The YA Scanevger Hunt Returns!!!

***Note: If you just came here directly from Alexandra Monir's blog, you're in the wrong spot. Please go HERE instead to proceed with the YA Scavenger Hunt. If you didn't come from Alexandra's then go ahead and read this post.***


Welcome to the Winter YA Scavenger Hunt!


The Hunt is a huge, multi-author project with contests, awesome prizes, and exclusive bonus material galore!

The hunt begins on December 1st at Noon and ends on Sunday at Noon (Pacific time)--so don't delay joining in on the fun. This is truly a unique sneak peek into what’s coming up in YA literature!

Each author who is participating in the YA Scavenger Hunt will host one of the other participating authors, providing you with his or her bio, book(s), and special super exclusive bonus material.

But that's not all!

You can also enter to win the YA SCAVENGER HUNT GRAND PRIZE that includes a special gift from each of the 37 participating authors!! Rules and directions for how to enter will come later in this post, so keep on reading.
But wait, there's even more than that!

As you visit all the stops on the YA Scavenger Hunt, you will notice that many of the authors are hosting their own special giveaways in addition to the grand prize. Including me! (See the bottom of this post for how to enter to win me exclusive giveaway.) So, be sure to check out everyone’s page in the Hunt!

(While you're at it, keep an eye out for special keywords written in red. You will need them in order to enter to win the Grand Prize.)

Okay, now it is my pleasure to introduce you all to the author I am hosting for the YA Scavenger Hunt:

Inara Scott

Inara was born in the winter wonderland of Buffalo, NY. She promptly commenced complaining about being cold, and didn’t stop until she moved to Durham, NC, to attend college at Duke University. After graduating with a degree in History and Women’s Studies, Inara wandered around the country teaching outdoor education and writing bad poetry, and eventually found herself at law school in Portland, Oregon. Inara practiced law for ten years before screwing up the courage to quit her day job and devote herself to writing and teaching. Today, Inara writes anything and everything, including children’s books, young adult fiction, and adult romance. Her debut novel, DELCROIX ACADEMY: THE CANDIDATES, published in 2010 by Disney-Hyperion Books for Children, was a 2010 Oregon Spirit Book Award Honor Book.

Inara's new book is:

THE MARKED (Delcroix Academy 2)

All of her life, Dancia Lewis has wanted to use her powers for good. And now that she’s learned the truth about Delcroix Academy—and herself—she may just get the chance. But being part of Delcroix’s top secret Program isn’t anything like Dancia expected. She has to ask herself: what happens to the Talented kids who refuse to pledge their loyalty to the Program? And why did her friend Jack run away rather than join? Dancia’s boyfriend Cam insists they need the help of every Talented student to defend Delcroix from dangerous enemies outside their gates. But Dancia has to wonder: what if Delcroix’s most frightening enemies come from within?

Now for an exciting bit of bonus material along with a note from Inara:

When you write a book in first person, you get deeply embedded into a character's mind and perspective. This is really fun, especially when they're a tough, caring, and powerful girl like Dancia Lewis, the main character from my book The Candidates. But you miss getting that deep look into other characters' psyches. That's why I love writing scenes from other points of view. In this scene, which I wrote just for the fantabulous YA Scavenger Hunt, you'll go back to the beginning of The Candidates and hear from someone who, I think, may be misunderstood. (Or maybe not...I'M NOT TELLING.) Anyway, I hope you have fun hearing a little bit from Cam, the hottest boy at Delcroix Academy. If you haven't read the series, this will be a bit of a spoiler, so be careful! And enjoy...


I’d been watching her for weeks – months, really, if you count all the time I spent watching her talent marks, without knowing exactly what I was seeing. At first, I saw little puffs of color, or strange worm-like shapes crawling through the sky. We’d drive around but it was hard to pin down the source. Talent marks usually stay with the person who makes them, or linger right where the talent has been exercised, but these were different. They hung over houses, a restaurant in downtown Danville, even the middle school. Mr. Judan had us all on guard, just in case it was someone dangerous.

Then one day I saw something explode across the sky, like the image of a firework appearing, and then slowly fading from view. I was at Delcroix, sitting on the lawn with Anna and Trevor. School was almost done for the year, and we were all starting to panic about exams. I’d been studying so much I thought maybe I’d finally started to hallucinate. But no, it wasn’t a hallucination: it was a mark. The biggest talent mark I’d ever seen.

The colors and shapes fit together so beautifully, I knew at once that it couldn’t be more than one person. And the strength of it? Well, that was the remarkable part. Level two talents rarely left behind a mark– when they used their talent they might have a temporary aura, a barely visible glow around their body. Level threes always left something behind, usually for thirty minutes or more. But I’d never seen anything like this. This mark had been broadcast across the sky, creating a swath of color a mile wide.

That night, they broke the story on the evening news: a local girl, defending her grandmother, had leaped at a man with a gun, preventing tragedy from striking at the Central Danville Hospital. We guessed the truth was something far different: the man had been pushed. And not by any physical force. By the girl’s mind.

