Recently, I shared a recap of my first day at BEA and also my epic BEA 2015 haul and it was awesome. (Hey, I’m allowed to brag.) Day 2 was just as fun but I was actually able to take more photos that day and the next so be prepared for all the fabulous BEA snapshots coming your way. I only hope you feel like you were there too if you weren’t.
BEA Day 2
On Thursday morning, the shuttle finally came on time although it waited for more passengers so it left just a little past 7am. Jamie of The Perpetual Page Turner (who I met during Day 1 while lining up for the Another Day galley drop) was also on the shuttle and she introduced me to Allison of Good Books and Good Wine. Unfortunately, they needed to be at the Harlequin breakfast so we weren’t able to chat anymore when we arrived at the Javits.
I found Louisse at the line for the exhibit hall with DJ of LifeinFiction/DJ Writes (who I actually first met at the Teen Author Carnival) and we had a fabulous time chatting about books while waiting for the show floor to open. When it finally did open at 9am, although some people were yet again in a mad rush to line up for Passenger, I decided to just walk briskly.
I still got a spot for the signing and funnily enough, my number for Alex Bracken’s signing was the same with Susan Dennard’s from the day before. At the line at the Disney booth, I met and got to chat a bit with Pili from In Love With Handmade and Brittany from Please Feed the Bookworm. When it was my turn at the signing, I took a photo with the lovely Alex Bracken after she signed my copy of Passenger!
From there, I hightailed it to the autographing area. I lined up for A.S. King’s signing and I really didn’t know what to say to her because I haven’t read her because I haven’t read anything by her yet. (I Crawl Through It shall be my first A.S. King read!) It was so nice to meet her though as I’ve heard many amazing things about her books. I also lined up for the Truly Madly Famously signing and it was so so nice that Rebecca Serle remembered meeting me at TAC! She is such a sweetheart!
I wanted to line up for Jesse Eisenberg’s signing for his upcoming book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups, but I completely forgot that it was ticketed so I ended up just roaming around the show floor again.
I eventually went back to the autographing area to line up for Kate Scelsa’s signing for her debut novel, Fans of the Impossible Life, which I’m just super excited about. She was so wonderful and I loved her hair!
The line for Sara Raasch’s table was unfortunately closed after that but thankfully, Susane Colasanti’s signing wasn’t over yet. I was one of the last people to get City Love signed and I got to chat with Susane and thanked her for participating in my spring event last year and when I told her my blog’s name, she was like, “I love Stay Bookish!” That just made me so happy.
I headed to the Romance Writers Association booth after that for Mark Perini’s signing after that. I was excited about his and Julie Cross’s book, Halfway Perfect, ever since I first heard about them working on it like two years ago. Unfortunately, the signing was over but I still got to meet Mark and aside from looking pretty dashing (whatever this is my blog I am shameless) he was just such a friendly guy. He signed a little post card for me and I told him I couldn’t wait to read Halfway Perfect.
Yet again, I roamed around the show floor and took pictures. I spotted Brandon Stanton, who was signing posters of Humans of New York, Garth Risk Hallberg, the author of City On Fire (a highly buzzed book at BEA), Lee Child and Mitch Albom!
In the afternoon, I lined up at the LBYR booth for Libba Bray’s Lair of Dreams signing. That line was so VERY long and I’m glad I got a good spot and didn’t have to wait long. When I met Libba, I told her I was a Filipino fan and how much I loved her Gemma Doyle series (one of the best YA Historical Fantasies I read way back). She was so excited to hear so and she was just completely adorable as she posed with Lair of Dreams for me. “I want to be mysterious,” she said. She was so hysterical and so was her awesome publicist, who even photobombed me and Libba. This is just the cutest photo ever:
Since the tote bags I was carrying were growing heavy with all the books, I went downstairs to leave the books in my luggage (I finally brought one) at the bag counter. When I came back, I dropped by Julianne Moore’s signing but didn’t line up anymore and instead just took photos of her. It’s pretty fantastic, seeing a hollywood celebrity up close.
