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 Huntpage to find out all about the hunt. There are EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the Green Team.
Go to the YA Scavenger Huntpage to find out all about the hunt. There are EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the Green Team.
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 Sunday 10/4, 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 Jodie Andrefski on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Growing up, Jodie always loved to read, and that passion led to her receiving her B.A. in Secondary Education - English from Penn State University. In addition to writing, she is currently pursuing her M.S. in Mental Health Counseling. She has two children, and lives in a small town in Pennsylvania. She loves to hear from her readers! You can find her online on Twitter @2000_words.
Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author's book, SUMMER OF HOPE, here! You can also watch a book trailer for SUMMER OF HOPE:
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
A secret can change everything.
After witnessing her twin brother's death, sixteen-year-old Callie shuts down. Forced to go to her family's summer beach house, she resolves to erase the pain any way she can. Enter the "Perfect's"--the Gold Card group of girls who offer escape in the form of parties, booze and boys.
Things change when she meets Ethan. Callie does her best to convince herself she couldn't care less if Ethan looks like he just stepped out of a magazine and is completely adorkable to boot. Despite trying to keep her distance, Callie is drawn to his sweet ways and sexy smile. She falls hard--but her world comes crashing down when she discovers he's been hiding a secret that could change everything. Ethan came to the beach to escape, to live without the label. Because his label... is the kid with Hodgkin's disease.
Callie is left with the choice of standing by Ethan's side and watching another person she loves die, or running and abandoning the one person who helped her to believe in love again. Callie's decision ends up putting her own life in danger, and changes the lives of everyone around her, forever.
After witnessing her twin brother's death, sixteen-year-old Callie shuts down. Forced to go to her family's summer beach house, she resolves to erase the pain any way she can. Enter the "Perfect's"--the Gold Card group of girls who offer escape in the form of parties, booze and boys.
Things change when she meets Ethan. Callie does her best to convince herself she couldn't care less if Ethan looks like he just stepped out of a magazine and is completely adorkable to boot. Despite trying to keep her distance, Callie is drawn to his sweet ways and sexy smile. She falls hard--but her world comes crashing down when she discovers he's been hiding a secret that could change everything. Ethan came to the beach to escape, to live without the label. Because his label... is the kid with Hodgkin's disease.
Callie is left with the choice of standing by Ethan's side and watching another person she loves die, or running and abandoning the one person who helped her to believe in love again. Callie's decision ends up putting her own life in danger, and changes the lives of everyone around her, forever.
Sounds amazing! For your special bonus content on the YASH Scavenger Hunt, Jodie is giving readers a sneak peek at her current manuscript--a YA thriller called CRUSH.
Chapter One
Every breath you take. Every move you make. Every bond you break. Every step you take, I’ll be watching you. ~The Police
His hand smoothed the paper; lips moving as he silently read the words he’d so painstakingly written in careful, block letters. It wasn’t time to reveal his identity. Not yet. His left hand shook a little around the thin sheet of paper as his mind raced with visions of the two of them together.
Kya. Sweet, perfect, Kya.
She stood in her bedroom window, silhouetted against the glass.
The night sky wrapped around him as he watched—a shadowy friend cloaking him in darkness and holding his secret fantasies in its familiar embrace. He pressed his eyes closed just a moment, willing her image into the furthest recesses of his mind, to be called back later, when he was home in his bed, remembering what she looked like right at that moment.
The same darkness caused Kya to appear as some kind of angel, the warm light behind bathing her in an almost holy radiance. His heartbeat thundered, and his pants got a little tighter in front.
He reflexively rubbed the note against himself, smiling a little at the thought of her hands touching the paper too.
And soon, it would be time to move on to the next step of his plan. Just the thought of being so close to her, of actually touching her beautiful skin made his fingers itch.
Tap-tap-tap.
The familiar motion of pressing his fingers to his thumbs in quick staccato bursts of three soothed him enough that he could focus again. He willed his breathing to even out.
“Just breathe slowly.” The phrase pressed in on him out of nowhere, filling his brain like a foggy whisper. A man’s voice, deep and reassuring. Some distant part of him recognized the voice, thought he should know it, but he didn’t know why. He shook his head, pushing it away, not wanting anything to interfere with his time with Kya.
For just a moment, a sliver of doubt crashed in, but his face tightened in anger and he quickly smashed down the traitorous thought whispering he should go home, go home.
Tap-tap-tap.
