You’re on the hunt with Team Purple and have found the stop for Amalie Howard!

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But first, hi! I’m Erica Cameron, and I’m the author of several young adult series including The Ryogan Chronicles, the Assassins duology, and an upcoming sci-fi series beginning with PAX NOVIS.

I live in Florida, collect way too many books, and I swear that they didn’t put me on team purple just because it happens to be the color of my hair right now. That’s pure coincidence. Probably.

If you’re interested in learning more about me or my books, you can poke around my about me or books and stories pages or you can find me on Twitter!

Are we ready to begin? Well, almost. First, the rules!

This year, the hunt will run from October 1 to October 6!

Oct 1, noon PST: The hunt begins!

Oct 6, noon PST: The Hunt ends—winners selected.

Oct 8: Winners Announced!

There are four fantastic teams to follow this year. To check out all the books, you can browse this handy Goodreads list to get a feel for the stories and authors on the various teams. If you’ve never taken part in the hunt and are interested in the rules, visit the official YASH website here. Below are also a few quick links that might help you navigate your first hunting trip or just give you a quick refresher course!

How to Hunt  |  When You’re Stuck  |  Official Entry Form  |  Prize List

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While partaking in the hunt is always fun, it’s even better when I get the chance to host an author I actually know! This year is one of those times. Amalie Howard, the author you’re here to learn more about today, is an absolute gem, and I’m so lucky to be able to feature her for this stop on the Hunt!

AMALIE HOWARD is the award-winning author of several young adult novels critically acclaimed by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, VOYA, School Library Journal, and Booklist, including Waterfell, The Almost Girl, and Alpha Goddess, a Kid’s INDIE NEXT selection highlighting East Indian mythology. She is a national IPPY silver medalist and Children’s Moonbeam Award winner. She is also the co-author of the #1 bestsellers in regency romance and historical fiction, My Rogue, My Ruin and My Hellion, My Heart, in the Lords of Essex historical romance series. Of Indian and Middle Eastern descent, she grew up in the Caribbean but currently resides in Colorado with her husband and three children. Visit her at www.amaliehoward.com.

You can find Amalie at her website or any of these social media sites:

Twitter: @AmalieHoward | Facebook Author Page | Instagram: @AmalieHoward

Today, we have an exciting excerpt from her novel WATERFELL, the first book in a series about mermaids! I will never not love a story about mermaids, especially when it’s coming from Amalie!

And now, Waterfell:

THE DEEP CAN BE DEADLY…BUT LOVE CAN BE DEADLIER

Nerissa Marin is far from home. Though she lives an anonymous life on land during her cycle of human study, she is Aquarathi royalty by birth—and the future monarch of a hidden, undersea kingdom. But when her father is murdered, the human world becomes her only refuge.

Adrift and indifferent, Riss indulges her every whim, including her feelings for the new surf king of Dover Prep, Lokeane Seavon. But as the day she comes of age looms closer, old enemies appear and challenges are issued: If she forsakes her throne, her people will suffer for it.

To win her crown, she must become the queen she was born to be.

As if that description and this beautiful cover wasn’t enough, Amalie is also offering up an exclusive excerpt from her novel today! Keep reading for a sneak peak into this exciting world and at LEAST 13 reasons Amalie should be your new favorite human.

Excerpt from Waterfell:

“So my best friend is an alien sea princess,” Jenna says after a
beat, “who transforms into human form but can’t go back home just yet.” I
recognize the sound of when she’s in hyper-focused, game-face mode, and I blow
out a soft breath. That’s a positive sign, at least. “Where is home exactly?”

“Ever heard of the Mariana Trench?” I ask her, and she nods. Of
course she has. She’s Jenna, Jeopardy! champion of the world. “It’s the
deepest part of your oceans. We make our home there…where we’re safe and hidden
from humans.”

“Unless you come on land to learn about us if you’re the heir?
Like you have.”

“Yes,” I say. “To not repeat history. We need to safeguard the
waters of our home, too.”

“And now you’re stuck here because your father was killed,” Jenna
says.

