YALLFest (pt. dos - Friday festivities)

After months of preparing for YALLFest, I am sad to say that the festival has come and gone, but I am extremely sad happy. This had to be one of the best weekends of my life, despite it being so quick to come and go. I was able to meet all the authors I wanted to, except for Margaret and Kami, and even then I was able still to get my books signed by them!

On the trip up, I was packed to the brim with books, leaving little room to bring anything back (because I was expecting to not!). However, I was able to collect a total of NINE ARCS - five of which are my most anticipated reads of 2016!!

(From top to bottom)

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie

Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Glittering Court (12 chapter sampler) by Richelle Mead

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Friday afternoon during YALLCrawl, I was able to meet the beautiful and ever great Victoria Aveyard. What was especially great about this opportunity was that she knew me! As soon as I went up to her she went "oh, you're Lillie! It's so great to finally meet you, how are you?" Earlier that day I tweeted her (as well as Leigh Bardugo) that I was entirely too nervous to speak to them and had to write down what I wanted to say, to which they both replied to not be afraid and were both complete angels. Along with this, on Saturday I woke up bright and early to try my chances at getting entrance to the secret Scarlet Guard meet up and to my luck I was able to get it!! I spent months waking up from dreams of getting this and so when it finally happened, I couldn't help but shed maybe a few tears of joy. 

Friday night I was able to attend the Red Carpet Preview in which I watched authors Greg Neri, Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, Adam Gidwitz, Nicola Yoon, Richelle Mead, and Brendan Reichs speak about themselves, books, and take shots roasting each other. Penguin Teen provided all of the audience members with two ARCs and cute tote bags, as well as previews and bookmarks! Since my mother was with me, I have an extra copy of Salt to the Sea and the Glittering Court and will most likely host a giveaway for that if anyone is interested!  

              

 Following this was a signing session in which I was able to meet the strikingly amazing and funny Leigh Bardugo. When meeting her, I told her my name was Lillie and she went "the Lillie from the internet?" and I said "yeah! @ shadow and bone on twitter minus the a!" Leigh started to laugh and went "hey I know you! It's nice to finally meet you, Lillie!" 

This made my night that much better and we continued to discuss the antics of the Grisha trilogy and Six of Crows. I asked her what her favorite Nikolai quote was (because fave character ever) because I wanted to use it as a senior quote and she said "well my favorite Nikolai quote isn't very appropriate for a senior quote! It's 'my mother is the oyster and I am the pearl'" Then she told me a more appropriate quote would be "Overstatement is an understatement."   

Along with these two authors, I was able to get my copy of Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead signed!