ALA 2014 Recap + Giveaway

Hi, everyone! Sorry this post is a bit late but I feel like I needed a little time to recover from ALA and the Fourth of July weekend. I can't believe that ALA is over. I had been planning the trip with my friends since the last time ALA was on the west coast (2012). I'll try to keep this recap somewhat brief, though there will be lots of pics and fangirling.

I headed out to Vegas the Friday before the ALA weekend with my friend Crystal from Books Unbound. She was able to get an SUV for the trip which was great because that meant we could take a lot of books home with us. :) I didn't take too many pics of the drive there. It was hot and pretty boring, though we did find a Dunkin' Donuts when we stopped for a bathroom break. And what does one do when faced with a rare on the west coast Dunkin' Donuts? Why buy a dozen of course (not pictures are the munchkins and iced coffee I also bought).

In my defense, we were also meeting 3 other people in Vegas so this wasn't all for us. There was also a short detour to an outlet center, where I was quite restrained and only purchased one thing (some of my friends were less restrained). We made it to Vegas in about 5 hours and settled in to our lovely suite at the Holiday Inn Resort. Our hotel was only a couple of miles from the convention center and had a full kitchen and 3 pools!

After unpacking we rushed over to the convention center to get our badges and to see if we could catch the last hour or two of the convention floor. The registration line went by very quickly and we were on the floor in no time. I had a couple of books that were really high on my wishlist that I wanted to try to get on Friday. They were Heir of Fire and Mortal Heart which, luckily, I was able to snag that night.

abrams booth

image comics

I know everyone always talks about the books at events like these. And don't get me wrong, the books are awesome. But what's really awesome is getting to see all of the publisher booths and speak to the reps. I think I am a little unusual as a book blogger because almost all of my ARCs are digital so I don't have much contact with the actual publishing reps. But it was really nice to meet a lot of them and just chat about what their favorite books are and what they're excited about. I definitely came home with several books I might not have requested on my own but sounded great after speaking with a rep. It was also nice to see that some of the comics publishers had a presence this year (you can see part of the Image booth above) as well as Entangled Publishing, who was attending their first ALA. It was also nice to talk to other bloggers as well as librarians and teachers. There was a lot of standing in line so I made the most of it by getting to know my neighbors. 

Of course there were some great authors in attendance as well. One of my biggest fangirl moments was when we got to meet Ann M. Martin, author of The Babysitter's Club series, which I loved as a child. I think I checked out every copy that the library had when I was a kid. Ann was there signing her new book Rain Reign, and was quite gracious when my friend and I kind of flipped out.

I also got to meet Jeaniene Frost, author of the Night Huntress series. I am a big fan and have never met her before. I had no idea that she was going to be at ALA so it was a nice surprise to see that she was signing. Her new YA novel, The Beautiful Ashes comes out in August.

Here is Marie Lu signing her upcoming novel, The Young Elites. The line for Marie Lu was super long but it went by really fast. 

On Friday, Scott Westerfeld was signing his new book Afterworlds.

And no trip to Las Vegas would be complete without a buffet. We chose the one at The M, which was recommended to us by two Vegas residents. I have to say that it was mighty tasty. Look at those crab legs.

There was more that I didn't get pics of such as roulette, late night swimming, Thai food, lots of iced coffee, and tons of books, authors and awesome book people. If you want to see more pics, please check out my Flickr album. Many thanks to my partners in crime Books Unbound, The Windy Pages, Bookyurt, and Laura N for making it a really great trip. Many thanks as well to all of the wonderful publishers and authors who made the time to talk to us and were calm in the midst of madness. 

If you've made it this far - yay! That means you get to see the giveaway we are having. I picked up a few things that I thought you guys might like at ALA. I haven't read any of them yet except for the Lux Beginnings bind-up, which is beautiful and a very fun series. If you'd like a chance to win these books, just fill out the Rafflecopter below. As always, first entry is free. This is for US residents only. Sorry, international friends, but a big box of books will cost a lot to send overseas. We'll have an international giveaway for you guys soon. Thanks for reading and good luck!

Giveaway

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to US residents only. 
2. We are not responsible for lost, stolen, or damaged items. 
3. One set of entries per household please. 
4. If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address. 
5. Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget a day or two after the contest ends. 
6. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to to the email, otherwise we will pick a new winner. 
7. If you have any questions, feel free to email us. You can review our full contest policy here. 
8. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the caps but we always get people leaving their email in the comments. Rafflecopter will collect all that without having personal info in the comments for all the world (and spambots) to find. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway