Tuesday, April 2, 2019

YASH Spring 2019!


It's that time of year again!! When we all go crazy for a few days, trying to win piles of awesome books! This year, I'm also doing my own personal giveaway, so make sure to read all the way to the VERY BOTTOM of the post for your chance to win a signed ARC of my new release coming November 5th from Tor Teen - SISTERS OF SHADOW AND LIGHT!




Zuhra and Inara have grown up in the Citadel of the Paladins, an abandoned fortress where legendary, magical warriors once lived before disappearing from the world—including their Paladin father the night Inara was born.
On that same night, a massive, magical hedge grew and imprisoned them within the citadel. Inara inherited their father’s Paladin power; her eyes glow blue and she is able to make plants grow at unbelievable rates, but she has been trapped in her own mind because of a “roar” that drowns everything else out—leaving Zuhra virtually alone with their emotionally broken human mother.
For 15 years they have lived, trapped in the citadel, with little contact from the outside world…until the day a stranger passes through the hedge, and everything changes.

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 until Sunday!



Directions: Below, you'll notice that 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 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 7th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Here's a little trivia for you - my all time FAVORITE number has always been 21!!!

This year I'm hosting Lisa Koosis!

-->In high school, much to the dismay of her guidance counselor, Lisa Koosis traded AP English for a creative writing class and a class in speculative fiction. She never looked back. Lisa is a member of the SCBWI, an ambassador for National Novel Writing Month, and an active member of her local writing community. Her short stories have been published widely. When she isn’t writing, you’ll probably find her at the beach with her dog, or chilling with her cat.
Lisa is the author of :

-->A grieving young musician must make an impossible choice about cloning the girl he loved, in this novel about memory and identity, love and loss.

Ooooh, that sounds so intriguing!! 


And if you're a fan of the book - today is your lucky day because Lisa is sharing a deleted scene with us for her bonus material! 

As I worked on RESURRECTING SUNSHINE, I found myself writing a number of pretty surreal dream sequences. Not only do I love writing these types of scenes because writing about dreams gives me the freedom to really play with words and imagery and to be a little, well, out there, but because it also provides a way to explore what’s happening inside a character. In this particular dream sequence, as with several others in SUNSHINE, Adam explores in some depth his grief over losing Marybeth—aka Sunshine—as well as his fears and reservations about bringing back the girl she loves through this crazy process.

While the following scene was always one of my favorites, it never made it into the book in its entirety (although you may find pieces of it scattered here and there). I’m glad to have the opportunity to share it with you today.

I will warn you that this deleted scene contains some potential spoilers...or maybe I should say it hints at spoilers, but when I had the opportunity to share a deleted scene from my book, I just couldn’t resist choosing this one.

I hope you enjoy it!

~ Lisa A. Koosis


Deleted Scene from RESURRECTING SUNSHINE

I wake into the dream with Marybeth kissing me on the cheek. When I open my eyes she brushes hair back from my forehead and says, “Can you get up? I have something to show you.”

She’s wears her Sunshine get-up, that yellow dress that never stopped reminding me of funerals. Her feet are bare and black with dirt, as if she walked barefoot all the way from her own tomb. But she’s so gentle and attentive, so with me in the moment and not lost inside her grief, that my eyes burn.

I wish that for at least a few moments I could pretend this is something more than a dream.

“Please.” She holds out her hand.

I sit up. “You need to stop doing this, MB. I need to bond with the new you, and how can I do that if you keep coming to remind me you’re dead?”

She sighs. “Adam, head out of the sand. I am dead.”

I kick the sheets back, feeling suddenly, over-the-top, angry. “You think I don’t know that? I’m trying my best to move forward.”

“Forward,” she says. “Backward.” As if it’s all the same to her. And maybe it is, because what are directions when you’re dead?

“Okay,” I say. “I’m getting up.”

We leave my apartment and after a few hallways, I realize she’s taking me to the place where Marybeth 2.0 floats in her tank.

“We can’t go in there,” I tell her.

“Sure we can,” she says. “You’re getting tame, Adam. When did a rule ever stop you from doing anything?”

