Friday was the final day of BEA and I knew from the start that it was going to be crazy. Six of Crows, Soundless, Black Widow, etc. Pretty much all the books were being dropped or signed. I knew it was going to be another mad dash to make it to the front of the signing line.
My day started off even earlier than the previous day because I wanted to get there early enough to get a ticket for Jennifer L. Armentrout’s signing of Scorched. The exhibits didn’t open until 9 but the ticket booth opened at 7 and I wanted to be there with time to spare. I was lucky enough to get a ticket and then I headed to my group of fellow bloggers and started making a game plan for the day. I had already gotten Six of Crows the night before so I was able to cross that off my list but I really wanted Black Widow and Soundless. Penguin Teen tweeted that they would be dropping Soundless (very limited quantity) first thing at 9 and it totally screwed up my plan to go straight to Disney. As soon as they let us in the exhibits I made the dash to Penguin, managed to get Soundless and Reawakened, and then headed to Disney for the Black Widow signing with plenty of time to spare.
Friday was pretty much just signings for me. Kelly Armstrong, Kim Liggett, Marieke Nijkamp, Heidi Schulz, and more. It was nice to just hang out in some lines and spend some time chatting. I wandered through some booths and talked to some publicists but I was really feeling pretty lazy by this point. I killed time until I had to go to the Penguin Teen Luncheon with Sarah Dessen and Carrie Ryan.
The luncheon was held at the Javits and it was just 15 to 20 bloggers along with Sarah Dessen and Carrie Ryan. It was pretty much a dream come true for me. I don’t know if you guys know this but this blog would not exist without Sarah Dessen. Getting to be in the same room as her was enough for me but then we also got to listen to her and Carrie Ryan talk about their books and their writing and all that fun stuff. It was just the icing on the cake to get her new book, Saint Anything, signed at the end of the lunch.
Following lunch it was just Jennifer L. Armentrout’s signing for Scorched and then I was out of there. I headed out again with Nikki, Octavia, and Christina, as well as Cassi from My Thoughts, Literally. We all had plans to go to the blogger dinner at Bourbon Street Bar and Grille that Tiffany from Mostly YA Lit organized. It was a very chill event with delicious food and drinks. (I had my first ever Hurricane and now I want another.) After that we just spent the night hanging out back at their hostel because none of us wanted to say goodbye.
Clearly, I had a pretty fantastic time at BEA this year. I am so thankful to the publishers, authors, and other bloggers that gave me this awesome opportunity. The conference will be in Chicago next year and I can already tell you that I will be there!
How was your experience with BEA? Are you planning on going to BEA 2016 in Chicago?
I’m really bummed that we didn’t got to the Bloggers dinner but we were all so damned tired!!
And I agree 100%, totally will be at BEA16 in Chicago!!
Wow, that special lunch with Sarah Dessen sounds awesome! I love her books. I think she paved the way for a lot of what is out now in YA contemporary.
I’m crossing my fingers to go to BEA in Chicago next year–would love to go as an author, so we’ll see if that works out. Otherwise, I may go for one of the days to check it out since I’m local 🙂
I didn’t go to BEA this year, but I hope to make it next year because it is a bit closer to me. It sounds like you had a really fun day! I would love to be at the dinner with Sarah Dessen – she’s one of my favorite authors of all time.
I’m still so bummed out that I missed out on this year’s BEA but I’m making it a point to attend next year’s BEA. Hope to see you there!!!
That’s awesome you got to have your book signed by Sarah Dessen since you loved her so much. I really wanted Black Widow, but sigh, the sign was insanely long by the time I got there. I really hope to make it to Chicago next year since it’s closer to me! It would be great to meet with bloggers this time around. 🙂
-Lauren
It was THE BEST THING EVER to be able to meet you this year and I’m SO glad we were able to hang out so much. And next year is going to be 10000292945x BETTER. Seriously. I cannot wait. <3 <3 *DANCING GIRL*