Amber R. Duell's Blog, page 3
October 3, 2017
FALL 2017 YA SCAVENGER HUNT!
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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 book from each author on the hunt on my team!
But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until October 8th at noon Pacific Time!
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Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are seven contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the ORANGE TEAM–but there is also a red team, a blue team, a green team, a gold team, a purple team, and a pink team 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.
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Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve hidden a number. Collect the numbers of all the authors on the orange team, and then add them up.
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 October 8th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Tamar Sloan!
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A school psychologist by day, Tamar channels her passion for books into creating young adult stories about discovering life and love beyond our comfort zones. She is the award-winning author of the Prime Prophecy Series. Her debut novel, Prophecy Awakened, is an epic story of a love that defies boundaries.
Find out more information by checking out Tamar Sloan’s author website and learn more about her book here: www.tamarsloan.com
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When shy, wounded Eden meets Noah, the guy who never came of age like every one of his ancestors, the connection is instantaneous and undeniable. A connection destined to be the catalyst for a prophecy that neither knew existed.
A prophecy others are willing to kill for.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Hey, Reader!
Your exclusive content is the first three chapters of Book 2 in the Prime Prophecy Series! Prophecy Accepted continues Noah and Eden’s epic story of a love that defies boundaries. This sequel, which has had rave reviews, really starts off with a bang. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
Get your exclusive sneak peak of Prophecy Accepted by clicking HERE.
(Just in case that doesn’t work, here’s the link to paste into your browserhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/rlcztcz6dwow9vr/Prophecy%20Accepted%20Sample.pdf?dl=0
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To enter for a chance to win a ton of awesome books, you need this number: 25! Add up all the numbers of the authors on the orange team, and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
To enter my personal giveaway see the Rafflecopter HERE.
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest, head over to Kristin Smith’s blog! She’s the author of CATALYST! http://swordsandstilettos.blogspot.com/
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September 28, 2017
EBOOK SALE!
You can now get the Fragile Chaos ebook from Amazon for only $1.99! The sale ends 10/27/17 so get it while you can and stay tuned for more news soon! 
July 18, 2017
FRAGILE CHAOS IS HERE!!!
I can’t believe I get to say this, but my book is out in the world! EEEEP!!!! I knew this day was coming for the last 11 months, and yet here it we are! (I’m so dumbfounded that it took me a week to make this post, but let’s pretend I didn’t loose myself in a vortex for several days.)
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When I heard the doorbell ring, I knew it was UPS.
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Who am I kidding? I totally stalked my tracking number for days.
I ran to the door like it was the Easter Bunny, Santa, and the Publisher’s Clearing House people all rolled into one. There wasn’t anything that could’ve prepared me for holding Fragile Chaos in all its glory!
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It was almost two years from idea to real book, and let me tell you–it was the fastest two years of my life! I’ve learned a lot and met so many great people along the way. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over this long journey! ❤
Amazon B&N Kobo Smashwords iTunes RCP Indiebound
May 24, 2017
A GAME OF FATE
Who wants to play a game?
I do!
How about a round of Fate?!
You can print your own Fate dice and instructions here. If you don’t have a printer, you can still play! I’ll get to that in a minute. 
May 3, 2017
Voices of YA Tag
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I was tagged by Leslie Hauser (@LHauser27) on Twitter. Her book, CHASING EVELINE, comes out the same day as FRAGILE CHAOS! (7/11/17) Thanks, Leslie!
May 2, 2017
FRAGILE CHAOS BLOG TOUR LINKS & THUNDERCLAP SIGN-UP
Fragile Chaos just completed it’s first blog tour with YA Bound Book Tours. Check out Fragile Chaos’ playlist, dream cast, interviews, guest posts, and to hear what people think, click here! THANK YOU to all the bloggers who participated! ❤
And finally, if you want to help with the Fragile Chaos Thunderclap for release day (7/11/17), please click here and hit support! Not only will it earn you my eternal gratitude, but if it’s successful, one person will win this exclusive god & goddess keychain!
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STAY TUNED!
April 4, 2017
2017 SPRING YA SCAVENGER HUNT
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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 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 until April 9th at noon Pacific Time!
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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 GOLD TEAM–but there is also a red team, a blue team, a purple team, and a pink team 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.
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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 gold 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 9th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Joshua David Bellin on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt.
[image error]Joshua David Bellin has been writing novels since he was eight years old (tho ugh the first few were admittedly very short). He taught college for twenty year s, wrote a bunch of books for college students, then decided to return to writing fiction. He is the author of three YA science fiction novels: the two-part Survival Colony series (Survival Colony 9 and Scavenger of Souls) and the deep-space adventure/romance Freefall, which releases this September. Josh loves to read, watch movies, and spend time in Nature with his kids. Oh, yeah, and he likes monsters. Really scary monsters.
