Wednesday, April 23, 2014

YA Fest 2014 Wrap Up

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 with 42 comments

So this past weekend, I finally got to go to YA Fest! If you remember, I was blabbing about it 2 months ago. It was so freaking fun! Oh my gosh, guys, there were so many Authors there it was almost overwhelming. My friend Heather volunteered with me, so it made it a little less scary.

The whole event was so nicely put together, and we all had a blast. And holy crap did B&N sell a lot of books!


That is where I spent most of my day, working in that area to keep up with the rush. Jennifer L. Armentrout alone bought a book by every author attending so she can do a big giveaway. I can tell you first hand how generous that is because I saw the receipt. So keep an eye out!! :)


The only thing missing was my lovely Co Blogger Jen. I offered to get her books signed though. She might not have been there physically, but she was definitely there in spirit. lol So sit back and prepare yourselves for....

THE ADVENTURES OF CARDBOARD JEN


We got up super early so we could pick up Heather on the way. 


This is where she got a little crazy. We had to park behind the police station so she thought flipping the bird to the Po Po was a good idea. Good thing we didn't get arrested. Jen is a rebel!


No worries though, we made it in just fine and found our work station. 



She started out being really helpful keeping an eye on all the books, but for the most of the day she was just up my ass. 


We met another blogger name Vi who also volunteered in our area. Vi meet Jen... Jen meet Vi! She was so sweet, and we all had a great time working together. 


Here Jen is posing with the Authors who organized this awesome event. Jennifer Murgia and Cyn Balog. They loved Jen and laughed just about every time they saw me with her. Both of them have new books coming out that I'm excited for. Forest of Whispers in September and Drowned in June. 


Early on, the fire alarm went off. So we all had to leave the building while the Fire Fighters double checked everything. I couldn't keep Heather and Jen away from the trucks. They were fascinated. 


Jen was in need of a Fem product so we headed to the bathroom. You will not believe what happened next. 


She was trying to PEEP on me!!! That dirty little cut out! 


Then I thought to myself, if we can share a blog, we can share a toilet too! 


Enough silliness though, it's times to meet the authors! I'm pretty sure most of them thought I was nuts. lol



Tiffany Schmidt was the author I most looked forward to meeting, because I loved her books Send Me a Sign and Bright Before Sunrise. She was so fun and I absolutely adore her. And I'm not gonna lie, when I first met Tiffany I almost did this...


Maybe not quite, but pretty darn close. lol


Ahhhhhhhh!!!! It's Maria V. Snyder people!!!! I was a little scared to go up to her with cardboard Jen, because she's Maria V. FREAKING Snyder!!! But... she was really nice and though I'm not sure she knew what to make of Jen, she was a good sport and posed anyway. lol. 


And here Jen is, posing with Shannon Delaney and Molly Cochran! Shannon was concerned that Jen looked so flat, but I assured her that she really does look like this and her husband is fine with it. They were both so fun. I hadn't heard of Molly's books, but now that I have met her I'll have to check some of them out. As for Shannon Delany, I've been eyeing up her Weather Witch books for a while. 


Ahhhh!!! And here is Jennifer L. Armentrout!! I have wanted to meet her forever. It's funny because I only just read my first book by her with Jen, but she's so nice on twitter and everyone seems to love her. I had to see what the hype was all about. She was great and we even discussed Don't Look Back for a little while. That's just surreal to me talking to authors about their books. In Person!!! *sigh* 


Next we met Cristin Terrill, Author of All Our Yesterdays! Now she definitely thought I was weird, but she was more than happy to pose with Jen. lol. 


I haven't read The Beautiful & The Cursed by Page Morgan but Jen has and she loved it so I brought her books to be signed. Page even recognized cardboard Jen. Surprisingly a lot of people did. That Twitter Avi has been around a lot apparently. lol. She was also a ton of fun, so many of the Authors were. 


I was pretty excited to meet Amalie Howard. I read Waterfell by her a while back and I liked it. Helping out with B&N with sales though, made me realize she has a ton of other books that I need to check out. 


And the last Author we met was Anne Greenwood Brown!! She wrote Lies Beneath and I really liked that one. Scary Ass Mermaids for the win!!! I need to continue that series like pronto.


All that Author Mingling made Jen thirsty, so we hit up the water fountain.


I had a couple books I planned to give away that were on my shelf, so I got them signed. I'm not getting fancy with it, because I just have no patience for rafflecopter tonight, so just mention in a comment below if you would like to be entered and I'll pick someone random org next week sometime :) US only, sorry. 



That pretty much concludes the event. I wish it had been longer because the day just flew by. I'm already signed up to help next year so let the countdown begin!!! I can't Freaking WAIT!!!!!





42 comments:

  1. I'm sorry 😢 if shipping wasn't so darn expensive I'd open it up to everyone.

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  2. Thank you SOOOOO much for letting me tag along, April! I had such a blast, lol. I wish I could have *really* been there...it looks like you ladies had such a blast and you met so many awesome authors! And it's kind of awesome that a few recognized lil ole me! And I'm sure they'll never forget YOU after this. Bahaha. Great wrap-up and I'm totes jealous of whoever gets that signed copy of Inside Out! :D

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    1. You're welcome!!! I really wish you could have actually been there, but cardboard Jen was fun too. lol. :) Ahh, if I had known you would have wanted that, I'd have added it to your birthday box. lol.

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  3. Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop laughing at Jen's cutout! That's hilariously cute :) It looks like it was a blast!

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    1. lol she does look funny. :) It really was a blast.

