Note: The hunt is now over. Thanks for playing!
Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors, and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
There are EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the ORANGE TEAM–but there a whole bunch of other teams, for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the orange team, and then add them up.
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 October 4th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
I have the incredible honor of hosting Sarvenaz Tash, who is an awesome buddy of mine and a fellow Apocalypsie – that was our community of 2012 debut YA/MG authors. If memory serves, she was the very first person to ever do a blog interview with me, before CROAK ever even came out – and now look at us, plastered all over the YASH with multiple books under our belts like a couple a’ real swell so-and-sos. Let’s all learn some more about her, shall we?
THE AUTHOR
Sarvenaz Tash was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up on Long Island, NY. She received her BFA in Film and Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. This means she got to spend most of college running around and making movies (it was a lot of fun). She has dabbled in all sorts of writing including screenwriting, copywriting, and professional tweeting. Sarvenaz currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
For more information, check out her website , and buy her books here!
THE BOOK
Boy meets girl…at the most amazing concert the world has ever seen.
Michael is unsure about most things. Go to college? Enlist in the military? Break up with his girlfriend? All big question marks. He is living for the moment and all he wants is a few days at the biggest concert of the summer.
Cora lives in the town hosting the music festival. She’s volunteering in the medical tent. She’s like that, always the good girl. But there is something in the air at this concert and suddenly Cora finds herself wanting to push her own boundaries.
When Michael and Cora meet, sparks fly, hearts race, and all the things songs are written about come true. And all the while, three days of the most epic summer await them…
THE BONUS CONTENT
Here’s Sarv:
When I first got the idea to set a novel at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, this is the opening I ran to my computer to write. A lot changed from this page to the final draft (including the dynamics of Cora’s family), but this is the spark of Cora’s voice that started it all for me.
When I was seven, the circus came to our town. This may not seem like
anything exciting to most people. But here in Bethel, New York—in 1959—it was
about as thrilling as anything ever got. Especially to a seven-year-old.
I went, of course. The whole town did. I sat in between my parents, with my
grandma at the end of the row. At the other end of the row were the Yasgurs, behind
me were the Murphys and partially blocking my view was Eric Ansalm’s big, poofy
red hair. I knew every single person in that audience.
At the time, I thought it was the most dazzling event in the world. The
acrobats’ skirts shimmering a dozen colors underneath the hot lights. The roar of
exotic animals I’d never seen before. The smell of melting butter permeating every
part of the tent we sat in. My fingers were sticky with cotton candy and popcorn, and
I licked the sweet and salty right off of them as I watched a man in a tall hat
command the attention of everyone in the room.
It was the greatest show on earth.
What I didn’t know, what no one in that audience could possibly know, is
what awaited our sleepy little farm town just ten years down the road. When Mom
was gone, but I still lived in the big yellow house with Dad and Gram. When what I
knew best in the world was the most efficient way to pull on an udder. When I’d only
been kissed twice in my life, at two separate school dances, by Eric Ansalm—only
the second one involving even a little tongue. When I was seventeen.
THE NUMBER
Don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by Sarvenaz, me, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 28. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the orange team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
OOH A GIVEAWAY
In addition to all of the fabulous prizes you can win throughout the hunt, I am giving away an extra super HELLHOLE prize pack – including a signed copy, a free audio download, and swag! To enter, fill out the form below – and get as many bonus entries as you can by following me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, this blog, signing up for my mailing list, or by leaving a comment telling me about your favorite concert memory. Good luck!
Giveaway now closed.
OOH MORE THINGS
It just so happens that I am in the midst of raising money for diabetes research, so while you’re here, consider donating to my team. If you do, in any amount, I will send you a neato scythe pendant!
And lastly, I make monsters. If you are in the market for an ugly but lovable stuffed friend, please visit my store.
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, head over to the website of the next author: Amy McNulty!
Gina 
I went to a concert of Colbie Callait with my then best friend because she was leaving Europe for over a year to work in South-America. We had a lovely night and we were standing right in front of Colbie!
I recently went to the Doctor Who concert and it was phenomenal. It was all the best moment.
I have only gone to one real concert in my life. It was Paramore and No Doubt and I just have the most hilarious and vivid memories of screaming Spiderwebs with my aunt. It was a great time.
The only concert I have ever gone to is Heart, way back in the 80’s. If I could choose a concert to go to now, it would be Imagine Dragons all the way!
I haven’t been to a concert yet, but my sister and I are planning to go to One OK Rock’s concert! :)
I have two memorable concert experiences.
One was my first-ever concert at the PNE for Marianas Trench, and the other was again at the PNE, haha, for LIGHTS.
