Though it's been a week since I was at BookExpo America (BEA) for the first time (see my posts on Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3), I still feel a little hungover on the entire experience. I feel incredibly lucky that the stars aligned so that I could attend this event with minimal cost. It was so much fun to meet bloggers and authors and publishers -- and to pick up a few books along the way!
Since I already talked about the event in my previous posts, I just wanted to mention the highlights of this year's BEA for me as a first-time attendee. There were a lot of awesome things that happened, but here are my top moments.
TOP BEA 2012 MOMENTS
1. I got to meet one of my best blogger friends Katelyn (from Kate's Tales of Books and Bands). We made plans to be BEA buddies, and I can't think of anyone I would rather have experienced my BEA with than her! She's awesome and funny and up for anything and I love her to pieces!
2. I got to meet two of my favorite bloggers Tara (from Fiction Folio) & Anna (from Anna Reads). I've been following both of them for a while now, and they've truly been inspirations to me to continue improving my blog and to keep blogging. They're both really sweet and really nice in person and I was awestruck to get the opportunity to meet them!
3. There was one book in particular that I was really hoping to get at BEA - The Raven Boys, Maggie Stiefvater's latest release - and I got it on the very first day we were there! I was instantly happy and knew that no matter what else I ended up getting, I had already gotten what I wanted.
4. I got the opportunity to meet Ally Condie. I only read Matched fairly recently (see my review here), but I can't wait to read Crossed and Reached soon. As a bonus to getting to meet her, Katelyn and I had a photo taken in the "Reached" bubble, which was pretty darn fun!
5. I got the opportunity to meet Veronica Roth. The Dark Days signing was one of the ones that I was definitely hoping to attend - and I got there just in time to get one of the last few numbered slots. I hadn't read anything by the other authors featured (though I will soon be getting to that as I have their books!), so you'll forgive me if I was particularly excited to meet Veronica. I loved Divergent (see my review here) and Insurgent so much, so it was an honor to meet her in person.
6. I got the opportunity to meet Maggie Stiefvater... again. I've actually met Maggie previously, at a This is Teen event hosted by Scholastic (see my post here). Because she's one of my biggest writing inspirations, I was dying to meet her again - and thankfully I got to do that! I picked up the Curiosities collection that she and Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff were working on and I can't wait to read it.
7. It was wonderful to interact with certain publishers - Scholastic, Egmont, Sourcebooks and Spencer Hill Press. Though I did enjoy wandering around all the booths and did pick up a book at almost every one I visited, I really enjoyed visiting the four I mentioned above. The people manning the booths were friendly, enthusiastic and very positive - which was definitely refreshing.
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After revealing to you my personal highlights for BEA 2012, it is now time to share what exactly I was able to pick up at this year's event. It still surprises me that I was able to receive so many books - a grand total of 49 books. However, out of the 49 books, 18 are finished copies while 31 are ARCs. Though it's going to be a challenge, I can't wait to dive into them all!
FINISHED COPIES
Ferocity Summer by Alissa Grosso (signed)
Queen of Swords (Sanctify #2) by Katee Robert
Croak (Croak #1) by Gina Damico (signed)
Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (signed)
I'll Go Home Then, It's Warm and Has Chairs: The Unpublished Emails by David Thorne (signed)
Goddess Interrupted (Goddess Test #2) by Aimee Carter (signed)
Rot & Ruin (Benny Imura #1) by Jonathan Maberry (signed)
Shine (Shade #3) by Jeri Smith-Ready (signed)
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (signed)
There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
Elemental (Elemental Trilogy #1) by Emily White (signed)
Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti (signed)
Destined (Wings #4) by Aprilynne Pike (signed)
Masque of the Red Death (Masque of the Red Death #1) by Bethany Griffin (signed)
Unraveling (Unraveling #1) by Elizabeth Norris (signed)
Insurgent by Veronica Roth (signed)
Eternal Starling (Emblem of Eternity #1) by Angela Corbett (signed)
Indelible (The Yara Silva Trilogy #2) by Lani Woodland (signed)
ARCS
The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories #1) by Chris Colfer
Palace of Stone (Princess Academy #2) by Shannon Hale
Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (signed)
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas
A Mutiny in Time (The Infinity Ring #1) by James Dashner
The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
Speechless by Hannah Harrington
Entice (The Violet Eden Chapters #2) by Jessica Shirvington
Shadows (Ashes Trilogy #2) by Ilsa J. Bick
The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron
Fathomless (Fairytale Retellings #3) by Jackson Pearce (signed)
Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian (signed)
The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
Dark Lord: The Early Years by Jamie Thomson
Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch
Ashen Winter (Ashfall #2) by Mike Mullin (signed)
The Dog Lived and So Will I by Teresa J. Rhyne (signed)
Pinned by Sharon G. Flake
Who I Kissed by Janet Gurtler
Kiss & Make Up by Katie D. Anderson
Time Between Us by Tamara Island Stone (signed)
The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton & Brenna Yovanoff (signed)
Beta by Rachel Cohn
Black City (Black City Chronicles #1) by Elizabeth Richards
Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu
The Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson
The Demon Catchers of Milan by Kat Beyer
In a Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark & Grimm #2) by Adam Gidwitz
There you have it, all my BEA highlights + books. If I've got the time to write it, I may just do a What I Learned from BEA 2012 post this week, so you can check back for that!
