YA Guy Participates in... The Spring 2020 YA Scavenger Hunt!

These are tough times for all of us, but one of the things we'll never lose is the love of reading. Which is why I'm happy to be participating in the Spring 2020 YA Scavenger Hunt!

As you can probably tell by all the gold lettering in this post (not to mention the banner at the top), I'm on the GOLD TEAM this time around, along with the other awesome authors you see below:

The YA Scavenger Hunt is a bi-annual event 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! Add up the clues on each GOLD TEAM page, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one e-book or audiobook from each author on our team! (We're doing it that way in order to avoid sending physical copies all over the country and the world.) There are four contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! But don't delay: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will be online only until noon Pacific time on SUNDAY, APRIL 5! (I'm also running a personal giveaway during the same period of time.)

HOW IT WORKS

Directions: In the author biography below, you'll notice 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 follow this link and fill out the form to 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 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered. For more information, follow this link to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Personal Giveaway: In addition to the prizes named above, readers who enter my personal giveaway will have a chance to win an e-book copy of the 4 books in the Ecosystem Cycle! Like the Hunt itself, the personal giveaway is open internationally. See below on how to enter!

Got all that? Then let's meet the author I'm hosting, BREEANA SHIELDS!

Breeana Shields is an author of fantasy novels for teens including The Bone Charmer, The Bone Thief, Poison’s Kiss, and Poison’s Cage. When she’s not writing, Breeana loves reading, traveling, and playing 22 board games with her extremely competitive family. She lives near Washington D.C. with her husband, her three children, and two adorable, but spoiled dogs.

To find out more about the author, follow this link to her website or visit her favorite social media hangouts:

Twitter: @BreeanaShields
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breeanashieldsauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breeanashields/

About THE BONE THIEF: A deft exploration of the weight of grief and cost of revenge, Breeana Shields’s Bone Charmer duology reaches its spine-tingling conclusion in this high-octane fantasy-thriller.

To buy the book, follow this link!

The Spring 2020 Hunt is over, and winners have been chosen for the team giveaways and my personal giveaway. Thanks to all for playing!

YA Guy Participates in .... The Fall 2019 YA Scavenger Hunt!

YA Guy loves Fall, and YA Guy especially loves the Fall YA Scavenger Hunt!

As you can probably tell by all the blue lettering in this post (not to mention the banner at the top), I'm on the BLUE TEAM this year, along with the other awesome authors you see below:

The YA Scavenger Hunt is a bi-annual event 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! Add up the clues on each BLUE TEAM page, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on our team! There are four contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! But don't delay: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will be online only until noon Pacific time on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6! (I'm also running a personal giveaway during the same period of time.)

HOW IT WORKS

Directions: In the author biography below, you'll notice I've listed 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 follow this link and fill out the form to 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, October 6, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered. For more information, follow this link to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Personal Giveaway: In addition to the prizes named above, readers who enter my personal giveaway will have a chance to win a signed copy of the three books in the Ecosystem series! Like the Hunt itself, the personal giveaway is open internationally. See below on how to enter!

Got all that? Then let's meet the author I'm hosting, C. Lee McKenzie!

C. Lee McKenzie loves to write for young readers. Mostly she writes contemporary/realistic Young Adult novels, but when she writes Middle Grade, they’re all about fantasy and adventure.

Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative, and Sudden Secrets are four of her published YA novels. Her next YA book, Not Guilty, will soon be released by Evernight Teen. She has an MG trilogy: Alligators Overhead, The Great Time Lock Disaster, and Some Very Messy Medieval Magic. She also has a stand alone MG called Sign of the Green Dragon. Add them all up, and though it's not quite 22 novels, it's pretty close!

To find out more about the author, follow this link to her website or visit her favorite social media hangouts:

Twitter: @cleemckenzie
FB: https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenzie

About DOUBLE NEGATIVE: "My life was going, going, gone, and I hadn't been laid yet. I couldn't go into the slammer before that happened." —Hutch McQueen.

