Prepare for Glory!

"Spartans! Prepare for glory"

- 300

Alexandria 'Alex' Andros is a relatively new character to the YA World. She made her debut in Oct. 2011 and most won't see her again until April 2012. Not many got to know her. But some did and decided that she was a worthy opponent in the YA Heroine Tourney. Out of those fans, many stepped forth to support, led by Queen Momo-nidas. 

The Half-Blood Legion was determined, their numbers small in compared to the vast Persian Nora, Rose, and Katniss  armies. But the Legion would not go down without a fight. 

Surprising many, she fought against Nora and won the first round, placing her into the sweet 16. Something awesome happened. Her army grew. Next, she fought Rose. Again, surprising many, she won, placing her into the Top 8... and something amazing happened. Her army grew.  

And even though the Legion sort of tumbled off the cliff in all the Spartan glory, they may have lost this battle but they won the war. 

Seriously. The support from readers, bloggers, random people, authors, and a few unsuspecting iPhone stores amazed and blew me away. Each time I saw a tweet or an Alex avatar, I got this stupid little grin on my face. So many people were introduce to Half-Blood and even Obsidian through all your awesome support. So, in the end, for all of us, it was a big WIN WIN. 

I wanted to take a moment and thank the YA Sisterhood. I don't think you ladies realize that this Tourney actually has a huge impact on books. People buy the novels the heroines and heroes are from.  For that, you rock. 

Another big thanks to Momo from Books Over Boys, Val from Stuck In Books, Angela from Reading Angel, Amy, Shellie Cruz, Amanda from Stuck in YA Books, and a whole slew of others who were the first to yell, "For tonight, we dine in hell!" or vote. Or do blog posts on why people should vote for Alex. I did read each and everyone of them. And Gosh, I do want to hug each of you. But I like I said, I give weird hugs, so I want to give you something better.

I promised that if Alex won against Katniss, I'd give you a teaser from Shadows, Pure, Onyx, and Cursed. 

Alex still won in my book. And all of you deserve some quick teasers. So here you. 

PS some of these teasers are not edited. 

Teaser 1 Shadows (Available Feb 2012/prequel novella)

.         Every part of his body burned as he tasted her kiss and got well familiar with the way she felt beneath him. Intense white light seared his eyes. The breathy, little feminine sounds she was making was music to his ears, a beautiful melody of sighs.

            And then his song stopped. 

Teaser 2 Pure (Available April 2012/Sequel to Half-Blood)

           Then I saw the Guards standing in front of the pitiful looking fence, armed with what looked like semiautomatic weapons. My eyes widened as they leveled the guns at our vehicle. Leon slowed down as the four Guards approached us cautiously.
            “Alex, take your hair down,” Aiden said quietly.
            I didn’t understand why, but the seriousness in his tone told me not to fool around. I unraveled the messy bun, letting it fall around my face.
Leon rolled down all the windows, and at once, the Guards peered inside the vehicle, searching each of us… for visible tags.
             I shrank back, but met the dark skinned Guard’s intense gaze as he looked me over once, then twice. The tags felt like they were burning under the mass of heavy hair. I wasn’t sure what they would’ve done if they’d seen the scars. Shoot me?

Teaser 3 Onyx (Available May 2012/Sequel to Obsidian)

             Lucky me, I ended up sitting in-between Ash and Dee. I sunk in my seat, ignoring Ash as we waited for the lights to go down and the movie to start.

            “Whose idea was it to pick a zombie flick?” Ash demanded, cradling a bucket of popcorn bigger than her head. “Was it Katy? They kind of share the same appearance.”

            “Ha. Ha,” I muttered, eyeing her popcorn. Doubted there was much between her ears for a zombie to survive on.

            On my other side, Dee and Adam had cleaned out the candy counter. She dipped a chocolate bar in her cheese sauce, and I gagged behind my hand. “That is so gross.”

            “Don’t knock it,” she said, taking a huge bit. “It’s the best of both worlds. Chocolate and cheese, which is why the letter C is my favorite in the alphabet.”

            “You know,” Ash said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m actually going to have to agree with living dead girl here. That is disgusting.”

            I frowned. “Do I look that bad or something?”

            Ash said, “Yes,” at the same time Dee said, “No.” I folded my arms and kicked my feet onto the empty seat in front of me. “Whatever,” I muttered.

Teaser 4 Cursed (Available Sept 2012)

“What are you doing?”

 I snapped the pad shut and twisted toward the voice. Hayden. In the sun, his hair shone a dozen colors of red and brown.

He took only one step closer, pulling his hands out of the pockets of his jeans. “Ember?”

I jumped to my feet. “Don’t come any closer.”

Hayden stopped. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you.”

“Not going to hurt me?” I backed up, successfully trapping myself against the wall. “You said that right before you knocked me out for three days.”

“I’m really sorry about that.” He looked away, drawing in a deep breath. “I know you, Ember. You’re a fighter—”

“You don’t know me. We only talked for five minutes in the library.”

A lopsided smile pulled at his lips as he turned toward me. “Since the accident, we’ve checked in on you. Sometimes I came with my father. I saw enough.”

A fine shiver coursed through me. I wrapped my arms around me, but it didn’t help. “Saw what?”

            He looked away again, staring off at something I couldn’t see.

^^^^^

And here is something else for you.

Thank you all for being such awesome peeps! Until next year, literally and the next YA Tourney. 

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