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 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 EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PINK TEAM–but there is also a blue team, a gold team, a green team, an orange team, a teal team, a purple team and a red 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 page.
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 pink 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 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
Today, I am hosting T.H. Hernandez on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
When not visiting the imaginary worlds inside her head, T.H. Hernandez lives in San Diego, California, with one husband, three children, two cats, and one dog. In addition to her day job as a tech writer and editor, she writes young adult fiction and blogs about books, movies about books, and anything else that moves her. She particularly loves the young adult genre with the intensity of teen emotions and the way they’re still figuring out life.
When she’s not writing, you can find her with her nose in a book, hanging out with her family and friends, hiking, or knitting. She’s obsessed with pumpkin spice lattes, social media, binge watching Doctor Who on Netflix, microbrewed beers, Bad Lip Reading videos, and the San Diego Chargers.
Find out more information about the author and her books by checking out the links below!
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
After global warming and a second civil war devastated the former United States, two different societies rose from the ashes – the Union, a towering high-tech utopia, hugging the perimeter of the continent, and the devastated, untamed midsection known as the Ruins.
Seventeen-year-old Evan Taylor has an easy, privileged life in the Union. What she doesn’t have is any idea what to do with the rest of her life. She only knows she wants to do something meaningful, to make a difference in the lives of others.When she’s kidnapped and taken into the Ruins as a pawn in a dispute involving her boyfriend, Bryce, her ideal world is turned upside down. What she learns while in the Ruins shakes her faith in everything she’s ever known, from Bryce, to her family, and even the Union itself.
Now Evan must choose whether to stay with Cyrus, the sexy, resourceful survivor who believes she’s in the Ruins for a reason, or return to the only life she’s ever known. But when she stumbles upon a dangerous plot that threatens both worlds, her decision could tear her apart.
This exclusive, bonus scene takes place between Chapters 20 and 21 of The Union, the day after Evan’s first trip to the trading post.
I’m starting to wish I hadn’t offered to help Will dig the new latrine this morning. Even though I wore gloves, fresh blisters are popping up on the pads below my fingers. I hope to god Sonia has something to put on them.
On my way downstairs, I pop my head into the room she shares with Marcus, but she’s not in there, or in the kitchen. Ben and Connor are folding laundry on the dining room table while Ty pushes dirt around the floor with a broom in his four-year-old attempt at sweeping.
“Hey, guys,” I say. “Have you seen Sonia?”
“She’s outside,” Connor says.
“They’re watching the gun show,” Ben says with a roll of his dark eyes.
“The gun show?” I ask. This is new. I have yet to fire a gun, and I’m not sure I actually want to, but I can’t deny I’m intrigued.
Heading out the door off the kitchen, I bounce down the stairs to the wrap around porch. A steady thwacking comes from beyond the porch. It doesn’t sound like gunfire though. It’s more of a dull sound.
When I round the corner, Ally, Sonia and Draya are leaning against the porch railing with their backs to me. Ally glances over her shoulder at me as I approach.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“Just taking in the scenery,” Sonia says.
I push up the railing to see what’s so fascinating. “Holy…woah,” I say, additional words refusing to form in my head, much less come out of my mouth.
“Yeah,” Ally says.
Cyrus stands with his back to us, his shirt off, his shorts hanging low on his hips revealing two dimples on his lower back just above his waistband. He swings an ax, bringing it down on a log in front of him, splitting it two. Muscles flex and contract with each swing, sweat running down smooth, tanned skin.
“Damn,” I whisper.
I watch his bicep flex when he brings the ax up again. He reaches for another log, placing it on the chopping block and takes another swing.
“So, um…” I clear my throat, “does this go on every day.”
“Yup,” Draya says.
It suddenly occurs to me that she’s watching her boyfriend’s shirtless brother with way too much interest. I cut my eyes to her. “I take it this is the gun show.” I sweep my arm out in front of me.
Sonia’s cheeks turn pink. “Well, he does have impressive guns.”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “Do you see him chopping firewood without his shirt on?”
“Does he know you watch him?”
“Doubtful,” Draya says. “It’d go to his already inflated head.”
Cyrus doesn’t strike me as particularly cocky, but she knows him better than I do.
“Whose turn is it today?” Sonia asks.
“It’s mine,” Ally says. “But I think Evan should take it.”
Three pairs of eyes toward me and Draya’s lips quirk up in a mischievous smile.
“Uh, my turn for what?”
“To take him a glass of water,” Ally says. “We all rotate. Honestly, you need to see the front, and it’s the only way.”
“Oh, no.” I say, backing away. “I’m not participating in your eye groping.”
“Aww, come on, you’re practically drooling. And your eyes have barely left him since you walked out here,” Draya says.
“That’s not the point. Besides, I saw him shirtless yesterday at the swimming hole on the way back from the trading post.”
“Suit yourself,” Draya says, handing a glass of water to Ally.
Suddenly, as if I have no control over my arm, I reach out and snag the glass from Draya. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“I thought so,” Ally says under her breath.
I cross the length of the porch to the steps and walk down the path to where Cyrus is. He glances up as I approach and wipes his arm across his forehead. He smiles and reaches out to take the glass.
“How do you know this is for you?” I ask.
His left eyebrow notches up. “It’s not?”
“No it is.”
His smile broadens, and I’m glad the weirdness between us from last night is gone. I hate that I let it get to me that he’d spent all afternoon with Lucy. It’s none of my business. But standing here in front of a half-naked Cyrus, sweat glistening off of taught skin, it’s hard not to imagine what they were doing. I fight the blush rushing to my cheeks.
“So what are you up to this afternoon?” he asks, taking a sip of water.
“I was looking for Sonia to get something to put on these,” I say running my fingertips lightly over the blisters on my left hand.
“How’d you get those?”
“Digging a latrine.”
He smiles. “Oh really?”
“What?” I ask, wondering what’s so funny about that.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head. “Too bad though. I could show you how to chop firewood, but you probably don’t want to do that with blistered hands.”
“No, probably not.”
He finishes the water and hands the glass back to me. “Thanks for this.”
“Apparently it was my turn,” I say with a smile.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I give him the same lame non-answer he gave me. Touché. I turn to head back to the porch.
“Hey,” he calls out. I turn back, my eyes locking onto his six-pack abs before gliding over sculpted chest muscles and finally meeting his eyes. “Green tea.”
“H-huh?”
“Your blisters. Soak them in green tea. Apply some aloe vera and wrap them in gauze.”
“Oh, thanks.”
He turns back and swings the ax again, and I watch one more time as those muscles do magical things to my circulatory system.
***
Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, T.H. Hernandez, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 5. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the pink team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
BONUS GIVEAWAY
Click on the Rafflecopter link below for a BONUS giveaway of Bone Dry and The Madmen’s City!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Hi everyone! Bone Cold is officially out in the world! Woo hoo! So very excited that the second part of Holly’s story is now in reader hands. To celebrate, the first two books are currently available on Amazon at special deal prices.
Cady Vance 