I Went to Bookcon 2017! | Recap and Haul

As you guys know, I was in New York for Bookcon earlier this month!

It was so much fun. SO. MUCH. FUN. Okay, it had a bit of a rough start on Saturday, but everything ended up working perfectly on Sunday, AND I got every single book I wanted (and more)! So, basically, I’m really proud of myself, and definitely will be attending next year (or BEA? It’s up in the air at the moment).

So, my family and I woke up bright and early around six on Saturday morning because I wanted to be one of the first in line to get to the show floor! I wanted to be there by eight, but we ended up being a little later than that, which was perfectly fine! We were immediately led to the queue hall for getting into the show floor, where we waited for two whole hours. It was so amazing to see the hall fill up with SO MANY book nerds, though! I’ve never seen so many in my life. While waiting in the hall, I was alerted of two things via Twitter: one was that they were giving away ARCs of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black by saying a password and another was that Penguin Teen was giving away a Penguin Teen Game Changers box every top of the hour throughout the day, and whoever said the password first won it. If you don’t know about the whole Game Changers campaign, basically, Penguin Teen is releasing five YA titles back-to-back five weeks during September-October in different genres that they call “game-changers” of its respected genre. AND I WANTED THEM SO BAD.

As soon as it hit ten, we were all allowed to go to the show floor. As soon as I got there, I tried to find the Hachette booth for The Cruel Prince which took FOREVER to find. Once I found it, I said the password, got the book, and was also handed a Novl tote bag. And they had ARCs of Invictus on display and up for grabs, so I grabbed one, of course. I then rushed with my mom and brother to the Harlequin Teen booth for some author signings of their latest ARCs, but the line was capped, and I couldn’t make it. That was disappointment number one of the day. My mom ended up learning that they were doing a galley give-away at three, so we planned to see if we could go to that!

The I Read YA breakfast wasn’t starting for another hour, so I ended up going to the Penguin Teen booth and waiting for the password on Twitter so I could win their box. At eleven, I went straight to one of the attendants, told her the password, and she said I won, which was exciting! On my way there, though, I saw another girl who was handed the box, and once I got there, they said that they had actually given away the prize to another girl because she was in a different area of their booth than I was, and there was nothing they could do. This was AFTER they specifically told my mom and I that we could be ANYWHERE around the booth and go to any attendant to say the password, but now they’re saying we had to be at a specific spot. Disappointment number two.

After that, we raced to the I Read YA breakfast where I got to meet Maggie Stiefvater and get a signed ARC of All the Crooked Saints, which is one of my most anticipated releases! She was so sweet and so nice and I can’t believe I got to meet her face-to-face.

Shell-shocked after meeting one of my favorite authors of all time, I went back to the Penguin Teen booth to try to win the Game-Changers box. Again, no such luck. Twitter notifications failed me and decided to send me the Tweet with the password a full minute after everyone had already screamed it out loud. Disappointment number three. Luckily, my mom was vigilant and complained to the Penguin staff about how I was the real winner of the second box, and one of the ladies was nice enough to give us a card with her e-mail on it and said that if we didn’t win it at Bookcon, we could e-mail her about it and probably get it that way, which lifted my hopes a little bit.

It was around twelve at this time, and all three of us were tired from walking around and were super hungry, so we decided to leave the Javits Center and walk around New York to find something to eat, and stumbled upon Five Guys (which I’ve never eaten from before), and then walked back to the Javits Center. My legs were pretty much dead at this point, just in case you guys wanted to know.

We sat and ate for a moment before getting up and entering the show floor again because Harper was dropping four ARCs at their booth, and one of them was They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera, which I would literally give anything for, so I raced there, and my mom and brother went to the Harlequin Teen booth for their galley drop. Harper Teen was really strict about not making a line, so basically there were a cluster of people just waiting until two hit so they could push and shove in line, and push and shove they did. I was near the front of the booth, but ended up having to be in the back of the booth because so many people were shoving their way in front of me. So, that was annoying. Then, I basically waited in line for a full hour, and when the giveaway finally started, by the time I got up there, all the ARCs of They Both Die At the End were taken, so I ended up getting my second choice, Release by Patrick Ness, which wasn’t too bad since I wanted it as well!

