Book Bonanza 2019 Wrap-Up Post!

You guys, the second annual Book Bonanza was awesome!  I had a blast, and met almost every single author I wanted to meet.  I met my two biggest unicorn authors, unicorns is a theme you'll see for this event.  The resort they had it at this year was very impressive.  Expensive to stay, but totally worth it.  They're planning to have Book Bonanza there the next few years I think, so that is cool.  It was the Gaylord Texan resort.

Be prepared to scroll for all the awesome author goodness below!

Checking in we had really cool key cards waiting for us:

Here are some pictures from inside the first night we got there and had dinner:

My stepmom went with  me.  This was as we were waiting for our food.

Here's a view to my side that night.  It would have been cool to stay in one of these rooms and sit and people watch, but I guess they might have been a bit more expensive.  I might think about one of these rooms next time I go.

Here I am that first night waiting for my dinner.  Wearing my Book Bonanza 2018 shirt.

You guys, those chips were so good!  And the cheese dip!  I took the extra we had back to our hotel room. But unfortunately we didn't have a microwave in the room, and I didn't feel like carrying it downstairs to the little store to heat it up. So I had to leave it behind and didn't get to enjoy that yumminess again.  I'm drooling a bit now as I think about the taste of them together.


Just like last year we got an awesome bag full of swag, a new t-shirt, and even new books!

  This year not only did we get a tote bag, we got a little drawstring backpack. As you can see, unicorns on them!  I got a few little author ribbons the first day as well.

These are the books we got in our swag bag this year.  I'm really excited about the Lauren Rowe book, I've had my eye on int for a while.  Not sure about that Meredith Wild one, I might pass it on in a giveaway.


The first morning started with a opening event where we got to hear Colleen Hoover, Anna Todd, Caroline Kepnes and E.L. James talk about their books and their books being turned into movies or tv shows.

That was followed by three fun panel sessions - with six choices at each hour session, although some crazy people at the convention were lined up waiting to get in to see the authors for autographs instead.  Which was a little annoying since they said you couldn't line up until 2 hours before, and that was like 5 hours before, and is probably why I didn't get to see Anna Todd and Hero Fiennes.

The first panel I went to was about audiobooks and not only had some of my favorite authors, but also a couple narrators from one of their books that I love!  On the left is one of the narrators from Penny Reid's Winston Brother series.  Then Helena Hunting, JA Huss, Amy Daws, Cora Carmack, another of the narrators from the Winston Brothers series and Corinne Michaels at the end.  Penny Reid actually was the moderator for the panel. Johnathan McClain was supposed to be there as well, but he ended up being unable to make the whole convention because of a death in his family.

The second panel I attended was called Giving Us the Giggles, and all the authors there not only write hilarious stories, but they are just as hilarious in person to listen to when they are just hanging out!  The moderators were the two authors at the far left in this picture, the two authors who make up the writing duo of Max Monroe. And while I've never read them before, after this panel I went to their table in the autograph session and not only met them, but bought three of their books to give them a try.  I mean, it was $15 a book, or buy two get one three, so yeah, how could I not buy three?  The authors in order of the picture above are RS Grey, Amy Daws, BB Easton, Sara Ney, and Meghan Quinn.    Oh my gosh, the funniest stories from them, and this was a great panel.  All those people sitting in line for the autograph session missed out on some good times.

  The third panel I chose to go to was the second Audiobook panel, and I had to go because I wanted to see/meet Andi Arndt, a favorite narrator of mine.  Otherwise, this session might have been one I would have skipped out on.  Nothing against the other authors there, but it was not as great as the first two for me.  From left to right in the picture are Aiden Snow - a narrator, Robinne Lee - author and she narrated her own book, Jessica Hawkins, Eric Asher - science fiction author, Andi Arndt - narrator, and Lexi Blake. Julia Whelan was there as well. 

After the panels there was a sack lunch that was part of our convention fees, which was nice.   My stepmom and I took our lunch up to our room and ate in peace and a chance to just be comfortable.  I also hadn't brought the books I wanted signed down with me to the panels, in order to save myself from carrying them any more than I had to. While I did make my own autograph book, it's just almost impossible to not take some books to get signed.  Here is a picture of my autograph book if you didn't see it in my July wrap-up post earlier this month:

Now, on to my awesome first autograph day's autograph and author meeting session.  Although we had to wait so long just to get in. The line wrapped clear around the hotel and almost over to the elevators to get to my wing of the hotel that first day.  Enough about that craziness,  let's get to the goodies!

