Young Adult Scavenger Hunt

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 our 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! We are part of the TEAL TEAM--

but there are also teams of many different colors for chances to win whole different sets 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: Below, you'll notice that we've listed our favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the teal 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 3, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Scavenger Hunt Post

Today, we are hosting Wendy Higgins for the YA Scavenger Hunt! We are super thrilled about this because we are HUGE fans of Wendy's work! (Cynthia's personal favorite is her book about--wait for it--hot leprechauns, SEE ME. But seriously, that book is AH-MAZING! We can't wait to read her newest, THE GREAT HUNT!)

Here's some information about Wendy:

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today and NY Times bestselling author of the SWEET EVIL series from HarperTeen, the high fantasy duology THE GREAT HUNT, and her independently published Irish Fantasy SEE ME.

After earning a Creative Writing degree from George Mason University and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, Wendy taught high school English until achieving her dream job as a full-time writer. She now lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her family.

Find out more information by checking out Wendy's website!

Check out Wendy's books here!

And here's a peek at the gorgeous cover of her new book: *drools*

Wendy Higgins reimagines a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale with The Great Hunt, a dramatic, romance-filled fantasy with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.

When a monstrous beast attacks in Eurona, desperate measures must be taken. The king sends a proclamation to the best and bravest hunters: whoever kills the creature will win the hand of his daughter Princess Aerity as a reward. The princess recognizes her duty but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger—she was meant to marry for love—until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. And while there’s no denying the fiery chemistry between them, Princess Aerity feels that Paxton’s mysteriousness is foreboding, maybe even dangerous.

Exclusive Content -

Here's the exclusive content that Wendy sent over just for you:

An Abridged Version of Chapter One with Pictures from the Vantage Point of the Great Beast

Wendy Higgins lives on the eastern shore of Virginia, on a peninsula nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. The forests and waterways of the eastern shore provided much inspiration for her newest book, The Great Hunt. Wendy has pieced together bits from the first chapter and combined them with pictures she took herself. This is how she imagined the beast’s slow approach of Wyneth and Breckon as they shared a seemingly private intimate moment on the royal docks.

A late summer breeze blew warm over the deep and wide Lanach Creek.

Moonlight caught the shock of Wyneth’s red-orange curls as she let her fiancé, Breckon, lay her back on the end of the dock.

Another breeze crested down the creek from the nearby sea, but the couple’s combined heat warded them against it.

She pulled his face to hers again, feeling brazen and greedy for his soft lips. She hated when he left for the sea; it always filled her with a pang of worry and longing. Wyneth urged Breckon closer.

A rustle sounded from the nearby dark woods. The couple stilled, listening.

The noise came again like a crackle of dead leaves and brush. Definite movement. In a rush, they sat up.

“Do you think someone’s spying?” Wyneth whispered.

“No.” Breckon shook his head, a lock of hair falling across his worried brow. “It’s most likely a deer.” But to Wyneth’s ear, he didn’t sound so sure.

Another abrasive rustle rom the trees caused them to break away again. They both stood.

In the darkness, a large shadow moved within the mossy trees as they swayed. Wyneth grabbed Breckon’s arm, and he stared intently into the trees. His dagger, which she hadn’t seen him unsheathe, glinted in the moonlight.

“Who’s there?” Breckon called. “Show yourself!”

The trees stilled. Even the bugs and frogs stopped their chatter. It was too quiet. Wyneth’s heartbeat quickened.

Just as Breckon was about to sheathe his dagger, a deep snort sounded from the trees.

“Stay here,” Breckon ordered. “I’m going to scare it off.”

“No!” She grabbed for his hand and he kissed her forehead, gently prying himself away.

Before he could take two steps from her, the dark shadow in the trees resolved itself into a gigantic creature on the sandy walkway.

It was taller than any man, standing on its hind legs. Wyneth questioned her own sanity as she stared in disbelief. Its body was massive, the size of a bear, with wiry hair like nothing she’d ever seen. Its face was as ugly as a boar’s. Tusks curled up around a dripping snout, sharp teeth shining.

The long length of the dock separated them from the thing, but it was not far enough for her. Not nearly far enough.

The great beast let out a roar, forcing a startled scream from Wyneth. Breckon bit out a curse. The thing charged down the dock; she felt the heaviness shake the wood beneath her feet with each landing.

Breckon had no plans to run from the beast. He grasped Wyneth’s waist and push her backward with all his might. She felt herself flying through the air off the dock, all breath leaving her lungs as her body submerged with a crash into the cold water.

