUIN!

Speaking of Harlequin, it was also the day where I had a chance to meet JLA and all of the other Harlequin Teen authors of 2016! I was number 83 in line, and there were only 100 tickets being given out. I GOT TO MEET ELEANOR HERMAN, JLA, AMY LUKAVICS AND MANY OTHERS. It was just the best way to get books and feel special. It was nice chatting with others in line, as well!

JLA AND I. EEEGH!

A nice tip for future BEAers: wait until a ticketed author is almost finished with their signing and try to snag a spot in line without a ticket! I constantly missed ticket giveaways in the mornings because I was never at McCormick early as other crazy bookworms, so I never got the chance to meet Marissa Meyer because of that. I did get to meet Danielle Paige and Meg Cabot even though I did not have tickets! Danielle Paige was so sweet and I went nuts when my friend Melanie and I snagged a spot in line towards the end of her signing. I already had a book, so I just brought it over and got it signed by her. We had a full-on discussion about The Wizard of Oz, and my, I LOVE HER.

HI DANIELLE!

I GOT REPLICA. GUYS. I learned HarperCollins' galley giveaways the hard way, by trying to go in every line every time. Melanie and I, as well as Kristina from Gone Pecan and Rosie from The Literary Hedonist all were close to the front—I think I had the third spot, and the first five all got COPIES OF ALYSON NOEL'S UNRIVALED. EEEEGH. That honestly was luck, and saved me time from actually having to wait in line for it afterwards. I would've wanted to meet Alyson, though!

Another case of pure luck? Being at the Middle Grade Editor's Buzz, I was coming out of the room where nearby at a table, A Torch Against the Night was lying down there. WHAT?! GUYS—THE LINE FOR THAT BOOK A FEW HOURS WAS CHAOTIC. MY LIFE WAS MADE. It was just one copy, so I took it, obviously. I wish I met Sabaa Tahir too, but here is a photo of her (she's flawless!)

For those of you who were wondering about Veronica Roth and Crave the Mark, which, in case you didn't know, is her new book that will be released in January 2017, they were samplers. Meh. She was signing, as well as Laini Taylor, who was promoting her upcoming novel, Strange the Dreamer, which also was being given out as a sampler. Of course I grabbed them both, and I understand that lines would be chaotic for finished ARCs. Also, I imagine that some people would try to sell them online. Boo. 

Honestly? I got every book that I NEEDED to get from BEA this year, excluding Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I would sell my soul to get a copy of that, but it's fine, I'll pre-order it because I love Marissa's writing anyway. I had a close encounter with snatching a copy, but it didn't happen. The Amateurs by Sara Shepard was one of the last books I got, and I also had the chance to meet Sara!

GOT A SECRET CAN YOU KEEP IT SWEAR THIS ONE
YOU'LL SAVE... BETTER LOCK IT IN A POCKET...

At the time of this signing, my mom was at the Gemina giveaway, and I was so surprised that she got it! There were about two hundred people in line I can imagine (maybe I'm over-exaggerating), and then Jay Kristoff made a surprise appearance and the whole exhibit floor was jolly. Ew, that's cheesy, I know. BUT IT WAS GREAT. Those were one of the most happiest moments of my life. Seriously. And who could forget about Jay Asher hot chocolate from his newest, What Light? 

Sabaa Tahir's line. Whoa.

After Sara Shepard's signing, I got extremely depressed. It was the end of BEA! Three days of continuous roaming, laughs with my mom, new friends who I will have to wait to see until another year in NYC (hopefully!), books, an atmosphere of books and just a good time came to an end. I strolled around McCormick as it got empty with my mom, and I swear that a tear roamed down on my cheek. Meh. I had to snag a few photos of McCormick before I left, and it was sad. Terrifying. Meaningful.

I say this after every time I travel somewhere (but that's because my dad keeps taking me to amazing places), but Chicago is my new home. You'll see why after tomorrow's final post where I talk about BEA overall, the University of Chicago and tourism. I'M SO SAD NOW EVEN THOUGH IT'S JULY AND I SHOULD BE OVER THIS. MEH. WAH. I CRAVE BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS EVEN THOUGH I HAVE TONS AND TONS. 