While I was waiting in line for the first author, I saw narrator Andi Arndt walk by and I got her to take a picture with me.

Even though I've only read one book by Mary Ting, Jaclyn and the Beanstalk, I still needed to meet her!

I had my picture taken again with Daisy Prescott, loved her Tinfoil Hearts book.  I had to tell her that I was a Believer!

While I met R.C. Boldt last year at Book Bonanza, I hadn't yet read her book. But I bought Clam Jam from her and read it and loved it, so had to get my picture with her this year.

As always I had to go see K. Bromberg.  Of course I also put in a pre-order with her that I had to pick up too.

It's been a few years since I read any books by Carly Phillips, but this was my first chance to meet her!

So far I've only read one book by Avery Flynn, Parental Guidance, but it was pretty good.  So I had to meet her.

I met J.D. Hollyfield at Kinky in Kansas City a few years ago, and really enjoyed her books, but didn't get my picture with her until this year.

I've read Karla Sorensen's story in my Cocktales anthology, but hadn't read any of her other books yet. However I think she has one in the SmartyPants romance series, called Baking Me Crazy, that I hope to read.

As always I have to get my picture with Amy Daws, especially since I had my t-shirt on that is about her books!

So I got my picture with Michelle Mankin again, author of Rock F*ck Club, and one of her cover models was there.  I didn't get his name though, oops!  He doesn't look quite so rock star hot here though, he's still a cutie!

And finally, my unicorn author for the whole event, Penny Reid!  I was so afraid I wouldn't get to meet her, she is one of those awesome authors that spend time talking to each fan/reader, and her line was just taking so long.  But she said she would stay until she got everyone who had gotten a wristband, and she sped up towards the end of the first session.  And when I tried to be nice and quick and just get a picture by leaning over the table for someone to take a picture of us together, she insisted I deserved a picture just like she'd done with everyone else.  So I couldn't say no!  She was so sweet and nice, and even though originally she was just going to be there Friday night signing, she ended up coming back Saturday morning to try to get to all the readers who wanted to meet her.  Even more fun was the cardboard cutouts she had of her Winston brother characters that had changeable clothes.  And her two audiobook narrators were there, so I got their autographs as well.  here are the cardboard cutouts:

She said she's thinking of putting the character designs onto buttons or t-shirts or something we can buy them on!   

The swag I picked up on day 1:

I did my best to not buy too much, and this was it for the first day.

Cockpit was a pre-order, the top three were the Max Monroe books I bought, and then I couldn't resist this SmartyPants romance book that was available early!  It's not supposed to be out until October.  Plus, it is a library theme/setting, so had to have it.  

I also pre-ordered this event souvenir Book Beau, even though I don't really use one, because it was just too cool!

On to day 2!

I had to stop by and see Kansas City author Sierra Simone.

And of course I had to see Helena Hunting again, I love her books so much!  I also had a pre-order to pick up with her.  

I loved the book Dumplin' so jumped at the chance to meet the author of that one, Julie Murphy.

I loved The Wrong Game by Kandi Steiner, so I had to meet her!

Had to meet Kendall Ryan, author of Bro Code.

So I thought it would be neat to have my picture taken with Sara Ney and Meghan Quinn together, since the book I was getting signed, Love, Sincerely Yours, was the one they wrote together.  They kind of squished me between them, they were so silly!  But they were excited because no one else had asked them to do a photo together yet!

And my unicorn author of day two, that I was so afraid I might not get to meet was Ilsa Madden-Mills.  But I was able to, and it made me so happy!

I actually met and talked to a lot more authors, but as the lines seemed to be crazier, I often skipped the pictures.  So there are a lot I don't have to share.  Like I got to see Kylie Scott again, but her line was so crazy I didn't spend the time getting another picture with her.  Now, let's look at the swag and the things I bought on the second day.

