The one-stop shop for everything related to author, Jenn Cooksey's ranting, HTML/web design deficient skillz, & writing including Landslide, and the Grab Your Pole series. Represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.
And finally, the Grand Prize winner in the Finale & Scavenger Hunt for the Ultimate Shark Bait Swag Bag
Jessica Synarski
Oh, and in case you missed out on the scavenger hunt or simply didn't partake, the Senior Standout I was awarded was indeed, Least Likely To Be Seen In Class. Like I said before, my mom was so proud of me...
Congratulations to all the winners and to every single one of you who participated, THANK YOU!!! I hope you all had as much fun as I did and for those of you who didn't win this time, keep your ears open and your eyes peeled next month for another chance to win all kinds of prizes in an event that is no doubt going to be AMAZING!!
Now for the fine print... Winners have been announced and notification emails have been sent alerting all winners that they need to respond within 24 hours to claim the prizes won. SO, if your name is on the above list, check your email and and reply back today or another winner will be chosen!!
Welcome to the final stop and finale of my first-ever blog hop and online book tour!
I can't tell you all how much I've appreciated you joining me on this crazy journey of mine and to all the bloggers who've been on the tour, seriously you guys, I don't have the words. This experience has been like none other and not only have I conquered some personal fears (Video interviewing? Like you really have no idea how bat-shit crazy scared I was to do that...), but I've also met some of the most KICKASS people along the way! In addition to that, some of the feedback I've directly heard and *ahem* indirectly heard (yeah, I'll admit I occasionally eavesdrop on Twitter and Goodreads if time permits) has absolutely FLOORED me. For instance, one reader actually put Shark Bait in the same company as Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. And to prove I'm not making this shit up, here's a screenshot:
Seriously, OMG. I'm freaking FLOORED. I'm incredibly humbled as well...I mean I honestly don't know that I deserve such high praise, but just to even be mentioned in the same breath—er...sentence—as those stellar works is nothing short of jaw dropping and of course induces my eyes to leak.
In short, all of you...family, friends, bloggers, readers...simply ALL of you have rocked my face off these past few weeks with your interest, kind words, support, invaluable help, and belief in my work and I cannot thank you enough for participating, spreading the word, and making the Shark Bait Back to School Blog Hop the success that it's been!!
As the theme of this blog hop is "Back to School" and since I include the actual high school I went to in Shark Bait, I thought it would be fun for you guys to get a little insight on why Grossmont is flippin' awesome as well as giving you all more of a mental image of the school and where some of the scenes in the GYP series actually take place.
So come on, come back to school with me...
Yeah, that's me; front and center amongst some friends senior year.
So every time I'm sitting in a school booster meeting, I find myself reminiscing and lamenting the fact that we no longer live in San Diego and thus my girls don't go to Grossmont.
Why? Because Grossmont has unparalled school spirit and not only do the students know the meaning of fun, but the staff and administration does as well. I mean how many high schools have YOU ever heard of that hold an annual Donkey Basketball game?! Yeah. Donkey-freaking-Basketball. And it's not like it was played outside or anything either. Oh no...GHS doesn't screw around when it comes to sports, no matter how inane the event might be. They brought the damned donkeys into the flippin' Old Gym (where assemblies have been held ever since the "New Gym" was built)!
Speaking of sports, Grossmont's sports program has 27 athletic teams that participate in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) every single year. TWENTY-SEVEN, folks! And that doesn't even encapsulate all the other sporting teams, clubs, or the myriad extracurricular opportunities that Grossmont offers to its students.
And not only do the students of GHS play hard for their school, they shred off campus as well... Granted, this picture is actually of a classmate of mine from 1989, but it's not like Grossmont's students stopped surfing just because I left the state and I'm not around to take a current picture, you know what I mean?
And now after seeing an albeit aged picture of the kind of guys I went to school with, can you understand why I chose to write about surfers/swimmers/water polo players? No? Well here's another example... Now he wasn't my favorite person in the world; in fact he and I had an understanding.