Find out more information by checking out Joshua David Bellin’s author website and learn more about his book here: http://joshuadavidbellin.com/
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Having defeated a nest of the monstrous Skaldi, Querry Genn and his mother, Aleka, seek a permanent refuge for their colony. But when they encounter another colony, Querry is forced to confront the gruesome secrets that haunt his past. Joining forces with Mercy, a girl with secrets of her own, Querry fights to save the future in this gripping conclusion to the Survival Colony series.
To get your own copy of SCAVENGER OF SOULS, head over to Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/Scavenger-Souls-Joshua-David-Bellin/dp/148146244X
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
The Survival Colony series, consisting of SURVIVAL COLONY 9 and SCAVENGER OF SOULS, tells the story of a teenage boy’s battle to defeat a monstrous threat fifty years after war has laid waste to his world. But I’ve long dreamed of going back in time to tell the story of the war, the founding of the survival colonies, and the appearance of the creatures called Skaldi. The following excerpt is my first draft of the prologue to this story, which I’m tentatively titling DARK’S DOMINION.
The boy walked toward the city.
He’d been walking for days. His bare feet were torn and caked with dust. He’d seen no one else in all that time. No food had presented itself either, and he was ravenous with hunger.
The boy couldn’t remember his name.
He couldn’t remember anything about himself. Not where he was born, not who he’d known, not what had happened to him. It was as if his life had sprung into existence the morning he woke to the endless brown dust of the desert, the angry brown light of the sky. For all the days he’d wandered the desert, drawn toward the ruins of the city he somehow knew lay far to the west, he’d tried without success to recall anything about the time before he’d fallen asleep. The ache in his mind to know who he was felt as sharp as the ache in his belly, both of them driving him relentlessly onward.
The first spires of the city rose out of the desert, wavering in the heat. Even from this distance, the boy could tell how badly the place had been damaged: gaping holes showed through some of the towers, while others had partially collapsed so that they leaned against those still standing. The geometric design of the city, uprights and horizontals, had been changed into a thicket of curved and broken lines.
Still the boy shuffled forward. Something deeper than memory told him that in this desolate place, he’d find what he lacked.
His feet scuffed against stone. Or not stone—concrete. He’d reached the outskirts of the city, the rubble of flattened buildings. The wind had poured the desert over the ruins, cloaking cement and steel in brown dust. The boy’s feet burned as they came into contact with the heated sand and concrete.
The place seemed deserted, the only sound the whine of the wind. But the boy had a feeling, stronger than ever before, that he was not alone. His eyes flicked from side to side as he walked, hoping to catch a hint of another’s presence.
There.
In the shadows beneath a heap of toppled steel, something had shifted, something had separated itself from the dark. The movement was so quick the boy was certain that whoever had made it had been trying to keep hidden.
But the boy had seen it. He was sure of it. His feet turned and approached the hiding place, one of many formed by the city’s collapse.
There was a sudden flurry, a sharp noise, a dark, fleeing shape. A hard object slammed into the boy’s shoulder, staggering but not stopping him. He reached out for the tattered figure that had taken a shot at him, and in that instant he was transformed, his feet no longer dragging the ground, his body moving like a gust of wind. He caught up to the person in a second, and had just enough time to glimpse the terrified face.
“No—please!”
Then something happened to the boy. His body shuddered, his stomach feeling as if it’d been turned inside out. His mouth opened, and then it was no longer just his mouth, it was all the flesh from his face to his chest peeling back to reveal the cavity within him. It sickened him, this sensation of being torn apart, but at the same time he welcomed it. Without thought, without will, without anything but the urgent need to feed, he spread his arms wide and embraced the vagabond, and as his prey screamed, the boy knew.
He knew his name. He knew his past. The long night of his existence blazed with light, and he saw the life of the man he consumed as if it were his own: the people he’d loved, the people he’d lost. He saw it all, and for one brief moment it was as if those people were still with him, as if they hadn’t been swept away by the bombs that had reduced this city to rubble.
But then it was gone again, the memories fading into the twilight.
The Skaldi walked on through the city, wearing a new skin, eyeing the road ahead for its next meal.
© 2017 by Joshua David Bellin
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To enter for a chance to win a ton of awesome books, you need my favorite number: 17! Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the gold team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize! (Since FRAGILE CHAOS isn’t out July, I’ll be contributing a paperback of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN by Renee Ahdieh.)
To enter my personal giveaway for an eARC of FRAGILE CHAOS, see the Rafflecopter HERE.
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest, check out Jennifer Bardsley, author of DAMAGED GOODS! http://JenniferBardsley.net
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THANKS FOR PLAYING!
