Teen Author Carnival-Day One of my bookish adventures

Now that my muscles have fully recovered, I can finally tell you guys about my adventures last week! I'll try to not ramble on and stay on subject: I'll start with the Teen Author Carnival. I can't even remember what time I woke up but that morning I jumped out of bed, showered, ate and called my two other friends, Maeghan and Cristina, (who are also fledgling bloggers. Hi guys! *waves*) to meet up at the train station to get to the city. Our plan was to all meet up at the same time, buy our tickets together and hop onto the train for the carnival... but the plan ended up changing a bit and we ended up heading to NYC later than planned. But that wasn't a big deal. We wandered around the city, ate and arrived just in time for the carnival. (Before we arrived, though, I spotted this lady walking up the steps of the library and I could've sworn I recognized her from somewhere...)

There were three panels happening: Love & Heartbreak, Real Life and Mystery/Fantasy. Anybody who reads my blog know that I'd be heading to the love panel first<3. I dragged Cristina with me since Maeghan's favorite authors were in the Real Life Panel. The Love Panel was on the third floor but the elevator was being wonky so we had a librarian get us there with a more secretive elevator. I felt like a spy. :D Anyways.The authors at the panel were: Alexandra Diaz, Elizabeth Scott, Gayle Forman, Heidi Kling, Holly Cupala, Kieran Scott, Kody Keplinger, Sarah Ockler, Simone Elkeles and Susane Colasanti.   I arrived a little late, sat in one of the back rows and right behind that mysterious lady from before... I was so sure it was who I thought it was and HOLY CRAP I was right. It was Jaclyn Dolamore, author of Magic Under Glass! I may have sat in my seat quietly but inside I was screaming OHMYGODDD. Then to make it even more squeal-worthy, while we were introducing ourselves (we had to go around the room), a redhead who was sitting in front of Jaclyn Dolamore introduced herself as Anastasia Hopcus. (!!!!!) The author of Magic Under Glass and Shadow Hills were right. in. front. of. me. Whoa.

Alright, back on track... each author from the panel were supposed to read an excerpt from their novels and Jaclyn volunteered to read Sea just so Heidi wouldn't have to. (Maeghan had snuck in at some point so me and my ladies were all accounted for.) Sadly there wasn't enough time for every author to read excerpt of their books but I did get to hear the beginning of Sea, a part of The Duff (which was read by Kody's agent who is a great outloud reader, I must say), beginning of Tell Me A Secret, and bits from Alexandra Diaz's, Elizabeth Scott's and Gayle Forman's books. :) After that panel ended, we went down to the second floor for the Real Life panel, listened to the authors talk about various things (Maeghan asked a great question and it generated a lot of response-way to go, Meggo!) Meggo got to talk to one of her fav authors, Ned Vizzini and even got an ARC of one of his books a finished copy of when his book FIRST came out(which he signed!). Yay! (Sorry for the mix-up, Meggo! Glad you caught it-WHICH MEANS YOU WERE READING THIS ♥!)

Then came the last panel on the first floor:  Mystery/Fantasy. The authors (Naming each one takes too long but if you're the curious type like me, here's the listing for each of the panels.) introduced themselves and talked about their books....but time ran out and barely any questions were asked. HOWEVER...there were six (or seven? I'm thinking seven.) prize packs up for grabs and anyone that wanted them had to run and form a line. In my usual fashion, I hesitate for a few seconds and THEN leap into action. I managed to make the line but some librarian-type lady kept jostling me out of line... (Um, no. Big mistake. When it comes to books, I become like a ninja. You can't beat ME.) but it's okay because I got the last prize pack! Squee!

After that was over, my friends and I walked out into the autographing area; since the crowd was so BIG, we sort of drifted away from each other. I milled about, trying to see what line I could get into since there were so many authors around! I did meet a few authors but the ones that really stood out to me were Michelle Zink (who has such a warm, welcoming air!) and Robyn Schneider, who was presenting herself as her alter ego, Violet Haberdasher. (how cool is that?) She was incredibly funny and incredibly cute :) I was thisclose to not going over and talking to her but Maeghan and Cristina sort of prodded me-which I'm thankful for. It's good to have friends that aren't shy-especially when you're a wallflower, lol.  After that was done, my friends and I had walked back to Penn Station and chatted on the way home, recapping every awesome moment: kind of what I'm doing right now with you guys!

So that was my day! Now, here's what I'm sure you wanted to see:

The prize pack consisted of:

A Ghostgirl bag containing:

A ghostgirl pillow case (which is covered by the books)

ARC of Trance by Linda Gerber

ARC of Lovesick by Tonya Hurley (signed)

Under My Skin by Judith Graves

Books I was lucky enough to get from the autographing area:

The Duff by Kody Keplinger (signed)

Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink (signed)

Swag/everything else:

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles (this one I got from the Love Panel-there were books on every seat! I got this along with..)

A chapter preview of Tell Me A Secret by Holly Cupala

Two postcards for Maryrose Wood's books

*that White Cat chapter preview snuck in....it's actually part of my BEA stuff. Oops! xD

** the picture of the Jefferson Library was taken directly from The Teen Author Carnival site.