Tag Archives: paperback

It’s the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt! Are you ready to win a ton of signed paperbacks?

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Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. And to make it even easier here is a special “how to hunt” Link.

There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GREEN TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
 
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GREEN TEAM, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
 
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I am hosting the lovely and talented Bree Despain for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Bree Despain is the author of the Dark Divine trilogy and the Into The Dark trilogy.  Bree rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo.
 
Find out more information by checking out the Bree’s  website or find more about Bree’s book here!
 
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
 
 
So, Ms. Bree, what are we going to be looking at, here?
This is an exploratory scene I wrote when I first got the idea for THE SHADOW PRINCE way back in 2007. I was trying to figure out who my characters were and what they wanted. This scene didn’t make it into the final version of the book–mostly because a lot changed since I wrote this initial scene (like Daphne lives in her father’s mansion not at a boarding school with a roommate, and the book is written in first person instead of third). However, it was the way I FELT when I wrote this scene–and how that feeling stuck with me–that caused me to return to write this book in 2012. Now I’m thrilled that seven years after writing this little exploratory scene, the story is a shiny real novel sitting on bookstore shelves.
Awesomeness!  Let’s take a looksee!
Swish Swivel 3
            Her scent was everywhere, circling Haden as he stood in her room.  It was a sweet smell, but not too sweet, like fresh fruit just on the verge of being ripe.  There was another scent also, much more bitter and distasteful to him. The roommate, he thought and shut and locked the bedroom door, afraid of being interrupted before he got what he came for.

            He bypassed the bitter smelling bed and the track trophies and went straight to the side of the room that smelled the most like her.  Her walls were bare, her drawers held nothing but clothes.  Her bed was covered in the plain green bedspread provided by the school rather than something brought from home.  He was hoping her belongings—pictures, posters, letters, anything—might give him clues about her.  Help him know her.  But her lack of belongings told him more than any picture could.  She was alone, lonely.  She didn’t belong here—just like him.

Her rumpled blankets were permeated with her scent.  Haden crouched down to breath her in, letting the tantalizing taste roll over his tongue.  His hands grew hot, his fingers burned red.  He stepped back.  He shouldn’t be here. How could he even think of inviting such pain and danger into her life?  He was about to leave when he saw something that made him pause.  A black case stuck out from under her bed.  He pulled it out and placed it on top of her blankets.  He popped the locks, sensing her hands had recently been in the same place.  He pulled out the instrument he’d seen her playing.  It had had a voice almost as beautiful as hers.  He held it in his arms the way he had seen her do it and placed his fingers on the strings.  The cool metal felt soothing to his scorched fingertips—that is until he tried to strum them the way she had.  The metal stung his burned fingers and the pain radiated up his arm and pierced his shoulder.  He almost dropped the instrument but caught it in his arms, cradling it because he knew it was important to her.  Determined, he tried to play it again.  He ignored the pain and strummed the strings and tried to pick out the song he had heard her play.  Frustrated he tried again and again.  He cursed when the notes came out sour, nothing like her music.

Most things came easy to Haden—it was his gift.  Like how it only took one turn around the campus with Dax to learn how to drive a car or how he mastered the English language in a matter of days when it took others months of practice.  But for some reason, mastering this instrument eluded him—just the way she eluded him.  He had to find a way to her. A way to make her trust him.

He heard voices in the hall.  That bitter scent wafted under the door.  Haden realized he had stayed longer than he had intended.  Classes were over now.  He carefully put the instrument away and went to the window.  As he climbed onto the sill, he saw something that could possibly help him sitting under the filmy green drapes.  Haden tucked it into his pocket and opened the window.  It was three stories down with thorny bushes directly underneath.  There was a jangling sound outside the bedroom door that sounded like keys.  Haden patted his pocket. With his prize secure he jumped lithely from the window.

Swish swivel 1

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Jennifer M. Eaton, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 5Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GREEN TEAM and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT
 
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Elizabeth Holloway
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#Free #ebooks “18 Things” by Jamie Ayres #freestuff

Free_Fridays!

Yay!  It’s Freebee Fridays time!

First of all,

Congrats to everyone who got in on the action last week and downloaded a free version of “A Hint of Frost” by Hailey Edwards before Amazon caught up with the little blue lady.

If you’d like to find out more about Hailey, hop on over to http://haileyedwards.net/

PKO_Alien 3 0003387I had fun breaking into Amazon last week.

Well, thanks for not blowing them up, because I rather like Amazon.     This week Jamie Ayres is coming over.

Alien Huh CloseWait, wasn’t she a winner a few weeks ago?

.

Yes she was!  Jamie is a reader.  She hangs out here a lot, and her debut novel was just released.  Pretty cool, huh?