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  4. awesome post! i laughed hysterically all over again! i forgot that Jen flipped off the Heat LOL

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    1. Well, we all know that was your finger flipping the heat, because it's way too fleshy to be Cardboard Jens.

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  5. Thanks for taking us with you! Cardboard Jen is awesome! I am sure the authors had as much fun with her as you did!

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    1. Awwwe you're welcome!! Thanks for stopping by to see my silly post!! The Authors really did get a kick out of Jen. lol

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  6. OH, this post makes me so happy! It was great to meet you, April. And I loved my special moments with Jen… she's pretty quiet. We'll have to work on coaxing her to open up. Or maybe on getting me to stop chatterboxing so she can get a word in :)

    Thanks for being such a highlight of a great event <3

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    1. This comment makes me so happy. :o) you were just and nice and wonderful as I imagined you would be! I hope you will be at next years! And we definitely have to work on cardboard Jen, get her talking!

      <3

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  7. Love all the pics! It was great working with you, too! I hope you'll get a chance to read JLA's books soon and lemme know what you think!

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    1. It was so fun meeting you Vi! I hope you will be at the next one! And I'll definitely keep you posted on my JLA reading. I think I'll start up with the half blood books soon. :)

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  8. Wow I never knew Jen was so cheeky, lol. Sounds like you and cardboard Jen had a blast at YA Fest. Did you buy a lot of books yourself?

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    1. Jen is a wild woman!!! lol. I didn't buy any books for myself, just for Jen because her bday is next week! :) We are leaving for a cruise in less than two weeks so I had to control myself. It was hard but I succeeded.

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  9. Love this! Though I adore real Jen, cardboard Jen seems pretty awesome. ;) Sooo jealous you met {and discussed books!} with JLA. You must read more of her books. For reals. Thanks for sharing the event with us, April! Oh, and pick me, pick me! :D

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    1. Awwwe, I still kinda feel like it didn't happen, that I didn't discuss her book with her. My memory much be tricking me. lol. Tons of surreal moments that day!! :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. What a hilarious post! Loved it! I'm hoping to see JLA when she comes to DC soon. Hopefully I won't be too bogged down with studying for finals. >_<

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity by the way! :)

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    1. Ooooooh I hope you get to meet her!! she's so nice. :)

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  11. That looks like such an awesome event!! Makes me jealous that I don't live closer to where fun stuff like this happens! I read and really enjoyed Inside out! I am super crazy though because I read Half-Blood as an ARC and I have somehow not read any of the rest of the series!!

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  12. Baaaahahaha!! This made me think of Flat Finn. So funny!! Glad you had such a great time! Yes, I'm pretty jealous. :D

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  13. The Adventures of Cardboard Jen are hilarious! Glad you enjoyed it. There are never author events where I live, so I just enjoy them through other people, lol. I think I would have full on fangirled upon meeting so many authors at once.
    -Marianne

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  14. LOLOL! THIS is the reason I love y'all so much :D I'm glad y'all had so much fun <3
    Jackie~

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  15. It's awesome that you ladies had so much fun! Thank you for sharing your adventure with us!

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  16. What a riot! That Jen sure does get around and get up to lots of trouble. ;) The event sounded fun and the authors all look so nice.

    I would love a chance to win one of your signed giveaway books. Thanks for doing a giveaway.

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  17. YA Fest is something I'd love to get to go to someday- preferably in person, lol! Fun post, great to see so many authors out in the wild.

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  18. Looks like you had an awesome time, April. Unfortunately I had to miss it this year. I went the first year and it was so much fun. I heard this year was huge compared to the last time. Jen told me it's busting the seams of the library and might have to move! WOW! SO great you got to meet all those authors. I'm jealous of Christin Terrill and Page Morgan. Really was looking forward to meeting them! I enjoyed Jen's adventures, thanks for sharing them with us! Great post! Enjoy your books!

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  19. OH MY GOSH. THAT IS THE BEST!! My older sister once did that for me...took a photo of me all around America. I have to say, the experience isn't quite the same. x) Looks so awesome and all those terrific authors?! I'm so jealous!!

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  20. I wish I could travel to where all the big book events are being held :( The book events in my city are always on Saturday and I have school. I can tell YA Fest was a blast, and I'm glad you had fun :)

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  21. Looks like YA Fest was so much fun! And EXTREMELY jealous you got to meet JLA

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  22. I want to go to at least some kind of book signing event in my lifetime. I love in kind of a small town and they never have anything like that around here. So I'm pretty jealous of you. Thank you for sharing your experience and of course the giveaway. I would love to win. ;)

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  23. I had never heard of YA Fest until Vi made a vlog about it! That is such a cute idea with the cardboard Jen! Jen had some crazy shenanigans! I definitely want to try to go to YA Fest next year it is about an hour from my house!

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  24. The pictures are awesome and it looks like there was a lot of fun to be had at this event. Thanks for sharing it!

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  25. LOL... this looks and sounded like such a fun event!!! Thanks so much for sharing :) The giveaway is awesome!!!

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  26. It sounds like you had a awesome time. I wish I could have went.

    I have my fingers crossed. Thanks for the amazing giveaway.

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  27. You guys are too cute! The event looks like it was so much fun!

    And the giveaway looks awesome as well!

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  28. I love your write up!! and super jealous that you were able to meet JLA! :)

    I would love to enter the giveaway. Thank you! <3

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  30. Haha ok that was nuts and hilarious. What a brilliant idea with the cardboard Jen. So ingenious getting the authors to pose with it. Wish I could have attended such a fun event

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