By seven am the next day we were Watching her. No one, not even Mr. Judan, could believe what we’d found. A level three talent? Untrained? Right under our noses in Danville?

We needed to bring her to Delcroix. For everyone’s protection.

We paid our recruiting visit a few weeks later. The girl’s name was Dancia Lewis. She lived with her grandmother in a tiny brown house on a street cluttered with broken-down cars and weedy lawns. Dancia’s grandmother met us at the door. She was a tiny thing with white hair and thick makeup on her cheeks and eyes. Dancia had light blonde hair that fell in tight ringlets around her shoulders. I’d seen her before, with the other Watchers, but hadn’t seen her up close. When she finally looked me in the face, I froze. She was beautiful, powerful, and terrified all at once.

All I could think was, how could they have missed it?

How could they look at her and not know what she was capable of?

In a dim corner of my brain I heard Mr. Judan say, “This is Cameron Sanders. He’ll be a junior at Delcroix this fall, and he’s one of our Student Recruiters. He works with me over the summer to identify potential new freshman and tell them about the school.”

Mr. Judan’s deep voice snapped me out of my reverie. “Call me Cam,” I said, pasting on a smile. I held out my hand, waiting for her to shake it.

She looked nervous, and it took a second for her to reach out.

“Glad to finally meet you, Dancia,” I said. Our hands made contact for the first time, and the shock took my breath away.

Normally, the first time I touch someone with the potential to become a level three talent, I get a little tingle. It feels more like an emotional connection, as crazy as that sounds, than any real physical connection. But not with Dancia. When our hands met I felt an actual current rush between us, like she was calling out my energy and I was doing the same to hers, and the result was a channel of power and heat.

She dropped my hand and winced, obviously feeling the same thing as me. I let some of my persuasion flow, though I didn’t have anywhere near the power that Mr. Judan did. I wanted to let her know it was all right. I tried to tell her with my eyes that she was going to be fine. Somewhere in that current between us I felt her loneliness, and it ripped at my heart.

But really, what could I say? It wasn’t like we were going to be honest with her. It wasn’t like she could trust us.

The lies were just beginning. I only hoped she wouldn’t hate me too much, when she found out the truth.

To learn more about Inara and her books, you can visit her website at: http://www.inarascott.com
You can purchase her books by clicking HERE or HERE.

And now it's time for giveaways!!

YA Scavenger Hunt Grand Prize Contest

As an extra bonus we’ve put together a puzzle with one keyword found on each website. Complete it and you will be eligible for a fantastic GRAND PRIZE which will include signed editions of books, signed bookmarks, jewelry, and many more exclusive gifts with at least one gift from ALL 37 PARTICIPATING AUTHORS!

Directions: Search for the 37 keywords—one on each Scavenger Hunt website—that are highlighted in RED. When you are finished, go here to the puzzle form, where you will find a list of scrambled keywords. List your keywords in the same order as the scrambled ones—from #1 - #37—and paste that list into the entry form.

Rules: To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed puzzle form before noon on Dec 4th Pacific Time. All the keywords must be included and you must include your full name and address. Entries sent in without name and address will not be considered! The contest is international.

Exclusive Dark Divine Trilogy Giveaway

To celebrate the YA Scavenger Hunt, I am hosting my own giveaway of the entire Dark Divine Trilogy. You can enter to win signed paperbacks of THE DARK DIVINE, THE LOST SAINT, and an advanced reader copy of THE SAVAGE GRACE + an official Dark Divine "Off the Cuff" bracelet from Infinite Jewelry Company. (The bracelet is a replica of the one worn by Grace in the THE LOST SAINT.)


+



To enter-

You must do all of the following:

1. "Like" the Dark Divine facebook page by clicking HERE. (If you've done that already in the past, then you're good to go on this step.)

2. Send me an email at readbree@gmail.com with the subject line "Winter YA Scavenger Hunt." Tell me that you've "liked" the facebook page, and then tell me the answer to the following questions:

A. From Inara's exerpt above, what color of hair does Danica's grandmother have?

B. [As you go through the YA Scavenger Hunt, keep a look out for my special bonus material. (An exclusive excerpt from THE SAVAGE GRACE.) Find the answer to this question by reading the excerpt.] When Grace's father forbids her from returning to the warehouse, where does Grace announce she's going to go to instead?

Rules: 1 entry per person, contest ends at Noon (pacific time) on December 4th, 2011. The winner will be announced the next day. Winner must claim their prize within 30 days. Contest is open internationally. Be sure to email your entry to readbree@gmail.com and NOT give your answers in the comments of this post.

Ready to move on to the next stop in the YA Scavenger Hunt??

Click HERE!

Full Moon Extravaganza #2: Kids Need To Read

Once again the full moon is upon us. Which means, once again it is time to celebrate my favorite werewolves and the fact that it is only 4 months until the release of THE SAVAGE GRACE.

I am especially excited because today's extravaganza is not only something super cool for fans of the DARK DIVINE series, but also will go to support a cause I am passionate about. So what is it you ask?