Sixteen-year-old Hutchinson McQueen is a big time loser. Trapped in a dysfunctional family, his one thought is escape, but everything he does to get away lands him in trouble.

Shackled by poor reading skills, he squeaks through classes with his talent for eavesdropping and memorizing what he hears. When he shoplifts and lands in juvenile detention, the court sentences him to a county youth program. There he meets the priest and Maggie, a retired teacher. They’re determined to set Hutch on a path leading away from trouble. Hutch is determined not to cooperate.

It isn’t until he’s facing serious charges that he confronts the truth—his own bad choices are trapping him. When he's offered the freedom he craves, all he has to do is take it.

To buy the book, follow this link!


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But wait, there's more! I'm also running a personal giveaway, in which one reader will win a signed copy of the three books in the Ecosystem series: ECOSYSTEM, THE DEVOURING LAND, and HOUSE of EARTH, HOUSE of STONE!

On a future Earth, Nature has evolved into a planet-wide predator, and only those with the psychic power known as the Sense can survive. When seventeen-year-old Sarah sets out into the Ecosystem on a mission of vengeance, she must face the Ecosystem's deadliest creatures and travel to its most terrifying places. And she must decide whether to save the boy she loves at the cost of losing everything else she holds dear.

You can enter my personal giveaway by using the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The Fall 2019 Hunt is over, but there are still a few hours to enter my personal giveaway. I'll announce the winner soon!

YA Guy Participates in... The Fall 2018 YA Scavenger Hunt!

YA Guy's super excited to participate in this year's FALL YA SCAVENGER HUNT! This is my sixth Hunt, and I've got a new book, the YA fantasy ECOSYSTEM, out this year, with the sequel due in another month. So I'm totally ready for the Hunt, and I trust that you are too! (I mean, why would you be here if you weren't?)

As you can probably tell by all the green lettering in this post (not to mention the banner at the top), I'm on the GREEN TEAM, along with the other awesome authors you see below:

The YA Scavenger Hunt is a bi-annual event 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! Add up the clues on each GREEN TEAM page, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in our team! There are SEVEN contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! But don't delay: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will be online only until noon Pacific time on OCTOBER 7! (My personal giveaway, though, will run a little longer, through October 9.)

HOW IT WORKS

Directions: In the author biography below, you'll notice I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the Green 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 to 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, October 7, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered. For more information, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Personal Giveaway: In addition to the prizes named above, readers who enter my personal giveaway will have a chance to win a signed copy of my forthcoming novel THE DEVOURING LAND! The sequel to ECOSYSTEM, this novel is having its cover revealed right here, right now! Like the Hunt itself, the personal giveaway is open internationally. Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter!

Got all that? Then let's meet the author I'm hosting, SHANNON KLARE!

Shannon Klare is a writer, teacher, reality TV fanatic, and movie connoisseur. A born and raised Texan, her writing is heavily influenced by small town living and year round sports. When Shannon isn’t writing or daydreaming new plots (22 of them to date), she can be found frequenting Starbucks or hanging out with her family. SURVIVING ADAM MEADE is her debut novel. It's available in stores now!

To find out more about Shannon, go to her website!

About SURVIVING ADAM MEADE: Seventeen-year-old Claire Collins has a plan: get into college and leave North Carolina behind. What she doesn’t have is an idea for how to get rid of the local football star and womanizer extraordinaire―Adam Meade, who she can’t even avoid (despite many efforts), because Claire’s dad is the high school football coach.

Seventeen-year-old Adam Meade never fails. He always gets what he wants . . . until he meets Claire, the new girl who leaves him unnerved, pissed off, and confused. But there’s something about her that he just can’t resist....

With the bite of lemon meringue pie and the sugar of sweet tea, Surviving Adam Meade is a sexy and compelling young adult novel about two strong-willed people who think they know what they want but have no idea what they need.

