Merry Christmas

Oh, holy night, I've been busy. So sorry to be missing in action, but I'm sure you can understand and forgive me neglecting my blog. Book release, blog tours, trying to prepare to move (ugh) and the holidays makes for a very busy Karen.

I hope you all have a fabulous holiday. Eat, drink, and be merry!

Then meet me back here after Christmas because I'm gonna do some fun after-Christmas giveaways.

I leave you with this final heart-warming classic holiday quote. (I'm sure all of you can relate in some way or another. ;)

"Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f*#@ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white a## down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of a##holes this side of the nuthouse."
~Clark Griswold

THE SECRET OF SPRUCE KNOLL and Loving on Manatees

A special edition of Heather McCorkle’s The Secret Of Spruce Knoll is releasing from Compass Press this month and she’s doing a special tour to go along with it. A percentage of the proceeds from every special edition sold (in every format) between its release date and 12-12-2012, will go toward Heather’s favorite charity that protects endangered species. Her goal is to make at least $10,000 for the charity.

Of course there are prizes during the tour which goes from December 1^st through the 17^th. Prizes include a symbolic endangered species adoption of the winner’s choice (a $50 donation by Heather to the charity for the endangered species of the winner’s choice, and cute stuffed animal for the winner!), signed copies of her novels and great swag. For full details, and to enter, go here. http://heathermccorkle.blogspot.com

For the tour Heather has asked each blog host to pick their favorite endangered species and she will tell us a fun or interesting fact about that animal.

Being that I'm a total animal lover, I had a hard time choosing just one. But I finally decided on...THE MANATEE!

I have seen manatees in real life a few times here in Florida, and they are so flippin' cute. Like big ol' sea cows who you just wanna hug and snuggle up with.

Heather's Manatee 411: The manatee is a massive marine mammal~up to 1300 pounds~that lives in canals, rivers, estuaries, and bays from Florida to the Caribbean. Fun fact: their teeth grow back and replace themselves throughout their lifetime. How cool would that be? They are endangered mostly due to pollution and collisions with boats, which have become more and more frequent as the human population soars.

If manatees no longer existed I would be one sad, sad, ocean lover. I even mentioned a scarred manatee in Tangled Tides, and I can't help but notice that my beloved bulldog Rooney shares some similarities with manatees. They could be cousins, don't ya think?

So, go buy a fabulous book and help a fabulous cause in the process. You help two birds with one seed. (I couldn't say "kill two birds with one stone" in this situation. It just seemed wrong in so many ways.)

PURCHASE LINKS for the eBooks of

The Secret of Spruce Knoll

(print books will hopefully be linked to them by the time the post goes live):

AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE

VICTORIOUS

On the release day of TANGLED TIDES, a bunch of blogging friends (old and new) participated in an Underwater Web War. Humans joined forces with my sea creatures and rooted for their favorite team: merfolk, selkies, sirens or gorgons. I'm sorry the results have taken so long, but so much happened between then and now. Finally, I have the results for you. Winners? Wave roll, please.

MERFOLK!

Folks have still been tweeting me with their choices, so the tally changes by at least one vote almost every day, but here's the latest...

The merfolk won with 29 votes, sirens took second place with 23, selkies had 22 votes, and gorgons solidified last place with 10 votes. But don't worry gorgon supporters, they assured me that they are too powerful to care about such meaningless statistics.

One interesting event is that Simon Larter messaged me to say he had originally voted for sirens, but after reading some of the book, he might be switching to the selkies due to their love of icy vodka.

Makes me wonder if any other readers wills switch teams after reading the story.

Also, I participated in the fantabulous YA SCAVENGER HUNT hosted by Colleen Houck, author of the awesome Tiger's Curse series. The hunt was so much fun. I met so many new peeps, and gained a bunch of new supporters.

HELLO, NEW SUPPORTERS! *waves* I hope you stick around even though the contest is over. Every once in awhile I try to say something useful or entertaining.

The lucky winner of my personal contest of the YA Scavenger hunt, including her own personal Grow Your Own Mermaid, was...
Wave roll again, please...

HEATHER! (SupaGirlBooks)

Congratulations to Heather! I wish I could give out a copy to everyone who entered, especially those of you who left me fantastic personal comments, but sadly, I don't have enough money to buy everyone a book. (As soon as I win the lotto though, FREE BOOKS FOR EVERYONE!)

Also, a big thanks to everyone who participated in the Underwater Web War, because really, you're all winners, and you all picked awesome teams. (I can say that because I'm their creator.)

And last, did you check out my post over ay YA CONFIDENTIAL yesterday? Battle of the Books. Yup, go check it out. It. Is. Awesome.

HAPPY TUESDAY!

YA SCAVENGER HUNT- Lisa T. Bergren

Welcome to the awesomeness that is the YA SCAVENGER HUNT, running Dec 1-Dec 4.
It's kind of surreal that I'm participating. Mainly because I'm hosting an amazing author, but also because my book hasn't even been out a week!

