ala annual 2015 book haul

i experienced my first ever book conference: ala annual conference (alaac) in san francisco a couple of days ago, and as promised in my last post, here's my book haul!

books i obtained (in no particular order):

• salt to the sea by ruta sepetys (bound manuscript)
• everything, everything by nicola yoon
• black widow: forever red by margaret stohl
• walk on earth a stranger by rae carson
• vengeance road by erin bowman
• daughters unto devils by amy lukavics
• when we collided by emery lord
• first & then by emma mills
• the scorpion rules by erin bow
• hunter by mercedes lackey
• madly by amy alward
• tonight the streets are ours by leila sales
• beastly bones william ritter
• melt by selene castrovilla
• naked by stacey trombley
• modern monsters by kelley york
• better when he's brave by jay crownover
• risking it all by tessa bailey
• more than music by elizabeth briggs

thank you to the publishers and folks working the booths. y'all were amazing and very helpful. thanks for getting the books out there to readers and educators. i can't wait to attend more conferences and meet more of my favorite authors.

♥ did you go to alaac15? or are there books that you cannot wait for?

comment your recaps or anticipated books below! ♥

ala annual 2015 | san francisco, ca

ala (american library association) annual was in san francisco this year, so we went off on a 2 hour drive to the city and attend for a day. having never been to book conferences before (unless you count the california capitol book festival), i first strolled down each aisle, checking out all the books on display and snapping photos along the way. after knowing where some of my favorite publishers were stationed was when i finally went to snap some books. first timers mistake because they run out so fast! don't make the same mistake. get those books you want when you see them!

for my first book conference, it honestly wasn't that bad. hearing stories of the madness of how these turn out, it was kind of daunting to me, but while there was a lot of people, it wasn't too crowded nor was there any shoving, so that was good.

shoutout to the publishers. y'all do an outstanding job to get those books out there.

♥ have you been to an ala (annual or midwinter) before?

if you did, how did you like it? ♥

bay area book fest 2015 | berkeley, ca

the bay area book festival was this past weekend in berkeley, ca and it was packed with readers, authors, local booksellers, food trucks/booths, interesting art installations, free books and more. the teen stage was the platform where ya authors come up on stage and answer questions from readers in the audience, talk about their books and read a bit from their books before signing. 

i was only able to make it to sunday's events but it was still a blast nonetheless. to cap off the day, i also got to meet dear blogger friend kaitlin of last page please! in person for the first time!

sunday's teen stage authors:

11am // kim culbertson (catch a falling star)

11:30am // morgan matson (since you've been gone)

12pm // virginia boecker (the witch hunter)

12:30pm // tamara ireland stone (every last word)

1pm // greg weisman

1:30pm // danielle paige (dorothy must die)

2pm // tricia stirling (when my heart was wicked)