EGMONT USA has released an eBook version of THE LOST LETTERS OF BROTHER GABRIEL (A Dark Divine Original Story) for only $1.99!

Story Description:

Brother Gabriel, Daniel’s mentor and an ancient Urbat, plays an important role in The Lost Saint as well as the upcoming conclusion to the Dark Divine trilogy, The Savage Grace. We were first introduced to Gabriel in The Dark Divine when Grace recieves a book of ancient letters that Gabriel (a young monk at the time) wrote to his sister during the Crusades, detailing his search to know more about the Urbat. The book of letters ends just before Gabriel falls to the Urbat curse, leaving us to wonder what happened to him in the following years to turn him into the man he is today.

Most of Gabriel’s letters were written during the thirteenth century, and later translated and compiled by an Orthodox priest in the eighteenth century. For whatever reason, some of Gabriel’s letters were lost after translation and did not make it into that original book. But good news! A few of these “lost letters,” detailing Gabriel’s fall to the Urbat curse and his quest to seek revenge on the man responsible for his demise, have recently been “discovered” by the indomitable crew at Egmont USA, and are compiled here for your reading pleasure.

I hope you enjoy The Lost Letters of Brother Gabriel. I think they give a lot more depth to Brother Gabriel’s character and the mythology of the Dark Divine trilogy.

But that's not all. Today's extravaganza gets so, so much better...

As many of you know, I spent a summer in college writing and directing plays for underprivileged kids from New York City and Philadelphia. It was one of my most cherished life experiences. One I can look back on and pinpoint as literally life-changing. I had grown up in a fairly safe and average middle-class neighborhood all my life, and to be a part of helping kids who had to struggle so much just to have a portion of the quality of life I had enjoyed as a kid, was not only an eye opening experience, but it was humbling as well.

One of the things that I learned the most from this experience was how important reading and stories are for helping kids, teens, adults . . . everyone find a place in this world and encourage them to help others do the same. This is what made me re-commit to my dream of being an author.

But today, I get to do a little more. Because today, I get to tell you that from now until June 2012 all of my proceeds from the sale of THE LOST LETTERS OF BROTHER GABRIEL will be donated to the charitable organization Kids Need To Read (KNTR). Their mission is to to create a culture of reading for children by providing inspiring books to underfunded schools, libraries, and literacy programs across the United States, especially those serving disadvantaged children. For more info you can go to their website (www.kidsneedtoread.org) or watch this video from one of my most favorite Hollywood crushes and co-founder of the organization, Nathan Fillion:



Ah, Nathan Fillion. I love that guy. Remember when we fan-casted him to play Pastor Divine in a TDD movie? That'd be beyond cool. Ok, enough daydreaming because . . .

THERE'S MORE!!!

I want as many people as possible to know about this fantastic organization and their mission, so I am offering a signed book prize pack to anyone who helps spread the word about THE LOST LETTERS and how the proceeds will be donated to KNTR.

What you get:
Signed copies of
1.) SILENCE by Becca Fitzpatrick
2.) DEMON GLASS by Rachel Hawkins
3.) THE DEATH CURE by James Dashner
4.) CROSSED by Ally Condie
5.) THE SAVAGE GRACE (ARC) by Bree Despain... or, you know... me.

How you get it:
Blog, tweet, facebook, yell down the street, call your mom. Ok, the last two are great, but won't work for the contest. Just tell people about THE LOST LETTERS eBook and KNTR fundraiser. Then come back here and show me what you did (with links). One entry per person, but the more you do, the more money you help raise for KNTR. But as an extra added bonus, I've decided to give an extra entry to the first 10 entrants.

When you get it:
Give-away ends November 30th. I will then pick the winner via Random.org and announce it on or before Dec. 2nd here on the blog. If it's you, then you will have 30 days to claim the prize by emailing me your shipping address. If it is not claimed by then, I will assume the you do not want the prize and will pick another winner.

Seriously, I'm really excited about this. Please help me make it awesome and help put some great books in the hands of some great kids.

Oh, and don't forget to buy THE LOST LETTERS either here, or here, or you can get it in the iBooks store from your iPhone/iPad/Mac, or anywhere else eBooks are sold. Go forth and share the joy of reading!

P.S. FYI, in preparation for upcoming release of the paperback edition of THE LOST SAINT on November 22nd, the eBook version of THE DARK DIVINE is now available on Amazon for only $3.99!!

Full Moon Extravaganza #1: Cover reveal for THE SAVAGE GRACE!!!!

If you didn't know already, tonight is a full moon. It also marks almost exactly 5 months until the release of THE SAVAGE GRACE. So to celebrate, and in honor of a few of my favorite werewolves, my publisher and I have decided to release something super cool and extra special on the day of the full moon each month, all the way up until the release date in March. Starting today!

And I'm really excited about today's special treat. I've been waiting to show it to you all for a LONG time.

Yes, it is finally time to reveal the cover to the final installation of Dark Divine trilogy, THE SAVAGE GRACE!