When her wet face hit the air and she gasped for breath, it only took a moment for her to turn toward the growling sounds and see the monster reach for Breckon, towering over him.

Skies above! “Breck!”

“Swim!” He angled himself to avoid the beast’s mouth. “Get help!”

Wyneth snapped from her fear-induced stupor and the instinct of flight kicked in. She couldn’t fight this thing with Breckon, but she could do what he’d commanded: get help. She turned and swam with all her might.

After swimming nearly a hundred yards, her body was numb when she reached the dock on the other side of the creek. She pulled herself up, panting for air and cursing her wet, heavy garments. Her eyes scanned the water, but it moved at the same calm, slow speed as always. Then she allowed her eyes to seek out the dock beyond…

To find out what happens, please check out The Great Hunt!

Enter the Contest

And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books and more! To enter, you need to know that our favorite number is 3. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the teal 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! Click here!

Enter The Extra ARC Giveaway

In honor of this special event, we're going to give away 1 extra ARC of MY LADY JANE. Just follow the directions in the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway winner and MY LADY JANE blog tour sign-up!

Greetings!

We have two things for you today: the winner of our giveaway, and a sign-up form for the blog tour.

So, first thing:

We really (really really really) enjoyed reading about whose history you'd rewrite. There were so many thoughtful, clever ideas! So we sat down and wrote books about all the historical figures you named.

Kidding. We only had time for half.

Kidding kidding. We promised you a giveaway, and a giveaway you shall have.

We picked a winner through a highly sophisticated process of random selection. First, we hired a random expert. Then, we endured an hour-long lecture on the life-cycle of ants. At that point, we realized the ad we'd placed looking for a "random expert" had not given us an expert in randomness, but an actual random expert. So we made the random expert choose a winner.

And the winner is . . .

. . . drumroll . . .

AILA! From One Way or an Author.

Aila, send us an email at ladyjanies@gmail.com with your address and we'll make sure a book reaches you!

---

And now for our next order of business -- the blog tour sign-up form!

The incredible Alexa from Alexa Loves Books is running this thing, so you have to do whatever she says.

Here's the form!

Wanna Change History and Maybe Win a MY LADY JANE arc?

Do you ever wish you could go back in time and change something? Make a different decision? Choose a different door? Take the blue pill?

Well, that's the beauty of being authors. We CAN go back in time and fix stuff! (No, we can't). Because we have the power to alter reality! (No, we don't).  And the space time continuum means nothing to us! (Actually, it means everything).

So, armed with this magical power (a placebo) we decided to give one of our favorite heroines a second chance. Lady Jane Grey was smart and studious and a humanist and she definitely didn't deserve to be queen-for-nine-days-and-then-imprisoned-and-later-beheaded.

In March of 2015, we enabled our tesseract and created a wrinkle in time so we could travel back centuries to the mid 1500's. (We really just turned on our computers and started typing). And before you could say, "I'm Henry the 8th I am, Henry the 8th I am I am," we resurrected Lady Jane Grey. (No we didn't. We aren't gods). Pretty soon, she had the happy ending she truly deserved in our book MY LADY JANE.

So, dear readers, we would like to turn the tables and ask you: who in history do you think deserves a revised story? (We reserve the right to use your ideas to write our next book.) (Kidding. We would never.) (But maybe we will.)

Leave a comment with your idea and you will be entered to win a MY LADY JANE arc!

(Open to U.S. addresses only. Cuz our publisher can only ship to the U.S.)

On This Day. . . Edward VI Is Crowned King

Make way for THE KING!

Let's take a trip back to Tudor England, when on this day, February 20, a nine-year-old boy was crowned the king.

No pressure.

Yep, let's talk about Edward VI (also known in MY LADY JANE as "Poor Dear Edward," "Eddie," "Eddikins," "Sire," "Your Majesty," "Dennis" (read it--you'll see) "boy" and "Hey, you." In our book, Edward is quite the character--he's snarky and filled with teenage ennui and wants more than anything to kiss a girl (possibly with tongue) and have a real adventure before he dies.

We love Edward. We also did a ton of research to make sure that the details of Edward's life lined up pretty well with that of the real-life Edward.

So here's how our book-Edward and the real-life Edward ended up being alike:

They're the only legitimate sons of King Henry VIII, and they both became king on this fine day in 1547. They both knew Lady Jane Grey (obviously) and named her the heir to the throne. They were both once briefly betrothed to Mary Queen of Scots (shudder). They both got sick in the year 1552.

And . . that's about where the similarities end.

