YALLWest 2018 Festival Recap

Ah, YALLWest. One of my favorite book festivals. I knew after my unforgettable experience last year that I had to attend again. 

I drove down on Friday to attend the Fierce Friday Preview Event at the Santa Monica Library because TAMORA PIERCE was going to be there! Really, she was probably the main reason I wanted to attend and was so excited to have her sign my Alanna books. If you have the chance to attend, I highly recommend this preview night as it gives you a great opportunity to have books signed freeing you up to carry less the next day and adding a bit more wiggle room to your schedule. 

After meeting the Legend, I got in the line for author/illustrator Jen Wang. The Prince and the Dressmaker was one of my top reads of this year and I really wanted to get a copy signed for my nephew as a birthday present (shh! don't tell!).

I was incredibly impressed with the improved organization of the event compared to last year. Not only did they allow each attendee to get 2 wristbands, but the wristbands were numbered so it was very fair and ressauring to know that you were guaranteed a spot as long as you had a wristband. Plus! It was May the Fourth and there was all sorts of fun Star Wars activities. I particularly had a great time at the trivia area and snagged a copy of Sweet Black Waves when our team won a round!

Afterward, I headed back to my hotel to finalize my schedule for the next day and crash.

Bright and early Saturday morning I lined up at the entrance. I had told myself repeatedly that this year, I was going to stay strong and just head to panels and not worry so much about the giveaways. But then advance copies of titles like City of Ghosts and Mirage were dangled in my face and, guys, I was sunk.

Like any self-respecting book nerd, I spent more time than I'd care to admit scouring social media and newsletters to plan out my festival schedule. And it was packed. Like sometimes 2-3 events every hour and in a perfect world wherein I was possessed of a time-turner, I would be able to attend each one. Alas and alack, I'm not that lucky so I had to pick and choose but I'm so happy with my day overall. Just to give you a taste of my day, I'll go through my festival schedule here.

9am: doors open and I line up at the Underlined booth for tickets to Book Prom (what is this? I had no idea but it sounded awesome) and a later signing/giveaway for Kristen White's Bright We Burn

Then I headed over to the PenguinTeen booth for tickets to Book Nerd Trivia at noon

9:30am: get in line at the I read YA booth for their doughnut breakfast with Ally Carter, Kasie West, Kody Keplinger, and Eric Gansworth

photo courtesy of I read YA

I really just wanted a doughnut and based on how fast the line went last year, I figured I could grab one before heading to the Keynote. BUT! Not only were the authors there, they gave out copies of their latest books! Such an unexpected surprise :)

10am: Keynote

Sugared up, I hustled down to the auditorium to attend the keynote with Tamora Pierce and Tomi Adeyemi and it was beyond inspiring. Two writers who are and continue to do so much to encourage readers; I could have listened to them all day.

11am: head back to the Underlined booth for a signing of Kristen White's Bright We Burn

11:30am: Line up at the HMH booth for advance copies of West by Edith Pattou (score!)

Noon: Penguin Book Nerd Trivia 

This is another of those events that didn't have much information, but I figured with it being ticketed, they had to have something fun planned. And I was right! We showed up and the tent was filled with 10 or so authors including Sabaa Tahir, Brendan Reichs, Rachel Hawkins, Marie Lu and many others  at pub tables and finished copies of their latest books! The group I was with wanted to join Richelle Mead's table which was awesome. 

This event was probably one of my favorites from the entire day. The questions were super hard and all book specific to the authors present, so we know we got at least one right, ha! But it was so fun to meet authors in a laid-back moment like this. Richelle super nice and even signed all her books for us.

1pm: Julie Buxbaum signing of What to Say Next

This was the one and only signing I went to on Saturday. I was hoping to see E. Lockhart at this same time, but by the time I got over there, her line was full. But I had gotten a copy of What to Say Next from YALLWest last year and loved it. Of course, I totally forgot to take a picture with the author, but I am so happy to have mine signed.

2pm: Underlined Prom

For this event, everyone was invited to fill out a questionnaire and then we were 'matched' with a book as our prom date. How cute is that? They also had hand-dipped ice cream sandwiches and authors mingling with the crowd. I was hoping for a copy of Jay Kristoff's LIFEL1K3 but they ran out just before I got to the table. But they did give away these awesome book totes with a zipper that I am already using as a new library bag.

3pm: Feeling full with my super nutritious lunch of an ice cream sandwich, I got back in line for the Underlined ARC drop. They had told me they had more copies of LIFEL1K3 to hand out but once again they were all gone by the time I made it to the front. (boohoo!)

4pm: If there was ONE book I wanted to get while I was at YALLWest, it was Victoria Schwab's City of Ghosts from the I read YA booth. I think I waited in this line for almost an hour -- determined not to repeat my miss with LIFEL1K3, but it was totally worth it and I snagged one!! Yay! 

5pm: The last event I attended was the Epic Reads Grishaverse Fan meetup. This is one that wasn't really well put-together, sadly. Honeslty, all of the Epic Reads giveaways throughout the day had been really poorly handled. I think they severely underestimated attendance and it was too hard to answer the trivia questions in such a large group. But they revealed that Nina would be a main character in Leigh Bardugo's King of Scars and we got cute enamel pins. 

As you can tell, my schedule was packed and this isn't counting all the little random giveaways I stopped at throughout the day. I really need to clone myself for next year. One me for going around to all the booths for the giveaways and another me to attend all the amazing panels. Okay, I'd actually need like four of me for that since there were so many to choose from every hour!

By the end of the day, I was exhausted but so happy from all the great giveaways and from meeting so many amazing fellow book lovers! YALLWest is truly one of the best festivals out there and I am so so happy I made the trip down.