But, I'm not going to just throw the cover up on my blog. No. That would be too simple. Instead, I've decided to make a game of it. So, do you want to play?

Oh, good. But before we get started, I've got even more awesome news. I will be giving away an ARC of THE SAVAGE GRACE to three random people who participate in the game!*

Ok, so here's how you play: I have created a puzzle of THE SAVAGE GRACE's cover on my website. But I've spread the pieces across the interwebs, so before you can get to the puzzle and put it all together, you need to go find the pieces and unscramble a password. Don't worry. You won't need to copy and paste the puzzle piece images or do anything too technical.

Here's how you do it-

1.) Each group of puzzle pieces has been assigned key letters. You gather these groups of pieces by collecting these letters from the following blogs:

PageTurners
Mundie Moms
Waste Paper Prose

2.) Once you have all the letters, unscramble them to find the password. (Keep the theme to the Dark Divine trilogy in mind.)

3.) Now that you have all the pieces and have figured out the password, you can follow this link to gain access to the full puzzle (that can be pieced together to reveal the cover image): http://www.breedespain.com/puzzle.php

4.) Enter the password when prompted. It has to be entered in all lower-case letters.

5.) After you finish the puzzle, click "view image" to see the cover completed.

6.) Now make sure you fill out the form on the left hand side of the puzzle page. This is how you enter the drawing for one of three ARCs of THE SAVAGE GRACE, so don't forget that part.

7.) The contest is open until 11:59 p.m. MST on Thursday, October 13th. Winners will be announced here on my blog on Friday, October 14th. Contest is open internationally!

Get it? Got it? Good.

Here's a little sneak peek of the cover puzzle:

THE SAVAGE GRACE synopsis:

A troubled soul. An impossible choice. A final battle.

Wrestling with the werewolf curse pulsing deep inside of her, Grace Divine was finally able to find her brother, but it nearly cost her everything.

With her boyfriend, Daniel, stuck in wolf form and Sirhan's death approaching, time is running out for Grace to stop Caleb Kalbi and his gang of demons. If she fails, her family and hometown will perish. Everything rests on Grace's shoulders.

The final installment in The Dark Divine trilogy brings Daniel and Grace's love story to a breathtaking conclusion.

The code letters you need from this blog are: oi

Now head on out to the other blogs
(PageTurners
Mundie Moms
Waste Paper Prose ) and collect the rest of the letters. If you already have all the letters, unscramble them to find the password, and click HERE to access the puzzle.

I really hope you love the cover as much as I do! Be sure to tell me what you think.

Does anyone have any special plans for the full moon tonight?

* Please note: ARCs of THE SAVAGE GRACE aren't available quite yet. Winners will receive the first three ARCs I get. (Probably some time in early November.)


P.S. When the winners are announced, I'll put up a larger version of TSG's cover that you are welcome to post all over the internet as much as you please. But for now, the cover is locked down and can't be copied.

P.P. S. A couple of upcoming events you should know about:

1. October 19--I'll be speaking on a panel will Sara Zarr and Emily Wing Smith at the West Valley City Library, in celebration of Teen Read Week.
7 p.m. 2880 West 3650 South

2. November 5th--I'll be speaking on a panel at the Vegas Valley Book Festival with Becca Fitzpatrick, Rachel Hawkins, and many more awesome authors. Later that evening, we'll be in attendance at the Paranormal Ball. (Fancy dresses, tons of authors & book lovers--who could ask for anything more fabulous?)

Winner of the Skip A Starbucks + Countdown to THE LOST SAINT giveaway!

8/29/10

Oi. Sorry to be a day late on this but I got coerced into spending yesterday at Cub Scout camp. Yep. You heard that right. Me + hundreds of hyper little boys + open flame + a dude on stilts. It went just about how you think it might go . . .

Just kidding, no dude on stilts or screaming boys ended up in the fire! But I was surely tempted. . . Um, never mind. *Jedi hand wave* You did not just hear me say that.

On the plus side, I got to pretend to be Katniss Everdeen while at the knot tying station. If only Finnick or Peeta had been around to make it more interesting. *Sigh*

Anyway, the winner of this month's Count Down to THE LOST SAINT giveaway (held early in honor of the Skip A Starbucks Day Fundraiser) is: Julia Girvin

Julia, email me with your mailing address and I will send you your Egmont Paranormal Prize Pack.

Everyone else, be sure to check back here on the 28th of next month for the next Countdown to THE LOST SAINT giveaway. The prize will be worth it. I promise.

Skip a Starbuck's Day + an early Countdown To THE LOST SAINT Contest

8/23/2010

Hey all-

I'm kicking off this month's Countdown To THE LOST SAINT Contest a little early this month in order to help a good cause.

My blogger friend C.J. Redwine has asked for my assistance in helping her family bring their adopted daughter, Johanna Faith, home from China. They've been waiting for five years to be assigned a child (a process that was only supposed to take 6-8 months) because of bureaucratic red tape and many changes in rules and policies. Unfortunately they've had to pay their adoption fees many times over in order to keep their application active over all this time. And now that Johanna is finally allowed to come home to the Redwine family, their nest egg of money they've been saving for this occasion has dwindled to almost nothing.

