YA Scavenger Hunt!

Hello, I am Katherine Longshore, hostess of this leg of the hunt!  I love travel, history and chocolate (though not necessarily always in that order) and am the author of three novels of friendship, love and betrayal set in the court of Henry VIII (GILT, TARNISH, and BRAZEN) and the "Downtonesque" MANOR OF SECRETS.  There will be a super-secret, exclusive deleted scene from BRAZEN on another blog stop, so keep searching!

You are currently hunting on Team Gold!


SCAVENGER HUNT RULES
During this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue at each stop. 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 for 72 hours!

Directions: Somewhere in this post, I have listed my favorite number (HINT, it is highlighted in GOLD.). 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.
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page 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 GOLD TEAM--but every team offers chances to win entirely different sets of books!
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, April 5th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
But be sure to read all the way to the bottom of the post--I'm hosting an additional giveaway and I'd love it if you enter!

P. J. HOOVER!
Today, I am hosting the fabulous P.J. Hoover for the Scavenger Hunt!

After a fifteen year bout as an electrical engineer, P. J. Hoover started writing books for kids and teens. When not writing, P. J. spends time with her husband and two kids and enjoys practicing kung fu, solving Rubik's cubes, and watching Star Trek. Her middle grade novel, Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life (Starscape/Macmillan, September 2014), tells the story of a young immortal King Tut, who's been stuck in middle school for over 3,000 years and must defeat an ancient enemy with the help of a dorky kid from school, a mysterious Egyptian princess, and a one-eyed cat. Her first novel for teens, Solstice (Tor Teen/Macmillan, June 2013), takes place in a global warming future and explores the parallel world of mythology beside our own. 
Find out more by checking out P.J's website and find out how to buy SOLSTICE here! 


Piper's world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.


Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth.





Tricia is sharing with us the exclusive opening chapter of a sequel to SOLSTICE, and I, for one, am hooked...


***

I settle into life in the Underworld, pushing my past into the background. When it resurfaces, Shayne is there for me. He stays with me when memories of my mom trying to burn me alive come back. He thinks I shouldn’t visit the outer world yet. He says Reese—Ares, the god of war—is out there, waiting for me. But the problem is that, even though it’s Shayne I want to be with, when I fall asleep at night, it’s Reese I dream of.

I try to keep Reese out, but for the last couple months, it’s been futile. In my dreams, he whispers in my ear and makes promises I know he would never keep. He tells me we’re destined to be together. But that’s impossible because I’m with Shayne, and that’s never going to change. Each night I push Reese’s dreams away. I never tell Shayne.

Last night was no different. I wake and pretend my dream never happened. I focus on the here-and-now. My to-do list taunts me. It tells me all the very important things I need to do like walking Cerberus and judging souls. It lets me know my responsibilities including checking in on the Elysian Fields and Tartarus. It reminds me I am queen of the Underworld which isn’t a job I can ignore. My to-do list is critical. The entire Underworld depends on it. But just once I’d like pretend I’m carefree. So I crumple it into a ball and toss it into the fire.

When I see Shayne sleeping, I decide against disturbing him. But his hand reaches up to the base of my neck and runs through my curly hair, and he pulls me close. I decide judging souls of the damned can wait a bit longer.

We eat breakfast together in front of the fire with Cerberus at our feet. Shayne reaches for a honey cake and gets ready to toss it.

“Left,” I say.

“You always say left, Piper.”

“I’ve got a thirty percent chance.” I grab the honey cake and toss it to Cerberus myself, aiming for the head on the left. I may as well improve my odds. But Cerberus’ center head snaps over, pushing the other one out of the way, and the honey cake is inhaled. All three of Cerberus’ heads look back for more.

Shayne scratches Cerberus on his right head, and Cerberus’ tail thumps until his leg starts twitching.
“I’ve been thinking about a vacation,” I say with as little inflection in my voice as possible, hoping my thoughts aren’t escaping me. I pour myself a glass of carrot-pomegranate juice and take a sip, licking the wetness off my upper lip, trying to gauge his reaction. He can’t know Reese has been on my mind. But he does know about my responsibilities.

Shayne stiffens but tries to hide it by putting a piece of cheese in his mouth. “What kind of vacation?”
In the Underworld, there are all sorts of choices for vacation. But Shayne’s body language tells me he knows I’m not talking about a couple days in the Elysian Fields.

“The outer world,” I say.

A year’s gone by since I’ve been out of the Underworld. I’ve hidden away long enough. Though I have responsibilities here, I also have them above ground. The world needs me. Maybe my mom is sending guilt telepathically to me.

Shayne shakes his head. “We don’t know where Reese is.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” But even as I say the words, I doubt them.

I put down the piece of cheese I was about to pop in my mouth. The mention of traveling back above causes my stomach to clench into a ball of anticipation. Part of me wants to remain here in the Underworld where I know Reese can’t find me. But a different part, the part that acts more on responsibility, knows I need to break down my internal barriers. It wants to see the dying earth I’ve caused by my presence here in the Underworld. But Reese is not a god to be misjudged. By doing just that last year, he kidnapped me and tried to force me to be with him. The memory of him burning in flames on top of me brings a smile to my face.

“Anything you want to share?” Shayne asks.

I stand and pull him up with me. And then I bring my face close to his until our lips nearly touch. “Just thinking about how happy I am to be with the god of the Underworld.”

But the word Underworld get lost as Shayne presses his mouth on mine. We kiss until Cerberus begins to bark and run around the room. He’s ready to start the day. Shayne and I clearly aren’t. But life is never boring when you’re part of the Underworld. And even though my body is dying to give over to the moment, responsibility calls. I tear myself from Shayne.

“The souls will wait,” Shayne says.

I shake my head. “This way I’ll have something to look forward to later.”

Shayne leans forward to give me a final kiss. “Me, too.”

***
CONTINUE THE HUNT
Continue the hunt and enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, P.J. Hoover, and more!  Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the gold team and you'll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author, Alexandra Monir!

And as you go through the hunt, be sure to Tweet #YASH



ADDITIONAL GIVEAWAY!

As you go through the Hunt, you will learn more about my book, BRAZEN (and read a deleted scene from the original manuscript), on Amy McNulty's blog, but I wanted to give all the hunters an exclusive opportunity to win a full set of all FOUR of my books--GILT, TARNISH, BRAZEN and MANOR OF SECRETS. The stories feature love and death, manipulation and romance, loyalty, loss, and most importantly, learning to be yourself.  As an added bonus, the Tudor books are the matching paperbacks printed only in the UK.

Entering is easy--all you have to do is one (or all!) of the things listed in the Rafflecopter below.  But while you're here, the easiest of all is to comment!

I'm always on the lookout for a fabulous new read, so tell me:

What is your favorite YA or coming-of-age novel?  And if you've got the time, tell me why!


a Rafflecopter giveaway