Erica O'Rourke

Spring Scavenger Hunt is Here!

I am so thrilled to be participating in the Spring Scavenger Hunt! It was so much fun to hear from everyone last time around, and this Hunt promises to be even more exciting. We have sixty YA authors participating, and the amazing Colleen Houck and Beth Revis have been hard at work streamlining the Hunt to make it easier for you. (Click here to see a list of all sixty authors -- so many pretty shiny covers!)

To make the Hunt a little more manageable, we've split it into three teams of twenty authors each. That means THREE grand prizes (of at least twenty books) and you can enter all three, if you want to. I am on the Blue Team; so if you get lost along the way, you can go back to the original site and pick up where you left off.

 

 

You can get more details about the Spring Scavenger Hunt by clicking here or on the banner  below, but the most important thing to remember is this:

The YA Scavenger Hunt begins Thursday March 29th at noon PACIFIC TIME and ends Sunday April 1st at noon PACIFIC TIME. That gives you only 72 hours to complete the hunt!

 

 

Like before, I'll be offering a special prize here on the day of the hunt, and I'll have more about that later. But for now, I have a question:my bonus content for the previous hunt was an extra scene. This time, I'm taking a scene from one of the books and rewriting it from another character's point of view. And I'm curious: what scene from TORN or TANGLED would you like to see through someone else's eyes? Hit the comments and let me know!

 

Good luck, and happy Hunting!

Torn Teaser: Missed Calls

Recently, I was asked to write some prequels scenes for Torn -- and because you can never get enough Luc, I decided to explore what his life was like before he met Mo.

The scene was originally posted at KTeen's Facebook page, and they've got all sorts of extra content, as well as playlists and giveaways, so check it out.

(What's that, you say? You'd rather see more of Colin? I'll have his scene next week.)

 

MISSED CALLS

Beignets and café au lait aren’t my usual trick for charmin’ a girl. But Verity Grey’s not just any girl, and today, she needs cheering up a good sight more than she needs charm.

When I finally track her down, it’s on my own balcony, of all places. She’s looking out over the Quarter, facing north, like if she stares long enough, she’ll see Chicago. I lift up the green and white bag.

“Brought you a treat,” I say. “Still hot.”

She cuts her eyes toward me. Indigo blue, not particularly friendly, and that’s a shame, considerin’ the amount of time we’re going to be spending together.

“Everything in this stupid city is hot. How do you people stand it?”

Vee’s loved New Orleans since the day she arrived – the food, the music, the stories – but that’s when she thought it was a visit. The notion of permanent residency seems to have taken the shine off.

“We manage,” I say, drawing the heat out of the cup until tiny crystals frost the outside. Small magic, but the spell doesn’t exist that could make her smile now.

I set the cup on the table, next to her sparkly turquoise cell. It buzzes like hornet, and when she doesn’t answer, I pick it up.

“Lotta missed calls. Texts, too.” Looks like I’m not the only one she won’t talk to.

 “How am I supposed to tell her, Luc? She’ll never forgive me.”

“Sure she will,” I say, but we both know it’s a lie. I’ve heard so many stories about Vee’s best friend, it’s like I already know the girl. She won’t take kindly to the idea of Verity leaving her behind.

But we can’t afford distractions, and Maura Fitzgerald is plenty distracting, even from nine hundred miles away.

 “People have kept secrets from Mo all her life,” she says. “Everyone, except for me. There’s nothing she hates more.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s hard, letting go.”

“How would you know?” she says. “You don’t have to give up anything. You’ve been preparing for this your whole life. I’ve had only a few months.”

Not my whole life. I swallow the words and take her hand. She’s not wearing the ring I gave her, but there’s no rush. We’ll get there. As my father likes to point out, there are worse fates than a girl like Verity.

“Wait till you get home to tell her,” I say. “You’ll have one last year together. That’s something, anyway.”

“It’s not enough. You don’t understand, Luc. She needs me.”

“You’ve got an entire world that needs you. Mo’s your friend. She’d do anything for you. This time…” I shrug. “She has to let you go.”

She leans her head against my shoulder, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. “It’s not fair.”

“Never said it was. It’s fate, Vee. No changing it.”

*             *             *

Turns out I was wrong.