My own hauntingly beautiful bonus material is out there somewhere in Scavenger Hunt land, waiting for you to find it! And let me tell you, I LOVE my bonus material. Love. Love. Love. (When you find it you'll understand why.)

Here's how the hunt works...

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 EVERY AUTHOR!

Each author is hosting another author's bonus material AND a link to the next step of the hunt. Work your way through the circuit and collect all of the 37 words in red. At each stop, enter the author's personal contest. There's lots of great stuff up for grabs.

After you've completed the circuit, unscramble the words as you proceed through the Scavenger Hunt. When you're finished, fill out the contest entry form here.

To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed puzzle before noon on Dec 4th Pacific Time. All the keywords must be in the correct place and you must include your full name and address. Entries sent in without name and address will not be considered.

I have the pleasure of hosting Lisa T. Bergren.
(Personal note: I was very excited about this because Lisa lives in Colorado Springs, and I used to live in Colorado Springs, so yay for us being kinda-like-neighbors-once-upon-a-time.)

Lisa T. Bergren is the author of over thirty books that have sold more than two million copies combined. She’s written fiction of all sorts (romance, historical, contemporary, suspense, YA), nonfiction and children’s books. She divides her time between writing, editing, traveling and co-parenting her three children (16, 13, and 8 ) with her husband, Tim. The Bergrens reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

www.lisatawnbergren.com

River of Time Series

Gabriella and Evangelia Betarrini are the daughters of Etruscan archeologists. Stuck on a hot, dusty dig site for yet another long, dreary summer—far from the nearest boys—they go exploring. They enter a forbidden tomb and find two handprints among the frescoes. And when they touch them, together, they are catapulted back in time…and into the adventure of their lives.

Get your copy of WATERFALL by clicking here.

Right now, in honor of the YA Scavenger Hunt, you can get any of the River of Time series at a special sale price! Kindle copies are currently $.99 WATERFALL, $2.99 CASCADE and $2.99 TORRENT

As part of the scavenger hunt, Lisa is sharing the book trailer for WATERFALL.

The music is epic and the books sound incredible. I've already bought my copy of Waterfall. I'm so excited to read it.

Now, while you're here, feel free to enter my

TANGLED TIDES Contest

Up for grabs: A signed and personalized (if you'd like it personalized) copy of TANGLED TIDES, a booklet of fun and pretty mermaid tattoos, a Karma card (everyone should have one) and finally, a Grow Your Own Mermaid toy (I can see you splashing with excitement from way over here.)

How to enter:

1. follow my blog (+1)
   
2. follow me on Twitter at @Karen_Hooper (+1)
3. get a friend to follow me on Twitter (+1)
4. like me on Facebook (+1)
5. Leave me a comment on this blog. (+1) (Be sure to tell me how many entries you have. And be honest. Remember the karma card!)

(Open Internationally because mermaids live EVERYWHERE!)

Ready to go to the next website on the Scavenger Hunt? CLICK HERE!

UNTRACEABLE DAY!

Untraceable by S.R. Johannes is being unleashed into the world today!

I started reading this book last night on my Kindle and I'm so hooked. It's such an exciting story.

Kirkus agrees:

"This thrilling story is a dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance. The action flows like a brisk mountain stream interspersed with rapids, holding suspense to last page."

Over the past couple months, I've been getting to know the sweet and talented author better. (We've teamed up in a secret group that we'll talk about more in 2012.) Now, I'll give you readers a chance to learn a little more about Shelli and her book.

Shelli, give us a quick summary of your upcoming book Untraceable?

It is a wilderness thriller with a missing person, a kick butt heroine, and of course – two hot boys. What else do you need? Besides Moon Pies.

Mmmm. Moon Pies. I love celestial themed desserts! Sorry, I got distracted. Hot boys are awesome, but tell us about your MC, Grace.

Grace is independent, caring but awkward. She connects with nature more than she does with people. She’s a total introvert and would be happy alone for days at a time.

I will say she is impulsive and annoyingly reckless. Exactly like I was as a teen. I didn’t think about the effects of any cause. I didn’t think of consequences, I just did dumb stuff and got lucky. That is Grace. She acts and then thinks.

But no matter what she does, her heart is always in the right place.

Speaking of connecting with nature and being alone, if you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?

Besides food and water - books, laptop (with great wireless plan), and picture of family.

Great answers. As you know, I'm a big mythology fan. If you could be one of the Greek Gods, which would it be and why?

Calliope – so I could be a muse to writers.

Oooh, good one.

S.R. Johannes lives in Atlanta Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing. You can find her hanging out online and visit her at srjohannes.com

Untraceable is going to be a huge hit. I just know it. Get in on the craze early by getting your copy today!

Buy the paperback or Kindle ebook at Amazon

or

Other ebook formats at Smashwords

More fun linkage:

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Blog

HUGE CONGRATS, SHELLI! Happy Release Day!