Hello everyone and welcome to BEA Week on Book Bite Reviews!! Every day this week I will have a post for you! Four out of the seven will be BEA related and the other three will be a guest post, a question of the moment and a review =D
This Weeks Schedule:
Monday: My Overall BEA 2012 Recap
Tuesday: Guest Post
Wednesday: WaveCloud
Wednesday: Question of the Moment
Wednesday: Question of the Moment
Thursday: BBReview: "From Out of Chaos" By Nathan Wrann
Friday: My Book Haul From BEA 2012
Saturday: Books Up For Grabs
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my BEA RECAP! WHOO!! This recap will include not only my (photographed) experience at BEA, but also my (photographed) experience in New York!!
This was my first BEA ever and my first time being to New York so I was extremely excited. I brought along with me my mom, because I didn't want to go alone (of course), but also because it was her first time to both places and Molly freaking Ringwald was going to be there, which is my ginger mom's idol lol. She ended up being extremely helpful, because she not only passed out my business cards like a pro, but also ended up being the one to grab extra copies of some books to giveaway to you guys and was the one who went and stood in some lines for me while I was in others. We ended up having a TON of fun and have decided that BEA will be our yearly mother/daughter vacation. I will admit that she came solely for my purposes. She already planned on going with me way back a long time ago so Molly Ringwald was just an added bonus later along the way. I am so happy she came with me, we had the best of fun and I never laughed so hard.
I also not only prepared myself, but I also prepared my mom for the horrors of BEA. I just started blogging May of last year so it was only recently that I heard of BEA. I first found out about it the week before it was going to take place from other bloggers blogging about how they were going and since then I have been stalking BEA's website for details to the 2012 so I could go. After BEA 2011 I read everyone's recaps and heard some bad things about BEA. I heard there was line cutters, pushing, shoving, BITING, and utter chaos. I was warned that if I went to watch my self and my books and to watch out for crazy BEA attenders. I heard about lines going on forever and by the time its your turn, books being out. It sounded nuts, but I had to go. BEA 2012 (at least for me) was not a horrible experience at all. Nothing bad happened to me and that was probably because I prepared myself for worst case scenario. I planned every day of BEA out to the hour. BEA is pretty much a planning science, because if you have no plan you will not get far in BEA. I made sure I was at least an hour early to every book signing I wanted and was two hours early to any BIG signings I wanted. I ended up being the first one, or very close to the front of every book I wanted and I got them all. I heard a couple people saying they didn't get the books they wanted, but you have to plan and get there early. You also have to weed out books and prioritize. There were a few that I wanted happening at the same time so either my mom and I would split up or I would just pick which ones I wanted more and go to those. I ended up getting all my MUST HAVE books.
I only heard of one bad happening and it was the last day, a lady apparently got her hand slapped while reaching for a book by another attendee reaching for the same book. That isn't a big deal to me at all. Also you must prepare yourself for the first day of BEA. People go nuts that first day. This is the day when the majority of ARC's are sitting out so people rush over to their preferred genre section and grab like crazy. If you have ever been to a black friday it is exactly like that, but nobody gets trampled to death. Us book people have more class than murder lmao. That was the only day I was a little afraid, because see I am from Michigan. In Michigan people keep their distances. Everyone has their own little bubble and people don't invade that. In New York and BEA people get close, there isn't a person space in existence so you have to get used to that, and once you do you will go far at BEA and New York.
I am pretty sure that is all I have to say without photos. So let's move on to those!!
MONDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my BEA RECAP! WHOO!! This recap will include not only my (photographed) experience at BEA, but also my (photographed) experience in New York!!
