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Welcome! I’m Kady Cross and you’ve just landed on my portion of 2015’s Fall YA Scavenger Hunt!

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This is Logan.
Like me, Logan is the youngest of 4, is fluffy, a little neurotic, and loves hugs.
Unlike me, he is more than 40% gray, poops in a box, and hacks up hairballs.

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You are currently Scavenging on Team Teal!

If you’re looking for MY exclusive content, you’ll have to keep searching. I’m giving you and inside peek at some of my personal research, along with photos of one of my favorite haunted places! But, before you run off looking for that, check out the author I’m hosting below.
First, the fine print of the Hunt:
Below, you’ll find my favorite number (it will be in teal). Collect all the numbers from Team Teal and add them up (use a calculator if you need to, or your fingers and toes!) for a chance to win the GRAND PRIZE!!! (Entry form ) You can only win if you have the right answer, so make sure you do that math!

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Rules (taken from the fabulous Colleen Houck’s YASH page):

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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, APRILÌý5TH, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating YA author, you also get a secret number. Add up the numbers, and enter it for a chance to win a major prize–one lucky winner will receive at least one signed book from each author on my team in the hunt! But play fast. This contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until noon PST on Sunday, AprilÌý5th!
There are EIGHTÌýcontests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of theÌýTEAL TEAM, ,Ìýbut there is also a RED TEAM,ÌýÌýGOLD TEAM, ORANGE TEAM,ÌýPINK TEAM, PURPLE TEAM, BLUE TEAMÌý&ÌýGREEN TEAM!ÌýCheck out each team for a chance to win eight different sets 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.

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Now for the fun part!
I’m hosting author Diana Renn!

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Diana Renn is the author of the young adult mystery novelsÌý ,ÌýÌýandÌý Ìýall published by Viking/Penguin.ÌýShe is also the Fiction Editor at (Young Adult Review Network), an award-winning online magazine featuring short-form writing for teens.ÌýDiana grew up in Seattle and now lives outside of Boston with her husband and son.

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Kady: Isn’t interesting that Diana realized she wanted to be an author at 5 and I realized it at age 8? True fact. Add those together and you get *13*.

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Here’s Diana’s #YASH Exclusive Content!

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BLUE VOYAGE

Zan is a politician’s daughter and an adrenaline junkie. Whether she’s rock climbing or shoplifting, she loves to live on the edge. But she gets more of a rush than she bargained for on a forced mother–daughter bonding trip to Turkey, where she finds herself in the crosshairs of an antiquities smuggling ring. These criminals believe that Zan can lead them to an ancient treasure that’s both priceless and cursed. Until she does so, she and her family are in grave danger. Zan’s quest to save the treasure—and the lives of people she cares about—leads her from the sparkling Mediterranean, to the bustle of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, to the eerie and crumbling caves of Cappadocia. But it seems that nowhere is safe, and there’s only so high she can climb before everything comes tumbling down.

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If you’ve been on the scavenger hunt for at least a few blog stops by now, your eyes may need a little rest from all that reading! So for my exclusive bonus content, we’ll take a break and go to pictures! These are pictures I took myself on a trip to Turkey a few years ago. These images inspired many pivotal scenes in BLUE VOYAGE.

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These are wooden gulet boats on a Blue Voyage. A Blue Voyage (also called a Blue Cruise) is a traditional way of seeing the Turkish Riviera by boat. You can rent a whole boat or, if you’re on a budget like we were, rent a room on a boat filled with complete strangers and take a multi-day cruise with them. What could possibly go wrong? (Lots! And thus an idea for a novel was born!)

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I love baklava and all kinds of pastries, so I was delighted when this man pulled up to our gulet boat in a small motorboat, to sell these goodies on our Blue Voyage. This happens in my novel too (only I made the vendor younger and hotter). But what would happen if the pastry vendor had something else for sale? Something that shouldn’t be for sale? This question sparked a major plot point for me in BLUE VOYAGE.

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I love the Blue Mosque in the heart of old Istanbul. We stayed in a hotel very close to it and heard the beautiful sound of the call to prayer five times a day, broadcast from speakers. In my book, Zan stays in her aunt’s small hotel also near the Blue Mosque and comes to love the sight and sound of it. Gazing at it from the rooftop garden of her aunt’s hotel, she is able to gain perspective and reflect on the personal changes that are happening within her.

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As I mentioned, Zan stays (and then works) in her aunt’s small hotel while she is in Istanbul. Since she’s a rock climber, she loves heights, and takes every break she can up on the rooftop where she can gaze at the sea, or the Blue Mosque, or the adjoining rooftop garden of the cute guy next door. This is the rooftop garden of a hotel I actually stayed at, and it inspired many scenes for Zan.

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This is the Cappadocia region of Turkey, which has significance for Zan’s family and where Zan ends up at one point. I love the landscape, which looks like soft serve ice cream! Other parts of the landscape are honeycombed with caves, both above and below ground. I can see why many people take a hot air balloon ride to see it all better. Zan does in the novel � but why she ends up on a hot air balloon (or dangling from one) isn’t exactly for leisurely sightseeing!

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The Cappadocia region of Turkey is layered history. Different civilizations occupied its cave dwellings, tunneling entire cities underground for safety. Here’s me creeping through one. Zan and her friend later find themselves in a perilous situation in a cave city just like this! (I’m claustrophobic so I hurried through � but their journey isn’t so easy!)

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I loved the bazaars of Turkey. This is a picture from a crowded hallway in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. I love the sense of possibility and intrigue around every corner. When I thought of Zan at the Grand Bazaar, I knew she had to do more than shop there. What better place for a clandestine meeting . . . and a plan gone horribly wrong?

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Okay, so Blue Voyage sounds incredible cool! If these photos don’t make you want to read it, maybe a visit to Diana’s page will!
Twitter �
Facebook �
Good Reads � Diana Renn
Pinterest �
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Ready for the next stop on the Hunt? Check out TEAM TEAL author !
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And please leave a comment below if you wish. It can be about the hunt, books/authors you’ve discovered, or are excited to read. Whatever strikes your fancy! Best of luck and Happy (YAS)HUNTING!

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