Book Bonanza 2018 Recap

So the last two days have been both awesome as well as mega-crazy.  There were so many awesome authors to meet, but there were also so many fans there to meet them!  I've been to a few different book conventions, BEA, Romantic Times Convention, NOLA StoryCon, Apollycon, Kinky in Kansas City, and last month, ALA.  This weekend was the first ever Book Bonanza, and I'd say it was a pretty neat experience, even if it definitely had some growing pains that will hopefully be easy to fix before they, hopefully, have the 2nd one next year!  In fact, by the end of today's last signing time, things seemed to really be going pretty smoothly!  While I didn't get the chance to go meet a lot of authors I didn't already know, I got to meet or visit with all of my top planned authors. 

This is going to be a looooooooonnnnngggg post.  Lots of pictures!  

Below is a picture of all the planning I did from the beginning list of authors I had until late last night when I was trying to streamline the final two signing times based on what I'd learned at the first one.

Last minute purchases of post-it notes and highlighters - needed because what I did have was at school and I couldn't get to over the summer because of construction.  A pad of regular size post-its from a fellow BB attendee that was very useful in marking my name on the pages I wanted signed by the authors.

When I got to Denver and went to registration on Thursday night, I got this awesome tote bag filled with all these goodies.  Now, for some reason I got a 4XL sized t-shirt, which was way big for me. But the awesomeness and organization that went into this made me able to stop back by the registration desk on Friday morning to switch it out for the XL that was the actual size I needed.

Here is a video I took of the book I made to get autographed when it arrived a week before the convention.

Book Bonanza Attendee Group on Facebook

All the book bloggers were invited to meet with the Bookworm Box to talk about how we can work together to help them promote what they do, especially since what they do is all in a great support for different charities.  Here is the picture of all of us after that movie.

There were some awesome panels.  I took a couple pictures.

Rachel Hollis panel - She was such a great motivational speaker!
Jenga Writing - From A to B:  This panel had some great ideas to help with writing.  Authors included:  Rebecca Donovan, Kenzie Hart, Rachel Higginson, and KA Tucker.	Words and Cliches We Love to Hate - How do you avoid the slippery slope?  And then we had the awesome and hilarious panel where it was discussed the words that we all cringe over such as moist, turgid. The authors talked about their preferred terms for body parts, etc. and other funny things about writing sex scenes.  Authors on this panel included:  Willow Aster, K Bromberg, JD Hollyfield, Raine Miller, and Tabatha Vargo.

Next are all the books!  Even though as I showed above I made my own book to get signed so that I wouldn't have to carry a bunch of books around, well, let's just say my weakness showed when there were book to buy.  I mean, I drove, so it's not like I have to worry about how to get the books back.  Just don't probably need them all?  But you know, they're books!

So these are the free books I got. The bottom two from Book Bonanza just for coming!

These are the books I brought that I got signed.  You can see my book I made at the top.  In the middle you've got Cocktales and Felony Ever After both had multiple authors for me to get.

These are the books I bought.  Only 11, that's not horrible, right?  Two on the top are coloring books, and then another two are ones I'd read as e-galleys and wanted a physical copy to get signed.

And then there is all the awesome swag!!

Cool pens.  Yeah, the top one is from Meghan Quinn.  It is what it looks like.	Bookmarks galore!
Cool buttons.	Lots of stickers!  Some temporary tattoos, which are cool, but I'd rather have them as stickers to keep on my blogging calendar.
Then there were the interesting odds and ends of random type of swag. Some coasters, a tote bag, bracelets, fans, candy, magnets, post-its, and more!	Of course there were the cool postcards and even a signed picture of one of the cover models.

Other than the t-shirt that came with the tote-bag for the event, I was able to get another free one from the Bookworm Box, as well as I bought a shirt with a cool Outlander quote.

Free shirt from Bookworm Box!

Cool Outlander quote t-shirt from The Bookish Shop.

Okay, now, here is the reason I really had to attend Book Bonanza as soon as I heard about it, all the awesome authors!  Some I'd never met but am now in LOVE with their books, and others that I'd read a story by and wanted to read more, and finally ones that I'd met before, but still LOVE all their books and had to say hi to again.  There will be a lot!  So hopefully you don't get bored and enjoy looking at them!