To buy the book, follow this link!




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But wait, there's more! Enter below for a chance to win one of two signed copies of my forthcoming YA fantasy novel THE DEVOURING LAND! This personal giveaway runs through October 9, and the cover is being revealed to the world for the first time ever!

About THE DEVOURING LAND: On the day of Miriam and Isaac's wedding, Sarah’s village is overrun by monstrous creatures from the Ecosystem. With the community’s leaders dead and few Sensors remaining, Sarah shepherds the survivors into the deadly forest surrounding the village. Her own Sense badly damaged in an earlier attack, she must fight through a host of new threats in hopes of discovering the place where her mother was born, rumored to be home to a community of healers.

When another attack decimates her band, the survivors are rescued by a group of people under the leadership of a man named Gabriel. Taking Sarah and the remnants of her village to a sheltered city ruled by healer-women known as queens, Gabriel instructs Sarah in the Ecosystem’s origins and teaches her a new way of coexisting with its creatures. But the City of the Queens is haunted by a dark secret from the past, and Sarah will have to learn the truth of her lineage in order to save the people she loves and protect the world she knows.

The second book in a fantasy-adventure trilogy that begins with Ecosystem, The Devouring Land will be released on November 20, 2018. Sarah’s story concludes with House of Earth, House of Stone (2019).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Fall 2018 Hunt is over, but my personal giveaway is still going on for a couple of days. Thanks to everyone who participated, and I hope to see you back in Spring 2019!

YA Guy Announces... The ECOSYSTEM Blog Tour!

YA Guy's got a new book coming out: ECOSYSTEM, the first in a YA fantasy trilogy about a future Earth where the physical environment has mutated into a sentient being. The book releases in e-book and paperback on April 22, which just happens to be Earth Day. Here's the back cover blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Sarah is a Sensor, gifted with the ability to survive within the sentient Ecosystem that swept away human civilization centuries ago. While the remnants of humankind huddle in small villages of stone, Sarah uses her psychic connection to the Ecosystem to travel freely in the wild in search of food, water, and fuel. Sarah doesn’t fear the Ecosystem—but she hates it for killing her mother when Sarah was a child. When she hunts, she hunts not only for her people’s sustenance but for revenge.

Then Miriam, an apprentice Sensor, is lost in the Ecosystem, and Sarah sets out to rescue her. Joining Sarah is Miriam’s beloved, Isaac, a boy who claims to possess knowledge of the Ecosystem that will help their people survive. The harrowing journey to find the missing apprentice takes Sarah and Isaac into the Ecosystem’s deadliest places. And it takes Sarah into the unexplored territory of her own heart, where she discovers feelings that threaten to tear her—and her society—apart.

A thrilling fantasy adventure from the author of FREEFALL and the Survival Colony series, ECOSYSTEM is the first book in a YA trilogy that includes THE DEVOURING LAND (2019) and HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE (2020).

To launch my latest venture, I've lined up a group of amazing YA bloggers, who've got exclusive interviews, excerpts, reviews, and other goodies including a giveaway of signed copies of ECOSYSTEM! The tour starts on April 17 and concludes on April 30, and here's the lineup:

April 17: Yvonne Ventresca's Word Pop

                The YA Gal

April 18: Kristi Helvig

April 19: Jean BookNerd

April 20: Christa Yelich-Koth

                Katie L. Carroll's Observation Desk

April 21: Work in Progress

April 22: RELEASE DAY!

April 23: Margo Kelly

               Darlene Beck-Jacobson

April 24: We're taking a mid-tour break!

April 25: Strands of Thought

April 26: The Indestructibles

April 27: Erin's Rhewsings

April 28: Sarah J. Schmitt

April 29: Christina Farley

April 30: Larry Ivkovich

You can also check out the cover reveal that's running right now on YA Books Central, which includes a giveaway. Or, if you simply can't wait to see the cover, you can check it out right here!