I think I enjoyed the Lights one a bit more because I was a HUGE FAN and I knew all the songs but that first-ever concert experience is definitely something special and cherished.
june 2014 the script and onerepublic
I really have only been to 2 or 3 concerts but I would have to say Share’s Farewell Concert was pretty impressive. Thanks for participating in the scavenger hunt! :)
Well, are festivals included? Do they count as concerts, yes, right? It’s yearly and always so much fun when I’m going with my friends – lots of people, lots of awesome bands and other little “activities” you can do there! But I’d love to see 30 Seconds to Mars & One OK Rock live one day … great bands! :D
So many favorite concerts! But I will pick the first Michael Buble concert that I went to. He wasn’t coming to my town, and the closest was Chicago, so my sister and I flew to Chicago to see him. We had almost the very back row of seats, and it was up in a very high balcony, but he still put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
This is terrible to say but I have never been to a concert. I have an issue with crowds so :(
Well, I’m attending a Big Bang concert this Sunday and I know it is going to be awesome!
I took my mom to a Slipknot concert, where she took a book inside to read, and she left saying, “Do we have that album? We need that album”. :D
My best concert memory is my only concert memory because I’ve only been to one concert ever. It was when I turned 21. I went to a Mississippi casino and watched Sister Hazel perform. It was loud, amazing, and fun. They even did an encore. They’re an older band I liked a lot from my school days.
I’ve never been to a concert before – but I would love to go to one where my favorite artists play :)
I saw The Killers and Brandon Flowers (the singer) was reaching down into the crowd. I almost touched his hand! It would only have been cooler if I actually touched his hand! I am easily satisfied.
Also, I went to a concert at a college gymnasium and it was where I fell in love with Twenty One Pilots. During their last song, they had the crowd part down the middle and brought a drum down and drummed in the audience. It was really amazing, the whole show was really fantastic.
I’ve only been to a few concerts but my favourite one by far is still a concert I went to where a local artist opened. No one was really paying attention at first but her beautiful voice slowly began to get people to notice. She has a Youtube channel that is also growing, Daniela Andrade!
For several years my family has always gone to the trans-siberian orchestra concerts for Christmas and I love their shows and I love that they actually have stories that go along with their music and on the car trips to and from the concerts my mom would read out the stories and we would listen to the music that went along with it so we could relive the concert.
Never been to a concert :(
So many good concert memories! The summer after my freshman year of college, my dad took me to see Tom Petty perform. I was a colicky baby, and the parents figured out that Tom Petty would stop my screaming. Free Fallin’ is still one of those songs that just makes me chill out. It was a great concert, although I could’ve done without the stoners making the air stink. It was just a thoughtful event to go to :)
Trans Siberian Orchestra is another one for me – those pyrotechnics!!!
I saw the reunion tour for No Doubt, with Paramore as an opener. OMG, I loved that so much! I <3 both bands. Was a little worried about how No Doubt would sound, because they'd done a few performances in promotion of the event, and they didn't sound too great through the tv. But they were fantastic live.
The 1-2 weeks leading up to my college graduation, I went to see Bowling for Soup and Third Eye Blind with a guy that I ended up dating for two years. I'd always wanted to see BFS, and they're a blast live. They don't take themselves seriously, and it makes for a really fun show to go to. Kinda has to be a blast with a song like "Hooray for Beer!" Third Eye Blind was never one that I wanted to go see badly, but the guy was going and invited me. One of my favorite memories is seeing the concert less than a week before graduation and screaming the lyrics to Graduate.
I went to Sasquatch, a big music festival in WA, in 2012 for my birthday. Every part of that was fantastic. Didn't think I'd enjoy it, but the Tenacious D show was actually hysterical! And Joy Formidable, freaking out on stage and kicking drums… Saw Silversun Pickups, and Grouplove, and an indie band called Yellow Ostrich that I adored – they were joking around about how much of a hassle it was getting to the location. I could've done without the camping out part of the festival, but it was one of my favorite things I've ever been to. (Let's just forget the fact that I found out my boyfriend had gotten a girl pregnant in the past while he was playing 'Never Have I Ever.' She aborted it before telling him, so it wasn't like he had a kid I didn't know about, but I was *not* happy learning that fact along with a group of people he and I had never met before)
Music is something I adore, and as soon as I started going to concerts (didn't grow up near a big venue), life got a billion times better :)
My favorite memory is from my first U2 concert. I was lucky enough to get tickets right at the stage, and Bono spent half the concert looking right at me. Best concert ever!!
Iron Maiden, when I was in the mosh pit close enough to smell Bruce Dickinson’s sweat. :) Happiness pie.
Never have I ever gone to a concert.
haven’t been to one
My favorite concert memory was my first time seeing a Linkin Park Concert. It was amazing and it was a birthday present from my friends
My first concert was The Fixx, who came to our college campus, and I got to see them for FREE coz I was on the college programming board. It blew my little freshman mind!