Oh, and my haul! I literally almost forgot. WANT TO SEE IT?!

65 BOOKS! YAY!

Sorry for my freaking-out-self. How was your final day at BEA? What was your favourite BEA year if you've been?

BEA 2016 Recap: Day Two

BookExpo America 2016 Day Two: May 12

Greetings, mates! I am not Australian, and I am not (okay, kind of) trying to be. Let's take a look at BEA day two, where the magic really began, and my achy breaky bag hurt ten times more than I would have liked. But that's the magic of BEA: it hurts, a lot. Make sure you bring comfortable shoes, people. I wore flats for the three days and it wasn't the best decision I could've made, even though I was sacrificing comfort for style.

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Day two of BEA was the day where I accumulated the most books, and perhaps some of the books I want to read the most from BEA. Okay, Friday was pretty amazing too, but that'll be tomorrow's post.

On Thursday, McCormick Place's exhibit hall opened earlier, at nine, so we tried to leave earlier, but of course we got caught in a little Chicago traffic. I thought I would get Replica by Lauren Oliver then, that day, since the giveaway was at 9, but my mom and I arrived 10 minutes later and missed it. THE LINE WAS CRAZY, PEOPLE WOULD LINE UP HALF AN HOUR EARLIER. I later learned the best way to wait for HarperCollins' galley drops: by waiting early. My friend Melanie (I MISS YOU), Rosie (I MISS YOU TOO!) and I learned this the hard way after trying many times. (Friday was a go!) People are literally chaotic at BEA, and although this gets frustrating sometimes, I don't like to really think about the negatives.

Sourcebooks, Capstone and people!

I honestly have to go back to my schedule and try to remember everything that was going on. Thursday was the day of Taherah Mafi (FURTHERMORE!), Jennifer Niven (HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE!) and Ransom Riggs (TALES OF THE PECULIAR!). I couldn't wait to meet these amazing authors, and Penguin Random House had them all in their booths, signing! I must say, for the second year in a row, Penguin Random House has stolen my heart for best booth. They are so organized, have signs everywhere telling people where to go, the publicists are amazing (Enid!), they hand out information sheets with in-booth signings and there's no confusion. Thank you for that, I know I spent so much time in your booth during the three days!

I attended the BEA YA Editor's Buzz, which was fabulous just like last year's. I really want to work in the publishing industry. *cries* MY MOM GOT TO MEET DAVID LEVITHAN WHILE I WAS THERE. CRY. CRY. CRY. I made her send my best wishes out there, and she snagged a copy of The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily for me!

Hah. I remember 11:30. That was the galley drop for Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige and The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles at the Bloomsbury booth. I got there around 11ish, and the line WAS HUGE. I started panicking that I wouldn't be able to grab a copy, and I was really hoping to because I love Danielle Paige so much. THERE WERE TONS OF COPIES AVAILABLE, THANK GOODNESS. That was amazing. Around that time, Ransom Riggs' signing was moved a little earlier from the 1:30 signing, and I rushed over to the Penguin booth, expecting a bigger line. I actually was one of the first 20 people? 

I FREAKED OUT SO HARD. I actually expected a full copy of Tales of the Peculiar, but we ended up getting a sampler. I FREAKED OUT OVER HIS ATTRACTIVENESS AND TOLD HIM HOW I LOVE HIM AND TAHERAH TOGETHER.

I love you! 

So that was a true highlight. I was the happiest person alive! Oh, and I missed another fab moment!

HECK YEAH. If you do not know who this is, then we can't be friends.

Gayle Forman is the nicest, cutest, most amazing human in the whole planet. I gushed to her about If I Stay and everything. Agh.

What else? I freaked out a little when I discovered that my two favourite YA authors were signing at the same time. AGH.

But thankfully, I had my mom with me, and at 1:00, I headed to Jennifer Niven's line, grabbed a ticket, and IT WENT BY SO FAST.

SHE'S SO BEAUTIFUL AND I FANGIRLED ABOUT HOW MUCH I CRIED IN ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES AND AHHHH!