They've only got a few weeks to raise the $8,000 needed to finalize the adoption and pay to bring Johanna home--and that's where the rest of can pitch in a help out.

C.J. is hosting SKIP A STARBUCKS DAY in which a bunch of us bloggers and authors are asking our readers to skip they're daily (or weekly) indulgence (such as a trip to Starbucks. Or Dove Dark chocolate bars in my case.) and donate the money you would have spent to helping the Redwine's bring their little girl home.

And in return, you get entered into contests to win many fabulous donated prizes!

C.J. is hosting the GRAND PRIZE giveaway, so go visit her blog to read all about it--and get more details on her family and their struggle to adopt Johanna. Enter her contest by making a donation, and then you can go aorund to all the other bloggers who are also hosting giveaways (including me) and enter.

Here's what I'm giving away to an awesome donor:

An Egmont Paranormal Prize Pack!














That's a hardcover copy of RAISED BY WOLVES by Jenn Lynn Barnes
A hardcover copy of SIREN by Tricia Rayburn
The Egmont UK paperback edition of THE DARK DIVINE (signed)
And one of my (very few) ARCs of THE LOST SAINT (signed)


And here's how to enter:

Visit C.J.'s blog and donate money to help bring baby Johanna home.

For every $5 you donate, you are eligible for 1 entry in my contest.***

You can earn 1 additional entry by promoting Skip A Starbucks Day fundraiser. (Only 1 extra entry total though. NOT 1 per time you promote.)

Come back here and tell me how many entries you qualify for. (Example: If you donate $10 to the cause and then promote the fundraiser you get 3 entries.)

You can either leave your entry number in the comments here on this blog, or if you're more comfortable (since this involves money) you can EMAIL your number of entries to me at: readbree@gmail.com.

Please title your email: Skip a Starbuck's Day

The contest runs until 11:00pm CST on Wednesday, August 25th.
I will randomly draw a winner and announce it on August 28th


***Entries will be verified with C.J. Redwine's donation receipts, so please be honest!

"The *real* reason Daniel didn't go after Grace the night she found out what he did"...and a TLS giveaway

8/10/2010

Hey all-

Some blogger folks are counting down the days until the debut of Suzanne Collins's MOCKINGJAY by hosting a YA Showdown in which they are pitting characters from different books against each other to see who will come out as the YA fighting champion.

Editor Greg was practically giddy when the Showdown bloggers asked if I'd be willing to contribute my own version of what would happen if Daniel Kalbi were to fight Jace Wayland from Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments books.

Honestly, the idea kind of freaked me out. Writing fight scenes is probably one the hardest things for me to do--and why on Earth would Daniel and Jace ever fight each other in the first place?

But Editor Greg was so excited about it, and the idea really was an interesting one, so I decided to try my hand at writing a short description of what would happen if (and why?) these two characters were to face-off . . .

And ended up having so much fun with it, it turned into a 7 page short story.

Um, did I ever mention that I have issues with brevity?

Anyway, the short story is set within the framework of TDD book #1--right after Daniel reveals to Grace what he did before he disappeared 3 years ago. It explores the *real* reason (haha) why Daniel didn't go after her when she left that night. And it's written from Daniel's POV, which was way too much fun to write from. (I may have to explore this more in book #3.)

You can read the short story by CLICKING HERE.

Then you can go HERE to read an alternate version of what would happen if these two characters fought. And then you can VOTE as to which version you like better--or who you think would win in the match-up. Personally, I think you should all vote for Daniel--but if you don't, I'll still be your friend. And you can see all the other character match-ups here. (Warning: there may be a few TDD book #1 spoilers on this website.)

And since I just got an email from my editor saying that my ARCs of THE LOST SAINT should be arriving at my doorstep any minute now . . . I think I might just have to give one away to somebody who reads the short story.

So go check it out. Read. Hopefully enjoy. Vote for your fave. Come back here and tell me you did so. And then I will enter you in a drawing for a signed ARC of THE LOST SAINT.

Voting ends on August 12th, so the contest will end at 11:59 pm on that day too. And if you spread the word about the contest/the short story/the YA Showdown, you'll get 1 extra point in the drawing.

xoxo,

Bree

TDD Trailer Revealed and Bree's Book-Bag Blowout Celebration/Contest!

6/30/10

As many of you know, I am so very excited about the making of the official THE DARK DIVINE teaser trailer. The trailer is playing this week (a.k.a. the Eclipse premier week) on 37 movie screens at the top 2 ranking theaters in all of North America for the Twilight movies.

(Megaplex 20 at The District in South Jordan, Utah. And Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons in Sandy, Utah.)

Wahoo!

A LOT of hard work went into making the trailer and I am so very, very happy with the results, I want to share the trailer with as many people as possible. But since not all of you live in Utah and won't have a chance to see it on the big screen, I'm posting it here for all of you to see. And I'm hosting a BIG giveaway to encourage all of you to share the video. (More on that in a minute...)

