Hello all my fellow readers :)
I'm going to try and get through the rest of my RT recaps quickly, because I'm anxious to post my book haul from there, and I also really want to move on to some other amazing posts I have planned for the next few weeks.
Unfortunately, I found myself dragging with writing the rest of the recaps, simply because I now have to start talking about the days where we encountered the groups of rude people, that had a huge negative impact on my overall experience at this event. However, unfortunately you're going to encounter rude people everywhere, and a book convention is no different, so I'm going to try my best to focus on the many amazing positive experiences we had, instead of on the bad.
Wednesday April 13th, 2016:
Today started out actually not too too early. The welcome breakfast was scheduled for 9 am, and we made our way down and got in line for it about 8:15 am or so.
The wait seemed to go really quickly, and soon enough we were through the line and headed in. UNfortunately, this is probably the day that Neil felt the worst of our whole trip, (thank goodness he started feeling much better after today), but he was really feeling rough at this morning's event, so I told him to have a seat, and I'd run get our food.
They really had an amazing spread here, there was bacon, sausage, and crepes with fresh fruit. I got both of us the crepes, and orange juice, and then joined Neil at our table.
At our table we had the pleasure of sitting with:
Suzie Waltner, who write inspirational fiction, and one of her books is on my list of May/June books to buy, as she was such an amazingly, sweet person, and I can't wait to read her books. Since you all know I love inspirational fiction, I'm definitely always on the lookout for new inspie authors.
Harper Kincaid: Who was such a fun, and sweet person. She made a comment about our prime minister being a hottie, when she heard we were from Canada, and Neil and I must have made horrible faces, as she said something along the lines of oh is he not a great guy then? We all had a laugh over it, and I'm honestly looking forward to purchasing some of her books as well, as they all sound really good, and I'd love to see if she incorporates her amazing sense of humor in her novels.
And Lori Ann Bailey: Who was so nice, and has her first book being published later this year. I told her I will definitely be on the lookout for it, as what she told me about sounded so intriguing, and I honestly can't wait to pick up books from all three of these lovely ladies!
The head of RT gave a lovely talk about the convention, and there was also a special presentation for Chrystal Perkins from Barnes and Noble, and a cover model who'd been working in the industry for twenty years. Unfortunatley I didn't catch his name, but it was awesome to see RT recognizing him like that.
Our plan after the breakfast, had been to go to Club RT to hit up the goody room, and the basket raffles while everyone else headed to the first panels, since there wasn't any that interested me in the first hour. However, the breakfast ended up letting out extrememly early, so I think a lot of people had the same idea, and we ended up waiting an hour for the goody room, but oh well.
We browsed through promo alley while waiting in line, but neither of us ended up taking too much. I'm the type of person who won't take something i'm not interested in, because I know there is people who are interested in it, and I feel guilty taking it from someone who might actually want it. But we did end up choosing a couple of pens, and I took a free book download, and also a couple of bookmarks from books that I thought sounded good, so that I'd remember the title to buy later.
Soon enough it was our turn in the goody room, and we were each allowed two books. We each found one we were both super excited about, and then tried to find something else that would interest us.
After we finished in the goody room, the line had gone down quite a bit. But we decided to just kill time looking at the basket raffles for the next half hour, because Amy Plum was signing in club RT at 11:15. and that was definitely on my list for today. Neil didn't want to leave the room, in case we couldn't get back in, so we enjoyed just taking our time to browse.
Soon enough, I saw Amy Plum approach the signing table, and we headed over. She was soooo nice, and unfortunately she'd forgotten her pen to sign with, since she'd just arrived. I ended up giving her one of my pens to keep, and I kept telling Neil the rest of the convention how amazing I was for doing so lol. She was honestly so sweet, and gave me signed artwork from her After The End series, which is my favorite book by her, and also some chocolate from Paris. I asked if we could take a quick photo, and then we moved on since she had a line forming behind us.
The only other author I had recognized for this Club Rt signing was Candis Terry, so we headed over to her table next.