Finally, you can enter the giveaway I'm running during the blog tour, with a chance to win one of two signed copies of ECOSYSTEM! The giveaway starts right now and runs through April 30, when the tour ends.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm very excited about ECOSYSTEM, and I hope you are too! Drop me a line to let me know how you like the cover, how you're enjoying the tour, what you think about the book, or anything else!

YA Guy Interviews... Lisa Maxwell, author of THE LAST MAGICIAN! (Plus a giveaway!)

YA Guy's had the good fortune to share a stage with several bestselling YA authors: James Dashner, Kristin Cashore, and others. (Well, okay, maybe I didn't quite share the stage with them; they were the headliners and I was just one of many fellow panelists.) But I've never had the chance to hang out with a bestseller who also happens to be a friend.

Until now, that is. Because the ultra-fabulous Lisa Maxwell, bestselling author of THE LAST MAGICIAN and other magical, marvelous YA tales, is my buddy from way back when we debuted in Fall 2014. And recently, I had a chance to chat with her about her book.

But why stop with a chat? I'm also raffling off a signed copy of THE LAST MAGICIAN, which is simply one of the best YA historical fantasies out there. Don't believe me? Here's my review.

So, let's hear from Lisa first, and then you can enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter thingie below.

YA Guy: Hi, Lisa, and welcome to the blog!

THE LAST MAGICIAN is a bigger book than any of your previous books, not only in terms of sheer length but in the complexity of the plot, the multiple points of view, the historical background, and so on. Do you think this reflects your maturation as a writer? Or was this book something you'd been saving up all along?

Lisa Maxwell: I think it definitely reflects the experiences of writing my first three books. I have one book that’s shelved where I tried to do a multiple perspective, interwoven story, and I think that mistakes I made trying to write that one very much helped me figure out how to write this one. That being said, I didn’t originally start out to write this book as complexly as it turned out. At first, I thought I was just writing a dual POV with Harte and Esta, but the other characters and their stories and arcs were too complex and essential to the main story to leave out.

YAG: I love the historical richness of THE LAST MAGICIAN, and I know that some of the minor characters (e.g., J. P. Morgan) were actual historical figures. But what about the principal characters? Were any of them either real people or based on real people?

LM: Actually, kind of? I took some of my inspiration for Harte’s background from a book called A Pickpocket’s Tale. It was written by a guy named George Washington Appo, who was a pickpocket and common green games runner in the city, who was also literate enough to write his autobiography. Harte isn’t him, of course, but some of his background was an inspiration for Harte’s backstory. Dolph Saunders was a real guy, but I mostly just stole the name since I really loved the way it sounded. Dolph is a compilation of a couple different historical gang leaders. As for Esta and the rest—they’re all mine.

YAG: I also love time-travel narratives, but I know they can be tricky to write. Did you encounter any specific challenges or plot problems with this aspect of the novel? If so, how did you resolve them?

LM: Everything was a problem. Time travel is so much harder to write than I thought it was when I came up with the idea of making Esta a time traveler. Originally, I hadn’t planned on my thief to be a time traveler, but once I settled on the setting, I realized there was probably no way, historically speaking, that Esta could be the person I imagined with the sensibilities I wanted her to have if she were born and raised in the late 19th century. 

The biggest challenges, though, were rules I imposed on myself. I needed her to have limitations to how and when she could travel, or else she could just magically time travel back to the beginning of the Order and solve everything before it starts. But those limitations meant that I had to make sure there weren’t any inconsistencies in the rest of the book. Don’t even get me started on multiple timelines and time travel paradoxes. The whole thing makes my head hurt, and I’m nowhere close to done thinking about it yet.

Though, I will say that I have solved one paradox/multiple timeline issue AND managed to create a twist that I’m really, really happy about for the next book.

YAG: I can't wait to read it! Thanks again for visiting the blog!

LM: Thanks so much for having me!