In real life, historians think it was most likely tuberculosis or a secondary infection from pneumonia that eventually killed Edward VI at the tender age of fifteen. Which was a total bummer.

In our book, he just may have been poisoned by a nefarious villain.

Also, in our version (spoiler alert!) Edward doesn't actually die. We've changed history (because that's what we, like, do, isn't it?) so that it's not only Jane who gets a less tragic ending. Edward deserved a better ending, too, in our opinion.

But the biggest difference between the Edward of real-life and the Edward of MY LADY JANE mostly has to do with their personalities. Because the real-Edward was brought up, from infancy, to be the greatest king who ever lived.

No, seriously. He was. From the moment he was born, the entire country knew that Edward would be king after Henry VIII died. Henry, for his part was overjoyed that he'd FINALLY had a son (sorry Mary and Elizabeth--too bad for you) and heir to the throne.

That's Henry VIII on the left, pointing to say, "Make this dude the king."

The people in power in England were overjoyed too, but for a different reason--if they played their cards right, they could shape this new boy-who-would-be-king into the best kind of ruler. Whereas Henry was a little, er, bad-tempered at times and did crazy things like creating his own church and chopping his wives' heads off, now they could have a king who was temperate, studious, pious, and wise. So they set about bringing Edward up to be just that. He had all the best tutors in the land, who worked relentlessly to make sure that Edward was well educated in history and politics and philosophy and pretty much anything else you can think of. He was required to pray for hours every day, so he would be religiously sound. He learned to fence and dance and hold his pinky finger just so when he drank tea. They wanted him to be the BEST at everything.

Like we said before, no pressure. But mostly Edward was just brought up to be . . . good.

And, by all accounts, Edward VI was good. He was kind. Smart. Even-tempered. And he took the job of being king very seriously.

This is not the face of a person who cracked a lot of jokes.

Our Edward, because we were writing a comedy, arrived on the page as a bit of jokester. His smirk, we claim, is one of his most finely-honed royal skills. Our Edward isn't sure he even wants to be king. He yearns for a life outside of the confines of the palace. He wants to be free. He just wants to have some FUN, for crying out loud.

Our Edward is funny. (At least we hope you'll think so.)

So today we want to lift our glasses to toast both versions of Edward VI--the real and the fictional, because we love and admire them both so very much.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again:

Long Live the King!

On This Day . . . Jane's execution

462 years ago today, Lady Jane Grey was taken from her prison in the Queen's House in the Tower of London and executed on Tower Green.

Well, that's a sad way to start this post, isn't it?

Usually we aim for funny around here, but we do have our serious moments. One of those was when the three of us went to the Tower of London and actually saw Jane’s execution site, and then the place where she was buried.

For months, we'd been writing about Edward, Jane, and Gifford (Guildford). Of course, we'd researched our socks off, learning as much about them, their time period, and their circumstances as was humanly possible, but after spending so much time with their fictionalized versions, they were our characters. Funny, adorable, and ours. Going to the Tower of London (and other Jane-related places!) was a real push back to reality -- a reminder that they aren't just characters in a story, but real people, too.

When our tour guide pointed to the memorial built where the scaffold had once been, we all looked over and . . . I think we all felt a chill. (In part because it was cold outside.) That was where Jane stood. That was where Jane died. We definitely made pained, sad-kitten noises that drew curious looks from our tour guide. And the other tourists. And the Tower ravens.

Later, we went into the chapel and where the guide told us about the bodies under the altar, and that Jane was one of them. Cue more sad-kitten noises, because Jane hadn’t even been given a proper grave. When the tour was over, we three gathered as close as possible and just looked at the stones -- at least until the guide asked us to please leave because another tour would be coming through.

So we went over to the memorial and looked at her name thereinstead.

Jane Grey was such a fantastic person. Smart, passionate, devoted to her country -- what's not to love about her?

Now, 462 years later, we want to save her from her fate. Even if it’s just in fiction.

Memorial for Lady Jane Grey, on the place where she died

The Lady Janies Have a Conversation about Setting.

Cynthia: Every now and then, we Lady Janies plan to have a little craft talk. . .

Jodi: I love crafts! Let me get my yarn and knitting needles and I’ll be right back!.

Brodi: I suck at crafts. I don’t even own a glue gun.

Cynthia: No, no, no, you guys (er, ladies). I don’t mean a craft talk like popsicle sticks and glitter. I mean a craft talk like CRAFT, like the writing craft, like how we do the writing that we do.

Jodi: Oh right. Writing.

Brodi: Ah, yes. Glue guns.