Had to find Amy Daws right away!	Kami Garcia.  I've met her before, but only have a picture with her and Margaret Stohl, so now I have one with just her!
Helena Hunting was one of my MUST meet authors!  She was so nice, and so fun to talk to.  Her husband was there and he was nice as well!	Celia Aaron was there Friday night, wasn't expecting her till Saturday.  Loved her husband's shirt which said "I make Celia Aaron moist.  Ask me how."  He said no one had asked him yet.  I was not going to be the first one.
Sara Ney was another MUST meet author.  Also sat in on a panel with her that I forgot to take a picture of.  But she was a blast!	Yet another MUST meet author was Cambria Hebert.  Also, I'd lost my sunglasses when I went to register on Thursday night.  I was saved from having to either drive to find a Target, or buy the $25 ones in the hotel gift shop because she had some for swag giveaways - bonus - they were pink!
Aleatha Romig was another MUST meet author.  She was so excited that there were so many people in her line she ended up having to have wristbands because the line got so long.	I'd only read one by Daisy Prescott, but she was also in my Cocktales anthology, and there was one of her books, Tinfoil Heart, that I've wanted to read ever since I did a blog promo post for it. So, I bought it.
Shirl Rickman, I've only read one of her books, but did enjoy it, so had to go meet her as well.	Now, I met Michelle Mankin earlier this year at Kinky in Kansas City, but since I hadn't read her books yet, I didn't get a picture then. But now that I have, and loved it, I had to get a picture with her.
Had to meet Rachel Hollis and get the book I bought at work last week, Girl Wash Your Face, signed.  Haven't read it yet, but her keynote speech was so good that I can't wait to start!	So, you've probably noticed all the reviews for books in the Man of the Month  series that I've done throughout the first months of 2018.  I had to meet J. Kenner. When I told her I loved the series and would need to read on, she suggested that I needed to try her Stark trilogy, and gave me the first book to read!  That was so awesome!  So that will be a book I read soon!
Jana Aston was one I really wanted to meet, she had her own page in my book that I made, with a quote that I love from that book.  I ended up buying Good Girl, because I've heard so much about it!	So, Meghan March was one of my MUST meet authors.  But as of Friday night, I was scared I might not get to meet her, because she had so many people they handed out wrist-bands, and didn't get through them all. So they were going to start the next day, and they said they wouldn't be handing out any more.  Friday night, around 11:45 pm, 15 minutes before the end of that first signing time, I was sharing my sadness about not getting to meet her at all, and the person in line in front of me gave me her wristband so I could meet her on Saturday!  Book people are the best.  Now, they did end up doing new wristbands, so I probably would have been okay, but this was still awesome!
Audrey Carlan was high up on my list to meet, and she brought the cover model from her new series with her!	I've only read/listened to one book by JA Huss, and I haven't even had a chance to review it on my blog  But, when I was able to get a wristband to go ahead and meet this author, I was very excited!  Plus, they were giving away copies of the new book, Sexpert, that I can't wait to read!
So, I've met Jay Crownover before, and wasn't going to worry if I didn't get to see her again, but as you can see, I did!  And since we always seem to have the photos with the crazy mouth, I saved that one.  I suck at it, while she always looks so cool!	Rachel Van Dyken was one I was really hoping to meet, and I did!  I accidentally left my copy of Cocktales at her table, and didn't realize it for awhile.  I was so close to tears until I had gone back to a lot of the tables I'd visited, and when I got to her table, it was there!  Yay!
I was lucky enough to slip in and see Abby Glines when she stayed into part of the 2nd Saturday signing to finish up the wristbands she didn't get to in the first signing that same day.  Love the photo bomb, by her daughter?	Yes, I've met K. Bromberg before, but I LOVE her books, and am so excited for Passionflix's movie of her book Driven, which comes out in August.  Plus I'm on her audiobook review team, so I had to go see her if I could.  And she seemed to remember me by name!  Coolest thing!
So, Meghan Quinn was a MUST meet for me, especially since she was the only author I'd done a pre-order with.  But getting a wristband to see her?  Well, let's just say that was crazy.  But I finally got over to meet her, and she was really cool!	And while I've met Anna Todd before, I really wanted to see her again and talk about the After movie that is now starting to film.  I think she was probably busy and tired by this time, she was still sweet, but not quite as bubbly and friendly as when I met her the first time.  You can tell by my picture here though, I was sweaty and tired, so I'm sure everyone else was as well.

Okay, this was an awesome event!  I'm hoping to attend next year, but we'll see.  I also hope to get to sell my house and move next year, so we'll see how I'm doing financially as well as time-wise.  