She was also so nice, and such a sweet lady, and she'd even brought copies of her new book to give out, which I thought was so awesome. She signed a copy for me, and we had a nice chat, and then she informed me that she actually had brought a coffee mug with her, that had some of her book titles on it, and she'd set it aside for the first person to come up to her at Club RT, and that was me, so I got it. I was honestly over the moon over this, and couldn't thank her enough.
So here's my next RT Tip: Go to Club Rt! There isn't usually a line at all, and you get some nice, one on one time with some amazing authors. I'm so glad we took the time to do this, as it was literally one of the highlights of the convention for me. :)
Neil had survived these first couple of hours with me, but he was honestly starting to feel even worse, so we headed back to the room, as the next event that interested me wasn't until 2:45 pm, which was a couple of hours away.
He headed for a nap, and I actually walked all the way over to the Wetzel's Pretzels to grab us some lunch. This honestly ended up being the best deal in all of the hotel for food, and there bottled water was only 1.99! Still ridiculous compared to grocery stores obviously, but a huge discount over the rest of the hotel.
Soon enough it was time to head out for YA-Booktionary, which unfortunately, Neil didn't attend with me, cause he was just not feeling up to it. And unfortunately, this event is when I first encountered the several groups of rude people that we would begin running into over and over again for the rest of the convention.
I'm going to just go over this really quickly, and then go back to focusing on the positive. Throughout the next four days, we would encounter these about fourteen people, who weren't all together, but who were all there strictly for the free books. I'm talking about people who would literally run into an event, grab all the free stuff and then leave. And then come out in the hallway and announce that they had no idea who any of these authors were, but at least they got a good haul. I saw girls walk out of events (including this YA-booktionary one), because they didn't get enough free stuff. I heard some of these people talking in the lines that they'd have to start tag-teaming it, and just get in and grab what they could, and literally announce that they could care less about the authors, or meeting them, they just wanted their suitcase full of free books. I also saw people enter panels, and then leave, creating quite a ruckus, and then in the hallway announcing that that was a dud as there was no free books.
Now I know you're going to encounter rude people everywhere, but this to me was ridiculous. The teenagers on teen day behaved better than these groups of people we kept running in to, and I was honestly disgusted by their behavior. They wouldn't be getting the free books if not for the authors, and/or publishing houses donating them, and I just can't believe how these grown adults were behaving. In fact, some events got so bad this way, that my hubby literally stated that he would love to go to an event that doesn't give free books, just to avoid this nonsense.
All right guys, rant finished I promise. It just annoys me when people don't respect the authors who write these amazing books, and I was not expecting to witness this behavior. Although, please don't think I'm saying anything bad about Rt itself, as it was a fabulous convention, and they obviously don't have control over everyone's behavior, and also please don't think I'm stating that everyone was like this, as I met so many, amazing, super sweet people this week, and the rude ones were definitely in the minority. So with all that said and done, let's continue on with YA-Booktionary.
I had a super fangirl moment while in line for this event. I had gotten into the habit of reading everyone's name badges, as people can look so different from their websites, and/or their author photos. So when this girl walked past me to get to the end of the line, I had no idea who she was until I read her name badge, and guys I completely freaked out that it was Ali Novak!!
Now to anyone who read my getting ready for Rt posts, you would know that she is one of my all time favorite authors, and one of the authors I was most excited to meet here. Unfortunately, since Neil wasn't with me, and the people standing around me weren't too friendly, I couldn't leave the line to go meet her, but I was definitely making it a priority to try later.
I ended up sitting at a table with two ladies who were actually from a city a few hours away from me, and then a couple of women who'd been working the event, and a really nice girl who I didn't get too much of a chance to talk too.
Our first authors at our table were:
Liz Czukas and Debra Driza. Neither of which I'd had the pleasure of reading before, but once again, after seeing how amazing they were in person, I definitely now have all their books on my TBR list.
This event was basically like YA charades, and was being hosted once again by the lovely Lea Nolan.
The answers weren't book titles per say, but would be something like "sparkly vampire", or "tbr pile."
It was super fun, even though our team at my side of the table ended up losing both times, so we didn't get the prizes. They also had tons of door prizes again, and it was awesome to see how excited everyone was that won.
