For those of you that follow us and are from Charleston, out of state, or out of town just to catch you up, YALLFest is a once a year two day YA book festival. It's located in Leah and I's home town of Charleston, SC. It's actually the largest YA book festival in the country. It's hosted by the cutest little local book shop called Blue Bike Books that is located in downtown Charleston. It's spread out over several streets with multiple hours of signings. Along with the signings there are Keynote speakers, a YA smackdown, and several panels you can attend. You can also purchase books, shirts, and get lots of free goodies.
The weather outside is flawless this time of year so it made getting up at 5:30 in the morning so worth it. And that's how we started our early and by rushing around to make sure we got there early. We knew that James Dashner and Veronica Roth were both only seeing select number of fans so we knew we had to plan perfect and....
I'm pretty sure we did the impossible because we were able to see both Veronica Roth and James Dashner! They were both only seeing the first 200 people and we somehow managed to get wristbands and see both of them in like less than two hours!
James Dashner was who we choose to see as our keynote speaker and we're so glad we did! He was super funny, charming, and probably one of the nicest authors we met. His panel was all about how he became and author, what his writing process is, and how he's handling everything now that the movie is out. Being able to get a wristband and meet him was amazing. He took the time to not rush his signings and talked to every single person on a personal level. He also didn't have a one book limit and was willing to take photos with everyone.
That was the only downside of seeing Veronica Roth. She was only allowing one book to be signed and no pictures to be taken with her, I mean we get it she's freaking VRoth and people would probably want to take a million pictures, but it was still a little bit of a bummer about the one book thing. The positive side about her "strict" signing was that it went super smooth and we were able to see her, talk for a few moments, and then go to our next signing with no wait time. Just being able to meet both of them was such a pleasure.
The other authors we saw were Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout.The line for Sarah J. Maas was insane (theres a video on our insta)! Once again we lucked out and got there super early. We were in the first 15 to go in. She was so sweet and also allowed any amount of books to get signed and personalized.
I will say seeing Jennifer L. Armentrout was the biggest highlight for both of us. She was so funny and sweet. She is our my favorite author and was our #1 must see. I really think she took book signing to a whole new level! She had no limit on how many books you could get signed and she actually asked to take pictures with us. Plus she personalized every book we brought in. I know it might be a little hard to see in pictures but my book seriously says "#TeamRoth cant even stand it :)".
Like it's been a full day and I'm still coming down from my fangirl high from seeing her. The fact that she had no limits on books, wanted to take pictures, and did it all with such positive energy just shows why she is the best! She was also signing in a train museum which really made it interesting. We sadly didn't make it out to Marie Lu's line since it was crazy insane and was at the same time as JLA's.
As far as Swag Bags went Leah and I made out with posters, buttons, shirts, bookmarks, and a ton of book samples. The girls from EpicReads were out there hooking people up with posters and totes. Also the folks from TheNovl where hooking everyone waiting in line to see James Dashner with hot coffee and water bottles!
Overall our experience at Yallfest was amazing. Everyone, even the people visiting from out of town were so polite, and caring. It was not only amazing seeing the authors, it was amazing talking and meeting new people. We are so excited to go again in 2015! All that being said we will definitely be bringing rolly-bags instead of totes next year, gonna be feelin the book burn for the next few days!
I've posted some pictures here but to see more go to the contact section of our blog and check out our instagrams!I'm also going to put a list below of who all we saw over the two days. If you'd like to read their reviews they'll be located in the A-Z section of our blog.
Day 1:
Kiera Cass: The Selection Series
Michelle Hodkins: The Mara Dyer Trilogy
Day 2:
Jennifer L. Armentrout: The Lux Series, The Covenant Series, The Dark Elements Series, etc.
James Dashner: The Maze Runner Trilogy, The Eye of Minds
Veronica Roth: The Divergent Trilogy, Four
Sarah J. Maas: The Throne of Glass Series
I also had a super awkward and hilarious run in with Gayle Forman while we were down there too.
Let us know if you went, who you saw, and what you love! Sorry if we didn't get to meet you there but hopefully we'll meet more followers in the near future!
<3
A&L
Seeing JLA was definitely the highlight for me, too. LOVE all the inscriptions she wrote in each book. I was squealing when I finally sat down and read them all. :)
ReplyDeleteThe line for Sarah J. Maas was crazy! We skipped lunch in order to get in line and it's a good thing we did. Thank god for teddy grahams! LOL
I was so thankful for my rolling bag/tote. Lifesaver! I would have keeled over with a regular tote or backpack.
I'm so glad I went and will definitely go back next year. Hopefully then I'll get to meet you too, since I met Leah this time. :)