A fun time, but I was so exhausted when I got back to my hotel room Saturday night that my body just ached all over.  I had marks on my shoulders from carrying bags full of books all day, two days kind of.  So I didn't go back to the event hotel across the street for the concert.  Maybe if I'd been staying there, but now I'm in my room and just relaxing.  

I drive back tomorrow, but am happy to get to sleep in a bit.  Friday morning wasn't horrible, just got up about 7:30 am, but this morning I had to get up about 6 am in order to get in line for the 8 am signing.  I wasn't ready for school morning time yet.  It's not August!

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the awesome food trucks!  They had food trucks for us outside for breakfast, lunch, and dinner both Friday and Saturday.  I had them for all three on Friday, but on Saturday, I didn't make it out there.  I wasn't over in time to get breakfast and still get a good place in line on Saturday.  Then, they weren't going to start serving lunch till 11, and I was ready to get something to eat earlier so I could get back to get my last few authors from the first signing on Saturday, so I ate at the restaurant in the Marriott.  Then for dinner tonight, I just went to the restaurant at my own hotel.  I was going to just do room-service, I was that sore and tired, but needed some ibuprofen, so I had to leave my room for that anyway.

Food Truck Pictures:

These waffle cakes were to die for!! This one was a banana Nutella.

Friday's lunch was from this Mac and Cheese Truck.

This was my Cheddar Mac with Bacon.

I had pizza Friday night, but didn't take a picture to share.  Sorry!

As I said above, a great time!  You should keep your ears open for next year's info!

Audiobook Review: Rowdy (Marked Men #5) by Jay Crownover

Book info:
Title:  Rowdy  
Author:  Jay Crownover
Series:  Marked Men #5  
Genre:  NA Romance
Published:  October 21st, 2014
Source:  Digital audiobook downloaded from public library

Now, Rowdy is the guy who sounded in looks the most like he would be my type.  Not to mention that his style of tattooing that was described makes him the guy I'd want to do my tattoos if he was real.  What was even more fun about listening to this book was that I was driving out to Colorado for my little mini-vacation, and of course the whole story takes place in Denver.  As with all of the books in the series, you can of course read any of them without reading the others in order.  But all the characters are interconnected in some way, and I loved that in this book we got to meet a few new ones that I know are in the new Saints of Denver series that I now can't wait to read!

Of course Rowdy is our male main character, and the female main character for this book is Salem.  We learn about Rowdy's past, that he'd lost his mother at a young age and been in foster care.  It was the family he lived with where he met Salem and her younger sister. Salem's father was a minister, and very strict with his family.  But Salem was always one that wanted to break out and be different, and so when she turned 18 and ran away, she did go a bit crazy.  So now she's basically a pin-up looking girl, one that Nash's dad called in to work at the  new tattoo shop.  And it seems he did it on purpose, to get Rowdy and Salem together and reunite them.  You see, Phil had once done a tattoo for Salem, and she had told him all about her past, which gave him the connection to Rowdy.  Salem's younger sister was supposedly the love of Rowdy's life.  He'd asked her to marry him, and she'd said no.

Salem had always liked Rowdy a little herself.  And the hardest thing for her to leave home, was leaving Rowdy behind.  She'd always thought about him.  And now she wanted to prove to him that she was what he needed.  But at first he didn't want to be with her. When she left him, it made him so mad at her.  But soon, he'll figure out that they should at least be friends.  And with the friendship comes all the attraction they feel too.  But of course as things get better, ghosts from the past, Salem's sister, Poppy, will show up to throw a wrench into things.  Not necessarily in the way you might think, although partly.  And then, there is something else from Rowdy's family's past that will really be a surprise.

I really did like this book too, as I've loved all of them I guess you could say.  I loved the fact that Rowdy used to be a college football player!  Never would have guessed it. And Salem gets a puppy, love that puppy!  Once again the author has left a tie-in to the next book at the end of the story, not that you'd have to read this one to go on to the next one, but it makes you anxious for the next book when you read this one.  I also have realized that this series has made me look up different types of piercings, and so means that I need to make sure to clear my browser history just in case.  :-)  I am so ready for NOLA Story Con in September when I get to go meet the author! 

NA Audiobook Review: Jet (Marked Men #2) by Jay Crownover

This was my next audiobook download from the library.  While I didn't love it as much as I loved Rule, I'm still really in love with this whole series, and getting even more excited to get to meet the author at the NOLA Story Con in September!  For the most part, all of my problems, which I'll list at the end, have to do with the narrators, and not the story itself. 