He stared at the window, barely registering the scratch of the bushes he crouched in, their spikey branches greedy to hold tight to his clothing, to scratch his skin. He ignored the discomfort, and sucked in a breath, staring, eyes widened in rapt adoration.
Kya reached above her head, white nightgown revealing the slim form beneath. Her mouth moved, and she swayed a bit, probably singing to herself. She liked to do that in her room at night. When she thought no one was watching.
A secret they shared. Just the two of them.
Tap-tap-tap.
He licked away the small drop of saliva that formed at the side of his lip. Her dusky skin lured him in like the long ago sirens once did to the sailors. He nodded, half in a trance from her song. Kya—his siren. Calling to him.
And soon—soon… he would go to her. He would answer her call.
He glanced down at his watch, and swore. The neighbor would be coming out soon to walk that stupid little dog of hers.
After the time when it’d yapped its freaking head off and almost given away his hiding spot, he’d learned to be gone before Mrs. Crayler took the thing out for its final piss of the day. If he’d had the chance, he would’ve loved to stomp down on the rat-faced ankle-biter’s face until he heard the bones crunch under his foot. Unfortunately, he probably wouldn’t get the opportunity since Crayler always kept it on a leash.
He punched the anger down, not liking the interruption, but knowing there was nothing he could do about it. Not yet, anyway.
Tap-tap-tap.
Deep breaths.
Tomorrow he would deliver his note. He traced the letters on the lined paper once more, imagining how one day he would trace the contours of her lips. He swallowed.
Crouched low, he crept forward seventeen steps. The number was a sign. Not sixteen steps, not eighteen, but seventeen. Kya had turned seventeen a little over three months ago. His birthday was November seventeenth. That made three seventeens. Threes were good. Those three seventeens proved they were meant to be together.
Proved nothing could keep them apart.
Kya now lay on her bed, legs curled under her, absently twirling mahogany hair around her finger as she read. She was so smart. She read all the time. He leaned in closer to the window on the side of the house, wishing he could make out the title. Careful not to make a sound, he pressed three fingers to his lips and touched them to the glass. He was grateful that she rarely pulled her curtains, that maybe she knew he visited her, wanted him to visit.
High pitched barking carried from across the street, and he knew the deep burgundy door would open soon, which meant his time with Kya was over for the night. He slipped back into the darkness, headed home.
Frustrated, he stole one final, longing glance back. He reminded himself that it wouldn’t be long before there would be no pane of glass separating them. Soon, he would be able to stand close and hold Kya as she swayed to the music. She would wrap her arms around him and sing to him. She would be so thankful he’d come to her.
His mouth curled in a smile as he thought of how grateful she would be. Even if she didn’t admit it yet, she loved him too, he knew she did. He knew her better than she knew herself.
He took a large step to miss the jagged Y splitting the sidewalk, and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie as he rounded the corner. Crickets sounded, calling final goodnights to the world. A car rushed past, one headlight out.
“Pa-diddle,” he whispered, and trudged forward, suddenly needing to be home, in his room. Besides, if he wasn’t there when his father got home, there’d be hell to pay. His footsteps quickened, sneakers slapping against the concrete, crunching the first of the fallen leaves. Orange and red bled together under his feet, unnoticed, his mind still two blocks away.
Less than ten minutes later, he shut his own kitchen door behind him. One quick glance toward the living room revealed that his father was still out. Probably still down at Good Fellas, knocking back yet another shot to prove how he worked harder than shit and goddamn deserved a drink. The man was mean on a good day and a downright bastard when he got drunk.
He brushed his teeth and pulled the hoodie over his head and tossed it on the floor of his bedroom. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he tugged off his sneakers and flopped backwards, suddenly exhausted. His temples throbbed—a too familiar pain.
He frowned.
That wasn’t as good of a number as seventeen. Maybe that meant he should wait to do the next part of the plan. He couldn’t chance it not being right. It all had to be just right.
He pressed his eyes closed and rubbed his temples, willing the pain to go away.
Three more weeks then. He wrote one note a week. Excitement built when it hit that in three weeks, it would be seventeen weeks since Kya turned seventeen. Another sign.
He reached over and turned off the small light on his nightstand, smiling as the darkness once again settled around him. He pictured her, how she danced for him in the white nightgown. Moving his hand to unbutton his jeans, he closed his eyes and whispered, “Kya.”
Five minutes later, satisfied, he fell into a dreamless sleep.
Chilling! Don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Jodie Adrefski, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 5. Add 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 HERE.