Authors Visiting in Des Moines Review!

As my readers will remember, this past weekend I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel up to Des Moines, Iowa to attend the New Adult panel of this years Authors Visiting in Des Moines event. I know this isn't a book review or anything so I will keep it short and sweet. I just wanted to share about my experiences and show you guys a few pics!

Last week I posted a huge exciting preview to the AViD event, you can see that post By Clicking Here! Three authors were to grace the stage in Des Moines: Jennifer Armentrout, Jay Crownover, and Cora Carmack. Unfortunately due to horrible weather conditions, Jay was unable to attend, but Cora and Jennifer made sure the crowd was still satisfied. As I stated before, the weather was HORRIBLE this past weekend and sadly several people tragically lost their lives in the storms that passed through the Midwest and the South. We traveled 6 hours north to Des Moines from Springfield, Missouri for the event and were very fortunate to not get trapped in any of the horrible weather (although driving home was a mess). Anyways... Here are some pictures of our experience at AViD!

Jennifer L. Armentrout (Left) and Cora Carmack (center) are interviewed by the moderators during the New Adult panel at AViD. They answered a variety of questions pertaining to their histories, writing experiences, and what we can expect in the near future from both of them!

Megan (one of my best friends), Jennifer Armentrout, and I posing for a picture after the panel. Meeting Jennifer was an amazing experience, she is such an amazing author and woman. She definitely gained two HUGE fans here! I am currently reading Jennifer's Lux series and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone! Per Cora's recommendation, I will be reading her Covenant series very soon!

And of course, the moment we have all been waiting for. When I FINALLY got to meet the AMAZING Cora Carmack. This was our very first time meeting. As a huge fan of Cora's and a member of her Street Team, it was a great honor to meet Cora in person after having worked closely with her over the past couple of months. She has become a great friend and this experience will always stay special to me!

After a busy day of rubbing shoulders with the literary elite, Megan and I were just going to turn around and head straight back to Springfield. After talking it over, we realized we would probably never be in Des Moines again, so we decided to take a little time to do some sight seeing while we were downtown. Megan and I are both history majors who love anything old. Well, it just so happened we were downtown and only minutes away from what was quite possibly THE most beautiful building I have ever seen: the Iowa State Capital. We spent over an hour walking the grounds and snapping pictures. It was definitely an amazing experience that neither of us will soon forget.









Overall, this trip was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had. As you guys well know, I am a HUGE fan of anything that has to do with literature. I would have never thought in a million years that I would be traveling to meet New York Times Bestselling Authors Cora Carmack and Jennifer Armentrout to hang out in Iowa for the day. We not only got to hang out with them at AViD. We also got to spend a little time with them before and after the event. For a small town guy from nowhere, this was a really big deal. This blogging world has really given me some amazing experiences thus far. I am very excited to see where it takes me next. A huge shout out and thanks to Cora and Jennifer for making Megan and I feel so welcome in your company, we are both very blessed and had a great time! You guys made us feel like old friends! I cannot wait to see you both again! 

Also, a special message to Jay (if you are reading this), we were so bummed that you didn't get to make it. I can only imagine how frustrating it was to be stuck with the weather acting the way it did. I cannot wait to meet you in Nashville next month, don't worry, I'm a hugger as well! See you soon!

Oh yeah, and one more shout out to Megan. Thanks so much for coming with me and dealing with the major freakout I had since I was so excited! You're awesome, I am so glad we got to experience this together, I don't know what I'd do without you. Also, sorry we had to eat McDonald's on the way home. We were in Des Moines, we should have gone somewhere fun... Oh well :D


One more thing I almost forgot! I forgot to mention that I got to met two of the amazing girls behind my "sister blog" GrownUpFangirl at AViD as well! Here I am pictured with Carmen and Christina (Amber, be jealous)! Amber from GrownUpFangirl is one of my amazing blog mentors who has taken me under her wing and showed me the ropes, I owe a lot to her and these ladies for being so awesome! It was a great honor to meet them as well! Check out their amazing book blog at http://www.grownupfangirl.com/!

Alright guys, be sure to be on the lookout for more awesome posts soon here at OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads! Comment below and let me know if you were at AViD as well! I'd love to hear from you! Happy Reading!

-Ethan