BEA Day #4: Book Con Insanity! #bea14 #beahappy2read @BookExpoAmerica

Time for my final post of BEA!
Saturday was Book Con. I was very curious to see how it went. I was pretty sure it was going to be all kinds of crazy, and I was right. It was totally insane. We even got in line for it very early (BEA side so we wouldn't have to deal with the insanity). Thankfully we were only about 25th in line to get in and were able to get where we needed to go. THEN we found out we would have to pay for the book, so we ended up not getting it and just walking around. That was a feat in and of itself because the crowds were crazy and pushy and rude. We quickly made our way to the BEA side so we could relax a bit. Lucky for us we bumped right into a galley line!

I had one author signing on Saturday, so I left Crystal to her own devices and made my way to the booth.

That's Erik Nunally (Blood of the Sun) and Jennifer Allis Provost (Copper Ravens) signing. The line picture is a bit blurry. And you see that Jen and I got photo bombed by author Kimberly Anne Miller! 

I was very excited to meet blogger Justine Vandale from Shelves of Books. We kept missing each other during the conference and Saturday we finally connected. I'm so glad I got to spend a few minutes with her (and definitely wish it was longer). I hope to meet up with her again some day!

Definitely the highlight of my day. I saw Cora Carmack in the Harper Collins booth. We walked by her and then I made Crystal turn around and go back and asked her for a picture. She's so sweet!

That's Crystal and I looking extremely tired and all our luggage we dragged with us onto the ferry back to NJ. And my final book haul for Saturday.

I'll be honest and say that Book Con was just too crazy for me. It was super duper crowded. Moving from one place to another was almost impossible. Lines were SO long. And the people were rude, pushing and shoving and causing general mayhem. I actually had a panic/anxiety attack while trying to get back to the Spencer Hill Press booth to hand off a book to Zach from Zach's YA Reviews. I have never had one before in my life! Think of it, 10,000 people packed into a tiny space (rather than the entire floor of the Javits). It was a fire hazard for sure, and I hate to think of what would have happened if the alarm went off (I'm sure trampling would have ensued and people would have gotten really hurt). So Crystal and I decided that braving the craziness was so not worth it (and would probably make my heart palpitations worse). So we left. I was sad because leaving meant missing authors and panels and also forced me to not be able to say goodbye to a lot of people I won't see for a while. 

So that's my BEA 2014 experience in a nutshell. I will go again next year, of course, but I think I won't be staying overnight (now that I know about the ferry and it's free parking)

BEA Day #3: Exhibition Hall #bea14 #beahappy2read @BookExpoAmerica

Time to recap Day #3 from BEA 2014

So I forgot to include this one yesterday and I just love how it came out so I have to post it here!

Me with my author Jennifer Murgia (and her book Forest of Whispers to be published September 9, 2014) and author Rajdeep Paulus

D'vora and I waiting on line to get into BEA for day #3. There was a very special reason that I just had to be one of the first people in that day!


Abrams was giving away copies of Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard! But the best part was this...

That's A.G. HOWARD! And she gave me a HUG! It was so amazing meeting her! I have been a fan for a long time and we've been chatting on Facebook since before Splintered was published. I was SUPER excited to meet her for sure!

Ok, D'vora got to meet her, too! LOL!

After meeting Anita, we booked it to the Spencer Hill Press booth where my author, A.R. Kahler, was signing copies of his book Martyr (to be published in October 2014).

It was my first time meeting Alex in person (we had only Skyped and emailed). He is super duper sweet and I wanted to take him home in my pocket!

We went to the Cora Carmack and Jennifer L. Armentrout signing at RWA. JLA was waiting to sit so she came up to the line and we were chatting. Of course D'vora had to take the stalker picture!

We made our way back to SHP where we bumped into Amalie Howard (you all know how much I adore her) and she introduced us to Dawn Metcalf (who I have been DYING to meet!). Dawn had this really cook bag with Yiddish words all over. So of course the three Jews had to take a picture with it!

Then it was time for D'vora to say goodbye as she had to get home for Shabbos.

Had to snap pictures of Lego Chewy and Bobbafet for my kids!

I stalked A.G. Howard a bit more at Books of Wonder with my most awesome sister-in-law and co-blogger Crystal. Then we went to an Irish pub where we drank much yummy Smithwick's and had a most awesome Chicken Pot Pie.

My haul:

Friday was a LONG day! But so much fun. Tomorrow I'll give you my final thoughts on BEA 2014!

BEA Day #2: Harlequin Blogger Breakfast and Exhibition Hall! @BookExpoAmerica #bea14 #beahappy2read

Time for a recap of Day #2 at BEA 2014

The Cover Contessa was fortunate enough to be invited to the Harlequin Teen Blogger Breakfast again this year! As with last year, they did a round robin after the authors introduced themselves and spoke a bit about their books. Each author came to the table for 5 minutes and we got to chat and ask questions. We got to meet new authors to us: Adi Alsaid, Robin Talley, and Alexandra Adornetto. And we got to see some authors we've certainly met before: Jennifer L. Armentrout and Julie Kagawa! Dawn Metcalf was supposed to be there, as well, but her train got hung up so she didn't make it :(

We also got to schmooze with some of the editorial and publicity staff from Harlequin Teen!

D'vora remembered to take pictures with the authors, while I didn't! Silly me! But you can see me in the background of some of her pictures! I'll have to post those at a later Date!

D'Vora and I were very excited to get to the exhibition floor so we could meet authors, hob knob with the publishers and publicists, and see what books would be coming out.

This year I was at the conference as a blogger, but I was also there as a publicist for Spencer Hill Press. And all four of my authors had signings! This is Jennifer Murgia with her book Forest of Whispers (to be released September 9, 2014). And that's DJ, another awesome sauce blogger who also happened to be sitting at my table as the Harlequin Teen Blogger Breakfast.

Cool car Harlequin Teen had wrapped for Adi Alsaid's book!

My author Lisa Amowitz (Vision to be released September 9, 2014 from Spencer Hill Press) also signed this same day but for some reason I don't have any of those photos!

By the end of the day, D'vora and I were feeling a bit wonky!

This was my book haul for the second day :)

We ended the night with the Spencer Hill Press crew at Dallas BBQ in Times Square: gigantic mango margaritas ( delicious), Jennifer Armentrout's crab balls (round crab cakes), and the most awesome authors and staff! A fun time was had by all!

So much more happened during the day, but I just didn't have time to capture it all on film! Next year I will be better about it for sure! Stay tuned tomorrow for Day #3 of BEA 2014!