“It’s called growing up,” I tell her. I don’t know why I feel so cross.

“I wouldn’t know about that,” she says. “I’m always going to be almost-seventeen.”

With her words, though they’re completely off-the-cuff, all the crossness goes out of me. She pushes open the door to the nursery. Apparently, you don’t need keycards in dreams.

I expect the tank to be empty since Marybeth is here, with me, but it isn’t. Inside, Marybeth 2.0 floats, eyes closed, lips pressed tightly together. Whatever she’s reliving right now isn’t pleasant.

“Probably that day Daddy Jacobsen decided my bed was more interesting than his own,” the dream MB says.
“God, MB! How can you say it like that, so matter-of-factly?” How hard I’ve been trying not to think about her reliving those things.

“How else can I say it, Adam?” she says, almost gently, as if she’s protecting me more than herself. “It was my life. Now she’s stuck living it.”

I look from one Marybeth to the other. Seeing them side by side makes my chest squeeze. Or maybe it’s the thought that even now Mr. Jacobsen is sliding between the sheets of fourteen-year-old Marybeth’s bed as she pretends to sleep, hoping he’ll come to his senses and go away.

“Not all of my life experiences happened with you there to try to protect me.”

We look at each other, me and this girl I love with my whole heart, this girl so long in the ground.

“But that’s not what I wanted to show you.” She pulls me away from the tank.

Beyond the bank of computers that nobody’s tending to right now, a door appears. It wasn’t there a second ago. It swings open on its own.

From inside, I hear bubbling, like Marybeth’s nursery tank, only a hundred times over. My feet feel heavy in the way of dreams, and I force myself forward, reminding myself that that’s exactly what this is. No matter what’s in the room, no matter what fear-brought-to-life exists in there, it’s only the product of my thoughts and worries and paranoia.

I step into a room filled with tanks. In each one, a clone of Marybeth floats.

“Go on,” Dream Marybeth says. Her fingers press lightly against my shoulder, nudging me forward.

I move toward the first tank. The Marybeth inside is identical to the Marybeth standing beside me. Her eyes are open, staring through the pale fluid as if she’s really seeing me rather than just whatever exists inside the current memory being piped into her.

“MB.” I put my hands against the glass. Up close I see the faraway look in her eyes that I know so well, and my mind supplies an image of her sitting in the tour bus, her dress traded for jeans, her head tipped against the tinted windows, looking out at something only she can see. I can’t...

I move to the next tank. The Marybeth in that one is younger, but only slightly, judging by the shoulder-length of her dark hair.

I walk to the next, and the next, looking at the Marybeths in each one.

The Marybeths.

The.

As if she’s a product rather than a person.

I look to the Marybeth next to me. “Am I taking away from who you were by doing this?”

“Does it matter?” She shrugs, and then points to the tanks where the older Marybeths float, Marybeth when she was Sunshine. “Hadn’t I lost who I was by then anyway? Wasn’t I already a commodity?”

I shake my head. “Not to me.”

She smiles, the kind of smile you give someone you’re sad for. “I know. Thank you for that.”

Together, we walk to the far end of the room. I can pick out the ages of each by the hair length, the roundness of her cheeks, her height. My dream-guide Marybeth accompanies me, speculating on what memory might be getting pumped into each particular clone.

The Marybeths get younger, until they’re younger than the first time I met her. I see Marybeth at maybe the age of seven or eight, cigarette burns running up the length of her bare arms. I see Marybeth at around four or five, her hair short and choppy, as if she cut it herself. In some of the tanks she’s nothing more than a baby.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I tell the original Marybeth as we stare in at the young clone. “Her hair wouldn’t change in the tank.”

“Dummy,” she says affectionately, “this is a dream. Your mind has to make its dream-points somehow. Duh.”

“But what is the point? That she had a life before me? That she’s reliving everything?” I feel that crossness again, and suddenly I’m cross with her, even though I kind of realize that the dream her is really just my subconscious pretending to be her.