YAY! You got a copy of Throne of Glass after all!! You HAVE to let me know what you think of it!! :)
ReplyDeleteI adored The Near Witch and Masque of the Red Death! I have some of your ARCs as digital copies, will be interesting to compare thoughts with you! :)
Enjoy all of the amazing books and memories of BEA!
Hope you had a great BEA! Sorry, I missed you- I think it would have been awesome if we had met; I love your blog so much. Hope to find you next year! I'm so excited for all the books I got and can't wait to start reading them! Happy reading!
ReplyDeletehttp://thebucketlist-gn.blogspot.com
Clearly, you didn't get enough of stuff. ;) I added a bunch of these books to my TBR list so as you can see, I'm quite impressed! Can't wait to hear all your reviews & I'm glad you had a good time! Hopefully next year we can together!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a wonderful time! It was lovely to meet you and hang out for a bit! :-)
ReplyDeleteI loved how you laid out everything here! It seems like you had such a FANTASTIC time, Alexa. I'm so glad you got the book you most wanted. Ooh, I also see you got Deity!! I can't wait to hear what you think of it and all the other books. :)
ReplyDeleteBEA is always, always, always a whirlwind, and I wouldn't trade in my experiences for the world! This was my second time going, and I really enjoyed it. Wonderful haul, and I'm glad you were able to go!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great recap, I'm glad to hear you had such a good time at BEA. I'm a little jealous you snagged a copy of The Curiosities. ;) It was great to meet you at the Books of Wonder event -- hopefully I'll see you again next year!
ReplyDeleteWow! You had so much fun! I'm very excited for you, and all the awesome books and swag you got! Did you buy all the finished copies, or were they handing those out too? I so wish I had been there! Someday I'll go, and you can be my super experienced BEA buddy! :P
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't get to meet you at BEA! I had so much fun too :)
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand... SOOOO happy for you... on the other hand... SOOOOOO jealous. Gah. I want to go next year!!!
ReplyDeleteSo, so many great books you got! Aside from that, I really loved keeping up with your BEA posts. I hope I can attend next year. I'll start saving my pennies now so I can make my way back to NY! :)
ReplyDeleteI really hope you get to come next year! It would be amazing to hang out with you and Estelle and everyone else :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, now that you mention it, there is such a sizable difference! I didn't even think about it when I was taking my pictures.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hope you get to come to next year's BEA! It would be awesome to meet you in person :)
It was so fun and I'm sure you'd enjoy it about as much as I did!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I didn't get to meet you either :( Maybe next year?
ReplyDeleteEverything that I featured is something that was handed out at BEA, which is pretty darn cool. And I hope you can come... maybe next year? ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, I really wanted to get a copy of it and I can't wait to dive in! I'm glad we saw each other at Books of Wonder and finally got to meet :)
ReplyDeleteIt was incredible, and it was so much fun. I hope I get to meet you if you come again next year :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was a one of a kind experience. I hope you get to come one day!
ReplyDeleteOh definitely. It was so much fun to hang out and just chat. See you in NY!
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy, but it's exhilarating. And it would be awesome to be able to go together next year (which we should make happen!). If you want to borrow anything, let me know!
ReplyDeleteI hope we get to hang out next year! Definitely tweet me and we'll find each other ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited that I got all these books. I just hope I get to do them justice in my reviews :)
ReplyDeleteAmazing haul! I can't wait until I finally buy a copy of Throne of Glass. I've heard nothing but amazing things about it.
ReplyDeleteKrystianna @ Downright Dystopian
I'm getting such a kick out of the size difference between BETA and The Curiosities, and I have no idea why haha. I'm so glad BEA was awesome for you! I was getting excited from all your tweets with Katelyn, and I love when blog friends translate well to real life friends. Also, SUPER jealous of The Land of Stories! I've not seen too many people with that. I'm hoping they have copies at ALA, as I also hope they have the Reached bubble! I saw pictures of that popping up and thought it was cute. Anyway...so happy for you (and of course jealous, too!)!
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