I thought he was an arrogant son of a bitch and he agreed with that character evaluation. So, we just stayed clear of each other, which made the
Team Sports class we had together tricky, but whatever, the guy was a freaking All American athlete in water sports which sort of gives him the right to be arrogant and if not that, it certainly demands due respect. Not to mention LOOK at his arms!! *SWOON*
Okay, so now that you've heard a little bit about the fantabulous school most of the main characters in the GYP series go to, how about a little tour of the campus? If you're the kind of reader who prefers to let your imagination take over, feel free to skip this video, but if you'd like to actually see Grossmont and some of the real places on campus where some of the events in Shark Bait took place, join me on a virtual tour and read some excerpts from the book!
Mmhmm... You'll have to forgive all the ruffles. I mean it was the '80s.
So, as much as I love my high school, I really wasn't the best student and wasn't all that fond of going to school... I mean I had great friends, I was somewhat involved, I went to all the formal dances (I even had a date to each one!) and my senior prom (I had um...more than 1 date for that, but that's a long story...), and I did manage to graduate, but honestly, matriculation wasn't always at the top of my priority list, if you know what I mean. In fact, I received an award in chemistry my junior year... "Most Likely to Know LESS About Chemistry at the End of the Year than at the Beginning" Yeah, my mom was so proud...
I know it's a lousy picture, but my yearbook is too big to actually scan for a decent shot.
Anyhow, this was my senior class... I'm right in front in the 2nd row on the right hand side,
right behind the sign that says "Have A Day" and I'm wearing a green and black shirt.
But, I did eventually graduate and this is what I looked like when I did. You know how people sometimes look like animals? Well I think I look like a lop-eared bunny in my senior picture... I guess it kind of fits, though, seeing as how I drove a convertible VW Rabbit that had a personalized plate that read: IMABUNY. Don't ask...I don't know what I was thinking either... *sigh*
As I said, I wasn't the best student and I even won some awards for my tremendous lack of scholastic achievement, but I was damned proud to have been nominated by my classmates at the end of our senior year for something called a Senior Standout—it's a prestigious award and mighty high honor as the recipients are voted for by their peers. Senior Standouts included things like Best Dressed, Most Talented, Prettiest Eyes, Class Clown and so on...
In case you can't read the caption on the yearbook, it says: Senior Senate Presents Senior Standouts
And now for the moment you've all been waiting for! It's GIVEAWAY time!! For the past two weeks, you all have been hopping from blog to AMAZING blog collecting letters on a scavenger hunt in order to enter for a shot at winning "The Ultimate Shark Bait Swag Bag," and now, the time has come for you to put them all together to answer this question:
What Senior Standout was I awarded?
You should have a total of 26 letters, which will make 7 words and the title of my Senior Standout, which you will input into the Rafflecopter widget below. DO NOT put your answer in the comments section as they will be deleted posthaste and you will not be properly entered in the giveaway!! If you're a latecomer or missed a stop or two, you'll find the complete, linked schedule of the hop right under the Rafflecopter widget. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment or email me, but please, for the love of dear Jesus up in heaven, DON'T spoil the fun and put the scavenger hunt answer in a comment!!
Grand prize includes an autographed copy of Shark Bait, a Shark Bait acrylic tumbler, a refrigerator whiteboard, a bookmark, a bookish rubber ducky, a shark paddleball game, and it all comes to you in a Shark Bait drawstring backpack! *Backpack may vary by color and rubber ducky may vary by "genre"*
——Note about the highlighted letters for the scavenger hunt——
Depending how the blogger does it, you'll be looking for something like this: z or z, not to mention that I think TotallyBooked might've highlighted two entire words, so if you're stumped on that, use the first letter of each highlighted word. Also, the highlighting color may vary from blog to blog so just a heads up. ;-)
From September 10th thru the 21st, 14 kickass book blogs will be participating in my Shark Bait Back to School Blog Hop. Each stop will be hosting an individual giveaway of an e-book copy of Shark Bait in the winner's preferred format as well a little piece of Shark Bait swag. However, on the last day of the hop—September 21st—I will be hosting my own stop on the hop and there will you be able to enter for a shot at one GRAND PRIZE—The Ultimate Shark Bait Swag Bag!!