But, without any further ado (for the moment) I present to you the Official THE DARK DIVINE Teaser Trailer:

(It's a big file, so for best results, pause it and let it load completely before playing.)



Pretty cool huh? Go ahead and watch it again. I know you want to . . .

Okay, back to me now. No seriously. Remember, there's a HUGE giveaway coming up!

Alright, do I have your attention again?

First, I want to give huge kudos and thank yous to all the wonderful folks at Kineto Pictures who put so much time, thought, and dedication into making the trailer. These guys seriously rocked! I also want to say thank you to Nathan Day (Daniel), Katya Feinstein (Grace), and hubby (who stepped in as the trailer coordinator so I could fly to CA for my grandmother's funeral.)

Alright, time for the giveaway. And it's a big one. I'm not kidding.

It's Bree's Book-Bag Blowout!

I have a book-bag.

I have MANY books. Lots are signed. Some are highly coveted advanced copies. All are fabulous. One may even be a signed advanced copy of THE LOST SAINT (the sequel to THE DARK DIVINE.)

I imagine some of you would like to have some of these books.

I also have a new book trailer that I want to share with the world.

And you have the ability to help me share it.

Catching my drift?

So here's how it works:

1. I start with the book-bag. And you start by sharing links to the TDD trailer and telling your friends about this contest. You can embed the youtube video on your own website/blog/facebook etc. or simply send people a link to this post. Youtube will track how many views the video gets.

2. For every 500 views the trailer gets in the next 2 weeks, I will add a book to the book-bag. (Up to 5500 views.)

3. Up to 3000 views, the winner of the book-bag can choose books from Group A. (Click here to see all the books the winner can choose from in Group A.)

4. After 3000 views, and up to 5000 views, the winner can choose books from both Group A and Group B. (Click here and scroll down to see all the books the winner can choose from in Group B.)

5. After 5500 views, the winner of the book-bag will also get a signed ARC of THE LOST SAINT.

6. That makes 11 books total that the winner will receive.

7. But wait, that's not all! If by some huge push of awesomeness, the TDD trailer manages to get 50,000 views in the next 2 weeks . . . I will put a brand new 16G Apple iPad in the book-bag for the winner.

8. You must provide proof of sharing the trailer here in the comments of this post. Leave a link to anything you do online so I can verify. You can share it in as many places possible, and enter as many times as you'd like. You will receive one entry into the contest for each time you share the trailer. Be creative, if you'd like. You can even stand on a street corner with a giant poster with the www.readbree.com URL on it.* Just show me the proof that you did it. You will receive bonus entries for telling people about the contest, and another bonus entry for being a follower of the blog.

9. Please be honest. The point of this contest is to share the trailer with as many people possible. I know you'll want to watch it more than once . . .who wouldn't? . . . but please don't try to play it a hundred times yourself just to up the view count. Youtube will actually freeze the view count if too many views are coming from the same IP address--so cheating will actually impair the contest, rather than help.

10. The contest runs between now (June 30th) until 11:59pm on July 14th, 2010. The winner will be announced on July 15th.

11. Go forth and share!

Again, to see a list of books that the winner will be allowed to choose from, Click HERE.


* Bree can not be held liable if you get hit by a car while standing on a street corner holding a sign, but she'll probably send you a get well soon card.

Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE contest and purple toes too!

So its that time of the month again! Wait...I don't mean that... well I do...but that's not what I wanted to talk about. Wow. TMI. Um.... yeah.

So what I mean is "Yay, its the 22nd of August and that means only 4 months until the release of THE DARK DIVINE!!!!" And to celebrate? You guessed it-- CONTEST TIME!

But before we get into the contest, I have to tell you about something really cool. Hubby and I thought it would be really neat if we found some nail polish to match the girl on my cover's pedicure. Then we took the idea one step farther and said, well what if we actually found a manufacturer who could make THE DARK DIVINE nail polish? It seemed like a long shot, but we presented the idea to my publisher (who loved it by the way) and long story short, I give you THE DARK DIVINE nail polish!
Okay how cool is that? And I totally know that you want to know how you can get one for your very own. I mean, they are awesomely cute, don't you think?

Well, that's where the contest comes into play. And since the girl on my cover has beautiful feet (though oddly squarish toes), the grand prize this month includes a THE DARK DIVINE pedicure kit! (A foot file, a tub of peppermint smoothing pumice scrub, a bottle of peppermint cooling foot lotion, and a bottle of the nail polish.)

So here's how this month's contest will work:

Qualified participants will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes:

1. A pedicure kit complete with my new THE DARK DIVINE nail polish! + An autographed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE + $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble.
2. Signed copy of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter + Signed copy of LIFE IN THE PIT by Kristen Landon
3. A $30 gift card to Barnes & Noble

What's a qualified participant you ask? Well, you must be a follower of the blog or twitter to qualify, so if you are not already a follower....you know...become one :D. You must also earn a minimum of 5 points from the list below to qualify.

