BookCon 2026 Recap - Day 2 and Travel Day

Half of our NYC trip is over. Ellie and I learned a lot from Day 1 of the con so we ready for day two with some minor adjustments. We learned we must pivot at times since things change often during the day. We made sure to listen to our bodies and rested when we needed to. We made sure to eat and also to hydrate during the day.

BookCon - Day 2, Sunday, April 19, 2026

Ellie and I woke up at 7:00 am again for round two of BookCon. We were running a little later to the con compared to the previous day. We went back to Starstuck Coffee for coffee and breakfast sandwiches. I ordered the same thing I got the previous day, a flat white and a bacon, egg, and cheese on a croissant. Since today we were expecting rain, the Javits and BookCon employees had folks move to the inside of floor 1 on the leftside to queue up. We had our tickets scanned and proceeded through security.

We were maybe in the back of third switchback but the switchbacks inside were wider than the outside ones. The good thing about being inside is that the restrooms where right there which came in handy. I ended up sitting on my stool when eating my breakfast and drinking my coffee. I ended up saving half of sandwich for later. Again, that stool is a game changer! I know it's a pain to end more weight to carry around but for me, it was worth it.

Since we were on the far left side of the Javits, which is the furthest spot you can be at from North Javits, we were walked by employees to the North Javits area. I would say I lost time doing things this day for the morning since the previous day, we were closer to floor 3 and the publishing booths. I definitely avoided HarperCollins since I knew it would be a mess in the morning. I really wanted to meet Francesca Zappia since Francesca was hanging around the booth in the morning. On social media, Francesca mentioning about signing galleys of Evie and Her Nightmares, which is a companion novel to Eliza and Her Monsters. I love Eliza and Her Monsters and really wanted to get my hands on Evie and Her Nightmares but I didn't want to have to fight the massive crowds for it. I decided not to go for any of the Penguin Random House tickets this day due to longer lines and I was worried I would waste an hour and not get a ticket for a signing I wanted. I was a little bummed during the morning but I knew it wasn't the end of the world if I couldn't obtain a book or couldn't meet an author. It happens. However, in the morning, I was listening to this lovely quartet who was playing some Bridgerton music. I really enjoyed listening to their set.

I walked around floor 3 to gauge how long the lines were and made a last minute decision to go to LaCroix's booth to get some swag and some LaCroix cans. I also stopped by Sif Sniffs to visit Leanna since I saw on her Instagram that she was going to be at BookCon at the Sif Sniffs booth. I haven't seen her for years since the MISTI-Con Days. I went to say hi and chatted with her for a bit. She talked about a book and perfume collab with Sif Sniffs. I ended picking up Ace of Wands EDP and The Professor perfume oil. Both smell fantastic. I was already planning to purchase The Professor but the owner and creator of Sif Sniffs recommended layering Ace of Wands over The Professor. Both smell amazing by themselves and also together. The Professor is only available at the con and will have a launch on the website in the fall I believe.

Then I made my way down to floor 1 to purchase the deluxe version of Divergent from The Ripped Bodice. The book was being launched on Tuesday that week but BookCon goers were able to get the book earlier. I wanted to get the copy before it sold for my Veronica Roth signing later that day. Thank goodness I grabbed it because those copies were flying off the shelves like hot cakes Saturday and Sunday.

I spent more time looking at the vendors on floor 1 since it was so packed the day before that I didn't have time to wander through the booths to check out the bookish wares. It was more relaxed in the morning since everyone was up in panels or the exhibit hall on floor 3 where all the publishing houses were located. A lot of people were waiting for the galley drops or for tickets for signings. 

I ended up on the fourth floor to check out The Grove. They have a lot of workshops going on there and also there is a community book exchange. I ended up dropping off a book and picked up Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult. I swung by the The Eras Tour: Fiction Across the Ages panel and that was a fabulous panel. The panel included Adriana Trigiani, Jodi Picoult, Rebecca Lehmann, and Isabel Ibanez "on a journey through the ages as they talk about the settings their books explore, how these books transport readers, and the strong emotional connections created through larger-than-time characters and immersive settings." The panel was moderated by Jason Blitman. The authors had such an engaging conversation about their books and how they researched information for their books. Jodi was quite a detective! And Jason was amazing as a moderator! I definitely want to check out books by these authors in the future. The panel also gave me time to rest my feet, escape the chaos from the other floors. I definitely made sure to prioritize more time to panels this day compared to the day before.

After the panel, I found a spot on the fourth floor to eat the rest of my sandwich and to enjoy one of the LaCroixs. I popped back down to the exhibit hall and said hi to Ellie since she was waiting in that HarperCollins spin the wheel line. I told her I would snap a photo of the wheel so she can see the titles of the galleys they are giving away. Let's say a lot of people wanted the Tempest one.

