Author: Cindy

Today was the last day of BEA. I went today because there was still a few signings I wanted to see and things I wanted to do before leaving BEA. In the past the day last has always been a little quieter but since they opened the last day to Power Readers it was a little busier then normal.

The morning started out perfectly because my roomie Kate was a mission to get her Dean Koontz book, Odd Apocalypse  and it was basically come hell or high water. This I think was the one and only book that she really really wanted and she told us several times that if anyone managed to get a hold of it that she wanted it.

Thankfully a super nice power reader behind us in the waiting line to get in was very accomendating and offered her her copy of it so this made for one very happy Kate as you can see.

She was so happy to have gotten this finally and no one was hurt in the process. LOL

After getting in I managed to get the few books I had hoped to get and meet a few authors in the process. Such as:

This is Faith Wilkins the author of Wacko Academy (a debut novel. She is only 15 years old) I read and loved her book so I really wanted to stop by and say hi.

After meeting her I met up with Shane Peacock who is a Canadian author who was signing his upcoming book, Becoming Holmes. (I recently met him when he came to Michael’s school) Another Canadian author I met was Susin Nielsen and she was signing her newest upcoming book called The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen. I got to meet Justin Halpern who was signing his book I Suck at Girls (I loved his book Sh*t My Father says).

The next signing I wanted to go and do was for the book The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories and all three authors were there: Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff and Maggie Stiefvater (who I have to say is so sweet and I got all fan girl on her. I couldn’t remember her series of books)

I also got to meet Leanna Renee Hieber the author of Darker Still and an added bonus was she was signing ARCs of her upcoming book The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart.

This beautiful picture was behind Leanna. I love it.

So that wraps up the Thursday the last day of BEA. I was sad to see it end but happy at the same time. My feet were killing me and I looked forward to heading back to the hotel to relax and we decided that we would stay in and order a pizz and chill for the evening. The pizza was pretty good considering all the trouble we went through to order it. Poor Kate but in the end we found a place.

After pizza I told everyone that I need one more PinkBerry run and we walked a few streets over to grab one and low and behold who did we see there but the one person I was hoping to finally meet on this BEA trip, Sheila from Book Journey . Okay this wasn’t the first time I saw Sheila. I think she was one of the bloggers I saw the most at BEA this year.

Sheila it was so much fun to finally meet you over and over and over again LOL Just an FYI, Sheila in person is exactly like she is online.

After mailing a box I picked up the following books:
-Peguins Hdden Talent
-How does sleep come
-50 shades of Early Grey the parady (You so know I was going to get that one right?)
-Discover New York City and Not For Parents New york City everthing you ever wanted to know
-starry river of the sky
-The Twisted Tragedy & Darker Still
-The Perculiars
-a wild goose chase christmas
-Malcolm at midnight
-The Paladin

If you have been following me or have spoken with me you will probably know that this fedex box was almost the death of me. Just a little FYI if you are shipping international make sure you get a customer invoice, if not your box will be held. I found that out the hard way. It seems like the people who are working in the booth has no idea.

I told her it was being shipped to Canada and all she made me fill out was the mailing slip and thankfully I am one of those people who tracks their packages because I’m not sure I would have been notified and I could have possibly lost this box.

So when I opened the box everything I sent was there. Phew I was so happy. I only wish they would have taken the time to package it properly instead of just this. I asked about it and was told it would still be the same amout of weight. Hmm I really wonder?

This is the box spread out all over my couch.

This is the signed pile.
-whats left of me (I saw her in the booth and she graciously signed it for me)
-Each Kindness
-Narc
-The Curiosities
-Skylark
-Find your happetite
-The Near Witch
-I suck at girls
-Becoming Holmes
-wack academy
-The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen

Not signed:
-sky color
-carnival of souls
-the darkest minds
-beta
-shadows
-the farm
-surviving high school
-the spindlers
-prodigy
-the demon catchers of Milan
-vordak the incomprehensible double trouble

I got two tshirts that are super cute and I am so excited to have gotten Authors Are my Rock Stars. Plus those cute tote bags.

This is the assorted swag I picked up.

I want to send out a huge thank you to all the publishers who took part in BEA you were very generous with the books you gave out and the swag.

Its hard to believe that this was day four of my trip and the second day of BEA.

I was super excited for today because it was the Children’s Author Breakfast at BEA and its been one of the breakfasts that I always attend. This year I think they changed things up a bit by offering the standard $25 tickets (basic seating and no breakfast), a $45 ticket for breakfast(which I feel isn’t really worth the money) and then they offered a $95 which got you much closer to the stage I believe, the same kind of breakfast as the $45 and all three books.

