ALA Anahiem 2012 Recap!

Hey guys!

I had the amazing opportunity to road trip down to Anaheim with my two friends, Lindsi and Kelsey (who also blog, whee!). The purpose? ALA 2012. 

Until last weekend, I had never been to any ALA event before. I figured it would be a good networking opportunity and give me the chance to meet some crazy awesome people. And oh, I did. 

I attended the author/blogger meet up hosted by YA Highway, attended ALA Saturday and Sunday, met one of my agent sister's, Leigh Bardugo (who is SO, SO lovely), and ended up showing Lindsi and Kelsey around CA since they'd never been before.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but I had tons of fun. Here's some pictures and captions of the shenanigans that ensued: 

In traffic on our way to day 1 of ALA

Kelsey, Lindsi, and me at the Anaheim Convention Center. 

While at BEA, I had the amazing opportunity to meet Claire Legrand, who I know through Britney since they used to work together. Anyway, I spotted Claire's book (there were only 2 left on the table when I walked up!) and took one! I'm really excited to read this MG. :)

I saw Sash (from Sash and Em) again at ALA! She's so sweet, guys.

I had the opportunity to meet John Corey Whaley and get a signed copy of his book. I've heard amazing things about it. Also he's also super nice.

We ran into Ally Condie and Marie Lu on the ALA floor! They are all so sweet. 

I ended up taking Lindsi and Kelsey to Seal Beach in CA. This is basically the beach I spent my summers at growing up, and since Lindsi and Kelsey had never seen a beach on the west coast I figured it was a perfect opportunity to take them. :)

Lindsi thought it would be funny to not warn us a huge wave was rushing in behind us. Needless to say, we got wet.

Happiness :)

Photo opp on the beach :)

At the YA Highway meetup, I got to meet and see a few people from the YA world! This is the darling Ava, who was super nice and lovely!

YAY! I got to see the lovely Melanie Goodman again! She's always super fun to be around. I was glad she made it out to the event. (The lighting outside was weird, so the coloring in these pictures are sort of bleh.)

Kelsey, Lindsi, and me.

Excited that we could wear pretty dresses again.

Pre-YA event.

The walk to the Anaheim Convention Center was SO GORGEOUS. Loved the palm trees and weather so much!

ALA day 2. I finally got to meet the lovely Lena (you guys, she's SO adorable) and see Lauren again! They are both absolute sweethearts. We took this picture because we all happened to be wearing stripes, ha!

Me, Kelsey, and Lindsi before the Dia Frampton concert at House of Blue's for Kelsey's 21st!

Dia performing. It was such a great show!

At the bar afterwards having a 1st midnight birthday drink with Kelsey!

So, ALA may have presented us with an opportunity to see an advanced screening of PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. And I may have seen it. AND I MAY HAVE MET STEPHEN CHBOSKY. 

*dies*

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER has been one of my favorite books for a long time. A very long time. It's one I'm always hesitant to recommend it to people because I don't know if my heart can handle it if they don't love it as much as I do. It's a powerful story that leaves you feeling impacted and heartbroken and emotional and amazing and many, many other feelings. 

So yeah. Seeing an advanced screening and meeting Chbosky pretty much made my life. If you want to read my (no spoiler) review of the movie, click here.

But basically Chbosky did a Q&A after the movie and the autographed books for us. Why? Because of the Freedom to Read Foundation. This *is* the reason why we were able to see Chbosky and an advanced screening of PERKS. 

Taken from the website, this is basically what FTRF is:

"The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees all individuals the right to express their ideas without governmental interference, and to read and listen to the ideas of others. The Freedom to Read Foundation was established to promote and defend this right; to foster libraries as institutions wherein every individual's First Amendment freedoms are fulfilled; and to support the right of libraries to include in their collections and make available any work which they may legally acquire.

Founded in 1969, the Freedom to Read Foundation was the American Library Association's response to its members' interest in having adequate means to support and defend librarians whose positions are jeopardized because of their resistance to abridgments of the First Amendment; and to set legal precedent for the freedom to read on behalf of all the people."

If you've read the book, you know there's so material inside that is mature. This book *has* been challenged before, but we do have the freedom to have access to books of our choice. This is why Chbosky respects FTRF and why he was helping host this event. I thought it was absolutely phenomenal.