This was my first BEA ever and my first time being to New York so I was extremely excited. I brought along with me my mom, because I didn't want to go alone (of course), but also because it was her first time to both places and Molly freaking Ringwald was going to be there, which is my ginger mom's idol lol. She ended up being extremely helpful, because she not only passed out my business cards like a pro, but also ended up being the one to grab extra copies of some books to giveaway to you guys and was the one who went and stood in some lines for me while I was in others. We ended up having a TON of fun and have decided that BEA will be our yearly mother/daughter vacation. I will admit that she came solely for my purposes. She already planned on going with me way back a long time ago so Molly Ringwald was just an added bonus later along the way. I am so happy she came with me, we had the best of fun and I never laughed so hard.
I also not only prepared myself, but I also prepared my mom for the horrors of BEA. I just started blogging May of last year so it was only recently that I heard of BEA. I first found out about it the week before it was going to take place from other bloggers blogging about how they were going and since then I have been stalking BEA's website for details to the 2012 so I could go. After BEA 2011 I read everyone's recaps and heard some bad things about BEA. I heard there was line cutters, pushing, shoving, BITING, and utter chaos. I was warned that if I went to watch my self and my books and to watch out for crazy BEA attenders. I heard about lines going on forever and by the time its your turn, books being out. It sounded nuts, but I had to go. BEA 2012 (at least for me) was not a horrible experience at all. Nothing bad happened to me and that was probably because I prepared myself for worst case scenario. I planned every day of BEA out to the hour. BEA is pretty much a planning science, because if you have no plan you will not get far in BEA. I made sure I was at least an hour early to every book signing I wanted and was two hours early to any BIG signings I wanted. I ended up being the first one, or very close to the front of every book I wanted and I got them all. I heard a couple people saying they didn't get the books they wanted, but you have to plan and get there early. You also have to weed out books and prioritize. There were a few that I wanted happening at the same time so either my mom and I would split up or I would just pick which ones I wanted more and go to those. I ended up getting all my MUST HAVE books.
I only heard of one bad happening and it was the last day, a lady apparently got her hand slapped while reaching for a book by another attendee reaching for the same book. That isn't a big deal to me at all. Also you must prepare yourself for the first day of BEA. People go nuts that first day. This is the day when the majority of ARC's are sitting out so people rush over to their preferred genre section and grab like crazy. If you have ever been to a black friday it is exactly like that, but nobody gets trampled to death. Us book people have more class than murder lmao. That was the only day I was a little afraid, because see I am from Michigan. In Michigan people keep their distances. Everyone has their own little bubble and people don't invade that. In New York and BEA people get close, there isn't a person space in existence so you have to get used to that, and once you do you will go far at BEA and New York.
I am pretty sure that is all I have to say without photos. So let's move on to those!!
MONDAY
Sunday night was when my mom and I left Michigan for our 10 hour drive to New York. Here is a photo of the New York skyline from New Jersey.
This is the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel into New York.
YAY WE'RE IN THE LINCOLN TUNNEL!!
HELLO NEW YORK!! This is a photo I took while in the passenger seat. That up there is what I am 99.9% sure is the new years ball they drop every year. If it isn't (or is) leave me a comment letting me know.
Here is the (hopefully) new years ball up close.
As soon as we arrived to our hotel Monday morning we ran to our room, got changed, and ran down to the shuttle that would take us to BEA. We went to the Book Bloggers Convention where I met Julie Kagawa. She was seriously the nicest person ever!! In my awesome swag bag from Penguin I got a copy of the Iron Prince and then went to her signing and got the Iron Knight signed by her both for my dad, because he said he was thinking about reading them, but since she was so nice I think I will give them a go. I also got a copy of The Immortal Rules signed by her as well that I definitely plan on reading.
TUESDAY
Tuesday was the first day of BEA!!
Here is a picture sitting in a chair next to the statue of Mr. Javits himself with my Molly Ringwald and Natalie Merchant ticket.
Here is a little blurry of a picture of Molly Ringwald. She is so think and pretty and nice. She looks and sounds just the same as when she was in The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Sixteen Candles. My mom was foaming at the mouth during this line =D In person she completely remind me of the Andy I know and love from Pretty in Pink and not the terrible character she plays on The Secret Life of an American Teenager.