I then went back to the Disney booth and the line for samplers of Magnus Chase was already very long. I didn’t line up again (but later on was still able to grab a sampler) and instead checked out who was around. Some awesome bloggers posed with their Magnus Chase goodies for me. Look at Jon of Bookish Antics looking very fierce:
I also chatted up two amazing vloggers, Christine of PolandBananasBooks and Jesse of JesseTheReader, who were also in line at the Disney booth. They were very nice despite me coming onto them so randomly and they were surprised to hear I was from the Philippines. Jesse asked me what I was up to and I told them I was just looking around and chilling out. I gave them my cards and Jesse took a photo of me and Christine and Christine took a photo of me and Jesse. Even though people usually have a hard time using my camera, it was all great since both of them were used to using DSLRs for their vlogs. Jesse told me he loved my lens and I told him how much I loved using it. (The next day, we ran into each other again and it was so cool they recognized me and said hey.)
I decided to go to Will Walton’s signing after, which was probably the greatest decision I made through BEA because that’s how I met David Levithan. I’d seen him around the booths earlier but was too shy to say hi then so I’m just going to assume that it was kismet that he was at Will’s signing, handing out post-its casually. I took a photo of him with the post-it he wrote my name on which I honestly had every intention of framing but unfortunately lost it.
The line moved forward and I got to meet Will, who was so kind and friendly. I told him I was looking forward to reading Anything Could Happen (which at this point I had already read and really liked! It was the first book I picked up from my BEA pile actually) and he told me that he was so glad to hear it and really hoped that I liked the book. Then he gave me a bookmark with dance steps to the Anything Could Happen song + a Taylor Swift playlist. How awesome is that? And how awesome is it that David Levitan incidentally photobombed us? Best photobomb ever.
Then I went to the Macmillan booth for the Tonight The Streets Are Ours galley drop. That book is seriously gorgeous. I also got a ticket for the Fairest signing and I just have to say that Macmillan was amazingly organized at BEA this year.
I attended Gwenda Bond’s signing for Lois Lane: Fallout which has a very awesome cover. The publicists at Capstone were really friendly too and it was so nice to chat with them.
Marissa Meyer’s signing for Fairest was one of the last few things on my agenda that day. I still haven’t read her books (soon promise!) but it was so fantastic to meet Marissa, who was super sweet! She told me she was looking forward to hopefully coming to the Philippines soon.
I checked the autographing area to watch out for other authors who were still signing and saw Paige McKenzie was so I was one of the last people she signed The Haunting of Sunshine Girl for. She was very sweet and had awesome braids. I headed downstairs where Louisse and I swapped stories of how the day went (at least for those parts we weren’t by each other’s side) and then we took the shuttle together. And that was it for Day 2! As thanks for bearing with my long recap (there’s more tomorrow, can you believe it?), here’s a chance to win the signed copy of The Haunting of Sunshine Girl that I mention awhile ago:
56 Responses
YAY!! It was great meeting you Hazel!! So glad to hear you had such a blast!!
I was too lazy to bring my own camera to BEA, even if I had packed it with me, and then my phone failed, so I am stealing pics from everyone! Do you mind if I grab the one you took of Melissa, Jon & myself?
I don’t mind at all! It was so great meeting you too! <3 <3 <3
Yaaaayyyy! So happy for you, Hazel! And oh the books and all the authors you met! I would sure have a great time if I were there as well!
This was incredible!!! Your photos are all on point (Fantastic job!) and I am so happy for you Hazel! I wish I could be at BEA in the near future! Hahaha… :D
Love your pictures! And just your blog in general :) It was nice meeting you at BEA! Sounds like you had a great time and got some great books:)
Awww that makes me so happy! It was so nice to meet you too, Beth! And yes, I really enjoyed BEA! <3
BEA looked so awesome! It’s heaven for bibliophiles! I wish I could attend – maybe in the future? Good job representing PH! And of course, getting all those books and meeting all those bloggers and authors. :)
I’m kinda in tears after I read it. Haha! I’m so happy you got to meet lots of people! I guess, 2nd day is more eventful than the first. Everytime I scroll down I’m like, oh it’s Mitch Albom, oh David Levithan, authors, more authors, Christine and Jesse, and OH JULIANNE MOORE. Hahaha! Jesse and Christine are my favorite booktubers! Did you get to see Regan and Kat as well??
