Armchair BEA: Day 2 “Best of 2011”

Today is Day 2 of Armchair BEA and I’m kinda excited abut this one! The topic of today is “Best of 2011” as well as giveaways galore! Be sure to check out the Armchair BEA blog today for all the cool giveaways!

My giveaway is listed below. Please follow the directions to enter below!

Best of 2011

Picking a “best” book is not an easy task for me. As I stated in yesterday’s intro post I don’t usually accept or read books that I don’t expect to like. However, today’s pick isn’t hard for me for several reasons.

1. Dystopian elements

2. Strong female protagonist

3. Awesome technology

4. World building

5. Romance

6. Unexpected twists and turns

7. Emotion – when a book makes me cry, OMG Love.

8. Debut Author – seriously?! I want more books!

What book could possibly have all of these? A book I recently read but have not sat down to review. A book that will be released in August and is truly worth pre-ordering RIGHT NOW!

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan 352 pages, Candlewick, (2011-08-09) $9.99 (Amazon.com)

However, I love this book so much I’m going to pre-order it for one lucky winner and this giveaway is International if you live in one of the countries listed on this list that The Book Depository ships to.

Summary (Goodreads)

Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for 62 years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes - or be left without any future at all.

Giveaway

Interested?

To enter this giveaway there are TWO PARTS (both must be done to qualify!):

Part 1 – Leave a comment letting me know your “Best of 2011” and why or link me to your review or your Armchair BEA “Best of 2011” you posted today.

Part 2 – Fill out the form!

Details

Ends 05/28 at midnight eastern time

Entrant must be 13 years of age or older. Filling out the form is acceptance of this requirement.

Open to US & only International countries listed on The Book Depository shipping list.

If shipping info is not supplied in the form, selected winner must respond to my email within 3 days or a new winner will be selected.

Head over to The Cozy Reader to enter!

I can’t wait to see all of your “Best of 2011”!

P.S. – Today is the last day to enter my other giveaway of Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky. Enter here.

Armchair BEA 2011!

Today I’m crying a little inside. Why you ask? Because I’m staying home this year instead of attending BEA in New York City. I’ve attended BEA the past two years as a book reviewer and I’m really sad to not attend this year.

But the reason I’m not attending kinda makes up for it. I’m at home with my beautiful baby boy, Riley, who turns 4 weeks old today! He’s a bundle of cuteness and keeps me super busy with changing diapers, nursing, and just some good old cuddling.

But to all those lucky other bloggers that get to attend this year: have fun and grabs lots of books! I can’t wait to see all the ARCs that are there this year. I’m a bit jealous of that but I’m hoping to get in contact with the publicists so I can receive some of the good ones too.

Here at The Cozy Reader I’m a huge fan of the Young Adult genre; mostly paranormal of some aspect but I enjoy a good contemporary and coming of age novel too. And don’t forget the dystopias; LOVE them! I also still read adult books too, usually of the same content.

I’ve been blogging my reviews for 3 1/2 years now and I really enjoy it. I haven’t been reviewing as much lately because of the pregnancy and ultimate birth of our son. Reading fluctuates for the best of us any way.

My reviews tend to differ from a lot of other reviewers that’s for sure. I don’t like to get off topic or tell too much about a book so I follow a detailed structure and point system that isn’t really that detailed but helps showcase which areas of a book I enjoyed the most. I tend to not pick up books I won’t enjoy, therefore, most of my reviews are positive and if they’re not they tend to be really negative.

So, while all the other bloggers are attending BEA I’ll be at home with my little one, doing some household chores (GAH! They never end!), maybe a little reading, and trying my best to keep up with all the happenings via blog posts, Twitter, and such and I’ll be thinking about attending next year!

What to attend Armchair BEA? Head over to their blog!

What You’ve Missed!

Still subscribed here? You’ve been missing out!

Please update your feeds and follows to the new blog address over at The Cozy Reader!

But here’s a list of the posts you’ve missed! Check them out!