“Sure,” she says. “That. But maybe the point is this. When would it make a difference to stop the memories? When we were with the band? Before I met them? The day I met you? Or before? Or was it something just inside me, Adam? A ticking bomb that started the day a sperm met an egg, something in my genetic code that’ll be there no matter what you do?”

“And there it is,” I say. My pulse pounds in my jaw. “Poor me. Right, MB? You had a hard life. Well you weren’t the only one. You weren’t the only one who lost your family, who lost LaLa and Jeddy. You weren’t the only one who got stuck in shitty foster homes. You’re not the only one who had scars. You’re not the only one who’s ever thought about…”

I can’t say it. But Marybeth just keeps on looking at me, her gaze steady. In fact I feel all of the Marybeths watching me from their tanks.

“Go on,” she says.

“What is it you want to say to me, Marybeth? That it’s my fault you’re dead? That I gave up on you? You gave up first, Marybeth. You gave up a long time before me.”

I bang my fist against the nearest tank. It shudders, but neither the Marybeth inside nor the one next to me so much as flinches.

“I followed you onto that stage, Marybeth. I followed you into that ridiculous fame we had. I would have followed you to the ends of the earth. And still it wasn’t enough.

You quit, Marybeth. You quit us. You quit life. And you left me to live without you. You left me when you knew it was going to hurt me the most. When it would look like it was my fault and not yours.”

“Go on,” she says.

“And I am so mad at you, Marybeth. I am so mad at you for leaving me here all alone, just like everyone else did.”


To continue the hunt, make sure to go visit Melinda Cordell by clicking HERE! 

But first - make sure you enter my giveaway of an ARC of SISTERS OF SHADOW AND LIGHT right here : 

80 comments:

Courtney said...

I'm not sure what book I'm most excited about for 2019, but I can say that your novel Sisters of Shadow and Light looks so cool! It sounds like my kind of read!

Megan said...

The book I'm most excited for in 2019 is Sisters of Shadow and Light! I'm so excited for it :)
Megan S.

Bella said...

DUDE. DUDE. DUUUUUUUUDE. Okay so I was on Cassidy Taylors FB page, and I follow her bc a previous YASH right. and sometiems she posts other authors and she posted about a book called War and I hate her for it because IT SOUNDS SO GOOD AND ITS NOT OUT YET AND I'M CRYING BECAUSE I HAVE TO WAIT BUT I LOVE LOVE LOVE when people who shouldn't fall in love (not Romeo and Juliet (gag me) but like Death falling in love with someone (thats ALSO going to happen in this series because it's about the Four Horsemen) and like this. So War goes into this village and meets his girl. And I'm SO EXCITED. And the guy on the book cover is SOOOO GOOD LOOKING. AND I HAVE TO WAIT :((((((((( I think May, so it's almost here, but I've been waiting a while so. (as you can see, i'm a VERY BAD waiter)

Unknown said...

resurrecting sunshine has certainly gotten my attention. Thank you for hosting! Nancy Storms

Liliana said...

I am very excited for Red Scrolls of Magic which comes out later this month!

CJ said...

I've been hearing a lot about Sisters Of Shadow and Light and so now I'm curious about it and want to read it!

Allisa White said...

I'm excited for We Hunt the Flame!

John Smith said...

Look at that great cover! And Tor is so cool! I like citadels. I like Paladins. A Citadel of Paladins sounds quite intriguing!

Tighefan42 said...

This sounds like a great read. I love the cover. Thanks for the chance.

Tighefan42atgmail dotcom

Carie said...

I am SO excited for Rebel by Marie Lu in 2019!! I'd love to win SOSAL - I've enjoyed all of your books and this one sounds REALLY good :D

Ashley @ Bookaholics Anonymous said...

Kasie West other new book thats coming out and Capturing the devil.

Kelsey C. said...

So excited for your book!!!

Jill Warner said...

Dark Breaks the Dawn made me bawl and I generally don't cry when reading, so of course I want Sisters!

Lauren B. said...

Very excited for SOSAL! Really like the cover as well. I'm also waiting not so patiently for Sorcery of Thorns and Capturing the Devil!

Jamie @ Books and Ladders said...

I'm so excited for so many books in 2019! My top pick is WE HUNT THE FLAME!

