Thursday, March 29, 2012

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt with Janet Gurtler



Hello, hello!!!!  Fun fun fun!
Okay. So. To make the Spring 2012 Hunt a little simpler, we're offering THREE hunts simultaneously! You can enter one, two, or all three hunts. Each hunt will have a prize of TWENTY signed books. To find out which books are a part of which hunt, click here!

As you can see I am part of TEAM RED!
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Hidden within my post is a single letter that is RED. Make a note of that letter! It’s a part of a scrambled phrase. When you go to all the author sites of the red team, you’ll have all the letters you need to enter the contest.
Entry Form: Once you piece together all the clues to the hunt, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the completed phrase 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 1st, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct puzzle code or without contact information will not be considered.


Welcome to Janet's world on the YA SCAVENGER HUNT!

I'm lucky enough to host Leah Bobet and her book, ABOVE, an amazing debut coming out very soon!! ABOVE officially releases April 1st from Arthur A. Levine Books. But if you want to know a SECRET, I saw it on a display table at Chapters yesterday. So it's out in the world! (Yes. Sometimes we are just that much ahead in Canada) ;)

The book is gorgeous and sure to be a big hit!!

A gorgeous urban fantasy about dangers outside and in.

Matthew has always lived in Safe, a community hidden far beneath the pipes and tunnels of the city Above. The residents fled to Safe years before to escape the Whitecoats and their cruel experiments, and now Matthew is responsible for both the keeping of Safe’s stories and for Ariel—a golden-haired shapeshifter, and the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen.

But one horrifying night, an old enemy murders Safe’s founder, Atticus, and the community is taken over by an army of shadows. Only Matthew, Ariel, and a handful of friends escape Above. Now they not only have to survive in a sunlit world they barely know, but they must unravel the mystery of the shadows’ fury and Atticus’s death. It’s up to Matthew to find a way to remake Safe—not just for himself and his family, but for Ariel, who’s again faced with the life she fled, and who needs him more than ever before.

An urban fantasy and a love story, Above is the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new voice



Leah Bobet drinks tea, wears feathers in her hair, and plants gardens in alleyways. Her short fiction has appeared in venues including On Spec, Realms of Fantasy, and several year's best anthologies. ABOVE is her first novel.

And now for your EXCLUSIVE CONTENT from ABOVE!!




Above
Scavenger Hunt extra
There's nothing private in the apartment on Jameson Avenue. Beatrice knew that on the
day she first got the keys and held them in her hand so tight they left tooth-prints on her palms. Darren used to bitch about that; bitch most elegantly about how a person couldn't wipe their backside in this place without ten minutes of colour commentary. Darren, she'd say, how 'bout doing it down at the corner? and—
He'd stop. He'd mutter a little and go for a walk; come back with a basket of alleycat-rough apples stolen off someone's backyard tree. Dump 'em on the table where they'd roll and catch and wobble, and say, offhand, dessert. Because they all knew – all know, living on top of each other like it's Night of the Living Dead – that there's a hell of a lot more privacy in the apartment than there is sleeping on the street.
And an address to put on job applications. Food in the fridge. A fridge to even have food
in. A place to sleep at night where you know, no matter what, you'll be safe—
Safe.
Goddamn.
There is nothing private in her stupid, stupid apartment. It's been two weeks since they
went below, went down into the sewers and came back one man short. Since she saw darkness with arms and legs ball up its impossible fist and punch her right in the ribs, and the cold of it hurt so bad her breath knotted up for hours and convinced her she was gonna die. Since someone did die.
She didn't like him; that's the crazy thing. He picked fights and used up all the hot water
and was a total pain in the ass. But he lived here. He put people up against the wall for not doing their chores, or thinking they could take advantage. He never argued 'bout the rent. He left pudding cups on the counter if you'd had a bad day, and didn't ask where they disappeared to.
There is nowhere private to cry.
Beatrice palms the key, squeezes it between her fingers. Yanks the laces of her boots tight one, then the other. The heavy leather circles her feet, her legs, her ankles. Ties her solid to the real world: loose floor tiles and dirty windows and sweat.
"Where you goin'?" someone says sleepy. Kat. It's Kat, coming out of the bathroom, halfdrunk or half-asleep, tiny inside the massive Nine Inch Nails shirt she uses for pajamas. The one that belonged to someone, someday, somewhen, but Beatrice has never asked. You don't ask about people's pasts, here. The minute you know you're all involved, and then it's your problem too, and what happens then, what happens then—
Kat didn't come down with them, to the sewers, to the tunnels, to the dark. Kat didn't see all those bodies laid out like a catastrophe. Like a disease. Like rotten apples, fallen from the tree at the end of a long autumn, burst sick and juicy on the grass.
"Goin' for a walk," Bea says, clipped, and eases out the front door into the sickly hallway
lights. Locks the door behind her.
Her shadow trails her out the door, down the hall. Into the empty streets.
#