1. Already a blog follower= 4pts
2. Already a twitter follower= 2pts
3. Become a new blog follower= 3pts
4. Become a new Twitter follower= 1pt
5. Post a twitter update about contest= 1pt
6. Blog about the contest= 5pts (must be in a post)
7. Post a comment responding to the questions posed below= 2pts

To enter, and make sure I don't miss anything, please post a comment to this post with the URLs of your blog/twitter posts and totaling your points (While you're there, you might as well comment on the questions posed and earn a couple extra points too).

For every point you earn in addition to the 5 points needed to qualify, you get an additional name entry in the drawing. For example, if you are already a follower, blog about the contest, and also post a twitter update (10 points), you would get 6 entries in the drawing (1 for the 5pts to qualify and 5 more for the additional 5pts earned). Contest ends midnight Aug. 29th. I'll post winners the following day.

Now, as mentioned, you can respond to a couple questions to earn points toward the contest. So, I'm wondering loyal followers:

1. What was the last book you read that gave you a new perspective?
2. Who's your favorite fictional bad boy?
3. What's your favorite paranormal creature and why?

Now, go forth and blog and tweet and comment, and may the best readers win! (Oh, and as a side note, the "Favorites from SCBWI" commenting contest for Sherman Alexie's ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART TIME INDIAN and other books I picked up from the conference is still going on. I'll finish my stories sometime early next week. . . and then pick a winner for that contest shortly thereafter.)

Winner of the ARC Giveaway . . .And the Reason I Should Have Listened to Frau Pond in High School

So first things first, the winner of the Countdown To The Dark Divine ARC Giveaway is: Sab H.
Update: Forgot to post the winner of THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE. Sorry! The winner is NICOLE--my very first follower ever!

(Email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing address and I'll sent the ARC your way.)

Thanks everyone for participating! I just got word from my publisher that they might me send me a few more ARCs, so hopefully we can do this again soon.

Secondly, after looking over the votes, It looks like Nathan and Talbot were neck and neck. I love how opinionated you guys are about your names! I'm leaning toward naming the character Nathan Talbot, but calling him Talbot--and possibly Tal for short. What do you guys think? (Okay, hopefully nobody hates me! I promise to save Ramses for something in the future.)

So what does Frau Pond, my slightly crazy (okay uber-crazy) German teacher from high school have to do with this blog post?

Well, you know how language teachers insist on talking to you only in the language you are supposed to be learning? And you know how there's always that one kid in your class that always looks completely lost, and the teacher tries to ask her questions in German/French/Spanish/Whatever and she just stares blankly back at the teacher, so then the teacher just keeps asking the question louder and louder, and the student turns all red and still has no idea what the teacher is saying, so then they teacher starts making gestures with her arms that vaguely look like she's milking a 30 foot cow, and then suddenly everyone is laughing, and the teacher starts shrieking (finally in English), "I asked you about the water buffaloes?! Why do you not understand about the 'water buffaloes'?!" and the student still has NO IDEA what the heck she's talking about . . .??

Yeah, so that student was totally me. Poor Frau Pond tried her hardest, but no matter how loud she shrieked at me about those darn water buffaloes (do they even have water buffalo in Germany?!), I still couldn't figure out a word she was saying. . .

Which I now totally regret because when my book comes out German, I will have no idea what Grace says to Daniel after the first time they kiss . . .

But anyway, we sold German rights!!! Squuueeee!!! Which means my book will be coming out in Germany some time in 2010. Hopefully, this will be the first of many forgein rights deals (*crossing fingers, knocking on wood*--which kind of hurts, btw).

And maybe, just maybe, I'll wrap up a copy of the German version of THE DARK DIVINE and send it to Frau Pond with an apology note about the water buffaloes. . . .

Countdown To The Dark Divine Contest: Help me name a new character and you might win an ARC edition.

First item of business: The 2nd winner of the Random Things Giveaway is californiameaghan!

Email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send you list of your choices from the Random Prize Grab-Bag.

Last week's Random Things winner, Taschima Cullen, chose a signed copy of WINGS by Aprilynne Pike.

(The Random Things Contest is now closed.)


Okay, on with the post:

So does anyone know how it got to be the 22nd again already? Seriously, the time is ticking away until the release of THE DARK DIVINE. We're down to 5 months already!!! The weirdest part about getting closer to the release date (December 22nd, btw) is knowing that advanced copies of my book are being sent out to reviewers, and people--real people, not just my writer friends--are possibly reading my book right at this very moment.

Exciting!!

Thrilling!!

Horrifying!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, primal scream moment over. *Shaking it off*

Back to the post . . .What was I saying? Oh yeah. Reviewers and other such super awesome people are reading my book. In fact, I recently got my first written review on GoodReads. In honor of it being the first, I thought I would share it with you all.

