Welcome! Please note this event is now over. 

​

You have arrived at one of the author blogs featured in the Spring 2020 Young Adult Scavenger Hunt (YASH)! This event was first organised by best-selling author of the Tiger's Curse series, Colleen Houck, to give readers a chance to win prizes and access exclusive information about a variety of authors. You are currently following the trail of the Red Team.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Hullo everyone!

I'm Lara Fanning, your host for this leg of the hunt. I am an up-and-coming Australian author and have three published novels that form the Red Fox trilogy. The Red Fox trilogy is a young adult dystopian series and is, sadly, not actually about foxes. I have owned pet foxes in the past, however, and studied a Bachelor of Zoology at university before completing an honors year majoring in animal welfare science. You can probably tell that I am very passionate about animals and nature, so they always have a lot of relevance in my books! Actually, for the past 3 months, I have been working at the world's first Frog Zoo where I get to care for frogs and give educational visitor tours!

Equaling my passion for animals, though, is my love of writing. Creating worlds and species is challenging and fun, so fantasy and science-fiction are my preferred genres. I write every single day and always find it invigorating and uplifting. Writing comes as naturally as breathing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

With that, let us begin talking to another passionate author!

​

​

Scavenger Hunt Rules:

​

• Authors involved in the hunt are part of a team. Each team comprises 20 authors and teams are named after colours: Red Team, Gold Team, Blue Team, Purple Team. 

• Each author has written a YASH themed blog post on their own website or social media page, which contains information and bonus material about a different author on their own team. 

• Each YASH post contains a secret number (highlighted in the colour of the author's team). You should write this number and its colour down!

• Each YASH post also links to the blog of the next author in the team, so just keep clicking the link to the next author's page and collecting numbers!

• Once you have seen the blog posts of all 20 authors within a team, you can add up the secret numbers to be eligible for a grand prize!

• You don't have to choose just one team. Feel free to follow all teams and write down all the secret numbers.

• Confused? Read detailed instruction on the Young Adult Scavenger Hunt website. 

​

​

​

SCAVENGER HUNT START

​

I have the huge pleasure of hosting author Kathleen Baldwin during this hunt. Kathleen's A School For Unusual Girls is an award-winning historical romance series. Here, we will be learning more about the fourth novel in the series: Harbour for the Nightingale. 

​

Kathleen loves adventure in books and in real life. She taught rock climbing in the Rockies, survival camped in the desert, was stalked by a mountain lion, lost an argument with a rattlesnake, enjoyed way too many classes in college, fell in love at least a dozen times, and married her very own hero. Together they’ve raised four free-spirited adventurous children.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Welcome to the world of Kathleen Baldwin's Stranje House Novels - a spy school for young ladies set in Jane Austen's high society. 

​

New York Times Book Review calls it, "Enticing from the first sentence."

 

#1 New York Times best-selling author Meg Cabot calls Kathleen's romantic Regency adventure series, "completely original and totally engrossing."

​

Harbour for the Nightingale is the fourth book in this bestselling series. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

It's 1814 in this alternate history, and Napoleon is plotting to seize control of Britain. With her friends' lives in deadly peril, Miss Maya Barrington, one of Miss Stranje's unusual girls, must serve as a double agent. To do so, she must enter Napoleon's treacherous game on the arm of the elusive Lord Kinsworth. Maya can read almost everyone; not so with this young rascal. Quick with a jest and armed with lethal charm, Lord Kinsworth remains just beyond her reach.

​

With Britain's future at risk and her friends in danger, does she dare trust him?

​

Maya Hears the world in extraordinary ways. 

​

In her words:

"All the world is sound. Even if I were blind, I would still be able to see. It is as if everything hums - the trees, air, stones, and people - especially people. They all sing songs. Some songs are more dangerous than others. 

​

For her, there is music in everything and everyone.

At times, when she does hear Lord Kinsworth's inner music, she hears a cello-like song.

​

This video of Hauser playing Secret Garden is one of the cello selections that inspired me during some of those scenes. I love the cello, the sound is so rich and full. Close your eyes and just enjoy this beautiful piece from one of the world's foremost cellists.

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

Maya feels/ senses/ hears the invisible ties between people who share deep relationships. Do you? 

I love the ideas in this song, "Wish That You Were Here," by Florence and the Machine. The words in it are absolutely magical and reflect many of Maya's emotions. Before you ask, Miss Peregrine's school is nothing like the Stranje House School. My characters are young women gifted with very plausible human abilities, and I'd written the first book long before her book came out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more Playlists and videos related to Harbor for the Nightingale, please visit Kathleen's YouTube channel. 

​

Kathleen can be found at her website, Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads.
And you can find Harbour for the Nightingale here.

 

Thank you to Kathleen for joining us and shining light on where she draws her inspiration from. The musical pieces she has shared are beautiful, so please do check them out. 

 

 

Where to Next?

 

You are off to the blog of Kimberly Derting, award-winning author of The Taking series. Please click here to be re-directed to her blog!

​