After that debacle, I met up with my brother and mom, and was really happy to find out they had snagged me ARCs of All Rights Reserved and Daughter of the Burning City, which I was trying to get signed that morning! We ended up wandering around the Penguin Teen booth because they were going to be giving away tickets for Marie Lu’s signing of Warcross, and I just HAD to get one. All the attendants were screaming at everyone to keep walking around the show floor and to stop loitering, so my mom made a plan to make my brother stand in the back of the booth, and my mom and I near the front. Once they started lining up for the signing, we realized that our mob was being pushed to the back, so my mom and I bombarded my brother with texts to GET IN LINE NOW, and, thankfully, he did! We managed to be number 78 in line, and if he hadn’t been in the back, I would’ve missed out on Marie Lu because my mom and I were so far back in the mob, so a big thanks to my little brother.

I ended up waiting in line for probably an hour and a half before I actually got to meet Marie Lu. YES, IT TOOK THAT LONG. While waiting in line, my mom and little brother were kind enough to actually WIN THE GAME-CHANGERS BOX FOR ME. I was so happy, and then just a couple minutes later, I got to meet Marie Lu. She was absolutely wonderful and it was so great to tell her face-to-face that I absolutely love both of her series and can’t wait for her newest book!

(Ah, a blurry picture of my face!)

After that, we went back to the hotel because my legs were actually dead at that point and I was way too tired to go see the Booksplosion Booktube panel. Though Day 1 of Bookcon was rough, it ended up being a really good time! Here’s a picture of my full Day 1 haul:

Again, my family and I woke up at around six! Because we knew what we were doing this time around, we ended up getting to the Javits Center at 7:30, and was in a pretty good place in line outside, which was awesome. As soon as the doors for the queue hall opened, we sent my brother to coat check to drop off the suitcase, and my mom and I walk-ran to the queue hall line. We were so fast that we ended up being SUPER close to the entrance to the show floor, which was awesome.

Because of the chaos of Saturday, my mom and I planned to the T what times we should be lining up for all the signings and ARC drops I wanted to make it to. You might think, “It’s not THAT big of a deal,” BUT IT WAS.  I kid you not, people would line up two hours early for a signing.  THAT’S how hardcore Bookcon was. We found out early that morning via the amazing Bookcon app that ARCs for Zenith were dropping at the Harlequin Teen booth as soon as Day 2 of Bookcon started, so when the show floor was open, my mom and I rushed to the Harlequin Teen booth. My mom was much faster than me and ended up getting the seventeenth place in line. In line, I talked to two other girls who were super sweet, and the girl in front of me also wanted Zenith, and we both ended up nabbing a copy, which was awesome! It meant that I didn’t have to go through waiting for the mob that would be the signing (especially since I had two other events around that time to line up for)!

After getting my copy, I went to the Penguin Teen booth to meet up with my mom and brother. They were about to give out tickets for E. Lockhart’s signing of her ARC, Genuine Fraud, which I was looking forward to! We all divided and conquered into different places around the booth (and I guess this is where I mention that Penguin Teen actually got security guards because their booth was just THAT popular and crazy once signing tickets were given out the previous day). My brother ended up being in the right line, and got me a fantastic spot for the signing! I took his place and chatted with these other two girls who were awesome while my mom and brother went to the Autographing Area to hold my place for Nic Stone. After meeting E. Lockhart and getting Genuine Fraud signed, I went to the Area and jumped in line with my family.

There ended up being a bit of a mishap because apparently, something happened with the box of ARCs of Dear Martin, so Nic Stone only signed bookmarks while the lady managing her signing took down our address so she could send the ARC to us at a later date. She was so sweet and pretty, and it was great to be able to tell her how excited for her debut novel I was!

(Ah, a clear close-up of my face! And probably the worst picture of me, too.)

We then went to go find the Entangled Teen booth because I didn’t want to miss out on Tristina Wright’s signing of 27 Hours. Once we found the booth, we quickly found out that people had ALREADY STARTED FORMING A LINE even though a signing was already still going on at their booth, and Wright’s signing wasn’t even for another two hours. Like I said, Bookcon is hardcore. I had to charge my phone at this point, so my mom stood in line for me for a while as I got it charged, and then I had to go back and get my spot while my mom went to Harper’s booth to get ready to line up for the ARC drop of four books, one of them being This Darkness Mine, which is one of my most anticipated releases.