We looked like twins with our navy blazers! *SCREAMS* I love her so much. My mom grabbed a ticket for the Taherah Mafi line and after Jennifer, I quickly headed over to that, took her place and chatted with some people and my dreams came true once again. 

Look at me going nuts!

I ended up missing the signing for Vassa in the Night because Macmillan was seriously unorganized with their in-booth signings. I honestly had no idea what was going on with Marissa Meyer and Heartless, and everything that was happening. But they were good with their galley drops, I must say!

I also loved how HarperTeen was secretive with their drops until BEA actually happened. That created more excitement for us bloggers and people!

Starbucks, once again, kept me up and ready to go with my lemonade, and I honestly feel that after that, BEA helped me keep shape. I walked three miles, for sure.

The most annoying signing of the day was Adam Silvera's signing for History is All You Left Me, but at the same time, it was so much fun because Adam cares so much about his readers and he wants to talk to us! I THINK I STOOD IN THAT LINE FOR TWO HOURS. But it's fine, hah. And I might be over-exaggerating a little. Adam was afraid that no one would show up for his signing, though! I should have snagged a photo with him. Ugh. 

Here's my YA/Adult haul! I'm a little embarrassed, but there's 90 books here. *blushes* That's what happens when you drive here and know that it's okay because you have a luggage checked in outside! I still haven't read any of the books in that pile, whoops. I'M GOING TO, ASAP.

Day two was the second most fun day out of BEA. (Friday was the best!) But at the same time, I loved each and every single day for the number of people I talked to, the time I got to spend with my mom, the books that I got to snag, the environment of McCormick and just how organized this year's conference was. I love book conferences to the moon and back.

Here's a photo of beautiful Chicagoan artwork on the streets for fun:

My back hurts again just thinking of BEA, but my heart flutters so much at the same time! What was your second day of BEA like if you were there?

BEA 2016 Recap: Day One

BookExpo America 2016 Day One: May 11

I have literally been pushing this (as well as the next three) post aside, mostly because I didn't have the time (and feeling) to go through all of the photos I took in Chicago and rave over BEA. Before I get started, I have to say that BEA this year was amazing—so much better than last year in New York City. Chicago is my new favourite place to visit, and this year attracted different audiences, people from the west whose blogs I have heard about in the past, and I was able to meet them in person. Chicago introduced visitors from all over the place, and it wasn't as crowded as the Javits was last year. I had so much fun!

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Let's begin! I arrived in Chicago, the city of the winds (which I kind of understood later—I'll let you know!) on the Tuesday, so on the 10th, the day before BEA began. I used the same kind of schedule with the amount of days my family and I would spend in the city as last year, including a day of total tourism. (YAY!) The drive from Toronto took about eight hours, which was really boring (sorry, Ontario and Michigan!) but once we reached Illinois, ALL OF THE EXCITEMENT WAS IN ME. The year passed by so fast from the last time I was in a huge convention centre filled with book lovers, and it was my dream come true to see Chicago!

Reaching Chicago at its Skyway bridge!

The weather was seriously gloomy for a huge portion of our trip, though. I'll get to Saturday, which was when I visited the University of Chicago (I want to go there. Period), and which turned out to be the coldest day ever, but I must say, Chicago gets a lot of fog. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel and did a little shopping, which was highly recommended by a friend of mine who frequently visits Chicago.

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Day one! I woke up pretty early, I think around 7:00, which kind of is the same time that I wake up to go to school each morning. I still wanted to get to McCormick Place (the convention centre!) early even though the convention actually began at 1:00 that day. 2.5 days of amazingness! I had a fulling breakfast and THEN I WAS SET WITH MY PAPERS, MAP, AND SPREADSHEET! Here is a peek at my spreadsheet for that day (those highlighted in yellow are books I actually got there!):

Chicago does have traffic, guys. I mean, it's just like any other city, and I must say that it does move, better than Toronto or NEW YORK CITY for sure. I didn't mind, because Tuesday was only a half day of activities. I just couldn't stop staring at the Chicago skyline. It's beautiful!

