My second day in NYC was the first day of the actual show and I knew from the start that it was going to be a crazy day.

I started off the day at the Javits center for a breakfast hosted by Harlequin Teen.  I got there early and got a seat at a table at the front of the room and then loaded my plate with the breakfast offerings.  Harlequin Teen invited a bunch of YA bloggers as well as 6 of their YA authors.  Dawn Metcalf was stuck on a train so she wasn’t able to make it but Jennifer L. Armentrout, Alexandra Adornetto, Adi Alsaid, Julie Kagawa, and Robin Talley were all present.  They took some time to introduce themselves and their books and then it was time for an author/publisher round robin where each table got 5 minutes to chat with one author or one publicist before they rotated.

Adi Alsaid talked about his book, LET’S GET LOST, as well as all the travel he has done in his life.  Jennifer L. Armentrout (author of STONE COLD TOUCH) spent some time talking about her love for Theo James and how the main character of her next book (being written as J. Lynn) is actually based off Theo James.  He even has the last name James.  Julie Kagawa talked about her new dragon series, TALON, which is going to be a five book series.  She also talked to us a bit about the BEA Dragon Hunt that she had going on throughout the show.  Robin Talley talked about her debut, LIES WE TELL OURSELVES, and really put it on my radar.  I’m eager to see how she tackles both the subjects of integration as well as having two girls attracted to each other when it couldn’t be a worse time.  Last but definitely not least was Alexandra Adornetto who asked us if we believed in ghosts since it’s such a focal point of her book, GHOST HOUSE.

Following the breakfast I immediately headed up to the show floor and got busy picking up books!  I went to Lauren Oliver’s signing for ROOMS but sadly they ran out of books before I could get one.  After that I decided to wander the floor and see who I could talk to and what books I might be able to pick up.  I talked to one of the lovely publicists at Houghton Mifflin and she was kind enough to give me a copy of my most anticipated BEA book, MORTAL HEART.   After that, I really felt like I had succeeded for the day.  I met up with Cassie who co-blogs over at Good Books & Good Wine and we spent the rest of the day wandering the show floor, getting food, and waiting around in some signing lines.  Sadly we ended up waiting in Melissa Marr’s signing line for MADE FOR YOU for no reason because they ran out of books 1 person ahead of us.  How much does that suck?  =P

I headed out early from the Javits since I knew I had a long night ahead of me and I really wanted the chance to rest my feet before I went out partying!  I took the time to put my feet up and freshen up before I headed over to The Houndstooth Pub for the Macmillan Blogger Happy Hour.

This was the second year I’ve gone to the Macmillan Blogger Happy Hour and it was such a great time.  There are drinks and food and tons of bloggers and publicists to chat with.  It was an intimate setting and the perfect opportunity to chat since people weren’t rushed like they are on the BEA show floor.  This was once again really a mix and mingle event and I liked that about it.  The president of Macmillan got up and thanked bloggers for everything we do for them and he asked us to please give him feedback on what they could do to make our jobs easier.  As people started to head out the goody bags were handed out.  They included a copy of the first book being published by Macmillan’s new Swoon Reads imprint, A LITTLE SOMETHING DIFFERENT by Sandy Hall.

Following that I headed to Crumbs with Susan from Waste Paper Prose and we spent some time catching up before I headed over to the YA Party being hosted by Liza from WhoRUBlog, Andye from ReadingTeen, and Hannah from The Irish Banana Review.  The party was hosted at the super awesome Gehry building.  It was so gorgeous, both outside and in.  The room was set up so nicely.  There was a table full of awesome raffle prizes and in the kitchen area there were snacks and drinks, including delicious cupcakes made by Jen from Jenuine Cupcakes.

The hosts of the YA Party had invited about an even mix of authors and bloggers.  I would love to tell you guys everyone I got the chance to chat with but that is completely impossible.  It was such a fun time and there was a really great icebreaker bingo game that really helped me out since I’m actually a pretty shy person.  And I really can’t tell you who all I talked to but one of the highlights was meeting Miranda Kenneally, finally.  I’ve been such a huge fan of her books for quite some time and it was so wonderful to meet her in person finally and get to take a picture with her!  The only thing that would have been better was winning the raffle for ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.  Just saying.  =)

I didn’t stick around until the end of the YA Party because I was dead on my feet but I had a blast for the few hours that I was there.  It was definitely one of my favorite events of BEA. Thursday was just an all around great start to BEA!