Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the Purple TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team 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.
Today, I am hosting Jenny Martin on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Jenny Martin is an author and librarian. Her first novel, Tracked, was named one of Paste Magazine’s and Teen Magazine’s ‘Best Books of 2015’, and its sequel, Marked, will be released May 17th, 2016. Jenny is also an experienced presenter and panelist who’s appeared at events such as Texas Teen Book Festival and San Diego Comic Con. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with her husband and son, where she hoards books and writes new ones. And yes, she’s still on a quest for the perfect pancake.
On corporately controlled Castra, rally racing is a high stakes game that seventeen-year-old Phoebe Van Zant knows all too well. Phee’s legendary racer father disappeared mysteriously, but that hasn’t stopped her from speeding headlong into trouble. When she and her best friend, Bear, attract the attention of Charles Benroyal, they are blackmailed into racing for Benroyal Corp, a company that represents everything Phee detests. Worse, Phee risks losing Bear as she falls for Cash, her charming new teammate. But when she discovers that Benroyal is controlling more than a corporation, Phee realizes she has a much bigger role in Castra’s future than she could ever have imagined. It’s up to Phee to take Benroyal down. But even with the help of her team, can a street-rat destroy an empire?
Note from Jenny: Tracked’s sequel, Marked, releases May 17th. (I can’t wait, you guys. Can’t. Wait.) This excerpt, from Chapter Five, is between my protagonist, Phee, and fan-favorite, Bear Larssen.
Enjoy!
I stand by the fire for a long time, even as most of the soldiers and their families trickle away, their tired faces still candle-bright and hopeful. Behind me, a soft hiss as an ember’s trampled. A deep, warm exhale. I turn, and Bear is at my shoulder.
“Funny,” he says. “No matter where we go, trouble finds us.”
There’s a glimmer there, in his eyes. A little piece of us, still shining.
“Trouble finds me, you mean.” I pull on an old smile. “If you were smart, you’d stay away. Ditch me altogether.” He’s quiet, and suddenly I’m wrecked. The Bear I used to know wouldn’t hesitate. Never, he’d declare. I’d never leave you. But I’m not sure I know this boy—this man—standing beside me. He turns up the collar of his jacket, scaring off the evening chill. When he finally grins, it takes me by surprise.
“Maybe,” he says. “Can’t say.”
I huff. Just a little. “Can’t say? Well, for sun’s sake, don’t reassure me or anything.”
“Hmm . . .” He strokes his chin, smiling even wider. “Ask me again tomorrow.”
I laugh, on edge. This new, cheeky self-assurance. I don’t know what to do with it.
Our eyes meet, and I mark the smaller things; the hundred little changes in him. How much shorter his hair is these days. Military cut, perfectly trimmed. But even clean- shaven, he can’t quite lose the day’s-end shadow of dark blond whiskers. They roughen him up, sharpening his once gentle face.
He coughs when the breeze sends another cindery plume our way. “Earlier, I stood in the chow line with Yamada’s daughter, Miyu. She seems all right.”
“Oh?” I strain to keep my voice light. “And what did you two talk about?”
He ignores my question. Looks me dead in the eye. “Have you decided?”
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Kassy Tayler, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 4. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the purple team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Jennifer Digiovanni