Giveaways Around the Web

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox: Week 16 & 17

In My Mailbox: Week 18

In My Mailbox: Week 19

In My Mailbox: Week 20

In My Mailbox: Week 22

In My Mailbox: Week 23

Author Guest Post

Author Guest Post: Kelly Link

Kelly Link Blog Tour

Cover Art

Cover Art: Unraveled (Intertwined, Book 2) by Gena Showalter

Cover Art: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Trailers

Trailer: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Trailer: Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, # 2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Movie Trailer: Easy A

Book Trailer: Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Trailer: My Soul to Keep (Soul Screamers, Book 3) by Rachel Vincent

Reviews

Review: Gone (Wake Series, Book 3) by Lisa McMann

Review: Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

Review: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Review: My Soul to Keep (Soul Screamers, Book 3) by Rachel Vincent

First Line Friday

First Line Friday: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward

First Line Friday: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

First Line Friday: Spirit Bound (VA, Book 5) by Richelle Mead

First Line Friday: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

First Line Friday: Promise by Kristie Cook

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward

Teaser Tuesday: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Miscellaneous

Waiting on Wednesday: Manifest by Artist Arthur

Fun Facts: Reading Habits

BEA 2010! Here I Come!

Sneak Peek! Torment (Fallen, #2) by Lauren Kate

Free Reads!

Post BEA 2010!

Happy Reading!

BEA 2010 | Book Blogger Convention

I attended BEA last year as a Book Blogger representative. That was my first year attending as such. However, I’ve attended one previous BEA with a previous employer, in which I was responsible for managing and creating the booth layout of 28 booths. Yes, a massive job, but one that had to be done nonetheless. So, I have two angles of BEA that I can come from when giving advice.

What is Book Expo America (BEA)?

If you’re a book blogger then you’ve probably heard of it or even attended in years past. If you did, let me know!

Essentially BEA is a huge convention for the publishing industry and anyone remotely associated to it i.e. distributors, self publishing authors, small and large publishing houses, bookmark retailers, print on demand services, and even reading glasses jewelry. You name it, it’s probably there.

Why would a book blogger want to attend?

Easy. Books! And so much more too. It’s pretty common to only know your favorite author, blogger or publishing group by name or contact them via email but BEA is the time to step out from behind the computer and meet these awesome people in person. Present yourself, make new friends and contacts.

Helpful Tips

There are numerous things to take into consideration if you decide to attend BEA. I’ll touch on a few briefly, as a lot of these have been wonderfully covered by other Book Blogger Convention Tour bloggers and I highly suggest visiting each and getting more tips!

Present yourself nicely. Wear comfortable, yet presentable clothing. Jeans, sneakers and t-shirts are great but just pick the best of your wardrobe to wear. Nothing with holes and dirt are recommended. The people running the booths dress business like so don’t disrespect them with a crude t-shirt or   holey jeans. Last year I made a custom t-shirt and wore that.

The most valuable piece of information is COMFORTABLE SHOES! The Javits is nothing of a big slab of concrete. Author of Soulless, Gail Carriger, recently did a wonderful blog post about dressing for a convention.

Plan Ahead. Use the web to figure out what, when, and where you want to do things while at BEA. The BEA site is a very useful tool. I love looking at the layout to figure out where the publishers will be, the bathrooms, etc and plan a route. I used a spreadsheet last year and put in the date and time a specific event was happening and then sorted it by the date/time. It worked perfectly for me. Some author signings require tickets. Be sure to get all the information because those tickets do go fast.

Books. There will be a ton of ARCs there for the taking. Make sure to grab a tote bag as soon as possible. If you’re loaded up think about shipping your books to your home via FedEx or UPS available in the center.

Get Connected. Plan to meet up with bloggers, publisher contacts and even authors. Many industry professionals schedule meetings way in advance. I was lucky to participate in the NetGalley/Firebrand booth last year. That was an awesome experience.

Business Cards. Bring something with you that has all your contact information on. Some booths will have scanners to swipe your BEA badge but not all have this.

Be polite! The people running their booths are there working. Don’t be rude and always, always ask before taking something. Unless there’s a sign stating to “take one” never grab and run. Some booths get packed. Be patient.

Have fun! It’s such an eye stimulating experience. You’ll see a ton of people, a ton of books, and tons of things you’d thought you’d never see!

BEA 2009

Here are my blog posts from BEA 2009!