Readers, if you want to find Lisa on the web, visit her at http://www.lisa-maxwell.com/. And for a chance to win a signed copy of THE LAST MAGICIAN, enter below. The contest is U.S. only, and it runs from now through Halloween (fitting for a book about magic)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Guy Gives Away... FREEFALL Swag!

YA Guy's got some very cool FREEFALL swag I'm just dying to give away to readers! This includes an item modeled on a scene in the book where the narrator, Cam, dons a backpack imprinted with the logo of JIPOC, the company that finances a deep-space colonization mission that goes horrendously wrong. Here's an image of the replica bag:

Pretty cool, huh?

From now until I run out, I'm giving away this bag, filled with other FREEFALL goodies, to anyone who tweets a picture of the book. Here's what you have to do to claim your swag:

--snap a picture of FREEFALL in a bookstore, a library, your own bookshelf, or wherever else you like

--tweet the picture, using the hashtag #Freefall and making sure to tag me so I see it @TheYAGuy

I'll DM you for your mailing address and mail your bag right out to you, so you'll be able to carry your copy of FREEFALL (and anything else you want to carry) wherever you go!

YA Guy Wants You to... Sketch a Skaldi!

The e-ARC for my forthcoming YA science fiction novel FREEFALL is newly available on NetGalley, and physical ARCs have arrived as well, which means the published book will be out in a matter of months. (September 26, to be precise.) Which further means I'll soon be running out of space on my bookshelves.

So from now until the end of June, I'll be giving away a signed copy of SURVIVAL COLONY 9 or SCAVENGER of SOULS, free of charge, to anyone who asks.

But there's a catch: to get your signed copy, you have to draw a picture of a Skaldi and send it to me (electronically). I'm calling this the "Sketch a Skaldi" giveaway, and here's how it works:

• The giveaway runs from this instant until June 30, 2017.
• Each entrant can receive no more than one book (either SURVIVAL COLONY 9 or SCAVENGER OF SOULS, not both). If you want to send me multiple drawings, that's fine, but you won't get extra books.
• Your drawing can be hand drawn or computer drawn, but it MUST be your own artwork. Grabbing an image off the internet and passing it off as yours is a big no-no.
• You don't need to be Picasso--any drawing of a Skaldi, so long as it's your own, is fine with me.
• Drawings must be of a Skaldi as described in Chapter 17 of SURVIVAL COLONY 9 or Chapter 6 of SCAVENGER OF SOULS. No fair drawing a picture of a regular person and saying, "Well, s/he was taken over by a Skaldi!" (For an example of an awesome Skaldi illustration, see the picture above, by fan Desiree Schreiner.)
• Submitting your drawing gives me the right to feature it on my website, on this blog, or on any of my social media. However, I will never sell your artwork, and I will always give the artist proper credit.
• Signed books will be sent to U.S. addresses only. I will honor international entrants, but books will be delivered via Book Depository (and thus won't be signed).
• You should send your drawing (in jpg format) to: joshuadavidbellin@gmail.com. In the body of the message, please include your name, your complete mailing address, and the title of the book (SURVIVAL COLONY 9 or SCAVENGER OF SOULS) that you want.

Okay, I think that's it! Now start drawing!

YA Guy Gives Away... a Ton o' Books!

YA Guy reads a lot of books. (It's in the job description.) But alas, YA Guy doesn't have unlimited shelf space, so I give a lot of my books away. It's more fun to share anyway!

Today, as an end-of-year treat, I'm giving away TEN books (mostly YA, though a few would probably count as MG) to one lucky reader. (U.S. addresses only.) All you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter thingy below, which I've made as streamlined as possible so you don't have to plow through twenty-seven different entry options, and on December 30, I'll choose a grand prize winner. Easy-peasy, no?

Here are the great books you can win, listed in reverse alphabetical order by author's last name:

The Daemoniac by Kat Ross. A YA mystery/horror set in late 19th-century New York, where grisly murders that might be demon-inspired are investigated by a young detective.

