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YA Scavenger Hunt: Fall 2013!


Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-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 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 GOLD TEAM--but there is also a red team and a blue team for a chance to win a whole different set of 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: Below, you'll notice that I've listed 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 October 6th, 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 Lea Nolan for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Lea writes the kinds of stories she sought as a teen—smart paranormals with bright heroines, crazy-hot heroes, diabolical plot twists, plus a dose of magic, a draft of romance, and a sprinkle of history. She holds degrees in history and women’s studies concentrating in public policy and has spent nearly twenty years as a health policy analyst and researcher. She lives in Maryland with her heroically supportive husband and three clever children. You can learn more about Lea at www.leanolan.com or chat her up at @Lea_Nolan.

Find out more information by checking out Lea's website or find out more about her book here!
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EXCLUSIVE CONTENT


Book Descriptions:
Emma Guthrie races to learn the hoodoo magic needed to break The Beaumont Curse before her marked boyfriend Cooper's sixteenth birthday. But deep in the South Carolina Lowcountry, dark, mysterious forces encroach, conspiring to separate Emma and Cooper forever. When Cooper starts to change, turning cold and indifferent, Emma discovers that both his heart and body are marked for possession by competing but equally powerful adversaries. Desperate to save him, Emma and her twin brother, Jack, risk their lives to uncover the source of the black magic that has allured Cooper and holds him in its grip. Faced with the horror of a soul-eating boohag, Emma and Jack must fight to resist its fiendish power to free Cooper long enough to join their strengths and face it together, before it destroys them all.

Exclusive Content:
My book, Allure, the second installment in The Hoodoo Apprentice series features three teens who use Gullah hoodoo magic to battle an ancient-soul sucking curse and a hideous monster that will stop at nothing to consume its prey.

Hoodoo magic is an African American folk healing and magical art, not to be confused with voodoo, which is a religion. Hoodoo originated among enslaved Africans in the South Carolina and Georgia lowcountry and is largely based on African traditions, but has also been influenced by Native American, European and other practices.

In Allure, Emma Guthrie uses many hoodoo spells to protect her twin brother Jack, and their best friend (and Emma’s boyfriend), Cooper Beaumont. She’s also called upon to break some of the jinxes laid by her enemies. To give you an idea of the kind of hoodoo charms Emma confronts, I thought I’d share a few with you today. These come directly from one of my favorite spell books, Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells by Judika Illes.


Gambler’s Hand: High John’s Snake Charm
Wrap a freshly shed snakeskin around a rattlesnake root and a High John the Conqueror root, then place it in a conjure bag along with seven tonka beans for good fortune.

Hoodoo Love Magic Wishbone Spell
To make your wish for love a reality, clean and dry a whole, unbroken wishbone, then decorate it with red or gold glitter glue. Make a braid from a few strands of your hair and tie it to the wishbone. Place the wishbone and braid into a red mojo bag with an Adam and Eve root, then sprinkle a love drawing powder over the items
.
Magical Protection Candle Spell
Hollow the bottom of a black, blue or red candle, then stuff it with a combination of five, seven, or nine different botanicals, then burn the loaded candle. Botanicals that offer an aura of protection include: betony, black cohosh, cactus, calamus, fig leaf, five-finger grass, garlic, hyssop, lavender, mugwort, peppermint, rose, rue, Saint John’s Wort, snake root, stinging nettles, wormwood, and yarrow.

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to hoodoo magic. Though these spells seem simple, may people believe in their power and rely on them to offer protection or grant their most fervent desires. For more information about hoodoo magic and more examples of spells, I highly recommend that you check out the Lucky Mojo Curio Company’s website at www.luckymojo.com It’s owner, Catherine Yronwode, has painstakingly recorded the history of hoodoo, collected oral histories of spells, and is a well respected manufacturer of authentic charms.

So what do you think? If you were headed to Vegas, would you carry a Gambler’s Hand into the casino for extra luck? Or would you prefer to go it alone and hope Lady Luck joins your on her own?

~Lea
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Wow! I am completely amazed by hoodoo magic and can't wait to read ALLURE. Now, don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Melissa West, the amazing Lea Nolan, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 2. 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!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

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

But while you're here, leave a comment below and enter to win a signed copy of HOVER!




Thank you so much for stopping by! Enjoy the hunt!

:) Melissa 

Comments

  1. Love it! I've learned about so many new books! Now if I could only round up the cash... XD

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  2. I love learning about all of the awesome books! Adding to my books to purchase list for my library!

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  3. I just entered the giveaway! Hope I win.... if I don't then congratulations to the winner beforehand ;D

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  4. I love meeting new authors and discovering their books!

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  5. I love learning about all the books out there. Clearly my shelves need to expand.

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  6. I love all the bonus material that is out there! :D
    And also finding some great new books and authors :)

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  7. My favorite thing about the scavenger hunt is finding new authors to love that I didn't know before. I think Gravity looks great and it has been on my wishlist for a while.

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  8. I love the chance to win books. And the fact that there is exclusive content by favorite authors, and new ones to read :3

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  9. Obviously I love the prizes :-). But I'm finding so many great new books to read. Thank you :-)

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  10. I love discovering new authors and books and getting a greater fill from my favorite authors who participate! Thanks for the chance to win the giveaway!

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  11. I love looking at the sneak peeks of new upcoming novels :)

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  12. Getting to see and visit some of my favorite authors and also seeing new ones!! Thanks for the awesome bonus giveaway!

