YA 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 my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for a short time!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are nine contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM—but there is also a red team, an orange team, a gold team, a green team, a teal team, a purple team, and a pink team for a chance to win a whole different set of books! You can see the complete lists of authors for each team here.

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 hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue 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 Sunday, April 3 at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today, I'm hosting Sara B. Larson on Writability for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Sara B. Larson is the author of the acclaimed YA fantasy DEFY series, and the forthcoming DARK BREAKS THE DAWN. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write books—although she now uses a computer instead of a Little Mermaid notebook. Sara lives in Utah with her husband and their three children. She writes in brief snippets throughout the day (while mourning the demise of naptime) and the quiet hours when most people are sleeping. Her husband claims she should have a degree in “the art of multitasking.” When she’s not mothering or writing, you can often find her at the gym repenting for her sugar addiction.

She’s online at www.SaraBLarson.com, her blog, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

There are at least 13 reasons to be excited about this scavenger hunt, including an exclusive look at the first part of a wedding scene for Damian and Alexa from the DEFY series! 

The Wedding

The sun had just begun to set, turning the room golden and amber, when the far doors opened. My breath caught in my chest. The massive hall was filled with people—Antionese and Blevonese, and even a few Dansiians. Before I could catch a glimpse of her, they all rose and turned to face their future queen, blocking Alexa from my sight as she entered the room. Thousands of flowers tinged the air with their perfume and decorated the walls and pews in riotous bunches of color. But I only had eyes for my bride, as I waited for her to turn the corner and begin the procession down the aisle to where I waited.

Alexa had wanted a small wedding, a traditional Antionese ceremony where the bride and groom entered the room simultaneously and knelt to make their vows before their closest family and friends, but Lisbet had convinced us both that this grand affair was needed after the pain and horrors of King Hector and King Armando’s reigns of terror. The people needed to see their king and future queen wed—they needed to witness the dawning of a new hope. Alexa had readily agreed to it after that, even insisting that her dress be the color of dawn—symbolizing the start of a new day—and our new life together.

Just when I had nearly decided to command everyone to sit or to start running down the aisle myself to reach her, Alexa finally stepped onto the white fabric that ran the length of the Great Hall. Whatever air I had remaining left my lungs. She was absolutely radiant as her eyes lifted to meet mine. My heart was like a drum, pounding against my ribs as she began to slowly walk toward where I stood, waiting for her.

Her dark hair was curled but hung loose down her back, a thin coronet of white, amber, burnt orange, and yellow flowers encircled her head, a matching bouquet in her hands. Her dress was simple and elegant, a pale yellow silk that flowed over her lithe body and matched some of the flowers in her hair. She’d had it designed after her mother’s dress that had been lost in the fire that destroyed her home. I knew how badly she longed to have her family alive, to have them sitting in the front row, witnessing her marriage. I knew, because I felt the same way about my brother, my mother. And so many others. Even though the room was overflowing, and the grounds crowded with people who couldn’t fit inside the palace, there was still a pang of emptiness beside my overwhelming happiness for those who weren’t there—and never would be.

But as Alexa finally reached where I stood and took my proffered hand in hers, that remembered pain disappeared in the brilliance of her smile and the warmth of the love that made her eyes glow.

“You’re breathtaking,” I couldn’t resist murmuring, lifting her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.

“So are you,” she whispered back, a smile playing at the corner of her lips. The golden flecks in her hazel eyes seemed almost to burn in the burnished light from the setting sun. It took all my self-control not to grab her in my arms, kiss her thoroughly, and carry her out of this room and up to mine—ours—right that moment, hordes of people waiting to witness a marriage notwithstanding.

As if she could sense the turn of my thoughts she squeezed my hand with a smirk and then turned to face King Osgand, who stood in front of us, waiting to officiate the ceremony.

We’d waited this long…I could handle another hour or two.

Maybe.

Suppressing my own smile, I also turned to face the king, ready to make Alexa my wife—and my Queen.

* * *

Want the rest of the wedding scene? Make sure to sign up for Sara's newsletter (form on her blog) and follow her Instagram @SaraBLarson – she'll be posting about it and sending it to my followers soon!

And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Sara B Larson, and more! To enter, you need to know what my favorite number is (not-so-sneakily slipped in above!). Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue 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, Cate Dean!