PS. I agree, Mark Perini looks absolutely dashing
Oh yeah, the first day was a half day for the exhibits so it wasn’t actually that eventful. I know what you mean- I feel so lucky I saw all of them. And Jesse and Christine are def some of my fave booktubers too. I did see Regan and Kat but just around- not when I chatted up Jesse and Christine. I’m very glad we’re in agreement over Mark, Inah. ;)
I am so jealous of everyone who got to go to BEA! I’m hoping with it being in Chicago next year it will be a bit more accessible to me. Your recap was great, I’m glad you had fun!
Oh this all sounds amazing! Thanks for the update
I wish I could’ve gone to BEA I would have loved to meet everyone! Anyway, I’m glad that you had a good time. !
Wow. I mean. I can’t even. Too much awesomeness!!!! Meeting Will and David (!!!). Jon in his super fierce pose. Christine oozing nerdy charm. Julianne Moore (!!!). Magnus Chase (!!!). Kate and a signed copy of her book. UGH.
Gosh, I got jelly reading your post!! Especially with Christine!! I so love her bubbly personality and you meeting her was just a total OMG!! :DDD
So cool to see how it was there. I love seeing what they come up with for swag. The shields were fantastic!
Oh wow, this looked like an absolute blast. Also, the photos you took are absolutely gorgeous – love the quality of them. Glad you got to meet so many cool authors! c:
Did you take these pictures with your phone?? And if so, what kind?? They’re gorgeous!
Once again, you managed to make me feel a tiny bit jelly (okay, A LOT) hahaha! You met all those wonderful authors! omg! And not only the authors but other bloggers around the globe! How awesome is that! Glad you had fun at BEA, Hazel :) And yes, I agree on your comment about Mark Perini (although I don’t really know him before now). He’s very prince charming-ish haha :)
Holy wow! So many good pictures, Hazel! I wish so badly that I could’ve gone this year :( I’m saving up for next year though! Besides, Chicago is much closer to me lol. Libba Bray just looks like the cutest/sweetest person ever!
I love that your recap is so visual, Hazel! (I also feel REALLY guilty that I didn’t know how to handle your camera at all. I’m sorry!) It’s nice seeing what you got up to at BEA, and I love that you were able to make the most out of Day 2!
Such a wonderful post, Hazel! So lucky you met Jesse and Christine! Looking forward on the upcoming posts. :)
Amazing photos, Hazel! Looks like you had a great time and I’m so happy for you. =D
BEA looks like so much fun and the books blow my mind! Meeting all those authors would be so exciting!
So so so jealous you met all those incredible authors! Seems like you had an amazing day! Thank you for the giveaway :)
OMG it’s Christine! This whole experience looks like it was absolutely amazing and I definitely added most of the books you talked about to my TBR list :) I love all the pictures you took, especially those of the typewriter and all the book stacks and stands. The food looked delicious and cute!
Wow! You got a lot of books and got the chance to be signed with those authors. And you met some book bloggers. You were so lucky!
Oh wow, it looks like you had a blast! I just posted my recap (all in one post haha). I wish I had met bloggers, but any that I noticed, I was too shy to really talk and introduce myself. Perhaps next year will go better when it comes to that. I LOVE your photos. Seriously – I need to learn to take more. haha
-Lauren
Oh Hazel, your pictures are SO lovely! It makes me even more sad that I didn’t take more myself! I don’t even know why I didn’t, I guess I was just overwhelmed by everything, but my goodness, your pictures just bring me right back to BEA!
Also, I did the same thing with Julianne Moore! Her line was so huge I knew I’d never get to actually meet her, but I got some pictures from when she first arrived- before they started shooing everyone away ;)
You have also totally given me a goal- I am beefing up my photography skills before next year! What kind of camera do you use, if you don’t mind my asking? I have a Canon t3 and a Nikon d60 (the Canon is better, just because it is so much newer and has a lot more features) but I am just not that skilled at all yet!
David Levithan sounds so awesome! I also saw quite a few authors milling around. Melissa Grey was in line for Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows signing. That whole aspect just made everything better and more personal too, especially if you were able to just chat with them outside of a signing (because those lines move FAST and you had like zero time to talk to authors).