You know you want more!!!! Go out and pick up ABOVE as soon as you can!

Okay hunters, your SECRET LETTER IS C.

  
To continue the hunt please go visit ALI CROSS 's Blog!

Remember- if you get lost STUCK? you can get help!

Good luck and happy hunting and don't forget to look for my exclusive content. For those who've read IF I TELL the exclusive content is from my new book coming out called WHO I KISSED, but features Jaz and Ashley who really do show up in the book. The scene is revised though for 'hunters eyes only' to be in Jaz's Point of View.

WHO I KISSED comes out October 1st and is about Sam, a girl who struggles with boy problems and serious regret after accidentally killing a boy she barely knows when she kisses him after consuming a peanut butter sandwich. Sam was not aware he had a deathly allergy to peanuts.

Monday, March 26, 2012

My Book? Really?

So this morning I woke up and when I walked downstairs in search of my best friend (my morning cup of coffee) I looked out the window and saw snow. Big fat wet flakes of snow.  And yes. It is Spring. In case someone forgot to inform Mother Nature of that fact.

So I grumbled a little about the weather, while my hubby grumbled on his way out the door to work. Just a grumpy Monday morning for Mr and Mrs. So I made my coffee and then made my son's lunch, popped some Eggo's in the toaster for him and sat down with my laptop for the morning check in. And then the phone rang. 8:15. I picked it up expecting it to be my husband who had just left for work, and often calls with something he forgot to tell me early in the morning.

"Hello, this is Vicki calling from RWA and I'm pleased to tell you I'M NOT HER is a double finalist in the Rita contest." And there were other words, but they were all kind of fuzzy as my head processed what was happening and being said to me. RITA?? Me????

I was aware that I wasn't crying or screaming. I wondered if I should be. I seemed too ultra cool and in control in my own head. I did start to babble a little and then caught myself and stopped.  I chatted with the wonderful Vicki for a little while and then hung up. My son was grinning at me, not knowing what was going on, but he overheard enough to know it was about a book. And cool. And then we shuffled off to school.  Me still kind of in a shocked state. Him full of excitement about his own great news he got yesterday. (accepted to a great Fine Arts School)

I came home and wrote an email to my editor. Double Finalist. She called and was thrilled for me.  She told me I was chill. I giggled. We talked about the book I'm currently working on that is giving me some struggles. She game me some feedback and direction and then congratulated me some more.

I went on Twitter and saw congrats tweets.  I posted the news on Facebook. And yet still it's all kind of a surreal feeling. In my head I'm kind of imagining no one else entered the category this year.  And that's why I was nominated. Except I looked at the other nominees. And there are some freaking amazing books nominated. For me and my book to be mentioned in the same breath. Well. It's pretty fantastico! Humbling. Amazing.

I'm self depreciating my nature. It is my way. I don't much like to brag. So this is really weird. That my book was read by members of RWA and deemed worthy of an award nomination. It is seriously cool.  Seriously. Cool. So. Cool.