Here is a paragraph dedicated to Chicago's architecture. For quite some time, I had this minor dream of becoming an architect. Designing buildings sounds so cool, but that kind of faded away because I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Chicago has such gorgeous buildings that I just cannot function. The city is so clean, so pretty, and has nicer architecture than NYC, which is definitely hard to beat. Agh.

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I got to the convention centre and went to grab my badges. The staff at BEA are so helpful and I didn't have any issues finding something or getting my badge or anything.

We all kind of sat around the entrance for two or so hours. When 1:00 came around, thankfully, thanks to publishers and their Twitter accounts, I was able to discover galley drops and cool things that would be happening for the next three days. I had my eyes set on Replica by Lauren Oliver, because I originally heard that she would be signing the book right when the time came. The "doors" or "gates" opened, people went chaotic (as usual) towards the inside, and when I got to the "line" at the HarperCollins booth, IT WAS HUGE. And then we were told that a galley drop would occur later in the day, so I was a little relieved. 

I was able to get most of the books I wanted! BEA was full of galley drops and signings this year, I would say an equal amount, which was great. I got to know all of the booths the first day so I would be ready the next days, and the publishers were great with handing out schedules for their signings and whatnot. 

I met many new people and authors on day one, surprisingly! NICHOLAS SPARKS, GUYS. His line actually wasn't too bad and I got the chance to fangirl (over his attractiveness) over how I love the movies of his books! Who else? Jennifer Close, author of The Hopefuls, Kate Beasley, author of Gertie's Leap to Greatness, and Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Here I Am (which is HUGE) for a few.

Amazing things that shocked me the first day (in a good way)? The amount of people, which was less than last year, the gorgeousness of McCormick Place (including its signs and banners), how the Starbucks was so close to the exhibit hall, and the fact that the luggage check-in WAS RIGHT BESIDE. The people who worked there were so sweet and nice to this crazy fangirl over here.

STARBUCKS. Thank you for your ingredients to make me happy and to give
me a Mango Black Tea Lemonade everyday to keep me boosted.

DISNEY! PEOPLE! YES!

Even though this was day one, and it was only for four and a half hours, I was dead afterwards. My back was killing me! BEA COMES WITH TONS OF PHYSICAL PAIN, EVEN THOUGH YOU COULD CHECK YOUR LUGGAGE IN FOR $4. I went nuts. And a tip? Don't bring many bags with you from home, 'cause they give so many out. I have a collection of tote bags in my room, like a hoarder. I don't want to give them away!

Ready for the haul?

BEHOLD. I love each and every one of these pretties.

This is my day one haul, which is only YA and Adult in this photo. How many books? 71. We were crazy! Here is my middle grade haul (for my sister and myself):

23!

Don't make me pick the ones I want to read the most, PLEASE.

We headed to an amazing Polish-American restaurant for dinner, called Staropolska, and here is a photo of it inside (very Viking-like):

The food is so good there! (We spent a lot of dinners there afterwards because we all loved it). 

BEA, thank you for an amazing day one. I had a blast, and I didn't even think about the fact that it wouldn't last too long!

I apologize for the late post. Anywho, stay tuned for a day two, day three and overall post coming this week! Michelle's posts will be next!

How was your BEA, if you went? How was day one? What did you like about it?

BEA 2015 Recap: My Overall Experience and Thoughts

My Overall Experience and Thoughts 

We now arrive to the final post about my amazing experience at BEA 2015... I'm crying. Once again, like I've said a million times before, BEA was amazing. Here is some facts that BEA included by the numbers:

• one publicist who I work with from Penguin Random House!
• 117 ARCs in total! The rest were finished copies!
• books were signed by the author! *squeals*
• 4 days filled with book lovers and authors!
• 1 actual celebrity—Julianne Moore!
• many, many water bottles to calm the stress and dehydration
• one epic trip to the gorgeous city, New York City
• 152 books in total + some middle-grades for my sister

That's just some of it. But honestly, there's so many people that I'd like to thank for making this possible, and for giving me an amazing experience:

• my family
• my partner in crime (Mom)
• the amazing publishers who worked so hard to make this happen (Macmillan, Simon and Schuster, Hachette, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins, Soho Press, Mystery Writers of America, Penguin Random House, Penguin Canada, Disney-Hyperion, Bloomsbury, just to name a few)
• all of the authors who worked so hard to satisfy readers and take time out of their busy lives to meet us
• the staff and volunteers at the event who handled the crazy people and organized everything perfectly
• Starbucks, for all of those times where I died of dehydration and needed a boost
• all of the awesome people who I met
• the amazing city of NYC 
• BEA's press office. Love you guys.