Grand prize includes an autographed copy of Shark Bait, a Shark Bait acrylic tumbler, a refrigerator whiteboard, a bookmark, a bookish rubber ducky, a shark paddleball game, and it all comes to you in a Shark Bait drawstring backpack! *Backpack may vary by color and rubber ducky may vary by "genre"*
To enter the grand prize drawing, you will be completing a SCAVENGER HUNT!! You MUST travel to each stop on the blog hop in order of posting date to collect highlighted letters that will eventually spell out the answer to the question I will be asking on the final day of the hop. So! Make a note of the schedule below and be sure to travel to every blog and jot down the highlighted letters you find! On September 21st, I will post what is sure to be a very entertaining and informative (shhh...quit your sarcastic snickering and scoffing now—I'm trying to delude myself) blogpost that will include how many letters you should have, how many words, and the question that the phrase will answer. You will write your answer in the Rafflecopter widget that will be on the post as well. DO NOT put your answer in the comments section!! That will ruin everyone else's fun and you won't be properly entered in the giveaway. Please note that if you win, I will need your email address to notify you, so you should probably include that in your answer as well—just to be safe. I promise I won't spam you with any of my crap or anyone else's. ;-)
So that's it! The schedule is below, * indicates double duty dates—2 blogs to travel to on the same day—and because I love you guys and want you all to have fun without working too hard, the schedule is linked so all you have to do is click on the name of the blog and voila! You're there!! And as always, if you have any questions, please comment away!!
——Note about the highlighted letters for the scavenger hunt; Depending how the blogger does it, you'll be looking for something like this: z or z also, the highlighting color may vary from blog to blog so just a heads up. ;-)
WooHoo! September has finally arrived and that means it's almost time!!
September 10th marks the beginning of my first ever Blog Hop!!
The Shark bait Back to School Blog Hop will run from September 10th until September 21st with 14 amazing and kickass blogs participating as stops!
Each blog participating will feature either a review of Shark Bait and/or some kind of Shark Bait bloggy fun, as well as a giveaway and pieces for everyone to collect in the scavenger hunt that will be featured here on my blog on the final day of the hop! Make sure you travel to each stop in order and then come back here on the 21st to put the pieces of the puzzle together for a chance at the grand prize—The Ultimate Shark Bait Swag Bag!
Grand prize includes an autographed copy of Shark Bait, a Shark Bait acrylic tumbler, a refrigerator whiteboard, a bookmark, a bookish rubber ducky, a shark paddleball game, and it all comes to you in a Shark Bait drawstring backpack! *Backpack may vary by color*
Want a sneak peek at the calendar? Well, here ya go!
A HUGE early-bird thanks to the completely badass and fabulous bloggers who've agreed to help me pop my blog hop cherry and for all the support and advice they've given me and the work they've done to help make this a success!! I truly couldn't do any of this without you ladies, so from the bottom of my inept heart, I thank you. xoxo
Now, are you already a diehard Shark Bait fan who would just LOVE to participate in this but don't run a blog? Well never fear! I can always use help (i.e., someone to make decisions for me), so, here's your chance: Some of the bloggers on the hop will be featuring "Excerpt Posts" and they're being stinkers by making ME choose the excerpt! Well, I'm Queen Poll Taker and true to form, I've decided to give all of you who are interested a chance to pick for me!! Simply email me at contactjenncooksey@gmail.com with your fave non-spoilery excerpts or scenes in Shark Bait (page number would be helpful but not necessary). If your entry is chosen, you'll get a byline credit and possibly even some kind of Shark Bait goody for your effort! But hurry, I will have to stop taking entries on or around this coming Wednesday the 5th as I need to submit all bloggy bits to the blog owners SOON!!
I hope you all are as excited as I am—this is gonna be a freaking blast!!