Soon it was time for an author switch, and I had to laugh when Rachel E Carter was one of our next authors, as we kept running into each other everywhere. We also had Amy Bartol and Alys Arden, both of who were also super nice. and I'm looking forward to reading their books in the future. Even though our team once again lost, we had so much fun. And it was even more amazing when Lea Nolan announced that everybody gets prizes at her events, so even though we didn't win, we still got handed three books, and that was on top of the one that everyone got in their tote bag on their chair. This was an awesome event, and I'm just sad that Neil had to miss it.
From here, I really had to run to make my next panel, as it was starting in less than five minutes, and I wasn't quite sure where to go. But I made it, and enjoyed hearing the inspirational authors talk about book clubs in the cyber age. Rachel Hauck had brought everyone this adorable flip flop key chains, which I absolutely love mine, and then I ended up winning a prize here as I had traveled the furthest to attend RT in the room, and I ended up getting a signed copy of one of Denise Hunter's new books.
From here, I headed back to the room and Neil and I got ready to go to Viva Las Historical, and The Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.
We did end up lining up about an hour early for Viva Las Historical Ball, and as such, were lucky enough to receive the tote bags. In it were two books, a bunch of swag, and a pamphlet with each of the attending authors in it that you could have autographed.
There was champagne, bottled water, and Godiva chocolates, and we grabbed the water, and a couple of chocolates, before making our way around the room.
I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was decorated!
We had the opportunity to meet Kimberley Griffiths Little and Heather Graham, both of who were so sweet, and a pleasure to meet.
I really didn't know who too many of the other authors were, and the lines were getting a tad crazy, so we decided to head out, and have some dinner quickly before the Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.
Right before we were going to leave however, they were coming around with the trays of the sugar cookies that had the authors book covers on them. I had really wanted to see these, so we got in line. There was one lady ahead of us, and six cookies left. She took her cookie and turned to walk away, and then the waiter turned the tray towards me. Right then the lady in front of me pushed past me, emptied the tray of all the cookies, and literally said "I need more!"
I was completely stunned, and honestly, I think the waiter was too. Neil could see I was really annoyed, and suggested that we just leave, and not worry about it. But holy moly I cannot believe how rude some people are. I only wanted one cookie, just for myself, and once again, I was completely blown away by the actions of grown women.
We headed back out, had a quick dinner, and then headed back to the ballroom for the next party. Now, my lack of enjoyment of this party I am blaming completely on myself.
I knew going into this convention that there would be certain events that would be too raunchy for my taste, and that is honestly fine. I loved the fact that RT had something for everyone, and we had just planned to skip the Night With The Bad Boy party happening the next night, however I thought that since this party was a "Vintage Theme" that it would be more classy, and whatnot, and I was just not prepared for their to be strippers and the like here.
However, that's not to say the whole party was a disappointment for me. The food looked amazing, and although we weren't hungry and didn't try most of it, the macarons that I had off the dessert table were amazing, and honestly the decor was incredible, although, sadly I didn't get any pictures of it.
There was also publisher/author booths along both sides of the room, and you could collect a poker chip from each booth that was custom made for each house. Also, most booths were having giveaways, some had author meet and greets, and some booths were even giving away free books, which I wasn't expecting in the slightest. The pocket book booth was in particular. amazing! We waited in about a half an hour line to get to it, and I was confused at first, because I thought it was just to collect the poker chip, but then I realized they literally had stacks of books they were giving away, and I walked away from that book with seven books, and Neil even found a couple that interested him.
Everyone was also given a certain amount in play money when they entered the room, and they had loads of casino tables set up where you could use it. However, these tables were super busy, and after waiting for about half an hour to try and get near one, we decided just to call it a night, and be more rested for all the fun things happening the next day!
My RT tip from today is: Don't be so focused on the parties, that you end up missing out on other things. If you're an introvert like me, and not truly comfortable with the raunchier stuff, I would suggest making the daytime events your priority, and not the parties. This is not to say that I wouldn't go the parties again, I just wouldn't make them my priority. I felt we wasted a lot of time standing in line for the late night events, and next time, I'd like to use that time to hear more panels, or attend more of the daytime reader parties, but that''s just my opinion.
Overall, we had an amazing day, and I was super excited for the next day as the YA You're Never Too Old For Ya event was happening, and that was what I was most excited about for the entire convention.