I noticed a huge change right away. It seemed like every other chair had a tote bag, (which apparently after speaking with Little Brown because the tote bag was to go with Chris’s book, there was suppose to be tote bags on all the chairs. So not sure if someone was taking them or what) a poster and two books in the past you always got a book from each of the authors who were speaking (their newest book that is coming out or is out). So I was a little bummed that I didn’t get Lois Lowery’s book, Son.

I made it a point to sit where a tote bag was along with Chris Colfer’s book and John Green’s as that was on my wishlist to read.

I love this breakfast and I loved Chris’s talk. It was nice to hear that he as literally been working on this book since he was 10 years old.  He also brought pictures of his drawings (from when he was 10) and the illustrator’s version of them.

Chris’s cover version

Illustrated by Brandon Dorman

I am so excited to read this book. It sounds so good.

I love the banter between Chris and John Green. Who Chris referred to as the Justin Bieber of the literary world.

I ended up sneaking out a little earlier because there was some awesome things happening at 9am that I wanted to get. Then I quickly made my way to Little Brown to get in the “UN-official” line for Chris ‘s signing and I am happy I got in line when I did because they were limiting it to only 200 and I was #52.

This is Chris signing my book and I was telling him that he did a fantastic job with hosting and that I loved his John Green comment and he laughed when he saw my badge and asked if I was a Bieber fan. Of course I can proudly say I am not. But he is just as cute in person and I was super excited to had the chance to briefly speak with him.

The day was pretty much a blur with running all over the Javitis. I managed to be walking around and stumbled upon:

Here is Stacy London signing a blad of her upcoming book. She is just as pretty in person as she is on What Not to Wear.

This is taken when I told her that I met Clinton Kelly in  2010 and the same book event and seeing her there I had to stop and get her book signed. She has the most amazing pink high heeled shoes on.

One final thing I had to do before leaving Javitis that day was:

Go and see Jeff Kinney author of the Diary of a Wimpy kid books. Michael has just started reading them so I knew I had to stop and get a calendar signed for him. Which he loved.

Books from Day 2

When I left Javitis I headed back to the hotel for a quick rest and to freshen up because I was going to be meeting Tina for dinner. We have been planning this since we knew we were going to BEA.

We love this place. I had the pumkin pasta salad. It was so good. We ate at this place last time and said we would do it again.

So this is a wrap on day 2. Hope you enjoy it.

Tuesday June 5th

Its hard to believe that this time last week I was having so much fun in NYC and BEA.

Today would have been the first day of Book Expo America and we (roomies and I) got there bright and early to get in line. Thankfully I got a text from Tina informing me of a shorter line so we quickly ran to where Tina was and she was right the line was a little shorter then the first line we were in. (That one was wrapping around the New Title Showcase.)

I was super excited to get to BEA this morning because I was going to be meeting a super sweet and totally awesome blogger. When I found out she was going to be attending we exchanged numbers and text with plans to meet.

The blogger in question is Alita from Alita Reads . She is a Canadian blogger and I have known her roughly two (+) years. We actually have a very funny story and everything that goes with it we knew we had to make it a point to meet. I first got to know Alita through a Secret Santa exchange when she had me and that same time we took part in a Christmas Card exchange and she was on my list to send to and then this past Christmas it came full circle when I had her name for the Secret Santa. So I was super excited to finally meet her and put a face to the blogger. Plus we even had the same camera (in different colors). Alita it was so nice to meet you finally.

Shortly after parting the doors opened and we were allowed to hit the exhibit hall floor. This time around I felt like I knew what I was doing even though it was very over whelming. I decided early on that I wasn’t going to spend a majority of my time in the autographing section like I did the last time. I really wanted to hit the booths and talk with the reps I knew and worked with.

I made it a point to try and get to the autographing section for books that I really really wanted and sadly some lines I was turned away because they either ran out of books or the time was up.

One of the first books I managed to get right away was Shannon Messengers debut novel, Keeper of the Lost Cities. I have been hearing so many great things and I stalk follow Shannon’s blog.

The first day was surpisingly not as busy as I remember it from previous visits. Although I have to say that after lunch it seemed to get busier. I didn’t stay the full day because I wanted to get back to my hotel and get ready for the events I was invited to that evening with Tina.

I was very picky on what I was taking although with that being sad I missed out on same great books and signings that I would have loved to have gotten such as Stephanie Chong’s second book coming out at the end of August called The Demoness of Waking Dreams. I went to the Harlequin booth and it was crazy.