I also got to meet Marissa Meyer, and that was one of my favorite moments! And three cheers to Macmillan for being so organized with their signings and drops. A few publishers were really bad at that.
Again, your pictures are AWESOME!
I never attend in so many booksigning events held here in the Philippines because the venue is always too far from home and/orI don’t have friends or booksisters to come with. The BookExpo America, I think, is one of the amazing events for the authors to be together and held a massive signing events like this. I super envy you for meeting great authors of entire world, omg. Book blogs like yours are my prayers at night that I could be friends with. You know, at least social media/bookworms friends? hihi More powers to your blog and post more reviews ♥
You met Alexandra Bracken I am so jealous! :O ;)
You met so many people there! I wish I could’ve been there to meet them in person myself.
Been drooling over the books you’ve got there! And you met Christine and Jesse OMG! It seems that BEA this year was fun I really hope I could experience BEA next year. *cries*
Hi!! I’m a new reader & I’ve been enjoying reading your blog! So awesome that you met booktubers there. Also, you’ve got a really great haul of books! I’d love to go to BEA atleast once in my life hehe.
WHOA! You met Christine!!!
Very envious that you got ARC’s of Lair of Dreams and Passenger! It’s also cool you got to meet Jesse and Christine! They’re awesome!
Of all the posts I’ve come across about BEA – I love your recaps and photos the most. I’ve never been able to attend BEA, but after seeing how much fun you had and seeing your amazing photos… I need to go!
I love that you met Jamie from Perpetual Page Turner… she is another blogger that I adore!
I am a new follower of yours… your blog is beautiful and I’m enjoying looking around your corner of the blogosphere. :)
Aah, your BEA posts have been so fantastic- I read them all today, as I said in an earlier comment, and it was so fun. It made me feel a huge desire to one day make sure I get there myself, but for right now? It made me feel like I was there, too, just a little bit.
David Levithan’s photobomb was the best. I was waiting and waiting to see if you’d comment on it, because sometimes it’s easy not to notice that kind of thing. Hilarious, though!
xx
Since I couldn’t go, I’m experiencing BEA through your recap! Thank you!!!
wow! the BEA looks amazing!! I really love your recap :)
This is my favorite recap of all, for the fact that David photobombed you and Will! HAHAHAHA! Best thing ever! Also please, do have that note framed and stare at it countless times! <3
BEA 2015 is lovely! Wooohhh!
OMFG A.S KING! Sorry, massive A.S King fan here. She’s a goddess. I worship the ground she walks on like literally I love her so much. :D You’ll enjoy her books I swear! And that snapshot of Julianne Moore, ugh, stunning. She is so pretty! :D
Really enjoyed your photos and posts of the expo!
Those pictures are so amazing! I hope you enjoyed yourself a lot! Passenger is one of the books that I’m REALLY excited for!
Completely jealous of the day you had! I’d be in heaven if I were surrounded by so many books AND their authors! The pictures here are really so beautiful and I’m really impressed by them (says the photography major). This post is really awesome! :)
Hi, I just stumbled upon your blog, and I’m a fellow Filipina! :D
Wow!!!! I really love this recap ate Hazel! I love seeing all the books you managed to snag and all the people you got to meet! This is indeed a happy post! And you got to chat with two of my fave vloggers!! :)
It looks amazing.seems like so much fun.
YOU MET DAVID LEVITHAN AAAHH!!! Also, can’t wait to read Anything Could Happen, I’m really really looking forward to reading it!
I’M SO JEALOUS YOU MET DAVID LEVITHAN!! But congrats! :)
OMG! That’s so great. I’m so jealous of you. You met great authors there. :( Someday, I’ll be in BEA too.
Thanks for this, this is so generous of you!
I haven’t noticed that while I was seeing your awesome pictures of BEA and reading about your experiences that I was smiling the whole time! Thank you for making me feel like I was there! :)
its look fun and great time!! I really love your recap. I would like to experience this someday
Hello! I love the recap!! It’s awesome that you met so many authors like Alexandra Bracken, Lee Child and Libba Bray and got goodies like the Magnus Chase ones! That’s so cool! And you also met two of my favorite book vloggers which is amazing as well!!
Libba Bray though! *heart eyes*