One thing I love about this author, and a trend in books I'm growing to like quite a bit, is having both of the main characters narrating alternate chapters.  In this book we get half from Ayden's point of view, and half from Jet's point of view.  Ayden was Shaw's roommate in the first book, and this book is her story.  There was a point in the first book, when Shaw went home with Rule, but Ayden was very much interested in Jet, so she stayed and got a ride home with him.  We learn  more in this book about how Ayden had invited Jet back to her apartment on that night, but he'd turned her down, in what he thought was a nice way, he told her she was too good, too sweet, too pure for him.  Jet, like Rule and most of their friends, was pretty much a man-whore.  Which makes sense, I mean Jet is the lead singer of a band.  Now, it's a heavy metal band, which for me isn't a turn on, but I understand how it is for many other people.  And his picture on the book isn't bad, not to mention that he really is supposed to have a great voice, and anyone who has heard him sing other songs, wonders why in the world he doesn't do something different and become the huge star that he could be. 

Ayden on the other hand, isn't the pure, innocent good girl that she comes across as in this book.  In her past life, before she came to Denver to go to college, she had a rough life. She grew up in a trailer home with a mom who was too busy with whatever guy she was in love with at the moment to take care of her or her older brother, Asa.  Asa was bad news himself.  He could sweet talk anyone into doing anything he wanted, not to mention that he was into lots of bad things. Drugs and other criminal activities.  When Ayden moved away from her home, Asa had been in jail.  So she was able to reinvent herself in Denver, where no one knew what her past had been.  She's attracted to Jet, but the part that is attracted to him reminds her too much of how she used to be, and she doesn't want that girl to come back out. 

In the main part of the book, Ayden now lives in a house with Jet and Cora.  Every night Jet has a different girl come home with him. And every morning Cora and Ayden rate the girl as she walks out.  They base it on looks, how blown away by the sex she looks, and how cool and collected she might be, versus how mad and pissed off about being sent home she might be. 

Of course it turns out that actually Jet is attracted to Ayden.  And everyone around them can see just how attracted to each other they are.  When Ayden decides that they should give in and just be friends with benefits, things start to change.  But Ayden is wary of falling in love or letting it get to be anything more.  She has goals, she is going to be a doctor, and is not going to end up like her mother, and Jet's "career" as a lead singer of a rock band, is not the kind of future she wants.  What she doesn't realize though, is that Jet is more than that.  He owns a studio where he helps other people record albums, and he will produce them.  Jet has his own problems in life though.  His father is not a good person, and treats Jet's mother like crap.  Yet she refuses to leave him, because she loves him.  So Jet won't go away on tour, because he is afraid what his father might do, follow through on threats he has made, if Jet is not there to protect his mother. 

Things will not stay good between the two forever.  When Jet doesn't help his father get a spot going on tour with a band that is going to Europe, his father takes it out on his mother.  Jet goes to try to help, and before he can even get in the house, things go bad between him and his dad.  Then there is a disaster at the recording studio, right before Jet is thinking that maybe he should go on the European tour that he has been invited on. All of this comes to a head when Ayden's brother Asa shows up, and someone also tries to invade their house when Cora is home alone. 

Ayden will pull back from Jet, partly because she knows he is not what she has envisioned for the change in her future, and partly because she is afraid what happened to Jet's studio is her brother's fault, and she doesn't want Asa to cause any more trouble.  In the end Ayden will have to learn to let others into her past, to ask for help when she needs it, and decide just what it is she really thinks her life will be that will also make her happy.  Jet will have to deal with his family issues, and figure out where he is going with the problems at the studio. 

Again, I just loved this book, and am continuing to love this series.  There were great back stories, we got to know a lot more about Cora, which I'm sure is setting her up for the next book in the series.  Yay!!!  Which I can't wait for.  We met Asa, who I know is the main character in I think the last book in the series.  While I'm not a fan of Asa because of what he's done in this book, I'm sure the author will be able to bring me around with his story. 

There's a part where Jet is describing the style of each of the guys at the tattoo shop, and I was left wishing that I could go to either Nash or Rowdy for the next tattoo that I want.  Preferably Rowdy, as it sounds like he is great about figuring out exactly what his customers want.  I'm also left missing the days when I hung out with a group of guys. There is just something different about hanging out with a bunch of guys, dating one or not, that is a totally different type of experience than when you hang out with a group of girls.  Don't get me wrong, I love my sorority sisters, but I miss the guys I spent about a year in college hanging out with all the time.