Cynthia: So this time we’re going to talk about SETTING. As in, how does one write about setting? How do you use setting in a novel?

Jodi: I actually really love writing setting. I’d describe characters’ surroundings all day if you let me.

Brodi: (Please nobody let her). I would rather write dialogue. Setting is hard for me! But I learned to love it by preferring to hate it but not being able to write a book without it. :)

Cynthia: I love writing about setting too! Maybe a little too much. . . I can get carried away with the setting. So, let’s go around and talk about how we’ve used setting in the previous novels we’ve written, and what we learned from that, and then we can talk about how we wrote about the setting in MY LADY JANE.

When I was first learning how to write I didn’t use setting at all. I was scared of it. I didn’t think anybody would be interested in the places I knew well enough to write about. And because of this, most of my early attempts at stories felt a little lifeless. It was like my characters didn’t have enough atmosphere to breathe. The first time I ever wrote a story with Idaho as the setting, which was a place close to my heart, everybody reacted with such enthusiasm that I began to finally understand the impact that writing a good setting can have on a piece of writing. After that I paid pretty close attention to setting. By the time I wrote UNEARTHLY thinking about the setting was a vital part of my process.

Jodi: I find that I really use setting to set the mood of the entire scene. I like to make setting in my book reflect what the character is feeling by choosing things she would notice if she were feeling happy or sad or melancholy, and describing them in a way that reflects her mood. So if she’s sad, she’d probably notice . . . um . . . maybe starved, pathetic squirrels with no nut stash for the winter. But if she’s happy, she’d probably notice a kitten or something.

No kittens were harmed in the taking of this picture. 

Cynthia: Yep, happy people definitely see kittens! I do this too, to an extent, although sometimes I try to do the opposite, for contrast. Like I’ll write a beautiful moment into an ugly place or have a terrible moment happen in a really beautiful place. That’s fun.

Brodi: I love the advice I once got, which was to imagine someone walking along a sidewalk, and what that person notices depended on who that person is. A gardener might notice grass and flowers. A child might notice cracks in the cement, and jump over them. An architect might notice the buildings along the street. The point of view of the setting is a way to add layers to your character.  

Jodi: So what about how we approached the setting in MY LADY JANE? Was writing setting in this book different from the others you’ve written?

In MY LADY JANE, I actually found myself writing less setting! I think because the narrator voice did so much of the work to set the mood. I found that I used setting mainly to sketch the immediate surroundings and moved on from there. (Though sometimes I definitely had to go back and cut the mundane things I tend to add to my early drafts. Yes, Jodi, the bedroom probably has a bed.)

Cynthia: Hee hee. I agree. I think the setting in the first draft was pretty England-in-the-movies in my head.

Brodi: But then we actually went to England. I thought it was going to be a “research” trip, with air quotes, meaning less “research” and more “trans-continental party.” But it turned out to be an actual research trip. Or more like a RESEARCH RESEARCH ALL-THE-RESEARCH trip. Fish and chips on the side.

Jodi: I think the Genuine English Setting that most affected me was Bradgate Park (which is where Jane Grey grew up). Or the Tower of London (where she died). Or the fudge.

Brodi: Mmmmmmm. The fudge. I loved that setting.

I also loved the stark contract between Jane’s home of Bradgate park (now a gorgeous wilderness) and Gifford’s home of Dudley (now a creepy zoo.)

Cynthia: Yeah, our trip to England was when the details really started to feel alive for me. I mean, we were right there, standing where our characters had stood, seeing what they had seen. It felt so special and emotional.

Jodi: Someone cried.

Cynthia: *raises hand* *points at other two*

But what we also got from the trip was just these wonderful little details that could find their way into our novel. Like the way the trees looked at Bradgate. Or the rolling hills there. Or the deer.

Jodi, reverently: The same deer that Jane saw.

Jane fed these deer. To repay the kindness, the deer braided Jane's hair.

Cynthia: Rrrrrrright. Those were definitely the exact same deer that Jane saw.

Brodi: So, these are some of our thoughts on setting. We hope you enjoyed! And if you have any tips, please share in the comments!

The Lady Janies read . . . random pages.

We Janies love hanging out together, be it in person (the best!) or on video chat (definitely cheaper), and one of our favorite activities is reading. From our book. It takes us back to when we were first writing MY LADY JANE and every night we'd read aloud what we'd written that day.

This week, we thought we'd read to you guys. We had a few people pick random page numbers we should read from and the results were . . .

Well, you can see for yourself.



We hope you enjoyed our video! Maybe we should do another one?