Flashfall by Jenny Moyer. YA science fiction about a world in which radioactive fallout has produced a society sharply divided between the "naturals" who live in protected cities and the "subpars" who mine the minerals near the deadly flash curtain.

Incognita by Kristen Lippert-Martin. The second book in a YA technothriller series about a girl whose memories have been surgically altered and the hacker who assists her in tracking down the villains.

The Whisper trilogy by Dana Faletti. Three YA paranormal romance novels about teen angels, including Whisper, Wake, and War & Wonder.

The Salvation of Gabriel Adam by S. L. Duncan. The second book in a great YA fantasy trilogy about teen archangels. I'm finishing this book up now, and I'll have a review on the site soon.

Tangled Lines by Bonnie J. Doerr. An eco-mystery involving teens who investigate the slaughter of pelicans in the Florida Keys.

The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz. Based on a true story of two young boys from Guatemala who set out on a perilous journey to the United States

Scavenger of Souls by Joshua David Bellin (yes, that's me). I mean, why not? I've got extras, and it brings the giveaway to an even ten.

So here's the aforementioned Rafflecopter thingy. Enjoy, good luck, and see you in 2017!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Guy... Gives Away SCAVENGER OF SOULS to Schools and Libraries!

I know it's been a long time since YA Guy posted here, largely because I've been frantically revising my 2017 novel, FREEFALL, while working on a new project during National Novel Writing Month. But NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and I wanted to announce a very cool giveaway I'll be running throughout the coming year.

Each month in 2017, I'll be selecting one winner to receive 20 FREE hardcover copies of SCAVENGER OF SOULS. That's 12 winners, each receiving 20 FREE copies. The giveaway is restricted to schools and libraries in the United States, but other than that, there are no strings attached. If you're a teacher or librarian, head over to the Survey Monkey form here to enter:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZMQC9XN

And if you know of teachers or librarians who might be interested, feel free to share!

FREE copies of SCAVENGER OF SOULS for schools and libraries. I suppose there are cooler things than that, but at the moment, I can't think of any!

YA Guy... Gives Away the SURVIVAL COLONY series!

So here's something fun YA Guy just discovered: a student made a pillow out of my SURVIVAL COLONY 9 cover image.

As Joe Walsh says, it's tough to handle this fortune and fame. Everybody's so different, I haven't changed.

But seriously, this is a nice tribute. It's good to know somebody likes my book enough to want to sleep with it every night!

And here's another nice thing: you can win a signed copy of the two-part Survival Colony series, including SURVIVAL COLONY 9 and SCAVENGER OF SOULS, right here at YA Series Insiders.

You won't be able to sleep on them--they're hardcovers--but you can stay up late reading them!

YA Guy Celebrates... The Release of BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES by Yvonne Ventresca!

YA Guy's excited to be celebrating the release of BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES by Yvonne Ventresca! I absolutely loved this book, which I had a chance to read before publication--check out my review here. Then read the book's details and teaser, and be sure to enter the giveaway below!

BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES 

Publisher: Sky Pony Press Publication: October 4, 2016

Her father died before she was born, but Ella Benton knows they have a supernatural connection. Since her mother discourages these beliefs, Ella keeps her cemetery visits secret. But she may not be the only one with secrets. Ella’s mother might be lying about how Dad died sixteen years ago. Newfound evidence points to his death in a psychiatric hospital, not as a result of a tragic car accident as her mother always claimed. After a lifetime of just the two of them, Mom suddenly feels like a stranger. When a handprint much like the one Ella left on her father’s tombstone mysteriously appears on the bathroom mirror, at first she wonders if Dad is warning her of danger as he did once before. If it’s not a warning, could her new too-good-to-be-true boyfriend be responsible for the strange occurrences? Or maybe it’s the grieving building superintendent whose dead daughter strongly resembles Ella? As the unexplained events become more frequent and more sinister, Ella becomes terrified about who—or what—might harm her. Soon the evidence points to someone else entirely: Ella herself. What if, like her father, she’s suffering from a breakdown? In this second novel from award-winning author Yvonne Ventresca, Ella desperately needs to find answers, no matter how disturbing the truth might be.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

Excerpt from Black Flowers, White Lies

I take the stairs down. Once the stairwell door closes behind me, the basement seems darker than ever, as if the electricity is off. The light on my phone helps guide me to the laundry room. I flick the switch. Nothing happens. Not even the one good light turns on.

