BEA/BBC!!!

Just got back from BEA/BBC in NYC, where we took our daughter, aka StephtheBookworm, as her graduation gift from college.  As you may or may not know, I started this blog at her insistence, so that I could go to BEA with her.  I went with the mindset that I would be just tagging along, but totally ended up enjoying the whole experience (minus the death cab rides, heinous lines at the bus terminal one night, inability to catch a cab 99% of the time and the general stinky, garbagy atmosphere).  We met a lot of super nice bloggers, librarians and teachers while standing in line for autographs.  We split up most times to cover more ground and ended up with 135 books that we brought home!!!

The highlight for me was meeting Harlan Coben, one of my all-time favorite authors (I have read every word he has ever written I believe), who I didn't even know was going to be there.  He was extremely nice and personable!!!  Almost like meeting Myron Bolitar himself.  (Where was Win?)   As luck would have it, I was reading his latest book, Live Wire, in the car on the way and had only about 20 pages to go when I met him.  He was autographing copies of his upcoming book, Shelter, which is the first in a new YA series he is starting using a character he introduced in Live Wire.  I read Shelter on the drive home, so my review today is a 2-for-1 Harlan Coben!!!

Live Wire (by Harlan Coben, as mentioned above)

This is the latest in his series starring Myron Bolitar, former basketball star/former lawyer/sports rep/private investigator.  Myron is asked by his client, tennis star Suzze T to locate her husband, rock star Lex, who has run off when a post shows up on Suzze's facebook questioning the paternity of her unborn child.  While investigating, Myron also runs into his sister-in-law, who has been estranged from Myron for sixteen years, so he also ends up trying to locate his brother. 

Like all of his books, this is a page turner, that manages at times to be a funny, dramatic, suspenseful page turner that I hated to put down (which I was forced to so we could go to BEA.)

I absolutely loved this book, which was only enhanced by the fact that I got to discuss it with the author himself!  Does it get any better than that?

Shelter (also by Harlan Coben)

Shelter is the first in a series of YA books, featuring Mickey Bolitar, who was introduced in Live Wire as Myron's nephew.  Because this is a YA book, it was quicker read than his adult books, but without sacrificing any of the wit and action of his adult novels.  It overlaps slightly with Live Wire, but this time you get Mickey's perspective on the events.  It then launches into Mickey's story, where he is trying to locate his missing girlfriend, getting into all the trouble you would expect from a Harlan Coben novel. 

I also loved this book and think it would appeal to adults as well as the target YA audience.  Spoiler alert - do not read this first if you are planning to read Live Wire!!!

All in all, a great experience and two great books!!!