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  13. I love the authors, the exclusive content, the giveaways, the challenge. It is just a super fun experience!

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  14. I love learning about new authors/series and also getting exclusive content for the authors/series I already know and love!

    Thanks for hosting and being part of YASH!

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  15. extra content!!! Especially the Gold Teams!!

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  16. I like the opportunity to see the author's pages and what is out there. Thanks!!
    ~Jenny V.

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  17. I love getting to learn about new and exciting authors and their greatest works.

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  18. The bonus content, new authors, and new books!!!!

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  19. New everything! Books, authors, etc! I'm having so much fun with it.

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  20. That my all-ready too large TBR list gets even longer, Oh well :P
    Thank you for the giveaway

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  21. It makes me crave more books <3 Well it's fun to find the favorite numbers of authors and read excerpts <3

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  22. The bonus content and the awesome giveaways!

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  23. I love how the hunt has so many interesting posts! There is always something to comment to!

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  24. I love finding authors I haven't read yet! Thanks so much!

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  25. Besides the chance to win books by my favorite authors, I love the exclusive content - it's a fan's paradise - deleted scenes, sneak peeks, excerpts.

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  26. I love finding new YA authors! Its one of my favorite genres to read.

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  27. I like that there are so many giveaways I can enter. See, I have the idea that the more giveaways I enter, the more chance I have of winning at least one.

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  28. The bonus content and the giveaways.

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  29. The exclusive content and getting to know new books! And of course, the epic giveaways!

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  30. Hi! I love the scavenger hunt, as i also find alot of new authors, which quickly become my favourites... And all the content! the freebies, exclusive chapters from new books(!) and written pieces espeically for us. i have never won a prize, but hopefully this year i might!

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  31. It's my first time participating and oh my goodness FUN!! I didn't know all these amazing authors had blogs and I love that I'm getting to know them, plus all these goodies, exclusive excerpts, and giveaways, what an experience!

    (I'm Carla C. on the rafflecopter!)

    Thank you for this chance :)

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  32. I love the sense of community and friendship in the hunt, also the exclusives and giveaways!

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  33. It's my first hunt and I'm loving it! It's so much fun. Should have done this earlier! =)

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  34. I LOVE THE EXTRA BONUS STUFF:)

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  35. It's exciting, I love the bonus stuff and the great giveaways!

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  36. I like reading about the different authors and a great variety of awesome books.

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  37. I love learning about so many authors, and all the great giveaways! (:

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  38. I love hearing about all the different authors! :)

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  39. I love discovering new authors, reconnecting with my favorites and "meeting" fellow reading enthusiasts!!

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  40. I love discovering new authors, learning about them, and bonus content! :D

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  41. I absolutely LOVE these hunts! Every time they come around, I am right there joining in the fun!!! My favorite part is meeting new authors and finding out about new books to add to my library. It doesn't get any better than that!!!

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  42. I love everything about YASH. It's my favorite event on the internet

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  43. Two things - the exclusive content featured in each stop and of course, the giveaways :)

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  44. I love meeting new authors and books ♥

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  45. I love finding out about new books and getting to see exclusive material!

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  46. I love checking in with authors to see what everyone's been up to. Thanks for participating. xo

    Kassiah from Swoony Boys Podcast

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  47. I love all the extras and reconnecting with all of these AWESOME YA authors!!

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  48. I love discovering new authors and getting the exclusive contents!!

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  49. Finding new authors and books plus all the awesome extra contents like deleted scenes :P

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  50. The best part is that the readers get access to the extra and exclusive contents by various well known as well as new authors and it's INTERNATIONAL! :-D

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  51. I love the new authors I find from this hunt!! I also like the fun I have hunting for the numbers and how awesome the authors are! fingers crossed!

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  52. The best part is finding out about new authors I never heard of and seeing what other authors have in store for the future! Thank you for the giveaway!

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  53. There are 2 things that I positively love about this. First, it's fun to find new authors. Second, I think it's neat that each author spotlights another and often there is exclusive content for a book that I have read, and I love that! The YASH is just such a fun idea! Oh yeah, can't forget - the prizes are incredible too!!!!

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  54. My favourite thing about the YASH is that you can discover a lot of new writers, have tons of exclusive content (I love exclusive content OMG) and obviously, you can win amazing books (even internationally *yay*)
    Thanks for the giveaway :DD

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  55. My favorite thing about YASH is that I find new and exciting books/authors and of course the great giveaways!

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  56. The exclusive content, obviously! Haha, I love seeing all these things that otherwise may have taken a while to be revealed!

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  57. I love finding all the new authors and all the extra scenes.

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  58. I love finding new authors and new books to read!

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  59. I love discovering new books to add to my very large TBR pile. :)

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  60. All the different exclusive content we get to see!

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  61. I love finding new authors and books to check out! It's great :)

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  62. I love all of the deleted scenes. I was particularly interested in Mindy McGinnis's scene, since that was my favorite book this year.

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  63. I love learning about all these new authors!!!

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  64. I love being introduced to all these new authors!!

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  66. My favorite part is reading about all the new books coming out soon and entering the giveaways of course:)

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  67. The bonus scenes from favorite books and exclusive news from the authors. It's an EPIC event. I love it!

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  68. I love the bonus content. I'm a sucker for extras. Thanks for being part of the YASH!

    Mary @ Mary Had a Little Book Blog

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