Maybe Norma’s in the middle of fixing the lightbulbs. She could have turned off the circuit breaker or something. But when I open the dryer, the drum light turns on as I dump the clothes into the basket. The electricity is working after all.

The light from the dryer illuminates the space and some­thing catches my eye. I focus my phone on the wall to my left.

“No.” I back up, banging into the open dryer door.

One word is scrawled in red capital letters across the wall: DAUGHTER. A bloody handprint drips in the space underneath.

I grab the basket. A cat T-shirt falls, but I don’t stop. I need to escape, fast. The elevator takes forever. The doors slide open. I expect demons, monsters, ghouls. It’s empty.

On our floor, I race to our apartment, fumble with my keys. My hands tremble too much to open the lock. “Blake!”

When he opens the door, I drop the basket to grab his arm. “Come with me.”

“El, what’s going on?”

I can’t speak on the elevator ride to the basement.

“Seriously, are you okay? You’re scaring me.”

“I’ll show you.”

I turn my phone light on when we leave the elevator and pull him into the dark laundry room. I illuminate the wall but can’t bear to look. “See?”

He’s quiet. I figure he’s as frightened as I am.

“See what?”

I turn my head and shine the light where the red scrawl was minutes before.

There’s nothing.

“Why are we in the dark?” Blake asks, flipping the laundry room switch.

The lights come on. The sudden brightness makes me blink as I stare at the blank wall.

About the Author

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Yvonne Ventresca’s latest young adult novel, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES will be published by Sky Pony Press in October 2016. Her debut YA novel, PANDEMIC, won a 2015 Crystal Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In PANDEMIC, a teen struggles to survive not only a deadly outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons. Ventresca's other works include the short story “Escape to Orange Blossom,” which was selected for the dystopian anthology PREP FOR DOOM, along with two nonfiction books, PUBLISHING (Careers for the 21st Century) and AVRIL LAVIGNE (People in the News).

Giveaway

Prize pack includes a three panel rustic chalkboard with a $25 Amex gift card, a $25 Sephora gift card, and a signed copy of Black Flowers, White Lies. a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Guy Co-Sponsors... A Great Giveaway!

Click on a Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win $220 to spend on books!

Fourteen YA authors,  including YA Guy, are sponsoring a giveaway for your chance to win a $220 Amazon e-gift card to restock your bookshelves this fall. The giveaway runs from today (September 8) to September 22. Participating authors include:

Melanie McFarlane Suzanne VanRooyen

Dorothy Dreyer J. Keller Ford

Joshua David Bellin Jullie Reece

Nicole Conway Stephanie Scott

Amy McNulty Tobie Easton

Elisa Dane Jennifer Anne Davis

Jennifer M. Eaton Jennifer Bardsley

***Click on a Rafflecopter giveaway to enter!***



Fine Print: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Time Period: Begins on 09/08/2016 at 12:00 AM (Eastern Time) and ends on 09/22/2016 at 12:00 AM (Eastern Time). Eligibility: Open to legal residents of USA and Canada. Must be 13 years old or older to enter. Winner Selection: The winner of the giveaway will be selected in a random drawing from among all eligible Entries received throughout the Promotion Period. The random drawing will be conducted within 48 hours by Sponsor or its designated representatives, whose decisions are final. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible Entries received. Winner will be notified by email at the email address provided in the Entry Information on or about 48 hours after the random drawing.