***Winners have been chosen!  Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the hunt.  Feel free to enjoy the bonus content below whenever you wish.***

Hey there!  I’m Christina June!

I wrote EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE

and IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE.

Nice to see you!

Inspired by the classic Red Riding Hood, Everywhere You Want To Be proves not all paths are meant to be followed.

A modern play on the Cinderella story arc, It Started With Goodbye shows us that sometimes going after what you want means breaking the rules.

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt!

Today, I am hosting Yvonne Ventresca on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!

Exclusive Black Flowers, White Lies content

When You Lie to a Writer: A True Story and (Partial) Inspiration for Black Flowers, White Lies

By Yvonne Ventresca

When I was in college, I had a long on-and-off relationship with a guy I’ll call SH*. During one of our many break-ups, I briefly dated Liam. It was nothing serious and ended amicably a few weeks later. Eventually, SH and I reconciled for the gazillionth time. He was visiting my dorm room when I left for a few minutes. When I returned, SH looked perturbed.

“Your phone rang while you were down the hall,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind, but I answered it.”

I did mind, actually, but as I often did, I kept quiet to avoid another argument.

“It was Liam,” SH said.

“Are you sure?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. Liam and I didn’t stay in touch other than “hey” when we occasionally passed each other on campus.

SH nodded. “Does he call often?” His tone was neutral—no jealously, just an informational question.

“Never,” I explained. “I think he’s dating Jada now. We don’t stay in touch.”

SH nodded. “I told him to call back later.”

Liam never called back that day, and I promptly forgot about it until I got ready for bed. For the past few weeks, someone had been calling me late at night, then hanging up when I answered. (FYI — This was an old-fashioned telephone that plugs into the wall, not a cell phone.) I had gotten into the habit of turning the ringer off each evening so I wouldn’t get woken up. Already sleepy, I went to switch the ringer.

Except it was already off.

I sat up in bed, jolted awake. Because if the ringer had been off all day, how had SH answered the phone when Liam called? It dawned on me slowly that there was no out-of-the-blue phone call. It had all been a setup to gauge my reaction to the idea of Liam calling, to catch me off guard in a conversation about our relationship.

I had been totally manipulated.

In Black Flowers, White Lies, Ella never discovers a phone ringer turned off. But there’s a bigger truth woven through this work of fiction: sometimes the people we trust are not worthy. And in Ella’s case, sometimes they can even be dangerous.

*Names have been changed.

Bio:

Yvonne Ventresca is an award-winning young adult author who frequently explores themes of trust, deception, and betrayal in her novels. Her latest YA psychological thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES (Sky Pony Press, 2016) won a National IPPY Gold Medal for YA fiction and is now available in paperback. Her debut novel, PANDEMIC, won a Crystal Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Yvonne’s other published work includes two nonfiction books and several short stories selected for anthologies. She loves a good ghost story, and as a third-degree black belt, she studies Isshinryu karate in a haunted dojo. You can learn more about her books at YvonneVentresca.com, where she also features resources for teen writers, or connect with her here: 

Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Instagram | Pinterest |Goodreads

About Black Flowers, White Lies:

LIES CAN COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU.

Her father died before she was born, but Ella Benton knows they have a connection that transcends the grave. Since her mother disapproves, she keeps her visits to the cemetery where he’s buried secret. But when Ella learns that her mother may have lied about how Dad died sixteen years ago, it’s clear she’s not the only one with secrets. New facts point to his death in a psychiatric hospital, not a car accident as Mom always claimed.

When a handprint much like the one Ella left on her father’s tombstone mysteriously appears on the bathroom mirror, she wonders if Dad is warning her of danger, as he did once before, or if someone’s playing unsettling tricks on her. But as the unexplained events become more frequent and more sinister, she finds herself terrified about who—or what—might harm her.

Soon the evidence points to someone new: Ella herself. What if, like Dad, she’s suffering from a mental breakdown? In this second novel from award-winning author Yvonne Ventresca, Ella desperately needs to find answers—no matter how disturbing the truth might be.

To buy Black Flowers, White Lies: Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | AmazonUK | BAM

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Andddddd before you go, leave a comment below for a chance to win an ARC of my 2019 book NO PLACE LIKE HERE – US only please.  Winner will be chosen October 10.

From Christina June, author of It Started with Goodbye and Everywhere You Want to Be, comes No Place Like Here, a modern twist on Hansel and Gretel. Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She’s just spent a year at boarding school and can’t wait to get home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for “exhaustion,” her life is turned upside down.

The cherry on top? Ashlyn’s father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes—inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere—can help her cope.

With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.

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Thanks for joining me – happy hunting!

Austin Aslan