YA Scavenger Hunt Spring 2017
Welcome to the 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 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 from April 4 at noon Pacific Time to April 9 at noon Pacific Time.
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are five contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PINK TEAM—but there is also a red team, a blue team, a gold team, and a purple team you can hunt through for a chance to win a whole different set of 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 hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the pink 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 April 9 at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
Also, be sure to check out my extra Rafflecopter Giveaway at the end of this post before continuing your hunt!
LET'S HUNT!
Today, I am hosting Chanda Stafford for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Bio: Chanda was found in a cabbage patch when she was only a few hours old—at least that’s what her mother always told her. She learned to write at a young age, and her list includes some truly awful poetry written while she was in elementary school and a sixty-page story about a dog named Ruby.
She published her first book, FIRST, in 2013, with Red Adept Publishing, and has since published two more (IMPOSTER, and BURNING BRIGHT). When she’s not writing, she enjoys teaching, hunting for antiques, and anything paranormal. WHEN DARKNESS FALLS is the first book of a new young adult urban fantasy series.
Check out the gorgeous cover!
Here's the book blurb:
The last thing 17 year old Austen Gillet expected to find on her way home from work was her dad’s car on the side of the road, empty except for the dead woman inside.
Determined to find out what happened to her father, Austen enlists the help of Ezra, a newcomer to her town, and Ian, an eccentric lighthouse keeper. Delving deeper into Misery Bay's dark history, Austen uncovers reports of missing people, mysterious monsters, an otherworldly portal, and death stretching back hundreds of years.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
And now for the bonus material! Chanda is sharing a teaser scene from WHEN DARKNESS FALLS. In it, Austen, the main character, and the town’s newcomer, Ezra, are out on the lake near a mysterious lighthouse, searching for a bobber she saw that was attached to her missing father’s keys.
A huge shape slides beneath my canoe. Is that a fish? It can’t be. My mind’s playing tricks on me, pretending the light glinting off weeds underwater is scales and fins when it can’t be that. Heart racing, I scan the surface of the water, but all I see is seaweed and floating muck.
Ezra’s theories about shipwrecks and monsters creep into my mind. I glance at the shore, but I’m at least a hundred yards away now, and Ezra is a blurry shape on the horizon. I didn’t think I was that far out.
I clench the wooden paddle, unease running up and down my spine. Something isn’t right. I shouldn’t be this far out. I didn’t paddle that much. The current has been pulling me farther and farther out into the lake, even though it’s never been that strong before. A dense fog creeps out from the line of trees, swallowing the tall pines.
Screw it. I’m heading back to shore. I dip my oar into the water.
Thump.
I must have hit a log or that fish I saw. Northern Michigan used to be a big logging community, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there were submerged logs in the bay.
Once the boat settles, I turn the canoe toward the shore. This was a stupid idea. The wind whips up, plastering my hair across my face and blocking my sight. I rest my paddle across the canoe and yank my hair behind my ears. What looks like a green hand wrenches the paddle from my boat and jerks it into the water. What the—? Hands aren’t green and don’t appear out of the water. I must be hallucinating. That can’t—
The boat rocks dangerously, and I center myself to keep my balance.
The canoe bumps against one of the buoys. Goosebumps pepper my arms. I shouldn’t be out here. I’ve got to get out of here.
I reach for the paddle, but it bobs away. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” I slam my hands on the sides of the canoe. Now what do I do? The shore beckons to me, and if I want to get off of the water, I might have to swim.
A greenish-silver shape glides under the surface followed by a flash of red. I lean over the side of the canoe as far as I can without tipping it over. Is that—
Thump.
The canoe tips, and I fall into the lake. The cold water closes in over my head, and I’m sucked below the surface. Swim, dammit! I pump my arms and legs toward the surface, desperate to escape. My lungs seize, and black spots dance around the edges of my vision.
I bump against the net and grab the thin fibers. Wiry edges dig into the palms of my hands, tightening as I try to jerk free. I pluck at the netting, but every time I feel some of it give way, more wraps itself around me. Just as I untangle the last few strands, cold, slimy tendrils wrap around my arms.
I open my mouth to scream, but suck in more water. Sharp edges scrape against my body, and I’m dragged through the netting. Twisting and turning, I fight my attacker, but my hands and legs slide off the fish’s slippery back. The muddy green shape shoves me into the net, but this time, its sharp edges snag against my clothes and bite into my skin. Oh God, the creature’s pushing me through the opening in the fence.
I inhale another mouthful of lake water and struggle to swim away from the enormous fish, but it’s no use. The length of its body easily dwarfs mine. My heart stops. I’m going to die out there and that fish is going to eat me.
I propel myself toward the light dancing across the surface. My legs become leaden and I can barely move them. This is it. The fish nudges me with its long, scaly tail. No! I can’t die out here. I won’t be eaten by some ten-foot-long fish.
With one last burst of adrenaline, I kick toward the surface. My tortured lungs burn. Just as I’m about to give up, I break the surface. Hacking and coughing, I fill my lungs with air and try to get a bearing on my surroundings. The netting bobs up and down about a foot away. I search for my canoe, but I don’t see it.
Okay, Austen. Time for a new plan. You’re going to have to swim for the shore before that fish-creature comes back.
Too late. The fish bumps against the backs of my legs, almost knocking me under the surface again. I shriek and splash wildly, desperate to stay afloat.
Thick-scaled bodies roll through the waves all around me. I’m surrounded. Panicked, I shout for help, even though I know it’s useless. If these creatures want me dead, I don’t stand a chance.
When one of the bodies slithers in front of me again, I kick it as hard as I can while treading water. It rolls over, revealing a scaly cream-colored belly that ends in a long, finlike flipper. That can’t be right. There aren’t any fish in the Great Lakes that have a tail shaped like that. It’s impossible.
Horror bubbles up within me as the fish-creature flips over and rears itself halfway out of the water. An alien-like head at the top of a long, lean torso leers at me with slitted yellow eyes. Clumps of seaweed-colored hair hang around its face, and it opens its mouth, revealing dagger-sharp yellow teeth. Another monster joins it, identical except it has a smaller build and darker scales.
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. This can’t be happening. Any minute now, I’m going to wake up in bed, drenched in sweat, but safe. I’ll be safe on dry land, not about to get attacked by whatever these horrors are called.
The creature turns and warbles to its mate, an eerie trilling that chills me to the core. A scream bursts from my lips. I’m going to die. Ezra won’t know that the pictures were correct after all. There really are monsters in Misery Bay.
One of the creatures wraps its arms around my legs and pulls me downward. Darkness hits me, swift and silent, and my mind goes blank.
Uh-oh! Chanda's character is in real trouble. Find out more by checking out Chanda's author website or preorder WHEN DARKNESS FALLS here! By the way, there were 17 cabbages in Chanda's cabbage patch when she was a baby!
As a reminder, here are all the books you'll be playing for from the Pink Team!
Thank you so much for visiting my website! Don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter BONUS contest below that I'm running exclusively during the YA Scavenger Hunt. I'm giving away three ebooks of LIFE IN THE DANGER ZONE. You must be 16 years or older, or have the permission of a guardian to enter.
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To head to the next stop, click here and it will take you to the website of author SUSAN FAW! Happy Hunting!