Emily Mitchell said...

Too many to count! SOSAL is up there, of course. I've been a fan from the beginning! I'm also really eager for Kendare Blake's final book in the Three Dark Crowns series!

erinlee20 said...

There are so many great books coming out this year...if I have to narrow it down, I would say Vow of Thieves by Mary Pearson is at the top!

Nicole B said...

There are so many good books coming out that I can't pick one! Though I am extremely intrigued by SOSAL and I kinda can't wait for it to be released so I can read it!!!

Chelsea Mitchell said...

I'm so excited for SOSAL. I loved reading your defy series, and I just really want to read everything you write. I'm not sure which 2019 release I'm most anticipating, theres too many to choose from!

krlga00 said...

Thanks so much for participating in YASH! I am so excited for Finale and Capturing the Devil!

Lejla said...

I'm happy to have chance to enter giveaway od SAOSAL �� this cover is amazing ��

Lejla said...

I'm happy to have chance to enter giveaway od SAOSAL �� this cover is amazing ��

Lejla said...

I'm happy to have chance to enter giveaway od SAOSAL �� this cover is amazing ��

Anne said...

I'm excited for a lot of books like Romanov by Nadine Brandes, Myths and Mortals by Charlie Holmberg, Broken Veil by Jeff Wheeler and I can't wait to read SOSAL because it sounds awesome! Also I loved Dark Breaks the Dawn duology ��.

Betul E. said...

The Tiger Catcher by Paullina Simons.

bookbunny68 said...

I need to read Shadow Me and Defy Me by Mafi. It is one of my all time favorite series.

Jill said...

the premise sounds cool, and the cover is really well done

Syddie said...

I think I'm most excited for We Hunt the Flame, Aurora Rising, Wicked Saints, and Darkdawn! 2019 has so many fantastic releases!

Luverz said...

Im excited for Aurora Rising,Kingsbane,Dark Age, and SOSAL

juiciliciousss reviews said...

I'm excited for We Hunt the Flame because it looks so intriguing and unlike anything else I have read!

Unknown said...

I have to choose just *one* book that I'm excited for? I don't think that's possible... I was already really excited for Samantha Shannon's Priory of the Orange Tree, which came out in February, but there's still so many other good books that are coming out this year. I'm also thrilled about (to name a few) Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff, Romanov by Nadine Brandes, Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan, Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake - and, of course, Sisters of Shadows and Light!!

PamM said...

There is to many to name just one. I love the sound of Sisters of Shadow and Light.

Alysha P said...

I want to win SOSAL because it sounds really good and I would love to review it for you.

LEK said...

Sisters of Shadow and Light has such a cool premise, and that cover is to die for! I want to know what happens when the stranger enters the citadel.

Lisa Mandina said...

I'm pretty excited for the sequel to the Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

Katy said...

I'm most excited for Finale by Stephanie Garber! <3

Megan said...

The Hummingbird Dagger, The Tiger at Midnight and Finale are just a few that I'm looking forward to. If I ever finish my TBR it'll be a miracle and pigs will probably be flying lol.

Melanie said...

I am so excited for The Merciful Crow

Scarbar said...

I am so excited for your new book! I love your other series!

Erin N said...

I love all your books so this one is sure to be just as amazing!

Trisa @ Absolute Bookishness said...

Most excited for? So hard to choose. We Rule the Night, We Hunt the Flame, The Candle and the Flame, The Tiger at Midnight, Lost Roses...so many! ^_^

sarah said...

I was most excited to read 'The Wicked King' by Holly Black and it was amazing <3
The reason i want to win SOSAL is that i love your other series and i know i would love this!

Lynn La Bar said...

Good Luck everyone!

Melissa Paschal said...

I’m excited for a whole lot of books this year! Thanks for being a part of the hunt! This is so much fun!

Unknown said...

The excerpt is amazing!! love clone stories!

Neko said...

The book I was looking forward to the most is out already, The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco. So that means I get to look for new reads!

Alicia said...

I’m really looking forward to War by Laura Thalassa

MelihYoutuber said...