This was written by Sarah Steele, one of the fabulous winners from last month's Countdown To The Dark Divine Contest ARC Giveaway:

"Okay I was SUPER excited to read this book and when I won and ARC from the author's blog, I absolutely was not disappointed!!!! (Apologies to the author for comparing her great novel to "Twilight." I don't mean it as an insult.) Basically if you loved "Twilight," you'll also love this book. And if you despised "Twilight," you'll probably also love this book and after reading it you'll think, "Wow, Stephenie Meyer could stand to learn a few things from Bree Despain." Seriously. Read this book."


How sweet is that?! Thanks, Sarah!


Sarah's review put me in such a good mood, I've decided to give away another one of my ARCs as part of this month's Countdown To The Dark Divine Contest.

(Note to new readers: The CTTDDC is a special contest I run on the 22nd of each month leading up to the release of my book on 12/22/09. So be sure to come back each 22nd for you chance to win a neat prize.)

However, there's no such thing as a free lunch. You've got to do a little work for me in order to get an entry in the contest.

So here's the deal. I'm working on the sequel for TDD, and I've dreamed up a new character. He's hot, cocky, has paranormal superpowers (sorry, can't tell you what kind), and is possibly going to be British. He's the kind of guy you LOVE to hate, and hate yourself for loving. But, sadly, he still doesn't have a name. This where I need a little help from my friends. Which of the following names do you think is best for the hot paranormal jerk:

A. Nathan
B. Talbot
C. Ramses

Cast your vote in the comments, and I'll enter you in the contest to win a signed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE. Our second place winner will get a signed copy of Shannon Hale's THE ACTOR AND THE HOUSEWIFE. Contest ends at 11:59 pm on July 29th.

Disclaimer: I'm leaning toward one of the names already, so I may or may not go with the outcome of this contest . . .but my decision will probably be swayed if enough of you agree on a different choice.

(Note: This contest is only open to blog followers, so if you're not a follower . . .um, start following ;) )

Oh, and one more thing. YA author James Dashner gave me a shout-out on his blog, so I'm returning the favor. He's giving away an ARC of his awesome upcoming YA novel, THE MAZE RUNNER, on his blog, so you should pop over there and check it out. (After you leave a comment here, of course.)

Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE ARC giveway, the YA Carnival, and who was your first crush?

So I had this realization yesterday. And that realization is that I don't know how to count. Actually, I've already had that realization several (no, thousands) of times in my life. So the real realization that I really had was that last month during the Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE Contest I claimed that the debut of my novel was a whole 8 months away, but once I figured out how to count, I realized it was actually only 7 months away. (How's that for a long sentence?) Which means now, a month later, the debut of THE DARK DIVINE (on December 22nd) is only 6 MONTHS away!!!! Holy crap, let's do the time warp again, Batman! Seriously, only 6 months away! It's like somebody knocked a whole month off of the time we have to wait until the book debuts. Isn't that cool?

Well, I think it is.

And since 6 months sounds way cooler than 7 months, I've decided to make the prize for this month's Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE Contest/Giveaway extra special: A signed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE!!

But wait! It gets better . . . I've also decided to participate in the YA Book Carnival started by Shooting Star Magazine. And in honor of this fun event, I'm going to give away a second signed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE to another winner.

That's right, you now have 2 chances to win one of the signed ARCs. Neat, huh?

Well, I at least think so.

So how do you enter to win? Well, I'll tell you. . .

In THE DARK DIVINE, the main character, Grace, has had a crush on her brother's best friend, Daniel, ever since she was nine years old. She's been tagging behind her brother and Daniel ever since she was old enough to walk, and even though Daniel loved to tease her, she couldn't help totally crushing on him. But then, one night when she was fourteen years old, something terrible happened between Daniel and Jude, and Daniel suddenly disappeared. Grace thinks she's moved on, she thinks she's buried her feelings for Daniel in the past . . .That is, until three years later when Daniel mysteriously returns to town, enrolls in Grace's small Christian high school, and Grace realizes that maybe what she'd always felt for Daniel wasn't just a crush after all.

So what does this have to do with the contest, you ask? Well, since Grace tells us all about her first crush in THE DARK DIVINE, she wants all of you to tell us about yours. All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment to this post, telling me (or Grace, I guess) about your first crush. And you know you've had a first crush, so don't go claiming you don't have a story to share!

(Secondary stipulation, this contest is only open to my blog or twitter followers, so if you're not a follower . . .well, become one! :-D)

To kick off the contest (and so you'll feel a little bit less shy about sharing) I'll tell you all about my first crush: So my brother had this best friend (we'll call him Drew). They did everything together--and I tagged along constantly. And even though Drew loved to tease me, I was totally smitten by him. His dad was my dentist, and he would always tease me about how Drew and I were going to get married. Well, then as Drew and my brother got older, they had some kind of weird falling out, and then awhile after that Drew ran away from home and totally disappeared off the face of the planet . . .oh wait, this is starting to sound familiar . . .

Okay, time to share away! The contest runs until midnight on June 27th. Winners will be announced on June 28th. So bring on those first crushes!

(And if you're new to the blog and you don't know anything about THE DARK DIVINE, you can read the first chapter by clicking here.)