I'm so grateful to have been at the Expo and to be honest..

I'm super excited for Chicago next year. Hopefully I can go? 

That would be awesome. I'm so in love with BEA! I'm going to probably start counting down the days soon enough, haha.

38 signed books!

When BEA time comes around next year, I'll probably write up a tip post, full of tips for you newbies who'll be attending, but here are some that I've come up with that I'd highly recommend following:

1. Have fun. It's not about the number of books you get, instead it's about having a good time and meeting other people.
2. Socialize, socialize, socialize. This is a crazily busy place and you have so many chances to meet people!
3. Take photos. You'll never see such a bookish place in the whole world like you do here.
4. Get in lines early. You won't regret it, and then you'll have the chance to wait less, and head to something later.
5. Make a spreadsheet/schedule earlier before the event. This'll help so much and will keep you organized! (Make a few copies, mine ripped as it was the only thing I held in my hand 24/7!)
6. Check in a luggage. Even if you're sure you won't get much on one of the days, better have it checked in on the bottom floor in case, rather than risking your shoulders falling apart. (See my Day 1 Recap. Hmmph.) It's only $3 per bag!
7. Head to panels! I went to one this year (YA Buzz Editor's Panel) and had a complete blast. It's one of my main highlights!
8. While you're in the city (or Chicago next year), go sightseeing! You don't need to be at BEA every single second to get every single book. Explore!
9. Get there early in the morning. This way, you'll be able to relax and not think about that Passenger signing at 9:30 and how you might not make it. (I DIDN'T. WAAAHH)
10. Make the most out of your experience. It's the #1 biggest (and best) publishing event in all of North America. THINK ABOUT IT—YOU'RE THERE!

There's so much more to the event, but those are the main things that I realized afterwards, and made my experience so much better by following them.

Until next time, KING JAVITS!

What an amazing experience. Now what I have to do is—READ ALL OF THOSE BOOKS.WOW. OKAY. UM. THAT'S GOING TO BE HECTIC. (I already read In the Afterlight, and really enjoyed it!) I seriously cried as I left the city. :(

That's my recap! How did you like my 5 posts? Any questions? Have you been to a book event before?

BEA 2015 Recap: BookCon

Day 4: BookCon

BookCon... wasn't a success as I hoped it'd be. At least, it was better than what I've heard it was last year where they added BEA and it on the same day. That's honestly disgusting, and I bet that it was reaaaaallllyyy unorganized as BEA was this year. Wow. But I honestly didn't really have a fantastic time here on Saturday since, the autographing area was downstairs, I'd have to run around, THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE, and everything was out of control.

So after spending some of my day at Central Park and its zoo (one of the landmarks my sister and I really wanted to head to), we decided to sneak a peek at BookCon and see what it held. But before that, here are some photos of the zoo that made me squeal and giggle like a little girl. 

The zoo overall was so much fun! I mean, it didn't have a huge variety of animals as the one in Toronto does, but it HAD BEARS AND PENGUINS and it was clean, small and gorgeously decorated and kept. What more can we ask for? Everyone comes to NYC to experience something new, and in this case, it was the zoo as I haven't been to one since I was a kid. Does a theme park in Florida count as one? 

PENGUIN! SO adorable, it followed my fingertips!

The cutest friendship—Betty and Veronica!

After arriving at BookCon, I went to grab my sister a pass ($5 for kids, whoa!) and headed upstairs since I already had my press pass ready. EVERYTHING LOOKED SO MUCH SMALLER! HarperCollins had a very small booth now compared to what it had in BEA, and I couldn't even find half of the things! The huge ceiling signs sure were handy. The official map was my best friend that day.

