Michelle Gagnon

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM—but there is also a blue team chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five 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 homepage.

 Ednah’s Bio:

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT! CHECK OUT A DELETED SCENE FROM BETRAYED HERE!

Also, Ednah will be giving away AWAKENED, the prequel to the Guardian Legacy series and Awakened swag, which includes a T-shirt, a cap, mouse pad, fridge magnet and bookmarks.

And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is

6

Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the RED team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Last week the lovely and talented Alexandra Sokoloff tagged me on her blog, as part of a chain of book and author recommendations called THE NEXT BIG THING. Today it’s my turn to reciprocate and pass the baton. I’ll answer burning, personal questions about my debut YA thriller, DON’T TURN AROUND (which, incidentally, is available right now in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook form from HarperTeen). Then I’m going to tag five more writers who will tell you about their new books next Wednesday.

1) What’s the title or working title of your new/next book? I’m calling it PERSEF0NE’S ARMY, although Harper isn’t sold on that so far. Therefore I’m open to suggestions, if anyone wants to chime in.

2) Where did the book come from? An editor and I collaborated on the original idea: a girl wakes up on an operating table in a warehouse with an incision in her chest and no memory of how she got there. And I ran with it from there.

3) What genre is your book? A thriller, definitely. It’s pretty much one long chase scene that starts on page 1 and doesn’t let up until the end.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  Or TV series? There’s an amazing Australian movie called, TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN.

I think that Caitlin Stasey (the girl who plays the lead) would be an amazing Noa Torson.

To play Peter Gregory, Noa’s fellow hacker who joins her on the run, I really love , the actor who played the son in the (sadly) short-lived series Awake. He didn’t have much of a chance to display humor in that role, but he’s such a talented actor that I believe he’d be a perfect Peter.

Then there’s Amanda Berns, Peter’s erstwhile girlfriend who never met a cause she didn’t love: Amanda Seyfried would be fantastic. She definitely has the chops to make self-righteous Amanda likeable (and they already have the same name!)

For Cody, who’s pretty much been a fan favorite, I’d love to see Michael B. Jordan in the role.

He pretty much broke my heart as Wallace in The Wire, and I think he’d be perfect.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Teenage hackers on the run after uncovering a ruthless conspiracy.

6) Is/will your book be self-published or traditionally published? Traditionally published by Harper Teen.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? Eight weeks for the rough draft, which was a record for me! Some books just write themselves, and luckily this was one of them.

8) What other books within the genre would you compare this story to? It’s being pitched as “GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO for Teens,” although I prefer to think of it as a revamped THE BOURNE IDENTITY for all ages.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? This book is largely about the predicament of foster teens in America. I read dozens of heartbreaking stories about abuse and neglect while researching the kind of childhood Noa might have led. Consequently, I’m now affiliated with an amazing crowdfunding non-profit, RISING TIDES, that provides assistance to teens who are aging out of the system.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s inter

est? So far DON’T TURN AROUND has received starred reviews from Kirkus, VOYA, and School Library Journal. It was an IndieNext pick for Autumn 2012, was selected by the Junior Library Guild and the Texas State Library System as a recommended read, and appeared in an Entertainment Weekly article on “Latest, Great-ish YA Novels.” So hopefully readers will agree!

And without further ado, I hereby tag Christa Faust, Wallace Stroby, Alexandra Sokoloff (back ‘atcha), and Zoe Sharp. You can read all of their Q&A’s by clicking the links- subjects range from femme noir to airport heists. Definitely not to be missed.