Winter 2012 YA Scavenger Hunt & 1st ELEGY ARC Contest

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating author, but 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. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM --but there is also a blue 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 homepage.

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 red 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 Sunday, December 2, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.  If you have trouble or get stuck, be sure to go here for help.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today, I'm hosting the amazing Kristi Cook, author of HAVEN, MIRAGE, and the upcoming ETERNAL!

As a child, Kristi Cook took her nose out of a book only long enough to take a ballet class (or five) each week.  Not much has changed since then, except she's added motherhood to the mix and enjoys penning her own novels as much as reading everybody else's.  A transplanted Southern girl, Kristi lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

MIRAGE, the sequel to HAVEN, is Kristi's most recently published novel.  Danger looms large in MIRAGE, which Booklist called "a blend of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, the Twilight saga, and Lois Duncan's thrillers.

Violet McKenna is back for her senior year at Winterhaven and thrilled to be back with Aidan after a long summer apart.  But while their love for each other is as strong as ever, their troubles are far from over.

News of a rogue vampire on a killing spree sets everyone on edge.  While Aidan is determined to stop the killer, Violet is chilled by a horrifying vision she simply must prevent...for if she can't, two people she loves will meet a violent end.

In the midst of Violet's fears, a mysterious newcomer enters her life - and he has some vital information, not just about her past but about her future as well.  Now everything Violet held as truth is upended, and she is left not knowing whom to trust, if she is in danger, and - worst of all - whether she and Aidan are really meant to be together.

Sounds awesome, right?  Well, even better I get to share some EXCLUSIVE CONTENT with you from Kristi's upcoming novel, ETERNAL.  This third and final book in the Winterhaven series will blow you away!  So, on to the excerpt!

ETERNAL by KRISTI COOK

Excerpt

Aidan

Paris, France

Flames licked at the restraints, crackling noisily as the smell of singed flesh filled the small space. My flesh. Burning, then healing—then burning again. At intervals, spikes pierced my sides, the jagged barbs tearing through skin and muscle, and then retracting until the wounds healed over.

The searing pain was endless, relentless. I had no idea how long I’d been there in the torch-lit chamber beneath the Tribunal’s headquarters. Hours? Days? Weeks?

I swallowed hard, my elongated canines scraping my lower lip, drawing blood. Blood. I needed to feed. Denied my elixir, the thirst was driving me mad. I could smell it, somewhere up above, pulsing through veins and warming the skin of the living. The metallic tang made my mouth water, made me tremble with need. I closed my eyes, fighting the bloodlust, denying it.

When I opened my eyes again, she was there, standing before me.

Violet.

The orange flames flickered across her face, throwing shadows across her cheekbones. Her mouth curved into a smile as she reached a hand out to me, beckoning me.

My heart thudded against my ribs as my hungry gaze swept over her, devouring her. I tried to call out her name, to beg her forgiveness.

I’m sorry, Vi. So very sorry.

She shook her head, her brows drawn over the emerald eyes that had haunted my days and nights in this miserable, agony-filled existence that was my life since I left her.

“Come back to me,” she begged, her voice a ragged whisper. “Please, Aidan. I need you.”

I tried to reach for her, raging against the restraints that dug into my wrists, manacling me. A sob tore from my parched throat as I struggled ineffectually, the metal bruising and biting my skin, breaking my bones.

And then she began to fade away, her form dissolving like wisps of smoke that looped and curled toward the ceiling before fading into nothingness.

Oh my - I seriously can't wait to read this entire book!  Be sure and check out Kristi's books here.  And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books, including the FIRST EVER ARC OF ELEGY, by me, Tara Hudson!  To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 13.  Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red team and you'll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

And here's something even better: I'm running my own, separate contest!  The first person who comments correctly here on my blog with the birthday of my main character, Amelia Ashley, also wins a signed ARC of ELEGY (out with HarperTeen, June 4, 2013)!  Even if you don't win the grand prize, you can still find out what happens to Amelia and Joshua seven months before everyone else! :)

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on the hunt, you need to check out the website of the next author (who happens to be one of my very besties!), Josephine Angelini, at her website here.

Thanks for stopping by, and good luck with both the grand prize and the ELEGY ARC contest!