• My BEA T-Shirt
• Off to BEA!
• BEA 2009 Wrap Up

Book Blogger Convention

Want to get in on the Book Blogger Convention? Register to attend this event. It includes a badge to the BEA convention. Topics that will be covered:

• Professionalism/Ethics
• Marketing
• Author/Blogger Relationships
• Social Responsibility
• Writing/Building Content

Registration

Last year I registered as “Press” because that’s what we are. Press badge registration is FREE so if the cost of registering was stopping you from attending, now it’s not!

Questions? Feel free to ask them here or shoot me an email at bookreviewsbyjess (@) gmail.com

I hope to be attending BEA this year, but I’m not 100% sure yet if I will (most likely will, but for only one day).

If you’re going and know what day or days you’ll be there let me know!

BEA 2009 Wrap Up

Yeah, I've been hording my BEA wrap-up from you!

Lets start at the beginning:

Friday my car was in the shop getting some repairs. I got a call mid-day Friday letting me know it would NOT be ready to pick up until Monday. I'm supposed to leave for NYC Saturday morning at 4:00 AM! I rushed to find a rental car. It wasn't a big issue but it did increase my BEA budget significantly ($108). Not too crazy but I wasn't expecting to spend more than $100 on the entire trip.

Friday night was crazy. I wanted to go to bed no later than 9:00 pm. I went to bed at 12:00 am! I then got up at 3:30 am, showered and started on my 4 hour trip to NYC. It took me 5 hours to get to NYC! My stomach was a mess. I'm assuming lack of sleep, nerves, and just plain excitement had everything to do with it. I made several stops along the way, only ran into one accident on the interstate and only made one wrong turn in the city.

I paid $50 for parking right across the street from the Javits, which was awesome cause I unloaded my heavy ass bag full of books mid-day into the car! :) The parking was scary though. The lot was sooo small! The guy sardined the cars onto the lot and I about had a heart attack because it was a rental car he was parking so close together with the other cars! Geesh! All was well though. The guy was a sweetheart.

When I first arrived I picked up my badge and the lovely BEA Bible. I ventured into the exhibit hall and sighed in relief. I made it. I was here on personal/blog business and I was going to have fun and grab some amazing books! I referred to my "to-do" list and set out to conquer my conquests.

My first stop was the Penguin booth to grab a signed copy of Fire by Kristin Cashore. The signing was being held in the "traditional" area, which was downstairs in the children's section. I got in line and left with a signed copy of Fire! :) (NOTICE: It's not in my picture because I've lent it to my good friend Kevin, who lent me Graceling.)

After that I browsed the children's exhibits and then headed upstairs until it was time to go to the Harlequin booth to pick up two amazing books by two of my most favorite authors! Rachel Vincent and Gena Showalter! They were both signing at the same time at the Harlequin booth. So I had to pick who's line to get in first! Such a dilemma because I hated to pick! But it really was easy because, I'm like, obsessed with Rachel Vincent and all of her books are just amazing, Gena's are too but Gena's books have never hit me as hard as Rachel's. When an author brings me to tears they are forever going to be at the top of my favorites list and the first author I'm going to read when it comes down to picking. So, there I was in line to get a signed copy of My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. I knew she would recognize me once I showed her my badge. And I was right. It was such a pleasure to meet her in person. I only wish I could have "talked" with her or had my picture taken with her. I also picked up a very cool white MSTT t-shirt. I wore it while I read it. :) I finished MSTT in one day and will be posting my review one week before it's release day in coordination with Rachel and a giveaway. So stay tuned! :)

After I grabbed my copy of MSTT I jumped in Gena's line. She too knew who I was. I only stalk my favorite authors. ;) It was great to grab a copy of Intertwined by Gena Showalter. I really want to read it and will probably make it my next couple of books to read. (I really need to read Witch Fury by Anya Bast! She was so kind to send me a copy before it's release date but I put it aside. Sorry Anya! :() Anyhow, I'm super excited about Intertwined.

Those two books were my must haves of BEA. I spent the next hour or so browsing the booths. I grabbed a few other books before my scheduled "blogger signing" at the NetGalley-Firebrand booth.

The signing was great. I meet a few fellow bloggers and publishers as well as some authors. My time was scheduled with Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Sarah Wendell, who got a ton of people to come see her, which only benefited me! :) Thanks Sarah! A few pictures were taken during that time. One shows the amazing "trading cards" that were created, printed and available for us to "sign" for our visitors by Glatfelter Paper, Melissa Klug @PermanentPaper.