I cant wait for this book to come out, I am so excited for it Melihbooktube/Melissa

Emily said...

I am excited to read SOSAL and a new take on paladins. I have loved books that have included paladins since reading Elizabeth Moon's The Deeds of Paksenarrion.

Vanessa said...

I am definitely excited for your book BUT my most anticipated is, hands down, Defy Me! Which is currently sitting beside me begging me to read it!

Alig said...

I'm really excited to read Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi. So many great books in great series coming out this year. Thanks for the chance.

Nym said...

The book I'm more excited for this year is Called Dawn the Hawk, the sequel to The Raven Cycle :)

Joy of Vegan Beauty said...

I am excited for a lot of books coming out in 2019. My top ones are the final books in a couple series: Finale and Supernova. Sisters of Shadow and Light sounds like an exciting read. That one is going on my to-read list.

N.S.CLOW said...

There's actually a ton of books I am excited for, including Sisters of Shadow and Light! I can't wait to read Finale by Stephanie Garber and Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf!

Leah said...

I love all your writing and I am so excited that I get a chance to win your new book! (But my favourite will always be Defy..)

Unknown said...

After reading what the the defy series is all about I'm adding it to my goodreads list!☺

Caylee said...

Two books that already came out in 2019 that I was excited for were King of Scars and A Questions of Holmes. I am looking forward to Again, But Better by Christine Riccio and Sisters of Shadow and Light!

Cathy said...

I don't really know what's coming out this year. But I'm really looking forward to reading your book!

Penny said...

I keep waiting for the next Game of Thrones installment. SOSAL looks great. Thanks.

Annie-JoElizabeth said...

I'm really looking forward to new releases by Julie Berry & Stacey Lee, but your novel also looks like something I'd like to read. Thanks for hosting this giveaway! :)

Debi said...

I actually don't have a specific book I'm looking forward to right now. I have a never ending to read list and am just trying to re-read and catch up in several right now.

Siobhon said...

I'm really looking forward to Sorcery of Thorns. The days can't pass quickly enough until it's release

ArtemisG said...

I'm so excited for 'We Hunt the Flame' by Hafsah Faizal.
Thanks for participating!!!!

Raffle name: Artemis Giote

Leona said...

There are too many books that I'm excited for this year...

Angie said...

I'm most excited about Descendant of the Crane by Joan He.

Anonymous said...

I want to win SOSAL because I read the first two chapters you gifted for YASH and I was hooked! Went to go see if I could get the ebook now, but then I was so sad to discover it wouldn't be released until November! So long!! Would love the chance to read it now!

Harry Brake said...

Still discovering nee releases but SOSAL looks as a GREAT read for alot of my young readers in Delaware, so that is why I am interested in this release!

Julie said...

So excited to read this!

ShainaJo said...

Super excited for a chance to win! The cover looks awesome!

dawn said...

Awesome. Can’t wait to read it!

1993wel said...

I really want to win SOSAL because I loved the Defy trilogy. I am a high school librarian and my students will want to read your new book as well!

S211n3 said...

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Evie Hoff said...

I'm really excited for Finale by Stephanie Garber! I just started reading the Caraval series, but I can already tell it will be a favorite. Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard was probably my most anticipated 2019 release, but it came out in February, and I already devoured it! :D

Unknown said...

I am SO excited for Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristof in May!!! Also your book looks amazing!!!!

Theresa Snyder said...

I always want to say all of them because how do I just pick one?
There are so many awesome books coming out this year!

Jenn said...

There's so many books that I would love to read that's coming out. I can't catch up! lol SISTERS OF SHADOW AND LIGHT sounds really interesting and I know it'll be good because you wrote it. :)

Christina Carolin said...

There are so many great books still being published this year so I will list my top 3 picks...We hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (it sounds unlike anything I've ever read), Kingsbane by Claire Legrand & The Last Hope by KB Ritchie (both sequels...). Though now that I have already read about so many books on the yash my TBR has massively expanded and now definitley includes SOSAL.
Thank you for the chance!

Shirayuki said...

I'm very exercited about Colleen Houck book in the Gold team.

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