So the amount of swag from day 2 was crazy!!!  Some of this I actually sent along to my friend Sara who was supposed to go with me, but since she got an awesome job with MacMillan Publishing a few weeks ago, she was unable to go.

I found another book from the SmartyPants series that was also in the library part of the series that was available already, so I had to buy it!  And Katie Ashley also had a deal on her books, so I bought two and got one free.  But since I'm not much of a MC romance, I may do a giveaway for Vicious Cycle.  Pucks and Penalties was my pre-order. Then I saw a physical copy of the Team Player anthology, which I never got to finish reading, so I had to buy the humongous book.  And I had actually pre-ordered a bunch of the candles, but had to cancel that order.  So I ended up buying a few when they put them on clearance at the end of the day on Saturday.

I decided to buy one of the Bookworm Box packages that had a chance of having passes to next year, and got an awesome book, one of my favorite authors, Emma Hart.  Along with buying that I got three free books, the three on the bottom by Tamara Hanscom.  Those may be part of a giveaway as well!  I also had to buy the BB19 Christmas ornament since I have the one for BB18.  

I'll have to skip Book Bonanza 2020 because it will once again be in August, and I had to finagle a bit with my Principal in order to miss the first two days of school this year. But in 2021 it is supposed to be during the summer again, so I'll have to try to go again then.  

If you get the chance next year, I highly recommend going. The resort is so cool and the authors are great and it is so much fun to be surrounded by so many fellow book lovers!

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BEA 2014 Day 3 Recap (and Book Con)

The last day of BEA is usually much more relaxed.  Not this year however.  Book Con majorly changed that, with anywhere from 6,000-8,000 more people in the Javits Center that day.  Sure, they were kept in only one part of the convention center.  The only problem with that?  It was the section where almost all the authors were.  So any autographing was a huge mess, as they didn't really have room for all those people who had shown up.  And this was one of my disappointments of the day.  You can read a really great summary of the issues with Book Con by Jen at the Bawdy Book Blog.

My next disappointment with day 3 came with a decision I had made in my planning for day 2.  Since I knew that an author I really wanted to meet, AG Howard, was signing both Friday and Saturday morning at 9 am, I decided to wait till Saturday, because Becca Fitzpatrick was only there on Friday.  Sounds like a good plan, right?  However, because Saturday was Book Con, the book I would have been handed for free on Friday, a finished copy of Unhinged, I had to purchase.  It was a discounted price, but still kind of stung to have to pay for it just for waiting 24 hours.  But, I knew it was a book I'd have to buy at some point since I'd not received a physical ARC of it, so I dealt with that as well.  And I got to meet AG Howard, who I have really enjoyed interacting with on social media like Facebook and Twitter, having read and loved her book series. And, it was starting my day off on plan still.

After this I headed over to where I really wish I'd saved my front of the line pass.  I have never met Cassandra Clare, and really wish I could have.  But I also knew that I had to see Maggie Stiefvater again, I had to share with her my photo of her and I at BEA 2012 that was in a biography of her.  So while I was standing in line, getting closer to seeing Maggie, the people with me in line were saying that I should show the people in the Cassandra Clare booth my ticket to meet her, that I didn't use, and see if I could at least get a copy of the book she was signing at that time, The Shadowhunter's Codex.  She actually ended up signing one more, as the ones she'd been signing had been boxed up, and even waved to me over in the line.  But alas, I didn't get a picture.

Finally I got up to see Maggie Stiefvater.  Of course, she recognizes me by now.  I guess I kind of stand out with always asking the same kind of questions. But I had her sign the biography book, even while I was able to get an ARC of Shiver.  Of course I will have to pre-order a copy of Shiver so that I can get one with the special jacket she designed.  Next pay day for sure!  They took lots of candid shots of her looking at the biography, but I'll just share one, and then my picture with her, with my usual dorky smile that I get when I'm really excited and don't have time to control my smile.  :-)

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After Maggie Stiefvater I was in for a bunch of disappointments.  I had met Jackie Morse Kessler before, and really wanted her book, but because I'd met her, I didn't want to wait in line.  So, I was able to see her after the above signing, and get a picture with her, but unfortunately no copies of her new book, To Bear an Iron Key. 