And as in the first book, the sex steams are as steamy as you could want, leaving you wanting what Ayden has just experienced with Jet.  At least they did for me. Although once again there was a piercing that I'm still not quite sure how I feel about a guy with that.  You'll have to read it for yourself and make your own mind up.

Next will be Cora and Rome's story.  Rome is Rule's brother who is in the  military.  I'm looking forward to his story, although the way he treated Shaw at the end of her book, and still seems to be treating her has made me a little upset with him. 

NA Audiobook Review: Rule (Marked Men #1) by Jay Crownover

Another audiobook that I downloaded from my public library, again because it is an author that I am going to get to meet at the NOLA Story Con in September.  I have to say that I seem to be falling in love with bad boys more often. And that is not usually me.  I've always been into the preppy, boy next door, good guy.  Now honestly, I have been looking at guys with tattoos more since I got my first tattoo several years ago.  But this book really, really made me want the bad boy, the tattooed, pierced, you name it, bad boy.  And other than the characters rooting for my city's biggest rival football team because they live in Denver, I'm pretty sure I'll be reading all of this author's book.

The name of the book is the name of one of the two main characters.  Rule is the bad boy, tattooed, pierced face, pierced other parts of his body, and also a one night stand with every girl he sees if he can help it.  Shaw is the other main character. Shaw is a good girl, she's pre-med, comes from a wealthy family, and is the girl next door in other words.  Shaw and Rule are friends because of Rule's twin brother, Remy.  Remy died a few years ago in a car accident, and Shaw has been working to try to keep Rule going and seeing his parents every Sunday.  Shaw and Rule aren't really friends though, they argue all the time, and don't see each other any time except on the Sundays when Shaw comes and drags Rule out of his bed, drunk, sometimes not alone in bed, and drives him back to their hometown.

Now Shaw has always actually had a crush on Rule. Even though all of Remy's family always thought she was with Remy, it was never like that for those two. They were just friends, and Remy even knew the whole time how she felt about Rule.  But Remy took Shaw under his wing, and brought her home and made her part of their family, especially since her own family was not one to write home about.  Her parents basically used her for their own status, a daughter going to med school.  Other than that, they don't really spend any time with her.  All they want from her now is for her to keep dating the perfect boy, Gabe, who is the son of a well known judge.  But this guy is not as great as her parents think.  When Shaw breaks up with him because she doesn't like him, he kind of goes stalkerish.  This all kind of comes to a head on the night that Rule ends up running into Shaw at her job.  She works in a sports bar, and the night he sees her there, she is wearing a "sexy referee" costume.  Rule has never seen Shaw in this light before.  He's never thought of her as a girl he might be attracted to.  But now, now he almost can't stop thinking about her.  And when her ex-boyfriend Gabe shows up at the bar and tries to threaten her, Rule and his buddies meet him outside and tell him he'd better leave her alone or he'll have hell to pay.

Things kind of go back to the same way until the night of Shaw's 20th birthday.  Her roommate and best friend takes her out, gets her a fake ID, and they go to a bar, and of course get drunk.  Rule runs into her again, and this time, he ends up taking her back to his apartment, not far from the bar, because of how drunk she is.  In her drunken state, Shaw gets brave.  And she basically throws herself at Rule, and he catches her.  She doesn't regret it in the morning, but she still sneaks out, not wanting Rule to know that she likes him in any other way, knowing how he is with girls.  But Rule can't seem to stop thinking about her.  And he decides that maybe he and Shaw should give it a try.

It won't be an easy road for the two of them.  Rule has never been in a relationship, and has no idea what he's doing, not to mention serious issues with getting close to people, partly because of how his parents have always treated him.  Of course they've never approved of the tattoos and all of that, but his mother blames him for the death of his brother.  Shaw is still having to deal with her stalker ex-boyfriend, and also refuses to let Rule turn her into one of his floozies.

This book had so many good emotions and so many good back stories.  We get introduced to so many awesome characters.  It looks like all of Rule's "boys" are going to get their own books in the rest of this Marked Men series. And I'm so excited to read about all of them.  But I fell in love with Rule.  I want my own tall, dark haired, lean yet muscular, tattooed, pierced boy.  And I love that Rule was a tattoo artist himself.  I'm definitely intrigued with some of the piercings he had as well.  I have no idea why in the world Shaw wants to get the piercing she wants, I cringed every time they talked about it.  But hey, to each their own, right?  It was also a pretty steamy book, which I enjoyed how that worked in perfectly along with the rest of the story.

I loved the book and will have to buy my own copy just to get signed when I go to meet the author in September.