YA Scavenger Hunt — read on for exclusive content from ANN AGUIRRE!

Posted on October 3, 2013

Welcome to the latest edition of the YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give you guys a chance to read exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to rack up on prizes! This time, I was lucky enough to be asked to take part. At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating 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 read like the wind, my friends: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for (about) 72 hours!

(Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM–but there is also a red team and a gold team for chances to win a whole different set of twenty 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: First of all, you ought to know: My favorite number is 47. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, each and every one of us!, and then add them up. (Calculators/online programs/little sisters who are very good at arithmetic = all acceptable problem-solving solutions. This is a scavenger hunt, not math class.)

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 to win.
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 6, at noon Pacific Time! Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered, alas.
Ann Aguirre
Today, I’m hosting the one, the only ANN AGUIRRE on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! USA Today bestselling author Ann Aguirre has been a clown, a clerk, a savior of stray kittens, and a voice actress, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in Mexico with her husband and children. She writes science fiction, steampunk and YA.

For more info, check out Ann’s website, or find out how to buy HORDE!!

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

HORDE cover
The horde is coming.

Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time they’re not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Teagan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce since the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn’t run. With knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade’s love.
Now, read on to get a COMPLETELY EXCLUSIVE scene from OUTPOST … written in Fade’s POV:

I wake to the sound of screaming.

Night. My entire body aches; it feels like they broke some ribs with the last beating. Hurts to breathe. Hurts even more to consider what I’ve lost. My vision is blurred, showing me only darkness. I taste blood. I’m bound like livestock, so I can’t tell what’s going on, but the other humans in the pen with me are frightened.

Someone rolls me over and I fight. I try a head-butt, but I can’t tell how many there are. I won’t die like Frank. I won’t.

“Fade, it’s me. Deuce. Can you run?”

At first, I think I’m hallucinating, and then shame and anger washes over me until I’m choking on them in the form of bile in my throat. I can’t stand for her to see me like this; I’d rather die. Why couldn’t you let me go?

I’m still not sure she’s real when I whisper, “…Deuce?”

More screams ring out. The others in the pen with me are running. She’s saved them, too. That makes me feel even worse. This pain is nothing like I’ve known before, nothing like the whippings I took in the livery for angering my foster father. It’s down in the bone. But with her help, I struggle to my feet. Maybe I’m not strong enough, but she is. I can’t be the reason she dies. Trying to save me.

If I was better, stronger, faster—anything—I could’ve stopped this.

“Run,” she begs. “Don’t fight. Don’t stop. Just follow me and run.”

I do. She’s so determined. Each step sends fire lancing through my side. I can’t breathe. I can hardly see. And she’s shoving from behind. I want to scream at her to stop, but she wouldn’t understand. Strength is everything to her.

It might not have been so bad, except when we staggered away from the killing field, I find Stalker waiting in the woods. Of course he came with her. Of course he did. Shame melds with anger, though I know it’s not fair. But he’s my enemy, and I’m now I’m indebted to him.

“You did it,” Stalker murmurs.

I say nothing. Thank you would be insincere when I want to strangle him and I want to punch something, but more shamefully, I also want to crawl away and cry, huddle like an animal and lick my wounds. I can never, ever be strong enough to fight at her side again. She wants a warrior at her back, and I’m… broken. I’m like the people in Salvation now, cowering behind their walls. How can she look at me and see anything but meat? That’s all I am. When you’ve seen what I have, all illusions fall away.

Deuce signals for us to move out, and I follow. What else is there? The pain becomes a white-hot blaze behind my eyes. I can hardly breathe, and the trees are only dark smudges through my swollen eyes. Eventually, she calls for us to make camp. I still haven’t spoken. My words are dry as withered leaves, crunching underfoot, and I break more of them with each stride.

She comes to me, soft and tentative. And it’s so unlike her—that makes it worse. Now she has to be someone else, even to approach me. I jerk back, unable to imagine what her touch will be like when it’s laced with pity. But more than that, I don’t ever want anyone’s hands on me again. My skin crawls.

“Don’t,” I whisper roughly.

I should have died out there. I wish I had.



And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Ann Aguirre, and more! To enter, you need to remember that my favorite number is 47. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue 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 – SHELLEY CORIELL! Shelley’s blog awaits you …

Still here? On the last night of the contest?


THEN YOU’RE IN LUCK.





For you guys still playing along with the YA Scavenger Hunt on its last night, you have a chance to WIN BOOKS! Just comment below (with a way I can contact you), and FIVE of you will win autographed hardcover copies of my novel BALTHAZAR. I will ship internationally, so anyone can enter and maybe win! But act fast … you only have until noon PST on Sunday, October 6!

61 Responses to “YA Scavenger Hunt — read on for exclusive content from ANN AGUIRRE!”

    • claudia

      Thanks so much, Kassiah! But don’t stop now — I’m posting a LAST MINUTE PRIZE any second now!

  3. Pavan

    Damn that was something!! I haven’t read an Ann Agguire book as of yet but I desperately want to, especially after that intense POV!!

    I absolutely love the YASH!!

    Twitter: @LovesBooks96

    • Pavan

      Forgot to add my email as well! Thanks for making this contest international 🙂

      pavankh(at)hotmail(dot)com

  10. Cindy C.

    Wow! Thank you so much for this giveaway! I’m very excited! 😀
    Twitter: cgcandia

  14. Natasha

    Thanks you for the amazing giveaway!!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

  17. Casey

    Please please please pick me! I would love to win a copy of BALTHAZAR! 🙂

    c4casey(at)comcast(dot)net

    • claudia

      Winners will be random, but you’re entered and here’s hoping you win!

  19. Kimberly B.

    This would be great to win! I love Balthazar! Thanks for the great giveaway!

  20. Rima

    Thanks for being part of YASH and for this awesome side prize!
    oceanangel_92(at)hotmail(dot)com

  23. Jen

    jenbook4(at)gmail.com

    Phew this comment thing doesn’t like me. Thanks for being a part of YASH

  25. Fly to the Sky

    Ahhh! So excited for this book!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING IN YASH and also for having this amazing giveaway!!
    (If you can’t tell I’m super excited!!!!)
    readbooksandlivegreen(at)gmail(dot)com

  26. Yun-A

    Thanks for doing YASH! I haven’t had a chance to read Spellcaster yet, but I loved Giovanni’s Farewell in Enthralled

    • claudia

      Oh, thank you so much for the kind words about “Giovanni’s Farewell.” I hope you’ll check out SPELLCASTER soon – and you are hereby entered.

    • claudia

      I don’t think so! I think everyone got in before the buzzer yesterday. (Have been cut off from internet access and so not able to finish the contest before now.)

  28. Camilla Leonard

    Thanks for being a part of YASH! so excited!! 😀

    camillaleonard18(at)gmail.com

  29. Rachel S

    This hunt has been so much fun, thanks for being a part of it – and for offering such an awesome giveaway!! I would love to have a copy of Balthazar, and that would finish off my Evernight collection!!!

    My email is centerstagegirly AT yahoo DOT com

    Fingers crossed 🙂

  30. Anne Consolacion

    I would love to win your book! 🙂

    anne.j2 (at) gmail.com

  31. Kellani

    So excited :3 Thanks for your giveaway and being a part of YASH!

    kellaniarnold (@) yahoo (dot) com