I think that the first place I went to was Capstone, where they were holding a spin-the-wheel-and-win kind of thing. I won Love and Other Profanities and also ended up getting Lois Lane: Fallout, very anticipated by me, and was the happiest person! Hachette was also having some giveaways in store at the time, but I actually had all of those books from the previous days, so I counted that out. 

Afterwards, as I tried to find Epic Reads to see what they were doing, Running Book Press was right beside it and I FOUND OUT THAT THE AUTHOR OF INHERIT THE STARS, TESSA ELWOOD, WAS SIGNING COPIES! That was a crazily anticipated read for me, but I wasn't sure where to find it at BEA or who the publisher was, to be honest! The line was mega-short, and Tessa was SO sweet! :)

Epic Reads then also had a spin-and-win with ARCs, and then I ended up getting an extra copy of The White Rose by Amy Ewing, which I already had from Wednesday, coming with my luck. :( But then, my mom scored Catacomb by Madeleine Roux, which honestly MADE MY DAY. I hadn't even known that there was going to be a third book in the series! (Horror = my love)

After that, really, was just going around the floor to see what the publishers were up to. Everything was merchandise or books that you have to pay for, since this was open to the public. I figured that I already had so many books (though there were discounts on the ones that they were selling!) and decided to leave. I ALMOST CRIED. Realizing that this is the last time that I'll see the Javits, I took as many photos as I could of the Centre, and left with shame and grief. 

Panorama of my favourite place!

BookCon could've been better. I only stayed for 1.5 hours, and found it really sucky compared to BEA, but if I hadn't gone to BEA, I know that it would've been awesome for me. But hey, I had so much experience with both that I feel like I now know the basics!

Here's my small (but awesome) haul, full of samplers of the reads that I WANTED FROM BEA! 

How was BookCon for you, if you went? Was it as good as BEA, do you think? 

BEA 2015 Recap: Day 3

Day 3: May 29, 2015

Here comes the summertime sadness... and the official final day of BEA. Don't get me wrong, I still have two more posts having to do with this glorious time of my life, but you know—BEA is over after the 29th. And this, I say, is the day where I got the most books, had the most fun and enjoyed the event the most, even though I wasn't present for the whole 8-hour period. SIGHTSEEING, HERE I COME!

I spent my time taking final photos! *sobs*

As you may have heard, Hachette was a publisher who constantly had galley drops and signings happening. If I had to wander around, I'd go to Hachette's booth, just saying. *winks* They weren't the most organized around as they'd state that their lines aren't official when they later turned into that official line, but I loved the books they had! *grins* It was also right next to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid photo booth at Abrams. Which ruled. 

Everyone was getting James Patterson t-shirts!

I actually got two t-shirts at BEA: a James Patterson one, which was handed out on Friday, and then an Endgame one from HarperCollins at BookCon. YOU CAN SEE THE HUGE BOOTH SIGNS HANGING FROM THE CEILING. Who says you need a map when you've got those signs? Those are the best things ever, and I now know that I'll never make a map again since I barely used mine. The spreadsheet did help tons and tons, though.

This day was also my sister's birthday, which made everything ten times better since she also tagged along with my mom and I. She actually had SO much fun, and is one of the reasons why we headed to BookCon on Saturday when I originally wasn't planning to. I'm pretty sure she brought back about 40 books for herself, although I'm the pure reader in the family.

I arrived at the Center after a yummy breakfast at the hotel around opening time, a little later though. Grabbing some coffee from the epic Starbucks overpriced line and checking in our luggage at the coat check, I headed inside, beelining straight to Penguin Random House's booth to grab a galley of Colleen Houck's (FAVOURITE AUTHOR) newest gorgeous pretty, Reawakened as well as another pretty, Stone Rider. We all got tickets, and the line was just pick up and go. AWESOME ORGANIZATION.

Right afterwards, I ran straight to Kenneth Oppel and Jon Klassen's signing of The Nest, a highly anticipated read of mine! They were so awesome! Their signing was from 9:30-10:00, but many people showed up and they took everything to another table just to meet fans! (I found out that they hang out really close to my house, drive around my city, WHICH IS MEGA-COOL.) 

WOOOO! Fangirl alert!

