Saturday, June 18, 2016

B-Fest 2016 at Barnes & Noble Experience

Many of The Barnes & Noble bookstore in the US had their first B-Fest Teen Book Festival this year on June 10th- June 12th, 2016. They had lots of YA related events and giveaways. Here's a recap of my experience on this 3 day event.

B-Fest was fantastic. I'm really glad Barnes & Noble created this event. It definitely will help promote readers to come to the bookstore and read more books. I went to a few different B&N store throughout this whole B-Fest. If I had more time, I would have gone to more because there are just so many events happening.

June 10th: B-In the Know (Trivia Blast)

I headed out to my local B&N that evening for the first event at B-Fest. We played trivia games. The winner of the trivia got Advance readers copies (ARC) of upcoming YA titles and they get a postcard to send in to Penguin Teen so that they can be in the ARC mailing list. I got second place and they still gave me some book goodies. They were also nice enough to give everyone who played a prize too. The questions were moderately difficult. Some of the books I read years ago and some I recently finish but I still don't remember the answer. It was fun playing it and even the moms of the teens joined in too. It was a nice experience. The program coordinator was wonderful and the event host was great. Good times.

The prize I received were a tote bag, a t-shirt from paper town, and a copy of Scott Westerfeld's Afterworlds ^o^



Day 2: June 11th B-First @11 AM

This was a cool event. B&N were giving out ARCs, book samplers, and many other goodies at 11 AM on day 2. I specifically went to a B&N store that will give out Stalking Jack the Ripper ARC because I've been very interested in that book. I was able to get a copy \(^0^)/. To my surprise, I didn't expect to get even more ARCs (\^o^)/.

The line for the giveaway wasn't too bad. (I'll post the pics of the book swags I picked up at the end)


Day 2: June 11th B-Part of the Fun @2 PM

A few hours later I returned to play some pictionary and the spelling challenge. It was amazing how many people knew the titles of YA with just a few drawings. The spelling challenge was a tough one. I couldn't spell some words from the Harry Potter, the Lords of the Ring, and the Doctor Who series. In the end, I won a Scythe t-shirt as a consolation prize. I think the winner got a copy of the Nemesis ARC by Anna Banks and a tote. Once again B&N people were so nice and everyone else got a prize.

Day 3: June 12th B-Creative @2 PM

On day 3, I went back to my local B&N for the Adaptive Studio B-Creative discussions. We learned of the process Adaptive Studio do to bring different titles to the audiences. It's really cool to see how an old scripts can be turn into a novel and later turn into film. The workshop was a good way to introduce people to the process of writing books and bringing it to life. I'm hoping to come out with a novel and/or a movie scripts in the future so it's a good way to see how this work.

Guest Author: Kristen Tracy @3 PM


A casual meet and greet with our local author Kristen Tracy. She's really nice and really fun to talk to. It's great to hear her story of how she became an author. She read some passages from her new book and she was able to give tips about writing and the publishing process. She also signed a copy of Lost It and her new middle grade book Project [Un]popular for me. Can't wait to read them.


Overall, I had a great time at B-Fest. Thank you B&N for having these cool events and giving us so many stuff. Many hearts to you. I pretty much have books to read for the rest of the year. Hoping we'll have B-Fest again next year.

Advance Reader's Copy galore:


Frost by M. E. Kozolowsky (10/2016)
Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland (9/2016)
The hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti (1/2017)
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (1/2017)
We Know it Was You by Maggie Thrash (10/2016)
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (9/2016)
Boy Robot by Simon Curtis (10/2016)
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley (11/2016)
Replica by Lauren Oliver (10/2016)

Book swags received:

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Review


Title: Everything Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon


Goodreads synopsis:

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My thoughts:

Everything, Everything was a great read. It was fast pace, cute, and interesting. The premise intrigued me and the flow of the story was very well done. Seeing Maddy struggle to break free and trying to find ways to make her love come true was really fun. She’d been inside her house all her life and all she wanted was a friend. Suddenly a boy next door, Olly, appeared. Her relationship with Olly was awkward at first but they develop a bond as the story progressed. As their relationship deepened, unfortunate things happened. I was rooting for Maddy and Olly throughout the book. I wondered if she can maintain her love even if being allergic to the outside world. There was a twist at the end that was heart wrenching. Everything, Everything is everything I wanted in a romance YA novel. I’d definitely recommend Everything Everything to everyone.