Day Three
The third day of BEA was much more laid back than the first two. (By the way, if you haven’t seen my recap of Day One or Day Two – and giveaways – check them out!) By Day Three, we’d gotten almost all the books that we really wanted to snag and I was feeling like everything we grabbed this day was a nice bonus. Because of that, we wandered a bit more and spent more time just randomly hanging out with other bloggers. Of course, that doesn’t mean we still didn’t pick up a good number of books …
The Lines
We didn’t have to stand in as many crazy long lines on Day Three, but we did still get there very early so we could get tickets and a spot in the front of the entrance line. We showed up at 6:30 (just like the day before) but there were already more people in line than Day Two. LOTS of people wanted to snag tickets for Heartless and The Raven Boys, especially. So there were LOTS of grumbles (and possibly a few tears) when the tickets started being given out at 8:00 AM and people found out that there were only THREE tickets available for Heartless after all the people who had Reader Passes and Avid Reader Passes (basically a pass that you could buy when you registered to get signing line tickets and front of the line passes). Luckily, I’d already gotten Heartless the day before, so I wasn’t upset, but Whitley and Steph (see Bloggers I Met below) were both incredibly disappointed.
Bloggers I met on Day Three:
- Whitley from Reading with a Vengeance – I sat in the morning ticket line with Whitley and got to know her. She was one of the people who was specifically waiting for Marissa Meyer tickets and was very disappointed when she found out they were out. (She did end up getting a book by hanging around the line until it was finished – there were twelve books left at the end and she got number eleven!) Whitley was also one of the organizers of the BEA Blogger dinner – read about that below!
- Steph from Ohana Reads – The other person who was waiting for Marissa Meyer tickets and was disappointed. She also managed to get the book because someone saw her tweets about missing it and took pity on her and gave her their ticket. See, people can be really nice, even at a crazy huge event like BEA.
- Once I moved out of the ticket line, I went to the main line, where I chatted (albeit somewhat briefly) with Lynette from Charmingly Simple, Rashika from The Social Potato, CJ from Sarcasm and Lemons, Val from The Innocent Smiley, Nori from Read Write Love 28, and Mishma from Chasing Faerytales). My mom and I also talked with Kelly from FictionDB (which I hadn’t heard of but I’m signed up with now!)
- Octavia from Read. Sleep. Repeat. – Octavia was the other person who organized the Blogger dinner, plus I stood in the Maggie Stiefvater line with her (along with Nikki @ There Were Books Involved, Cassie @ My Thoughts Literally, Katie @ Katie’s Book Blog. Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books and a few other people who I didn’t really know before and I honestly can’t remember who’s who now that I stare at my stack of collected business cards).
The Blogger Dinner
That night, my mom and I went to the BEA Blogger Dinner, which was organized by the lovely Whitley and Octavia. This was a fantastic time to catch up even more with fellow bloggers. Whitley and Octavia did a fantastic job putting the whole thing together (I especially loved the little touches like the banner that Whitley made). Since I’ve already mentioned most of the bloggers I talked to at some point in these recaps, I’ll just mention one more – Lauren at Shooting Stars Mag, who I met along with her sister. She was one of the top bloggers on my list of people I needed to catch!
The End
We had planned on going to Blogger Con on Saturday and attending some panels, but it was my daughter’s twelfth birthday and even though she said she was fine with me being gone, I knew she wanted us home. So my mom and I let Day Three be the end of our BEA adventure!
Some Photo Highlights of Day Three:
Day Three Books:
Like I said, even though we weren’t after a ton of books on Day Three, we still somehow managed to pick up a lot!
Here’s what we got on Day Three (Click on the book cover to see it on Goodreads):
Middle Grade (mostly for my kids, but I’ll probably read most of these too so I can review them) –
I’m doing a giveaway for each of my BEA wrap-ups. This is number three!
There are actually two Day Three giveaways. I’ll be giving away a copy of The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone (which is coming out early June) AND I’m also giving away the Strange the Dreamer swag pack that was given out at BEA, which includes a sampler of the book. Both giveaways are US ONLY (sorry!). Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopters to enter!
Did you attend BEA? Have a recap post? Leave me a link – I want to see it!
Didn’t attend BEA? Tell me about your favorite book or author event!
So, first of all, good call on the leaving early. I seriously wish I hadn’t stayed for BookCon, personally. I also now am a bit sad that we didn’t go to the blogger dinner, just because I could have seen you there! Also, fun fact: I checked my voicemail today, which I had apparently not done since May 8, and there was a voicemail from you! See how hard I fail? Seriously, hard. I love the story about the person giving their ticket, that is SO nice!
Also I entered your giveaway, thinking it was a different book because I am overtired (like how do you confuse The Loose Ends List with How It Ends? That isn’t even CLOSE) so like.. delete me or something hahahha. Because I HAVE The Loose Ends List. So yeah. I realized it before I completed all the entries though, so… progress?
I’ve totally done that before where I’ve entered a giveaway and then realized like halfway through that it’s either not for what I thought it was or it’s for only Australians or something. Um, oops? So, I totally feel your pain. AND I’m notorious for not checking voicemail so I can’t fault you for that one either. 🙂
I was so excited to meet you too – you were definitely on my MUST MEET list, so it was great. I had a really good time at the Blogger Dinner. The girls did a great job putting it all together. 🙂 Looks like you got some awesome titles on third day! I got Last Seen Leaving, and I was so excited. It sounds amazing.
