Our very first trip to Yallfest was a success. We met some of our favorite authors, explored and fell in love with the beautiful city of Charleston, met some wonderful people and wore ourselves out!
Day 1
The first signing we planned to attend didn't begin until 2 pm which allowed us the chance to sleep in and take our time exploring the town. We wandered around, checked out the little shops, picked up some souvenirs and simply enjoyed ourselves.
The first author we met, and managed to be first in line for, was Ally Condie. We each had our complete set of the Matched trilogy signed. This was our second time meeting Ally. We first bumped into her at SDCC back in 2013. She told us that we were very dedicated and asked if we'd be attending YallWest next year. Don't ask us twice, we are always looking for an excuse to visit California.
Next we hopped over to meet Lauren Oliver, who is sweet, funny and an awesome writer! She was surprised that I had already managed to finish reading Replica, which I loved, and signed both Lyra and Gemma's sides of the book. My copy was already pre-signed when I purchased it so it now sports three wonderful signatures.
Day 2
We made it just in time for First In Line's Biscuit Brunch where we met Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff the writers of Illuminae. We were even given a free copy of Illuminae! Right before we made it to her table, Amie was being whisked away for her panel. I was so disappointed that I wouldn't be able to meet her when suddenly she stopped beside our line, snatched our books and signed them for us, apologizing and promising that Jay would finish personalizing them, which was incredibly kind of her and we were thrilled.
Jay was also very nice and did personalize our books. We were given free First In Line tote bags, bookmarks, buttons, biscuits and we scored an ARC of the Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares which I will be reviewing shortly.
We met Maggie Stiefvater, who was incredibly friendly and asked if we had read and enjoyed her books. We made an attempt to meet the amazing Leigh Bardugo but her line was insane! After waiting on the sidewalk for what seemed like ages, we realized the line wasn't moving, we were cold, tired and still had a 7 hour trip home looming before us, sadly we decided to leave the line and run over to our final signing of the day, Kendare Blake.
The Three Dark Crown's author was lovely to meet. She personalized our books, and took pictures with us. We are both huge fans and were thrilled that our trip ended on a great note. The only regret I have is that I didn't get into Leigh Bardugo's line super early. Maybe if I had set up camp there a week earlier, I would have made it in to meet her. Next time, Leigh, next time!
Overall, Yallfest was a great experience and we will definitely be back.