I had a Veronica Roth signing at the Kingdom of Threads booth for 1:00 pm and lined up maybe at 12:45 pm for the signing. I love the Kingdom of Threads signings. They were some of the most organized signings that I have been to. Each author has three time slots that lasts 20 minutes. The tickets were available on Eventbrite at a certain time and date prior to the con. I got very lucky to snag the first Veronica Roth slot. I know a lot of people were going for other authors at the time and people were lucky even to snag any time slot of any of the authors that were going to sign at the Kingdom of Threads booth. I was able to get my deluxe copy of Divergent signed as well as Poster Girl and Four. I had a lovely conversation with Veronica about how I haven't seen her since 2012 back when she was at Ascendio in Orlando. It was nice seeing her again. We chatted a little bit about Divergent and about Six Faction since Sixth Faction was announced at BookCon. For those who don't know, Sixth Faction is coming out this October and it's the first book in an alternate-timeline duology exploring the Divergent universe.

I passed by the WonderWick booth and I was checking out what fragrances they have. One of the fragrances, Tory, piqued my interest and I ended up purchasing a Tory perfume oil. I believe this fragrance is not on the website for sale but will be hopefully soon. I am so glad I found a few wonderful bookish and fandom inspired fragrances today. I love indie fragrances and I am so happy I was able to smell a bunch of them before making a purchase at WonderWick and at Sif Sniffs.

I headed toward Macmillan since I had a reservation for the Julie Murphy signing for Student Union. The wait was longer than I expected but it was nice to meet Julie and to talk about her book. The Student Union swag was all too cute too. Afterwards. I headed down to the Author Alley to pick up some books that I pre-ordered on Bevenuti. I had two books to pick up by Olivia Boothe and five books to pick up from K.Sinko. When I was chatting with K.Sinko about her books, she asked me how I found out about her books. I told her that Safe Harbor caught my eye since it's I love reading YA and I used to work at an ice cream shop. Of course, I found out that she worked an ice cream shop too. I am excited to read her books. It's very hard to find YA books, especially contemporary YA, these days and I am glad there are still some out there.

I met up with Ellie and held one of the last Red City books that Marie Lu signed at the Barnes and Nobles booth. That line to check out was super long! Afterwards, I headed up to the fifth floor for the main stage and saw Page to Screen. It was fascinating to hear from Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven), Robinne Lee (The Idea of You), May Cobb (The Hunting Wives), Andy Weir (Project Hail Mary) to discuss their books and the movie and TV adaptations. Of course, our wonderful Jason Blitman was the moderator! He is the best moderator! It was nice to end the day with this panel. Surprisingly there was a lot of space in this room and there were a lot of empty seats despite the panel requiring reservations. I ended doing one more lap around the exhibit hall and bought a kindle case from Lash Next Door. The case is too cute. It was a lot of visa/entry stamps from various countries. I like using the Kindle when I travel so it's the perfect case. I love how it is magnetic, has a holding strap, and also had a stand built in for hands free reading.

Ellie and I meet up and took some last minute photos before we headed back to the hotel. We dropped off our bags and decided to head to dinner. We passed by this market setup on one of the streets that had a farmer's market, crafts, and trinkets. Ellie ended up picking a couple of things there. For dinner, we went to KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll Bar. The hand rolls were so good! There was a wait but it went by fast. After dinner we ended up going to Venchi, which was right around the corner from Kazu. Ellie got a gelato and I got a fancy hot chocolate. Of course I forgot my tote bag and umbrella so Ellie and I had to go back to Kazu to retrieve the forgotten goods. We did check out a Kpop store on the way back to the hotel. We took some haul photos, did some packing, etc. at night. 

Travel Day - Monday, April 20, 2026

Ellie and I slept in a little bit to catch up on some much needed rest. After last minute packing and checking out of the hotel, Ellie and I went to In Common for some breakfast. In Common is small so there was a wait for a table. Before we headed into the café, someone commented on my Dragonite postal service messenger bag. Then Ellie realized it was no other than author Elise Kova! I ended up getting a flat white and shasuka with some bacon. The food and the coffee were delicious. Ellie and I ordered croissants to go. We had some time to kill before our train arrived so we went to B&H Photo and Macy's. B&H Photo is huge! So many photo related things there and they even have some old cameras in display from decades ago. 

Macy's, of course, is massive! That place has so many floors. My favorite time to visit that particular Macy's is close to the holidays. They have wonderful window displays. They are stunningly beautiful to look at. Ellie and I took a lot of photos on the children's floor. They have a PacMan area, Pokemon area, Lego etc. Onward to the train station where Ellie and I waited for the Amtrak! It was a scramble to get on the train and to find a seat but we found two aisle seats next to each other. When my neighbor left in CT, Ellie took the window seat. The trip home felt like forever since I was exhausted but we finally made it back to Boston. We ended up splitting an Uber to go back home. 

Overall, it was a successful trip. I'll do more of a recap regarding my thoughts about BookCon. What things I liked, what things I feel needed improvements, etc.