So, yeah! That just about wraps it up. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to attend ALA for the first time. It's definitely a great experience.

Oh! And I did get books. 15 of the ones I REALLY wanted to read. Also, 15 is a realistic number. JUST SAYIN'. 

(I also review books for those of you who don't know. I wanted ones I'd be able to review realistically in this last part of the year. So, yeah! Woot.)

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett Cover Reveal AND Contest!

Hey guys!

I'm super excited to help Ms. Mindee Arnett reveal her gorgeous cover for her upcoming book, THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR. Mindee has been an absolute sweetheart and support sister-agent over the last few months I've gotten to know her on the interwebs, so I was REALLY excited to see the pretty that is her cover.

If you haven't heard of THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR, here's a synopsis from Goodreads:

16-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare. Literally. Dusty is a magical being who feeds on human dreams.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder. The setting is Arkwell.
And then it comes true.


Now the Dusty has to follow the clues--both within Eli’s dreams and out of them--to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.
 

I am SO excited to read this book, you guys. Add it to your to-read lists immediately.

YOU GUYS HAVE TO REMEMBER MINDEE. I just realized I interviewed her on here, hello. You can read it here!

Are you ready for THE COVER?

.................

TA DA!

I love this cover so much! It's not cheesy or tacky and it holds a kind of eloquence to it. It's something I can see never going out of style. You know what I mean? Like, you see what all those 80's YA books looked like back then--like the Babysitter's Club books with sketches of girls laughing and lounging around. This? This I can see being SUPER SNAZZY forever.

Anyway.

More on Mindee:

Mindee Arnett lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic and the macabre. Her short stories have appeared in various magazines, and she has a Master of Arts in English literature with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She also blogs and tweets, and is hard at work on her next novel in the Arkwell Academy series. Find her online at http://www.mindeearnett.com/.

CONTEST!

Both Mindee and the lovely Lori are kindly hosting a contest for this reveal! Here are the details:

The book is due out March 5, 2013, but in the meantime, we’re celebrating with a giveaway.

The first winner will receive an Advance Readers Copy of Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake as well as a signed ARC of The Nightmare Affair when they come available in October. The second winner will receive a copy of any current Young Adult title of his/her choice as well as a signed ARC of The Nightmare Affair.

The contest will run for a week.

GO ENTER, Y'ALL.

I also highly suggest following Mindee on the Twitters. She's great! You can find here HERE.

Le giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BEA 2012: A Recap

Hey!

So I'm back from BEA and New York City and honestly? It's really great to be home. New York is great, but only in small pieces. BUT. I am so, so happy I got to see and meet a ton of amazing people on my trip to BEA. <3

First and foremost, I got to meet Suzie Townsend, who is my agent and all around sweetheart. I was so excited to meet her because she is the definition of Dream Agent. Meeting her in person after communicating through emails and phone was SO EXCITING.

BEA was great. Instead of blabbing on about it, here's some pictures:

Recap picture 2012.

The Evolution of YA Panel with Melissa Marr, Jenny Han, Elizabeth Norris, Siobhan Vivian, and more. :)

Teen Author Carnival panel. Everyone is watching Michelle Hodkin speak.

Dinner with a bunch of lovely ladies. :)

I finally got to meet Liz from Elizziebooks. She's so nice!

And I met Kara Taylor at Teen Author Carnival, who's also Team Suzie (and so, so nice!)

Dinner with a bunch of awesome ladies, incudling Briti, Claire Legrand (such a sweeheart!) Bethany Larson (hooray! we've finally met! and she's adorable) Liz, Amy, Gabi, and Rachel. :)

On the BEA floor.

Seeing the Statue of Liberty!

From the ferry. :)

Loveee hanging out with Lindsi again. :)

My bf accompanied me in the crazy city of NY. He's been a support of my writing and publishing endeavors, and I really, really appreciate it. (Photo cred: Rachel)

Although I may have worn him out. (Photo cred: Rachel)

BRITI<3

Kelsey, Liz, Britney, and me on the floor. :)

THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU SEE JOHN GREEN WALKING ON THE FLOOR AND SPEAK WORDS YOU DON'T REMEMBER AND THEN GET A PICTURE WITH HIM. THAT.

I had a blast and would totally, totally do it all over again. <3