Here is me getting on my first subway ever!!
The second day of BEA is when they revealed the cover of the last book in Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series, FINALE. It was awesome to watch the curtain fall down and see the beautiful cover!
Right after the book cover reveal the doors opened up to BEA and the first signing of the day that I wanted to go to was of course Becca Fitzpatrick. She was beautiful in person and was really nice. She didn't sign/giveaway copies of Finale, but paperback copies of Hush, Hush. I was a little disappointed, but not really because I really just wanted to see and meet her in person and get her autograph.
One of my BEA giveaway winners Shana from A Book Vacation wanted Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. My mom ran over to her line to get Shana's book and took this wonderful candid photo of Ms. Maas in shock over how many people were waiting in line for her.
Here is a much more beautiful photo of Sarah J. Maas. Reminds me of an Easy, Breezy, Beautiful Cover Girl photo LMAO
While my mom was in Sarah's line I was over at Harlequin to meet the amazing and super nice Kady Cross! I was so excited to meet her, because I had just finished The Girl in the Steel Corset and LOVED it. She was everything and more of what I hoped she would be like and I loved her pink hair.
On our way back to our hotel we saw a fire truck parked outside of the fire house. Yes, fire trucks look just the same in Michigan, but this is a NY fire truck lol.
To go along with a fire truck you gotta have some tough looking firemen standing outside the house for a smoke break.
After BEA my mom and I went to Central Park. We sat on a bench and just people watched. We played the "Thats your boyfriend" game with every creepy guy who walked by and looked around for scenes that we might have seen while watching our favorite show of all time Law and Order: SVU
Next we went to the restaurant Lady Gaga bought for her dad in honor of her aunt who passed away, Joanne's. It was the cutest place ever and the food was pretty good. I mostly loved the atmosphere.
The best part of Joanne's was getting to see Lady Gaga's parents!! I didn't get to say hello or anything, but they walked right past us and I got a photo of her mom. She looks so much like Lady G. That is her in the jean jacket. Terrible photo, but I was trying not to make it obvious.
The last photographed thing that we did on Wednesday was went on the staten island ferry to see the statue of liberty. We didn't want to go up and see her, we just wanted to get a photo. I didn't have a photo of her in easy reach so here is just a beautiful photo of the skyline from the ferry. That really tall all lit up building in the new world trade center. My mom and I went to the 911 memorial site on Tuesday, but again I don't have photos at easy access, but it was beautiful and I recommend everyone go there as many times as you can.
I went to a few book signings on Thursday, but I didn't get any photos. I mostly made friends while in line instead of taking photos. These two photos were actually taken on Wednesday after figuring out why it was so hard to haul our first book load home on Tuesday, but I thought it was fitting to show you what kind of damage BEA can cause LMAO
This is what a normal wheel looks like on the luggage bag we brought with us to haul the books from BEA to our hotel. We had a two block walk from our shuttle to our hotel and our suit case acted really wonky. We found out why. Remember what this NORMAL wheel looks like.
Here is a photo of one of the other wheels on that same bag. This is why our bag was so hard to pull. We had to literally each grab a handle and shuffle this (what felt like) 5000 pound bag down the busy two blocks to our hotel. Apparently since the bag was so heavy it put too much pressure on the wheels and where the fixture on the bag rubbed to hard on the wheel it melted the inside of them and warped them! We didn't have another bag big enough to haul all of our books the rest of the days so we ran across the street to Jack's 99 cent store and bought a small green metal luggage dolly to bring with us to roll this bag the next two days. It worked perfect!! When we got home we were going to just toss this bag in the trash, but then we got the idea that since this was our first BEA we were going to bring this bag every year (with the dolly of course). This ripped from dragging, warped, melted wheeled bag is now our official BEA bag from now on =D
I hope you all enjoyed this recap and I hope you stay tuned to the upcoming posts every day this week!! BEA was the most fun I have ever had and I hope you all decide to get there next year and make sure the say hi to me =D