-Lauren
Yes – Last Seen Leaving was one of those that I had on my “Hmmm … looks interesting” list, but pretty much all of the books I got on Day Three were. I ended up with WAY more books than I meant to, but I’m really excited to read them all!!
Oh, all the fun I’ve missed at this year’s BEA. Sigh. Well, I promised myself that I’m not missing out next year. And if someone gave out invites to a blogger shindig outside of the conference, I’m definitely attending that!
Yes, you should definitely attend blogger gatherings – I’m really glad I did!!
Book Con was a little nuts. I don’t think you really missed much by not going. Next year if I go to BEA again, I think I wouldn’t go to Book Con too. Rather save that bit of money for something else.
I’m glad to hear you had fun at the blogger dinner! I wasn’t able to attend since I had family coming up that night.
You still got a great haul for being more laid back on day 3!
Yeah, I don’t know if Book Con is worth it in the end. I kind of wanted to go because I’d spent the money on it, but I’m glad I decided to just skip it.
My niece goes to college there in Chicago and said she saw a ton of women carrying even more tons of books around. lol. I bet you were one of them! That is a lot of books. I am really looking forward to reading Stalking Jack The Ripper and The Raven King.
That’s funny – I’m sure there were books galore around the city that weekend!
Sounds like the entire event was a BLAST
It definitely was!!
Day 3 is usually chill, which is good because by that time you’re exhausted! I usually spend the day roaming around. Sometimes publishers want to get rid of extra books so we’ve had lucky finds that way 😀 You met Rashika! She was one of my roomies last year! Awww I wish I could have hung out with you hehe! Anyway, sounds like you had a lot of fun and I’m really happy for you! Thanks for sharing your experience and pictures with us ♥
Yes, we did get some random books at the end of Day Three that publishers still had left. Actually, a lot of the books we got on this last day were kind of random, but I might end up finding some great reads that way!!
Some great author pics from day 3! What a great time, wish I could attend someday! Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
Author pics are lots of fun – I love having them as mementos!
Wow that is still an impressive haul for being a day with no so many books you were after!! Some great looking ones though. Sounds like such a great time. Thanks for all the recaps they were fun!
Yes, I think Day Three was the day that we ended up picking up a lot of random books. Ones that I wasn’t desperate for but that sounded interesting. If the lines were really short, they were really recruiting people to come pick up a book – if it sounded good, I’d go ahead and do it!
More great books in this haul! I can’t wait to read some of the reviews 🙂
I’ve already read five of my BEA books (plus one that was recommended by the Harper rep, but I didn’t get it at BEA), so those reviews will start rolling in!
Man, it looks like you had a great time. I can’t wait to go when it’s back in my hometown!
So, you’re a New Yorker? It’ll be back by you next year!!
It looks like you had so much fun! I had heard that the BEA in Chicago was much smaller than NYC but it looks like there were still lots of great book, authors, and events! Love all your photo collages. 🙂
Yes, I think it was a bit smaller (though I’ve only been to BEA once before, so I can’t completely give an accurate account of that), but if anything, that made it nicer because it was less hectic. (And MUCH nicer for me, since I just drove into the city every day!)
I love that all the bloggers seemed to get together and meet up this year! I hope that next year I can get together with a bunch of bloggers I know like this! I love the idea of the BEA Blogger dinner! Looks like you all had such a great time. Thanks for sharing it all with us.
Ok I have a question. I have never been to BEA and hadn’t even heard of it until this year, so I don’t understand the whole ticket thing. What does that mean there were only three tickets?
I’m glad you fun though, and that’s great that you got all the books you wanted the most 🙂
Kristen, some of the autographing sessions you needed to have a ticket for. Some people would get their tickets in advance by paying for a reader pass or an avid reader pass. Others were hoping to get tickets at various places during BEA, but that was much more difficult. I had an avid reader pass where ten tickets were included in the price, so I had a ticket for Marissa Meyer’s signing before BEA even opened. It seem that after people stood in line to get tickets for Meyer’s signing, there were only three more tickets left for the day of the actual signing.
It was so nice meeting you and chatting during the line for Maggie. I totally understand the blur of people though. I cannot at all remember who I met when and where. I was also terrible at giving out business cards and getting them. But I always meet some amazing bloggers and finding great new blogs at BEA! Also, great pictures! The one with us is cute!
Except I just now realized I spelled your name wrong. Sorry – I’ll have to fix that! 🙂
I didn’t do BookCon, either, Nicole, because I had heard that it was complete chaos. Day 3 was the day I got the most books… I don’t know how that happened, but some of the publishers who hadn’t really given out many books on the first two days, almost threw books at me on the Friday… and of course, I can’t say no to more books 😀
Great recap!!
How fun that you got to meet SO many bloggers and that you got to attend the blogger dinner! It sounded like a lot of fun and you got sooooo many wonderful books! I’m so happy that you enjoyed The Problem With Forever and I can’t wait to see what you think of the other books that you picked up!
It would be disappointing to miss out on a book you were dying for. Sounds like a very stressful few days! Good to see you met so many people though!
Hello Nicole, looks like you had a blast! Love all the books you got ♡ Thank you