Thanks for reading everyone! I hope to finish the rest of these recaps as soon as possible, so you will hopefully be seeing another one within the week.
This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. The pictures were taken by me with an Iphone.
I'm going to try and get through the rest of my RT recaps quickly, because I'm anxious to post my book haul from there, and I also really want to move on to some other amazing posts I have planned for the next few weeks.
Unfortunately, I found myself dragging with writing the rest of the recaps, simply because I now have to start talking about the days where we encountered the groups of rude people, that had a huge negative impact on my overall experience at this event. However, unfortunately you're going to encounter rude people everywhere, and a book convention is no different, so I'm going to try my best to focus on the many amazing positive experiences we had, instead of on the bad.
Wednesday April 13th, 2016:
Today started out actually not too too early. The welcome breakfast was scheduled for 9 am, and we made our way down and got in line for it about 8:15 am or so.
The wait seemed to go really quickly, and soon enough we were through the line and headed in. UNfortunately, this is probably the day that Neil felt the worst of our whole trip, (thank goodness he started feeling much better after today), but he was really feeling rough at this morning's event, so I told him to have a seat, and I'd run get our food.
They really had an amazing spread here, there was bacon, sausage, and crepes with fresh fruit. I got both of us the crepes, and orange juice, and then joined Neil at our table.
At our table we had the pleasure of sitting with:
Suzie Waltner, who write inspirational fiction, and one of her books is on my list of May/June books to buy, as she was such an amazingly, sweet person, and I can't wait to read her books. Since you all know I love inspirational fiction, I'm definitely always on the lookout for new inspie authors.
Harper Kincaid: Who was such a fun, and sweet person. She made a comment about our prime minister being a hottie, when she heard we were from Canada, and Neil and I must have made horrible faces, as she said something along the lines of oh is he not a great guy then? We all had a laugh over it, and I'm honestly looking forward to purchasing some of her books as well, as they all sound really good, and I'd love to see if she incorporates her amazing sense of humor in her novels.
And Lori Ann Bailey: Who was so nice, and has her first book being published later this year. I told her I will definitely be on the lookout for it, as what she told me about sounded so intriguing, and I honestly can't wait to pick up books from all three of these lovely ladies!
The head of RT gave a lovely talk about the convention, and there was also a special presentation for Chrystal Perkins from Barnes and Noble, and a cover model who'd been working in the industry for twenty years. Unfortunatley I didn't catch his name, but it was awesome to see RT recognizing him like that.
Our plan after the breakfast, had been to go to Club RT to hit up the goody room, and the basket raffles while everyone else headed to the first panels, since there wasn't any that interested me in the first hour. However, the breakfast ended up letting out extrememly early, so I think a lot of people had the same idea, and we ended up waiting an hour for the goody room, but oh well.
We browsed through promo alley while waiting in line, but neither of us ended up taking too much. I'm the type of person who won't take something i'm not interested in, because I know there is people who are interested in it, and I feel guilty taking it from someone who might actually want it. But we did end up choosing a couple of pens, and I took a free book download, and also a couple of bookmarks from books that I thought sounded good, so that I'd remember the title to buy later.
Soon enough it was our turn in the goody room, and we were each allowed two books. We each found one we were both super excited about, and then tried to find something else that would interest us.
After we finished in the goody room, the line had gone down quite a bit. But we decided to just kill time looking at the basket raffles for the next half hour, because Amy Plum was signing in club RT at 11:15. and that was definitely on my list for today. Neil didn't want to leave the room, in case we couldn't get back in, so we enjoyed just taking our time to browse.
Soon enough, I saw Amy Plum approach the signing table, and we headed over. She was soooo nice, and unfortunately she'd forgotten her pen to sign with, since she'd just arrived. I ended up giving her one of my pens to keep, and I kept telling Neil the rest of the convention how amazing I was for doing so lol. She was honestly so sweet, and gave me signed artwork from her After The End series, which is my favorite book by her, and also some chocolate from Paris. I asked if we could take a quick photo, and then we moved on since she had a line forming behind us.
The only other author I had recognized for this Club Rt signing was Candis Terry, so we headed over to her table next.
