The time it was a weekend in Vegas {2}

After going to VVBF last year and seeing how awesome it was, I knew to was going to be a yearly trip to make. This year’s line up was just as amazing, so I was really excited to go.

We had a friend in town from London, so we were able to stay at his house. Friday night had us at the Hard Rock Hotel eating delicious food and vanilla shakes.

Saturday we went to the event area fairly early to check it all out. The set up was a bit different.  Instead of all of the signings being after the entire event, they were going to be held after each panel.

I bought the books I needed and then went back to the car to get my bags. Hubs was just dropping me off, so it was a little daunting to maneuver around by myself with the amount of books I had.  This year, I only had 25 or so.  Last year it was around 60, so it was a huge difference.

I listened to the 10am panel called The Future’s So Bright, We Have to Be Saved. It had Jodi Meadows, Elizabeth Fama, Lynne Matson, Mindy McGinnis, Lissa Price, Demitria Lunetta and Amy Tintera.

They answered questions about their books and how they started writing, their writing process, world building in their books and the best fan reactions they’ve gotten.

The panel signing started at 11 and it was a long table and we just went from author to author.

I got up to Jodi first and she pulled out her calligraphy pen to sign my arc of Orphan Queen. We chatted a bit about how she had only signed about 3 arcs, so she didn’t have her tag line figured out.

While I was with Jodi, Stacie was next to me with Lynne Matson and when Lynne saw Stacie’s post it, I heard her ask if she was book junkee. I said it was me, and we quickly shook hands before I went back to Jodi.

So, of course I went to Lynne next. It was so exciting to actually get to meet her after talking with her for so long on twitter.

Demitria Lunetta was next. I had arcs of both of her books and she laughed that each of them had several title pages.

The last author of the 10am panel was Elizabeth Fama. We was surprised that I had an arc and asked if I was a blogger. When I told her the blog name, she told me that she had heard of it. [SQUEEEEEEEE]

I needed to regroup and get organized, so I sat over by the 11 panel called Discover a New World. The authors were Renee Collins, Christina Farley, Tessa Gratton, Sara B. Larson, Lori M. Lee, Sara Raasch, Kathryn Rose and Sherry Thomas.

They talked about becoming an author, world building, what tv shows they loved the most, if they were artsy and if they’re consumed by scenes when they’re not working on them.

The signing started at 12 and I only had books for Sara B. Larson, so I quickly ran over to her to get my stuff signed. I did have my twitter handle on the post it, so we both said it was great to finally meet each other.

The 12 pm panel was The Magic of the Paranormal. The authors were Brodi Ashton, Sarah Rees Brennan, Tracy Deebs, Nancy Holder, Brigid Kemmerer and Emily McKay.

They talked about their books, what they thought paranormal meant and where the idea for their books came from, what they’re working on next and getting fan mail.

I snuck over to the other tent to listen to The Thrill of a Good Mystery panel. The authors were Ted Goeglein, Abigail Haas, Stephanie Kuehn, Michelle Madow, Gretchen McNeil, Brooklyn Skye, Ann Stampler and Allen Zadoff.

I got there right when Gretchen was saying that she wasn’t as ambitious as the rest of the authors on the panel. That she couldn’t have written a book in school, that she was a music major and they were a group of people who partied.

She also pointed at me and gave me a snarky look because I saw her in flip flops and tweeted about it. :D

For 12 pm panels, I only had books for Sarah Rees Brennan.  When I got up to her, she gave me a present since I had the entire trilogy to have signed. {It’s a really awesome looking necklace that I put away before I took a photo of it.  Sorry.}  She told me that it was illegal to deface the Queen’s coin, so I would be wearing an illegal necklace.

Somehow our entire conversation was totally random. We talked about bowler hats {she loved my post it notes and I gave them to her}, how sharks equal happiness, her ability to sign while not looking at the book and how all of the inscriptions were going to be inside jokes.

From there, I went over to Gretchen just to say hi because it’s Gretchen and I have to. She had to show me her shoes to prove that she had heels on and as always, they were amazing.

I ended up listening to the last 30 minutes of the Tween Reads panel. The authors were Jen Calonita, Varian Johnson, Lisa Schroeder, Ally Carter, DJ MacHale, Bruce Hale and Elizabeth Eulberg.

They talked about coming up with their ideas, if they read their reviews, the most difficult part of writing, the best part of school visits, the type of scene that is the hardest to write, what sort of superheroes they would be, and the accents they would want to have.

I didn’t have any books for the 1pm panel, so I hovered to get a seat for the 2pm panel. Unfortunately, there were people I wanted to hear talk on both panels, so it was quite a dilemma.

I started at the Who’s Afraid of These Authors panel. The authors were Courtney Alameda, Natalie C Parker, Hilary Monahan, Whitney Miller, April Genevieve Tucholke, JR Johansson, Kate Karyus Quinn, Sean Beaudoin.

Courtney was the moderator and she introduced them and then each author had to read a few lines from their book.

They talked about the horror genre and if they liked horror movies.

Around 2:30, Hubs brought my copy of Breakable by Tammara Weber. When I was flapping the books the night before, I had seen that the book was already signed, so I didn’t bring it with me.

I ran over to Tammara to get it personalized. And when I explained my little back story, she also resigned it.

I then snuck over to the other tent to see some of the More Than a Love Story panel. The authors were Sarah Tregay, Kelly Fiore, Lisa Schroeder, Angie Stanton, Carrie Mesrobian, and Rachel M. Wilson.

They talked about the authors that influenced them, having other jobs besides writing, getting fan mail, finding out their book sold and what is coming up next.

One of the panels were done right at 3 and the authors went over to the tables right away.

I got up to Rachel M. Wilson first. I told her my twitter handle and told her that I was irrationally excited to see her. She signed my books and thanked me for all of the support that I had given her. When Nicole asked if I had read it, I said yes, that it was only of my top books of the year. And Rachel thanked me again.

I went to Lisa Schroeder next. She asked if I had read The Bridge from Me to You yet and I said yes, that I loved it.

Sara was next. She showed me that the arc had sketches in it — which I didn’t get to see in the e-arc. And then showed me the final sketches from the artist.

We chatted for a bit about how in the arc she left out one of the word bubbles.

JR Johansson was next. I had just gotten an arc of her new book Cut Me Free from Macmillan a few days ago, so I was really excited to be able to bring it with. JR was just as excited to see it and got out a different sharpee to sign it.

And then there was April. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m mildly stalking April and that I’m horribly in love with River West her books. She gave me River when I asked, but I was ridiculously excited to see her and get River in writing.

When I got up to her, I told her my twitter handle and I generally acted like a damn fool. We shook hands to meet properly and then I asked her to properly give me River in writing. She asked what I wanted it to say and I said I didn’t care, just that I needed it to say he was mine.  The my arc of Devil was already signed, thanks to a friend, but April resigned it.

Afterwards, I asked if I could get a photo and April had me come around the table. She said that she needed to fix her scarf to make it proper looking. Another author said I could come around the table, so I did. April picked up one of her books and said to look mysterious.

My fangirl heart almost exploded.

The 3pm signing panels were my last ones to attend. Thankfully, I had seen Suzanne Young earlier in passing, so I was able to chat with her for a second.

The line up this year was amazing. It was so awesome to see this group of authors and as always, I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

Huge thanks to Nicole for hanging out and taking photos for me. And squishy hugs to Stacie and her friend for letting me leave my books with them while I ran around.