BEA 2014 Recap: Part 1

Tuesday & Wednesday

May 27 & 28, 2014

Tuesday morning started off bright and gorgeous. The night before Andye (Reading Teen) spent the night at my house since we were driving - OK, Andye was driving, Jen and I were praying - to NYC. We left after Andye encouraged my niece, Aria, to have Auntie Hannah read about Hedwig to her.

Nice try, Andye.

We picked up Jen (Jenuine Cupcakes) who lives a few minutes away from me and then we were off on a fairly uneventful road trip. The biggest problem was keeping the cupcakes out of the sun. Jen was constantly rearranging them so make sure they didn't melt from the sun. So to answer your question, yes. She really does come with cupcakes. And it pays to be part of the cupcake entourage.

We dropped our belonging off at the hotel and then drove the car over to Brooklyn to park. Having never been to Brooklyn, I loved it. Andye took us down to the promenade, which included a very shaky walkway in the air that had me bouncing and giggling, Andye smiling and Jen a little nervous. 

We walked around a bit, grabbed a late lunch at a fabulous pizza place and then Andye and Jen escorted me to the subway station so I could catch a train back to the city and meet Nicole (Paperback Princess) for dinner. I went back to the hotel and officially checked in, making sure our luggage was brought up to our room (which was a bit dated, but seriously spacious) before heading out.

Nicole's birthday was the next day, so I came in early to celebrate with her. We went out to dinner, walked around Union Square, and then went to The Strand (it was my first time), where we ran into almost a dozen bloggers who were in town for BEA. I might've bought a few books, too, because ... why not? 

I went back to the hotel, took a quick shower and chatted with Jen (Andye was in another room with some other bloggers) and then we crashed fairly early because the next day was going to be busy.

Wednesday felt significantly cooler than Tuesday (thank the Lord) and less humid. Jen and I quickly packed up an vacated the hotel to move to the hotel we would be using for the remainder of the trip - the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Penn Station. I absolutely adored this hotel room. It was huge, had a great view and was very central to everything. 

Jen and I found a Starbucks and I blankly stared into oblivion as she sucked down caffeinated goodness. Then we went out and headed to the Little Brown/NOVL brunch. We had been to this building back during PubCrawl and it was no less amazing this time around. Only difference is now we knew how to work the elevators and looked semi-smart to the others who showed up with us.

The NOVL brunch was fantastic and they had an entire presentation for us on their top 6 upcoming titles, a super-secret sneak preview, and they showed us how much work goes into designing a cover. At the end we got to make our own swag bags with ARCs they had laid out for us.

We left shortly after to meet up with Gabrielle, my mom, and aunt who would be staying with us the rest of the week. We checked into the hotel and then grabbed something to eat before heading off to the Javits to get our passes.


Was anyone else bummed we didn't get lanyards this year? Oh, well.

Before BEA, Jen and I had set up a meeting with Erin & Courtney from Berkley/NAL. We met them at JacquesTorres for some of the best chocolatey goodness ever. We chatted about some upcoming New Adult books and my love of romance for a bit before we had to go. 

Jen and I made it back to the hotel with enough time to grab Gabrielle and freshen up a bit before waiting in an endless, frigid line for a taxi to go to the EpicReads party. Fortunately we weren't too late and made it to the party without any problems.

Other than minor frostbite.

I loved this party. I got to meet Amy Ewing, Amy Plum, Heather Demetrios, and a ton of other plus reconnect with some of my blogger friends. It was loud and crazy and fun. 

All too soon it was time to leave (OK, seriously I was exhausted and craved sleep at this point), and to bed because BEA officially kicked off the next day.