She was also so nice, and such a sweet lady, and she'd even brought copies of her new book to give out, which I thought was so awesome. She signed a copy for me, and we had a nice chat, and then she informed me that she actually had brought a coffee mug with her, that had some of her book titles on it, and she'd set it aside for the first person to come up to her at Club RT, and that was me, so I got it. I was honestly over the moon over this, and couldn't thank her enough.
So here's my next RT Tip: Go to Club Rt! There isn't usually a line at all, and you get some nice, one on one time with some amazing authors. I'm so glad we took the time to do this, as it was literally one of the highlights of the convention for me. :)
Neil had survived these first couple of hours with me, but he was honestly starting to feel even worse, so we headed back to the room, as the next event that interested me wasn't until 2:45 pm, which was a couple of hours away.
He headed for a nap, and I actually walked all the way over to the Wetzel's Pretzels to grab us some lunch. This honestly ended up being the best deal in all of the hotel for food, and there bottled water was only 1.99! Still ridiculous compared to grocery stores obviously, but a huge discount over the rest of the hotel.
Soon enough it was time to head out for YA-Booktionary, which unfortunately, Neil didn't attend with me, cause he was just not feeling up to it. And unfortunately, this event is when I first encountered the several groups of rude people that we would begin running into over and over again for the rest of the convention.
I'm going to just go over this really quickly, and then go back to focusing on the positive. Throughout the next four days, we would encounter these about fourteen people, who weren't all together, but who were all there strictly for the free books. I'm talking about people who would literally run into an event, grab all the free stuff and then leave. And then come out in the hallway and announce that they had no idea who any of these authors were, but at least they got a good haul. I saw girls walk out of events (including this YA-booktionary one), because they didn't get enough free stuff. I heard some of these people talking in the lines that they'd have to start tag-teaming it, and just get in and grab what they could, and literally announce that they could care less about the authors, or meeting them, they just wanted their suitcase full of free books. I also saw people enter panels, and then leave, creating quite a ruckus, and then in the hallway announcing that that was a dud as there was no free books.
Now I know you're going to encounter rude people everywhere, but this to me was ridiculous. The teenagers on teen day behaved better than these groups of people we kept running in to, and I was honestly disgusted by their behavior. They wouldn't be getting the free books if not for the authors, and/or publishing houses donating them, and I just can't believe how these grown adults were behaving. In fact, some events got so bad this way, that my hubby literally stated that he would love to go to an event that doesn't give free books, just to avoid this nonsense.
All right guys, rant finished I promise. It just annoys me when people don't respect the authors who write these amazing books, and I was not expecting to witness this behavior. Although, please don't think I'm saying anything bad about Rt itself, as it was a fabulous convention, and they obviously don't have control over everyone's behavior, and also please don't think I'm stating that everyone was like this, as I met so many, amazing, super sweet people this week, and the rude ones were definitely in the minority. So with all that said and done, let's continue on with YA-Booktionary.
I had a super fangirl moment while in line for this event. I had gotten into the habit of reading everyone's name badges, as people can look so different from their websites, and/or their author photos. So when this girl walked past me to get to the end of the line, I had no idea who she was until I read her name badge, and guys I completely freaked out that it was Ali Novak!!
Now to anyone who read my getting ready for Rt posts, you would know that she is one of my all time favorite authors, and one of the authors I was most excited to meet here. Unfortunately, since Neil wasn't with me, and the people standing around me weren't too friendly, I couldn't leave the line to go meet her, but I was definitely making it a priority to try later.
I ended up sitting at a table with two ladies who were actually from a city a few hours away from me, and then a couple of women who'd been working the event, and a really nice girl who I didn't get too much of a chance to talk too.
Our first authors at our table were:
Liz Czukas and Debra Driza. Neither of which I'd had the pleasure of reading before, but once again, after seeing how amazing they were in person, I definitely now have all their books on my TBR list.
This event was basically like YA charades, and was being hosted once again by the lovely Lea Nolan.
The answers weren't book titles per say, but would be something like "sparkly vampire", or "tbr pile."
It was super fun, even though our team at my side of the table ended up losing both times, so we didn't get the prizes. They also had tons of door prizes again, and it was awesome to see how excited everyone was that won.