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March 12, 2017
REALM OF THE GODS AND GODDESSES: PART 6
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Realm of Theodric, God of War
A dirt path led away from the circular stone temple at the edge of Theodric’s realm, winding through a grassy field, and up a hill. A gray stone mansion at the top was surrounded by a circular wall. Passing under the entryway, the packed dirt gave way to fine black gravel that circled the interior courtyard. Turrets capped the corners of the twenty-eight room mansion.
Most of the rooms were covered in dust, and used for storage. Two bedrooms and a bathroom were used on the second floor by Theodric and his advisor, but the war room was occupied most frequently. High windows covered the back wall with seats beneath each. On either side of the doors hung an array of weapons—swords, guns, throwing knives—and, to the right, maps were tacked from the ceiling down. Books and scrolls lined shelves. The war table stood useless in the middle of the room. Theodric moved the colored glass pieces across the black base out of habit now instead of necessity.
Even in times of peace, Theodric was preparing for the moment that harmony shattered, but without his full power, he was no longer able to see things like he needed to. Hundreds of spies were scattered across the world to keep him updated. Three hundred male sacrifices were left living inside the outer wall. A sacrificial bride had never made it out of the main chamber of the temple.
Behind the mansion stretched a wide forest. Animals were no longer present, but a small brook laced through trees. Upstream, a waterfall spilled over the edge of rocky cliffs, filling a pool and feeding the brook. A mountain range began at the edge of the tree line, and didn’t stop until it reached the Between—a dark abyss holding the six god and goddess realms together. The threat of being banished into the nothingness was usually more than enough for Ebris to keep everyone in line.
In case you missed it:
Week 1 – Ebris, King of the Gods
Week 2 – Drea, Goddess of Life
Week 3 – Brisa, Goddess of the Sea
Week 4 – Leander, God of Death
Week 5 – Astra, Goddess of Love
March 10, 2017
PRE-ORDER PRIZES
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Hey there!
So you’ve pre-ordered Fragile Chaos–Now it’s time to pick your thank you gift from me! (If you haven’t yet and want to, you can pre-order HERE for $3.99. I’ll update with other pre-order links as they come.)
If you pre-ordered the ebook, you’re already getting some awesome exclusive content including links to quizzes, character profiles, and a bonus Theo scene. But I want to give you a bit more to show my appreciation!
Everyone will receive swag including a post card of both maps, printed Fate dice, a signed bookplate, a bookmark, and a sketch of Cassia and Theo. (Note: The first 50 pre-orders will receive a metal hook bookmark. After that, they will be cardstock.) All swag will be mailed out on release day (July 11, 2017).
Prize Pack #1: READER – If you choose this prize, you will immediately receive a bonus Cassia scene as a PDF.
Prize Pack #2: WRITER – If you choose this prize, you will receive either a query letter or first page (~250 word) critique. Your choice! It’s fine if you’re not ready now-this won’t expire-but let me know so I can mark you down.
Ready to claim your prize? Send proof of purchase (a screen shot of your confirmation will do!) to AmberRDuell @ gmail (dot) com. Please put ‘Pre-order Prize’ followed by your choice in the subject line. (example: Pre-order Prize READER) Make sure to include the address you want your swag sent to!
And THANK YOU again!! ❤
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February 26, 2017
REALM OF THE GODS AND GODDESSES: PART 5
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Realm of Astra, Goddess of Love
White and gray columns held up a balcony that ran the entire length of Astra’s two-story square palace. A frosted pink and white skylight shone down on the double staircase in the foyer. Crystal chandeliers hung in each of the two-hundred rooms, and someone was always playing a musical instrument. It could be heard almost anywhere with sheer curtains billowing from glassless windows.
Despite the lack of belief, Astra would visit the mortals on a regular basis. Her walled-in temple was surrounded by six sets of four pillars. The five alcoves belonging to her siblings were each set at the top of a separate staircase inside. An infinity symbol carved from marble served as her altar before the pit with a wide, single-wick candle at its center. A river flowed near the entrance with paddleboats waiting by the dock. Flowering trees grew across the hilly landscape. A stone path lined with always-blooming cherry blossoms could be followed throughout the realm.
Most residents preferred to spend time in the common areas: pillows covering the flat roof to enjoy the stars at night or the atrium that opened to the entire first floor with a deep-set pool at its center. With seventy-five servants remaining along with seven husbands, there was always company to be found in either place. While Astra loved each of her sacrifices equally, she hadn’t truly accepted any husbands in the last nine hundred years. If the men chose to stay, she honored their sacrifice and encouraged them to find love elsewhere in the household.
In case you missed it:
Week 1 – Ebris, King of the Gods
Week 2 – Drea, Goddess of Life
Week 3 – Brisa, Goddess of the Sea
Week 4 – Leander, God of Death
