Book Con, the land of all things books and story-telling, came back to New York City on June 3^rd and 4th. This was my second time at Book Con, as I first attended in 2015 and wanted to relive this amazing experience. I woke up Saturday morning, yelling “Merry Christmas” to my mom- the tickets were a Christmas present and my mom was my buddy for the convention- and I couldn’t wait to get to the Javits Center.

My mom and I arrived at the convention center around 8:30 AM In my ‘professional Book Con attendee’ opinion, unless you’re aiming for a ticket to a main stage panel or event, there’s no reason to show to the convention before 8 AM. It’s awesome to be one of the first to enter the show floor, however, not being one of the first in line or even in one of the first lines has ever affected my experience. At 10:00, people started heading up to level 3 of the Javits Center in a pretty orderly fashion, but the hecticness started as soon as I entered the show floor. My first stop was the Penguin-Random House booth for an exclusive Underlined tote bag and possibly getting into Stephanie Perkins’ autographing for an ARC of There’s Someone Inside Your House.

I received the Underlined tote bag, which I’m super happy about because the tote bag was the nicest quality bag I received over the weekend and was filled with goodies, such as an ARC of The Breathless and a beach towel that says “Don’t Get My Books Wet ”. I ended up not getting into Stephanie Perkin’s autographing line, as it was pretty long plus I was disappointed that she was only signing a partial ARC of There’s Someone Inside Your House.

After some walking around the showfloor and not being able to get into Adam Silvera’s signing at the Owlcrate booth (I was really hoping for an ARC of They Both Die at the End), I made my way to the RWA booth. There, I went to two autographings, the most exciting being for an ARC of McCall Hoyle’s The Thing with Feathers . The Thing with Feathers is one of my most anticipated releases of fall 2017, so it was awesome to be able to get the book and meet McCall herself. Afterwards, I met up with my mom, where we both attended giveaways at Penguin. We received copies of Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, an ARC of Jared Reck’s The Short History of the Girl Next Door,  and a finished copy of The Serpent King by Jeff Zenter.

My mom and I then took a break from the showfloor and had some lunch—you can never go wrong with chicken fingers and French fries- and we went over our plan for the day. As soon as we were done, I made my way to the Autographing Area for the Rainbow Rowell signing. This was my second time meeting Rainbow, as I went to her Carry On-inspired meet and greet at Book Con 2015. All of the authors I met at Book Con were super-nice, and Rainbow was no exception. We talked about how my day was going, and she signed my paperback copy of Carry On (bought because I had to for the signing, but also for its gorgeous cover design), my Barnes and Noble edition of Fangirl, and my B&N edition of Eleanor and Park. Right after Rainbow, I jumped right into Jenny Han’s autographing line. I was lucky enough to be one of the first twenty people in line so I received a cute Sixteen Candles-inspired card with Lara Jean on the front. Jenny signed my bind up of The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy and my copies of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Always and Forever, Lara Jean.

After Jenny Han’s autographing, my mom and I did our best to try to get a ticket for Marie Lu’s signing of Warcross (aka one of the most, if not the most wanted ARC of Book Con). The signing was taking place at Penguin, and while Penguin had some amazing authors and volunteers this weekend, they were just not prepared for how many people wanted Warcross. Fans were swarming the booth before tickets were being handed out, and volunteers continued to warn that they would call security if people did not clear the area. I kid you not, as soon as tickets were finally being handed out, a line of people took up over half of the showfloor. Despite my efforts, I was unable to get a ticket for the signing. My mom and I went to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse booth for  The Language of Thorns photo booth and buttons and then we called it a day, as we were completely ecstatic about the books we had received and the events we had both attended.

My Sunday at Book Con is soon to come! Now here’s a question for you: if there was one author you could meet and have sign your books, who would it be?? Let me know in the comments!