BookCon Recap

So last week I attended BookCon. Before I start this post, I have to tell you that I did not take a SINGLE picture while I was there so I'm sorry to disappoint :( To be honest, the event was just very hectic and I didn't even feel like snapping photos of anything. But I will show you my mini haul, of course :)

I ended up arriving in NYC near 10:30ish so I was unable to make it to the We Need Diverse Books panel which twitter and the rest of the blogosphere was buzzing about. I was bummed about that but since I boarded my train to GET to NYC around 9:45....well, I really can't complain lol. This was also the first time I was going to Javits with my non-blogging friends so we had agreed beforehand that we would arrive there as a group. Anyway! We got there near 11 to pick up our badges and then my friends and I dispersed since I had a schedule I wanted to stick to while my friends were content to walk around.

This year my schedule was very slim. I only wanted to get perhaps three books? And I ended up getting a little more than that but I'm getting ahead of myself. So once I received my badge, I walked over towards the autographing table to stand in line for Barry Lyga's I HUNT KILLERS (which ps I LOVED and you should totes read it!). I was passing the Simon & Schuster booth when I saw that one of the publicists was making this pretty stack of arcs and the arc being given away? Becca Fitzpatrick's BLACK ICE. I was like woah O_O I thanked the publicist who kindly gave me an arc and then I went towards the autographing area where I waited patiently in line for I HUNT KILLERS. I got it signed and SQUEE JOY.

Then I wandered some more until I found the Harlequin booth and unsuccessfully tried to stand in line for the Teen Author signing.  I was so hoping to see Julie Kagawa but the line for all the authors was SO long and the booth had run out of books for the signing. :/ I did however get a really nice Harlequin tote bag later on. Around this time I also bumped into Taschima who I followed for a bit :)  It was really nice to see her after more than a year. We walked/weaved through the crowds (did I mention that the place was EXTREMELY PACKED? It'd be a nightmare for anyone who's claustrophobic) towards the Spencer Hill booth. I stood in line with her and then I saw Janice, a fellow YAcker :D Janice made my experience a bazillion times better by giving me an adorable tote bag after hearing me whine about not getting any at that point and then made me even more happier WHEN SHE GAVE ME BOOKS. ASPODKSFKJ. Janice, you became my BookCon fairy in that moment and THANK YOU ♥

Then... I walked around some more until I bumped into one of my friends that I came with and from then on, we stuck together for the remainder of our time there. Christine (my friend) had the awesome luck of getting the last copy of Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS paperback and has a great story for it. I'll ask her if I can share that fun story for a future post :) Just know that it involves funny pictures with Libba Bray and Barry Lyga :D

From that point on, my memory becomes even more faint as we circled the BookCon area of Javits. We met the voice actor for CatBug, I briefly met Morgan Matson and got a signed e-book of her latest release, SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE (*cue Kelly Clark song*), I walked past Danielle Fishel a.k.a. Topanga (who is even more gorgeous irl!) and I ended my day by going to the Dystopian Futures panel moderated by Veronica Roth who wore a pretty cool orange leather jacket.

Cute little catbug with oven mits!!

And that was that. I did more fun things in NYC--like buying more books--but overall my impression of BookCon was underwhelming. This was their first year but I have to say that it was so chaotic and the sheer volume of people there was insane. It was so crowded to even walk around! And I didn't attend any ticketed signings or other events but I kept hearing about how people waited hours and traveled from far away to get to certain events only to be told that they couldn't get in. I'm sad to say that this was not the fun bookish event that I was hoping for :(  I'm not even sure I'd be willing to go next year, but I will definitely try to attend BEA next year if my budget allows me to.

The books! :D 

And the bags! ^_^

Those of you that did go to BookCon: How was your experience? Did you like it? Did you dislike it?