And here's a picture of Sarah and I (I didn't know it was being taken, obviously).

The signing was fun and I thank Mr. Fran Toolan @ftoolan for the opportunity to have a presence at BEA! Connect with Follow the Reader #followreader on their blog.

After the signing I continued to browse the booths. I soon meet up with an online friend and aspiring author, Lacey. Lacey and I meet years ago on, strangely, an online multi-player shoot'em up game Counter-Strike, which I still play. She was a blast to send a few hours with. We walked the children's section mostly, because that's her specialty. She's currently working on a young adult novel. Check out her website, which I just LOVE! Thanks Lacey for meeting up with me. It was a pleasure to meet you in person! :)

I ventured over to the Blogger Panel. I didn't stay very long because it was 2:00 and I hadn't eaten yet. It was cool to see the panel of bloggers representin' us bloggers. I'm proud that we are being recognized as a legitimate and very influential marketing tool. We do deserve some recognition and praise for our hard work to get the word out about the books and authors. I ended up spending $13 for a very crappy Chinese lunch. :(

The very last thing I wanted to accomplish before leaving BEA was obtaining a copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I did and I was sooo excited! I read Shiver right after My Soul to Take and I've already posted my review of it too.

I left shortly after obtaining Shiver.

Overall, BEA was a blast. I got everything BUT Another Faust while at BEA. I requested a copy of Another Faust from Dina, one of the authors, via email when I got back home. I ended up with two copies some how. So, I'm going to have a contest for my extra copy this week.

Books From BEA:

Fire by Kristin Cashore
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Pushing Past the Night by Mario Calabresi
Dreaming Anatasia by Joy Preble
The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones
Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
If I Were You by L. Ron Hubbard
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Emperor's Mercy by Henry Zoo

False Gods by Graham McNeill

Not from BEA:
Another Faust by Daniel & Dina Nayeri

I'll be posting the contest for my extra copy of Another Faust very soon!

Off to BEA!

Okay, so I should totally be in bed sleeping so I'm not walking the aisles tomorrow like a zombie but I just realized I haven't updated my BEA status!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning at the butt crack of dawn, 4:00 AM, so that I can get to NYC by 8:00 am. :)
I'm soo excited and I know I'm not going to sleep very well at all!

Tomorrow I have a few stops already scheduled. Here's a sneak peak of what I'll be headed to.

So, if you're going to be there come by and see me at the Firebrand - NetGalley booth # 4077! Here's a link to see the full schedule of "blogger signings" at that wonderful booth! :)

I'll be sharing the 12:00 PM slot with Smart Bitches Sarah, which I'm just thrilled about! She's a totally cool lady. I can't wait to meet all the other bloggers too though!

And don't forget! I'll be wearing my BEA t-shirt!

My BEA T-Shirt!

So, I decided that I would do some self promoting while walking the aisles at BEA. What better way than to wear it!

Here's the FRONT:

And the BACK:

Click for larger images...I think.

I created this shirt with the help of Zazzle.com. I just put the text I wanted and uploaded some select book covers of some of my recent favorite books. I wanted to be relevant so I didn't pick anything that's too old. Actually at least 2 of the books featured on my shirt haven't even been released yet. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev releases July 7th and Prey (Werecats, book 4) by Rachel Vincent releases July 1. The other book covers featured are:

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Stargazer (Evernight, Book 2) by Claudia Gray
The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book 3) by Gena Showalter (the sexiest cover of the series IMO)
Bone Crossed (Mercy Thomson, Book 4) by Patricia Briggs
Dayhunter (Dark Days, Book 2) by Jocelynn Drake
Passion Unleashed (Demonica, Book 3) by Larissa Ione
The Vampire's Bride (Atlantis, Book 4) by Gena Showalter
At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3) by Jeanine Frost

So, if you see some lady walking around with this shirt at BEA....IT'S ME!

BookExpo America 2009!

YEAH! I'm attending BEA 2009!

I was thinking I would go but now it's confirmed. I'll be attending BEA in NYC on Saturday, May 30th!

If you are going too let me know! I'd love to meet and greet!

I'm sooo excited!