Soon it was time for an author switch, and I had to laugh when Rachel E Carter was one of our next authors, as we kept running into each other everywhere. We also had Amy Bartol and Alys Arden, both of who were also super nice. and I'm looking forward to reading their books in the future. Even though our team once again lost, we had so much fun. And it was even more amazing when Lea Nolan announced that everybody gets prizes at her events, so even though we didn't win, we still got handed three books, and that was on top of the one that everyone got in their tote bag on their chair. This was an awesome event, and I'm just sad that Neil had to miss it.
From here, I really had to run to make my next panel, as it was starting in less than five minutes, and I wasn't quite sure where to go. But I made it, and enjoyed hearing the inspirational authors talk about book clubs in the cyber age. Rachel Hauck had brought everyone this adorable flip flop key chains, which I absolutely love mine, and then I ended up winning a prize here as I had traveled the furthest to attend RT in the room, and I ended up getting a signed copy of one of Denise Hunter's new books.
From here, I headed back to the room and Neil and I got ready to go to Viva Las Historical, and The Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.
There was champagne, bottled water, and Godiva chocolates, and we grabbed the water, and a couple of chocolates, before making our way around the room.
I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was decorated!
I really didn't know who too many of the other authors were, and the lines were getting a tad crazy, so we decided to head out, and have some dinner quickly before the Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.
Right before we were going to leave however, they were coming around with the trays of the sugar cookies that had the authors book covers on them. I had really wanted to see these, so we got in line. There was one lady ahead of us, and six cookies left. She took her cookie and turned to walk away, and then the waiter turned the tray towards me. Right then the lady in front of me pushed past me, emptied the tray of all the cookies, and literally said "I need more!"
I was completely stunned, and honestly, I think the waiter was too. Neil could see I was really annoyed, and suggested that we just leave, and not worry about it. But holy moly I cannot believe how rude some people are. I only wanted one cookie, just for myself, and once again, I was completely blown away by the actions of grown women.
We headed back out, had a quick dinner, and then headed back to the ballroom for the next party. Now, my lack of enjoyment of this party I am blaming completely on myself.
I knew going into this convention that there would be certain events that would be too raunchy for my taste, and that is honestly fine. I loved the fact that RT had something for everyone, and we had just planned to skip the Night With The Bad Boy party happening the next night, however I thought that since this party was a "Vintage Theme" that it would be more classy, and whatnot, and I was just not prepared for their to be strippers and the like here.
However, that's not to say the whole party was a disappointment for me. The food looked amazing, and although we weren't hungry and didn't try most of it, the macarons that I had off the dessert table were amazing, and honestly the decor was incredible, although, sadly I didn't get any pictures of it.
There was also publisher/author booths along both sides of the room, and you could collect a poker chip from each booth that was custom made for each house. Also, most booths were having giveaways, some had author meet and greets, and some booths were even giving away free books, which I wasn't expecting in the slightest. The pocket book booth was in particular. amazing! We waited in about a half an hour line to get to it, and I was confused at first, because I thought it was just to collect the poker chip, but then I realized they literally had stacks of books they were giving away, and I walked away from that book with seven books, and Neil even found a couple that interested him.
Everyone was also given a certain amount in play money when they entered the room, and they had loads of casino tables set up where you could use it. However, these tables were super busy, and after waiting for about half an hour to try and get near one, we decided just to call it a night, and be more rested for all the fun things happening the next day!
My RT tip from today is: Don't be so focused on the parties, that you end up missing out on other things. If you're an introvert like me, and not truly comfortable with the raunchier stuff, I would suggest making the daytime events your priority, and not the parties. This is not to say that I wouldn't go the parties again, I just wouldn't make them my priority. I felt we wasted a lot of time standing in line for the late night events, and next time, I'd like to use that time to hear more panels, or attend more of the daytime reader parties, but that''s just my opinion.
Overall, we had an amazing day, and I was super excited for the next day as the YA You're Never Too Old For Ya event was happening, and that was what I was most excited about for the entire convention.
Thanks for reading everyone! I hope to finish the rest of these recaps as soon as possible, so you will hopefully be seeing another one within the week.
This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. The pictures were taken by me with an Iphone.
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