It was a long, long wait for Tristina Wright, so I passed the time by re-watching Buzzfeed Unsolved videos (totally worth my time, by the way), until she arrived. I was one of the first few people in line, so I ended up meeting her fairly quickly, getting the opportunity to tell her I loved her hair and was excited for her debut novel, and got 27 Hours signed by her!

I then went and met up with my mom and brother at the Penguin Teen booth because tickets for Leigh Bardugo’s signing of Wonder Woman: Warbringer were about to be handed out, AND BOY IT WAS INSANE. The best way I can describe it is by saying that it was basically like a mosh pit and a mob simultaneously. My mom handed me the ARC of This Darkness Mine she had gotten and stayed near the back while my brother and I were near the side of the booth. We anxiously waited for the tickets to be handed out, and they actually didn’t even hand them out on time, but about ten minutes late. THANKFULLY, my mom was near the back where they were handing out the tickets first, and managed to get one, which made me jump for joy because I WAS MEETING LEIGH BARDUGO. My mom changed places with me and then raced to the Harper Teen booth for the second drop of four ARCs, which included They Both Die At the End.

I waited in line for a LONG TIME. My phone battery was low, I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since that morning (and it was around three in the afternoon), and my legs were dead from standing and walking since six in the morning. I can’t say it enough, you guys; BOOKCON IS HARDCORE. But it was all totally worth it to meet Leigh Bardugo face-to-face and tell her the Six of Crows duology was one of my favorite series ever and that Jesper was my favorite character and get a copy of Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photos because the line was so long and it’d take too much time, but I have the memory with me.

After that, I walked over to the Harper Teen booth. My mom was pretty close to the beginning of line, but they hadn’t started the giveaway yet, so I waited around until it happened. It was a super tense few minutes, let me tell you, because my mom was bunched up with a whole lot of people, and They Both Die At the End was going away quickly (they only had about twenty-five copies of each book), but, by the grace of God, my mom managed to snag a copy for me! And with that, my tight schedule for Bookcon was over. I got every book I wanted and every signing I wanted and I was ready to eat and get some water.

After we all ate and drank, we went back to the show floor, stress-free because it was the last hour of Bookcon and we had accomplished everything. Earlier in the day I had seen a girl in line for 27 Hours with an ARC of The Belles, which I wanted SO BAD, so we headed to the Disney-Hyperion booth, and they were all gone. Of course, I was upset (especially since Disney said that the author was only signing a poster and giving away an excerpt of the book, AND NOT THE ARC), but not too upset since I literally got every book I wanted. Since so many people were trading ARCs on the Bookcon app, I decided to advertise the double copy of Warcross I’d won from the box on the app in exchange from The Belles. We visited a couple more booths and my mom bought me Roar for only ten dollars at the Macmillan booth, but with no one responding, we went back to the hotel.

Of course, while on our way back, someone said that they had The Belles and would be happy to trade. My mom was nice enough and said we could meet up with them somewhere, so after dropping off my brother with the suitcase full of books, we walked around New York for a while looking for the meeting place, and then I ended up trading Warcross for The Belles, which I’m eternally grateful for Jennifer for trading for!

And with that, Bookcon was officially over! Here’s my Day 2 haul if anyone is curious:

So, I decided to go into detail about all the books I got from Bookcon (and one I got from The Strand when I visited there)! The Goodreads links to the books will be found under the pictures of the books! This doesn’t include Dear Martin, which is hopefully being sent to my house as I write this, but I have all the other books!

Daughter of the Burning City

All Rights Reserved

Wonder Woman: Warbringer

Things I’m Seeing Without You

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

Warcross

There’s Someone Inside Your House

Jane, Unlimited

Release

Genuine Fraud

They Both Die At the End

Invictus

This Darkness Mine

27 Hours

All the Crooked Saints

The Cruel Prince

Zenith

The Belles

Roar

The Possible

And that’s it for my recap and book haul of Bookcon! If you made it through the entire post, a huge congratulations to you!

Anyone, I have no idea what I’m doing next year! I really want to go to BEA next year because I’m a blogger and I’d love to attend one year (and there are way more ARCs, which yes please), but it’s super expensive for my parents, so I might just go to Bookcon. IT’S UP IN THE AIR. But I can say that I’m 98% sure I’m going to Yallfest this year, so yeah for that!

Did you go to Bookcon? If you did, what was your experience, favorite moment, what books you hauled, etc.? And if you didn’t, which of the books I got do you find the most interesting/do you most anticipate? SHARE WITH ME!

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