An author that I think had a big line earlier in the convention, had a pretty small line today.  I know I'd put the book down as one to try to get, but not sure if it was for me, or for a giveaway.  Anyway, I got an ARC of The Fire Artist by Daisy Whitney, and met the author as well.

There were some authors I didn't even know would be there until I saw a copy of the Book Con guide for the day.  One of them was a disappointment as he ended up being cancelled when I went by to check his line, Steve Alten, and I'm a huge fan, so that was very disappointing.  But another was Sophie Littlefield.  I'm a fan of her zombie series, Aftertime, and also her YA book Hanging by a Thread.  The book I got of hers for this, House of Glass, isn't really my type, but I did get to meet her, so that was cool!

Now I know that next I got to meet Scott Sigler, and I know that I had a picture taken with him, but I can't find it on my phone!  It's possible that maybe I forgot to get it, I was in a bit of a texting argument with my sister at the time about an activity she had planned for us when I got done with BEA for the day.  So while I can't show you the picture of me and Scott Sigler, I did meet him and get a copy of Pandemic. 

After this I went and got in line for an author that they hadn't really started the line for yet.  But he is another one that I think was only there for Book Con, but is a really great author, Matt de la Pena.  His latest book, The Living, is the one I got a copy of.  And actually it is my favorite of all of his books, because it is more than just a contemporary fiction, it has a bit of an adventure with a shipwreck.  And I got to be 2nd in line to meet him as well!

About this time my text argument came to a full head of steam, and I was getting pretty upset.  So, I ended up leaving early, because I was upset, and I missed out on getting a copy of a Jonathan Maberry book I hadn't read, which made me a bit disappointed. But then I reminded myself about how many books I actually had already, so I was okay with it I guess.  I did take a picture of one author that I don't read, but I know is really popular, Sylvia Day.

I didn't try to stand in line for Alex London either, although I would have liked to have met the author of Proxy.   I kind of enjoyed that book, but had trouble getting back into the sequel as an e-galley that I had, so don't know when or if I'll get to finish that story.  I also was able to get a copy of the Holly Black book, The Darkest Part of the Forest, even though I was unable to meet her due to not having a ticket and the horrible lines anyway.  Here is a picture of my haul from that last day.  Now, I didn't include the extra stuff I got.  I had planned to do a separate picture of all the bags and stuff I got, but never got around to it I guess. 

As awesome as it is to have a free place to stay in such an expensive city, I kind of think if I ever go to BEA again, I'd like to stay in a hotel near the convention center and spend more time immersed in the convention and the other activities.  I probably will not attend BEA next year, even though it is the last year in NYC that I would have my sister to stay with for free.  You see in order to afford to go to this, I have to skip my family annual get together on Memorial Day weekend in Branson, MO.  Now my sister that I stay with in NYC doesn't seem to understand why that is so important to me. It isn't necessarily that it is Branson, it is just that it is a tradition, and I love to spend that time with family.  I may try to go to the ALA Midwinter conference in Chicago next year.  I really wish I could go to ALA this year, in Las Vegas, but the plane ticket alone was way too expensive.  And maybe, I'll take both conferences off and save money next year, because in 2016, ALA will be in Orlando, and I want to go there so bad for the Harry Potter park at Universal Studios.  So that would totally be worth waiting and saving money for I think. 

BEA 2014 Day 2 Recap

My 2nd day went much better.  After I had sat down the night before and made a definite plan, I was able to avoid a lot of stress, and get pretty much my main books that I had hoped to get, or meet the authors I really wanted to meet.  My day started out by getting in line to see Becca Fitzpatrick.  Her time wasn't until 9:30, but it was worth getting right in line, as I was the 8th person in line.

I decided to wait to see AG Howard first thing on the 3rd day.  Now this may not have been the very best idea, for reasons I'll tell you in my 3rd day post, but for my day 2, it started me off on a successful path. 
While I'd been waiting in line, I'd tweeted an author that I met in line for the bloggers' convention at BEA 2 years ago, Michelle Madow, about how I'd be looking out for her and hoped to meet her again, as well as getting a picture with her.  Just a little bit after that, she just happened to be walking by, and I called her over!  I got a picture with her, and also snuck her in line with me.