I was a member of RWA for many years when I first started writing. I love RWA a lot. I let my membership lapse for a few years when I started in the YA writing direction but rejoined a few months ago. I still go to local RWA workshops. I am planning on joining the local chapter again, just haven't gotten around to it. Swim committments. Writing.  Life.

So. When this all kicks in, I think I will be even more cooled out. I am extremely cooled out already, I just don't really know it yet.  I'm happy and humbled and giggly inside.

2012 RITA Finalists for Young Adult Romance
Enclave by Ann Aguirre (Macmillan Feiwel & Freinds; Liz Szabla, editor)
Flawless by Lara Chapman (Bloomsbury Publishing; Caroline Abbey, editor)
Hourglass by Myra McEntire (Egmont USA; Regina Griffin, editor)
I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler (Sourcebooks Fire; Leah Hultenschmidt, editor)
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep (Kensington Teen; Alicia Condon, editor)
Warped by Maurissa Guibord (Delacorte Press; Michelle Poploff, editor)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

YA SCAVENGER HUNT- TEAM RED

Hey!!

Have you ever been a little late for a party? Well. That's me. But I'm here now!!!

So, the announcement was made for the final lineup of the Spring Scavenger Hunt! This year includes 60 YA authors! With fabulous prizes around every corner. You don't want to miss this!

Below is your sneak preview of the authors and the books they will be featuring on the hunt.
These books and covers look completely amazing. Yes???


JUS ACCARDO


AMBER ARGYLE


LISA T. BERGREN


LISA BURSTEIN



SOFIE COUCH


KIMBERLY DERTING


LAURA A.H. ELLIOTT


CHRISTINE FONSECA


ABBI GLINES


CYNTHIA HAND


KAREN AMANDA HOOPER


S.R. JOHANNES


GINA LINKO


GRETCHEN MCNEIL


MIKE MULLIN


ERICA O’ROURKE


JOY PREBLE


JESSICA SHIRVINGTON


TIFFANY TRUITT


DEBBIE VIGUIE


ANN AGUIRRE


JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT


LEAH BOBET


TERA LYNN CHILDS


WILLOW CROSS


ALI CROSS


LEIGH FALLON


TARA FULLER


JANET GURTLER


CINDY HOGAN


COLLEEN HOUCK


ELANA JOHNSON


JAMIE MANNING

The Glimpse
CLAIRE MERLE


S.L. NAEOLE


GREGG OLSEN


LISA & LAURA ROECKER


JERI SMITH-READY

PrideUnleashed_800x1236
CAT KALEN


LANI WOODLAND


JOSEPHINE ANGELINI


BRODI ASHTON


CK BRYANT


ANGELA CORBETT


GINA DAMICO


BREE DESPAIN


BETH FANTASKEY


MARLEY GIBSON


RAE HACHTON


NANCY HOLDER


TARA HUDSON


SUZANNE LAZEAR


MYRA MCENTIRE


ALEXANDRA MONIR


LISA NOWAK


AMY PLUM


INARA SCOTT


TISH THAWER


MAGAN VERNON


RASHELLE WORKMAN


Leave a comment on this blog telling me which book or books you are the most excited about other than my own of course. ;)

The amazingly gifted author Beth Revis has created a website just for our Scavenger Hunts! Click on the YA Scavenger Hunt image below to be redirected there. Because we have so many authors this time we are breaking into three groups. We have BLUE TEAM, RED TEAM, and YELLOW TEAM!


Each group is made up of 20 authors and I am on TEAM RED!




This means that my bonus material will be found on the red team. If you get lost on the hunt simply return to the hunt website and pick up where you left off. While you check out the website, don't forget to vote on the polls, follow the site, and check out all the prizes. You can even tweet from there too!


YA Scavenger Hunt



I'll also be offering a prize for one special winner. This prize pack will include swag from all three of my books. An I'M NOT HER notepad and key chain, IF I TELL bookmarks,  and WHO I KISSED book bag to store your fave books. And maybe even some delicious candies....

Good luck and HAVE FUN!!