Here is the books I went back to the hotel with on the first official first day of BEA. It was a great start to my first day at BEA.

I am a little behind in my recaps from last week but I have been experience Internet problems. Actually its not really Internet problems its modem problems but thankfully that will get fixed this week.

This post is in reference to Tuesday June 5th. It would have been my first day at BEA and that recap is below. I am now going to say I have to send out huge thank yous to Sourcebooks and Scholastic because they threw two of my favorite parties.

I was truly honored to have been asked to attend the Sourcebooks party because I love their books and working with them. They were celebrating 25 years in publishing ( Congrats Sourcebooks to another 25 more years) and they threw an awesome party. It was being held at the Hudson Terrace. It over looked the water and some of the city.

I was talking with a rep and mentioned that I didn’t get to stop by for the Kristi Yamaguchi signing and she was super sweet and quickly introduced us to Kristi who was in attendance and she graciously signed a book for me and who posed for pictures. I loved watching Kristi skate when she did.

The food was delicious, the decor was fabulous and the whole event was amazing. Thank You Sourcebooks to inviting me to be a part of this amazing event.

These are just a few of my favorite pics from the party.

Tina and I were a little bummed that we couldn’t stay longer but we had to get to the Scholastic offices for their Captain Underpants Party.

This was the first time that we have been at the Scholastic building and while we were waiting to enter we decided to have a brief look around the scholastic store and I quickly new that this was going to be bad news but thankfully I restrained myself.

This was another awesome party. The little slide burgers were delicious. I also got to indulge in The Tippy Tinkle-tini this was the best alcoholic drink I have had. I would love to work with Scholastic because they have the best view of the city on a beautiful terrace.

We got to me Dave Pilkey and get our books signed. Michael was so thrilled when I came home with this and did a happy dance. In case your wondering about the capes, well in order to get in we had to wear them.

In case you didn’t really notice the theme of the evening was centered around Captain Underpants and the place was fantastic.

Thank You to the awesome folks at Scholastic for inviting us.

 I was going to include this in my daily recap post but I thought about it and decided to do these separate because I really wanted to send out a huge thank you to the people who invited me to these events.

When I went to BEA in 2010, I was a little bummed that I didn’t get any invites but I put that to the fact that I was a fairly new blogger (going into my second year of blogging) and that my name really wasn’t out there. This year was fantastic because I got invited to some amazing parties and I had a blast at each and every one of them.

The first event I went to was:

I have worked with Pr by the Book and they are an amazing team. With some great books.

They had their very intimate party (reservation was for 20) at Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. This was a super cute place and some where I would go back to and eat at. The menu looked yummy filled with food and drinks.

This is the inside and its looking down into the bar area. Loved the decor.

I got to meet the awesome publicists Megan, Stephanie and Marika (owner of Pr by the Book). I am sure I am forgetting someone and if I am I am so sorry.

I also got to meet some new to me bloggers and ones I am really excited to check out and stalk follow. They are: Maria and Inga from Me and Reading (from Germany and Estonia) and Amanda from Stains on the Page (from Austin). It was so much fun chatting with them.

Sadly we had to leave before the party finished because we had to get to

They had their party at the K Lounge. Thankfully our trusty tour guide Amanda helped us get to this event successfully. It was nice to hang out with Amanda a little longer although once at Harper Collins we seemed to have lost track of each other.

The above pictures were taken behind out seats. The display was gorgeous and my pictures don’t do it justice.

As we entered we got a choice of awesome swag bags and after seeing them all I wanted to grab this because I love the bag.

Inside was a cute little bottle of Cool Mint Foot Lotion (which smells yummy and felt so good on my tired achy feet) and I got:

• A Night Like this by Julia Quinn
• The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harmon
• Porch Lights by Dorthea Benton Frank
• The Flight of Gemma Hardy

We also got to meet author Alex Stone who was doing some amazing card tricks. Actually after coming home and reading the blurb of his upcoming book Fooling Houdini it sounds like an awesome book that I am excited to read.

I got to see a few bloggers that I knew there such as Gail from Ticket to Anywhere , Swapna from S.Krishna’s Books , Nicole from Linus’s Blanket and Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves . It was nice to talk to everyone again.

Feeling pretty tired Tina and I decided to head out early and walk back to our hotels. We stopped at Rockefeller Center to look around and on the way back we saw the NY Public Library and of course you can’t stop and not take pictures in front of the lions.

Thank You once again to Pr by the Book and Harper Collins USA for the inviting me to your amazing events I had a blast.