“Yes.”

“Will you go back?”

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “It’s complicated. There are
others there who want us dead. Speio and his family most of all, because of
their loyalty to me.”

Jenna gulps, glancing at him, but he’s staring at the water, lost
in his own thoughts. She moves to sit again next to me at the pool’s edge,
tucking her legs beneath her. Her eyes narrow as she studies my face,
fascinated.

Belatedly, I remember that the protective film is no longer over
my own alien eyes, so I blink to engage it. It’s similar to the nictitating
membrane of a shark that goes over its eyes when it’s in attack mode, only ours
is more of a defense mechanism to protect us from discovery.

“No,” she says. “Leave them the way they are. Please.”

I comply with some reluctance. I know what she’s seeing—the pale
gold sclera, normally the white part of the human eye, surrounding large
multicolored irises rimmed by electric gold rings. They scream alien in
every way.

A part of me recoils at her scrutiny. Does she want to remind
herself that she’s not talking to something human? Will she look at me
differently now that she knows what I am?

“They’re so beautiful,” she murmurs after a while. “But definitely
not human. Anyone could see that. Other than your eyes, you look so normal
otherwise.” Her gaze drifts down my arms, torso, and legs. “I’ve seen you in
the locker room after hockey games. You look like everyone else.”

“We mimic,” I say. “To blend in.”

“Mimic?”

“I can manipulate the water in my body into any form I wish, for
short periods.”

Her eyes narrow. “Any form?”

“Yes, but human is preferred.”

Jenna tips her head to one side, chewing on her lip as if scared
to ask the question lurking on her lips, but eventually she does. “So what do
you really look like?”

“Are you sure you’re ready to see that?” Speio’s voice is cool. He
doesn’t trust that Jenna won’t go screaming to the rooftops and out us all. But
he doesn’t know her like I do—Jenna is loyal to the bone. Every drop of water
in me knows that I can trust her.

“She’s ready,” I say, meeting Speio’s eyes.

He sucks air through his teeth, a disrespectful sound that I
ignore, and stalks back into the house. But it will be better without him. I
level Jenna with an unblinking, almost reptilian stare, and she holds my
predator’s gaze without cringing. Her courage in the face of everything is
heartening. I stare at her for a long time before I decide both our fates—hers
for knowing, mine for telling. But she deserves to know.

“Speio doesn’t like that you told me, does he?” she asks, and I
shake my head.

“He’ll get over it,” I whisper. “Do you trust me, Jenna?”

She nods. “With my life.”

“Then whatever you do,
don’t run.”

The color drains from
her face as I slip into the pool, feeling the flimsy weight of human bones
inside of me start to dissolve. Almost immediately, they elongate into the
delicate skeleton that shapes my Aquarathi form. Our spinal column is similar
to humans,  but that’s where the
similarity ends. The rest of our bones expand outward like webs of coral, hard
but malleable at the same time.

My frame lengthens and strengthens, cracking into place under skin
that’s transforming into something rough and brilliant. My neck distends like a
swan’s, the curvature of my jaw thrusting outward and filling with razor-sharp
rows of teeth. The pain is fleeting over the pleasure of the change as my limbs
fold inward, my diamond-hard, dragon-scaled hide drawing and tightening over
sleek, coiled muscle, until at last, I shimmer into reptilian, monstrous
existence.

In a matter of breaths, I no longer resemble anything human.

That was amazing, right?! I can’t wait to read this one!

Thank you so much to Amalie for giving us a look into WATERFELL!

Now, let’s see…. I feel like I’m forgetting something. OH, RIGHT!

You can enter to win MORE prizes!

On top of the giveaway hosted through official YASH channels, I’m also hosting one. There will be two winners, and they’ll get to pick from my books!

This is open internationally, however, restrictions may apply depending on where in the world you live. Some of my books are only available in ebook form, and those may not be available in your region. Enter below using the Rafflecopter form, and good luck!

Click here to enter through Rafflecopter!



Now, Hunters, you’re off to visit Caitlin Sangster!