PKO_Alien 3 0003387It’s only cool is things explode in it.

Umm, I honestly don’t know, but let’s see what she has to say.  Put your smiley face on… here she comes.

Alien SmileWell, Hello There.  Welcome, Welcome.

Come on in and get comfy.

Well, you look rather sure of yourself, young lady.

Yeah, well, I did my research.  I know what I’m in for.  Let’s cut to the chase Little Blue Lady.  I’m Jamie Ayres (but you can call me Jaim-O)

PKO_Alien 3 0003387A Lady who doesn’t like to mess around!?

Okay, so what do you want?

I’d like a gallon of coffee and a credit card to buy an unlimited amount of Norman Love Chocolates. Oh, and I’d also like to give away a copy of 18 Things.

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Well, you have to earn the right to give something away here, Miss Smarty Pants!

.

Bring It!

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Well this is a feisty one!  Okay… Ms. Ayres… What makes you think your book is good enough to read?  I saw the cover.  It looks boring.

Don’t judge a book by… Oh, never mind… It’s a story about unconditional love, redeeming hope, and taking leaps of faith to achieve goals, with lots of laughs and Yoda-like wisdom sprinkled throughout.

Alien SmileYoda!  A fellow alien!  Maybe this isn’t as boring as it looks!

What would make me want to read it, other than Yoda?

For the same reason we read any story—we long to know we’re not alone, they remind us of ourselves, they give us a new perspective, they make us laugh and entertain us. Sometimes, they make us feel emotions we wish we had in our everyday lives.

PKO_Alien 3 0003387I have no emotion

I doubt that’s true. 

You look very emotional. 

Actually, right now I think you’re blue.

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Am not!

Have you looked in the mirror?

.

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Stop that!

Jennifer, she’s picking on me!

That’s part of the interviewer gig… brush it off, don’t let her get the upper hand!

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Well, okay then.  So, mis Ayre-y Ayres.

Does anything explode in this novel?

Yes.

Think Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Oh!  I like marshmallows.  Wait a minute.

Ha!  I just got that.  I loved that movie!

Me, too.

That makes us movie sisters!

PKO_Alien 3 0003387Well, okay, then sister.

Other than exploding marshmallows, what’s the book about?

Can eighteen things save a life?

Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name (after her grandmothers of course) and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten.

Just as she’s finally embracing the joys of living life for the moment, her therapist reveals a terrifying secret and Olga’s world is shaken. In the past year, it took eighteen remarkable things to change a life, but nothing she believed about her mission is true.

Now she doesn’t just risk losing her true soul-mate forever, she risks losing her very soul.

Alien Huh CloseWhaaaat?  It doesn’t sound like things explode.  And you’re another one of those chicks who sounds like they are reading when I asked what their story is about. I hate that!

Ummmm, Sorry?

PKO_Alien 3 0003387You best be!

Now you must redeem yourself! Have you ever actually exploded anything?

As a teacher, I’ve done the baking soda and vinegar volcano reaction many times. Also, probably everyone has done fireworks on the 4th of July, but have they blown up a watermelon with fireworks? Enough said.

Alien SmileHee Hee.  That sounds like fun!

Have you ever painted you hair blue?

No, but I let my students do it twice!

And guess what, it was to motivate them to READ!

.

Alien SmileYou sound like such a cool teacher!

Have you ever thought of maybe taking over the world?

Yes. I’m thinking of embedding a secret code in the text of my next book, 18 Truths, that will put everyone automatically under my hypnosis after they read it. I will then order them to build me a Death Star and take over galaxies one by one. Would you like to help?

PKO_Alien 1 0003414YES!  I am up to the challenge!  Finally, a kindred spirit! Have you ever actually been in space?

I’m originally from Dagobah. Do you think an evil-genius writer and master of words could actually be a mere human? Psh!

Alien SmileHa!  Finally an admission of the truth!  I knew someone with such  an extra-ordinary talent had to be from another world!  Welcome to Earth, Ms. Jamie of Dagobah!

It’s nice to be here. 

Does this mean I can give away a copy of my book?

Alien SmileYes!  Absolutely!  Let’s allow people to comment below, and then you, in your infinite alien wisdom, can pick a winner

Great! 

Let’s do it!

.

Alien SmileIf anyone would like to win a free copy of “18 things” leave a comment below.  We will choose a winner on Monday.

How about we give the winner a choice of an ebook or paperback?

.

Alien SmileYou got it!

So start commenting!

If you’d like a chance to win a free copy of 18 Things, please leave a comment below, and if you’d like to find out more about Jamie Ayres, hop on over to http://jamieayres.com/