I also found out that I won the contest to have my name as the science teacher's name in the 2nd book in Michelle Madow's Secret Diamond Sisters series.  I didn't get a picture taken with Becca Fitzpatrick as I had met her 2 years ago, and I figured it was better to let the line move quickly for the others waiting. But I was able to get an ARC of her new book, Black Ice. 

Next I waited in line to meet Marie Lu.  Even though we weren't going to get an actual full ARC of her new book, The Young Elites, it was only a sampler.  But as I'd never met Marie Lu, that was worth standing in the line for me.

A book that I love the cover of and have of course been seeing everywhere is The Jewel by Amy Ewing.  I was shocked that her line was actually a pretty short one as well.  So I was able to meet her and get a copy of the ARC.

While waiting in line for Judy Schachner, I was able to jump over and meet Kathy Reichs, the author of the books that are behind the tv series Bones.

And then of course I was able to meet Judy Schachner, author of the Skippy Jon Jones series, and I had to get that book for my niece. 

Another book I'd been hearing about that sounded really good, was The Walled City by Ryan Graudin.  Honestly again I was surprised that her line was not longer.  But very happy for me!

Another line I was lucky enough to get into was How We Fall, by Kate Brauning, and I was able to get a copy of this ARC as well.

The next part of my plan was to go get in line for Michael Grant.  They hadn't started a line yet, so I ended up getting to be first in line to meet him.  It was right after they'd had a break for the volunteers to have lunch.  So there was no one at the table right before.  When the author got there, there were no books.  At first, he was early, but he went ahead and called us up and said he'd sign whatever.  I and the others in line asked about the books.  So then he was like, oh yeah, and went looking for them, and we lined back up.  Then I finally got to go and talk to him.  And I told him that I'd loved his Gone series, even more in a way than Stephen King's Under the Dome, and that really said something because I was a huge Stephen King fan.  He was funny and said that he was going to tell Stephen King I'd said that. 

A book I'd really been waiting on, because it sounded so good, was The Fever, by Megan Abbott.  And I was able to get an ARC of that, and meet the author as well.

Another ARC I'd been hearing a lot about was Compulsion by Martina Boone.  So as I'd planned, I was able to get right in line and get an autographed copy.

I wasn't able to meet Amanda Maciel, the author of Tease, which was pretty disappointing.  However there is another upcoming book about bullying that sounded pretty unique, called Press Play by Eric Devine. 

As I was waiting in line to meet Seth Grahame-Smith, I saw another person standing in the next line over with this cool bag:

And then of course when I got up to meet Seth Grahame-Smith, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get an ARC of his new book, The Last American Vampire, but as it isn't supposed to be published until January of 2015, I guess it makes sense.  We did instead get an autographed copy of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

One author I am a huge fan of that I had to see once again, was Jonathan Maberry.  I got in line, pretty far up again.  I reminded him that I'd helped name his one e-novella, Tooth and Nail, and he gave me lots of info about how the series might be picked up for a movie!  Also, all the novellas may be put into a print book at some point, which means I'll have my name in print book thanks section again.  This time they were handing out paperback copies of Rot and Ruin, which is actually one that I've read, but don't own. So that was cool. 

The one mistake I feel I made was using my front of the line pass for Stan Lee on the 2nd day.  It was cool to meet him, he did hand me the book himself, and smile and say hello.  But I barely got a picture of him by himself, and I heard the line went really quick.  Oh well, live and learn.  We didn't even get a whole ARC, just a sampler of a new middle grades book he's helping write, Zodiac. 

And I was able to get one more ARC and meet one more author before I headed out for the day, Starry Night, by Isabel Gillies.

Here is a picture of all my books from the day:

I did get some books autographed by Rick Riordan, but since I'd met him before, I didn't get pictures again.  I also got a few ARCs or actual books without meeting the authors, The Vampires of Manhattan by Melissa de la Cruz, Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell, How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love by Ken Baker, and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.

I did bring the rolling suitcase today, and it definitely helped my shoulders.  I still took the shuttle to Grand Central station though, and then the subway from there to my sister's house.  Afterwards I made sure to plan out my final day of BEA, which I was a bit nervous about as it was also Book Con.  And I'd heard there had been at least 6,000 tickets sold to that.  More about that later, although I'm sure you've heard some rants about it on other blogs already.