Friday was a huge day for Sourcebooks giveaways. By the end of the day, a ton of the books I had were from them, since I ended up staying at the Center until the exhibits closed after hearing that publishers like to giveaway display copies and such. They were awesome, as well as Soho Teen and Algonquin Young Readers! 

Afterwards, around 11, I left the Center, leaving my frantic mom behind to head over to the signings that I was really looking forward to, so I can be a pure New Yorker tourist and head onto the big red buses with the outdoor roofs!

Macy's, the biggest in the world!

I had a blast. How was I supposed to say that I went to New York without sightseeing? There's so much to do in the city, and SO much that I missed to do, but I know that I'll be back. Next time: Broadway and Statue of Liberty ferry tour. I must say that the BOOKS were on my mind most of the time!

Eyyyy! Hey fellow tourists!

Taxies are everywhere, I tell you.

Madison Square Garden!

After being here in the busiest city of the world, I admit that I would definitely live here if I had the chance and if everything worked out. I even explored the NYU campus and shop, and felt like at home! Who knows? Imagine living in an apartment seeing the gorgeous lights of SoHo outside of your window! AGGGGH, that's heaven. Toronto's nothing compared to the beauties of this city. I even saw Taylor Swift's condo!

A few hours later, after seeing a ton but experiencing a lot of time in traffic (hell yeah, it's normal for everyone) I decided to head back to the Javits, so I can spend some quality time with the Center that honestly left me shedding tears. I met up with my mom, and began to look over the last of my schedule!

While I was in line for Lynn Weingarten's signing of Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls, (which honestly is a signing and moment that I'll never forget, I'll show you photos of her signature later and explain the story), I met Dahlia Alder in line! My mom actually went to her signing earlier (WHICH I WAS DYING TO GO TO) and literally fangirled when I saw her!

She's adorable! 

Wandering and looking at the remaining booths that I haven't gone to (though I never ended up going to the China exhibit or Polish Book Institute of America, since I am Polish), I headed to Scholastic and HMH, two booths that had books I always wanted but I never ended up getting and had a stellar time.

AND THEN. AND THEN. AND THEN. I WENT TO SIMON AND SCHUSTER'S BOOTH AND SAW THE AMAZING ELLEN HOPKINS THERE, BESIDE A STACK OF HER NEWEST NOVEL, TRAFFICK. MY MOM ALREADY HAD IT SIGNED FOR ME, which made (and ruined) my day but I couldn't be there...

You're so AMAZING AND AGHHHHHH ASDFGHIKL

BEA was simply composed of moments that changed my life forever, really. Did I ever mention my luck of finding ARCs at random locations that people left behind? I found Eileen, an adult mystery that I AM SO EXCITED FOR beside the door, just sitting there, a random copy of Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski somewhere too, and grabbed endless amounts of LAST ARCs in a bunch. EEEE!

Adi Alsaid! I wish I met you!

And then afterwards, my mom mentions that she went to the Harlequin Teen Hour where Eleanor Forman, Adi Alsaid, Kady Cross and Katie McGarry all were signing, WHO WERE AT THE BREAKFAST I MISSED. I literally squealed and couldn't believe it, as that signing crossed my mind. Thank goodness she was there and looked at the schedule! *sends kisses*

Kady Cross! (Used to live in my hometown!)

Harlequin was a publisher who never had any galley drops? There were only signings, and those were FULL OF PEOPLE ALWAYS. I found out that this Teen Hour wasn't as busy as the first, but was super organized. Glad to hear!

Another gorgeous sign!

I left the Center around 5:30? Something like that. My day and life was complete with so many gorgeous new reads and it couldn't have been done without: my mom, my scheduling, THE AMAZING PUBLISHER AND AUTHORS AND ADVICE BY ALL OF YOU FANTASTIC BLOGGERS! I'll get to the thanks part on Monday's post, but you know what I mean. I actually thought that this would be the last time I'd be in the Javits... never expecting to go to BookCon the next day. Here's Friday's haul:

57 gorgeous reads this time around!

FRIDAY WAS AMAZING AND AWESOME. HOW WAS YOUR FINAL DAY OF BEA, IF YOU WENT?! Liked anything from my haul?!