Friday, September 23, 2016

"Operation Tenley" by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Operation Tenley
(The Fair City Files Book 1)
by Jennifer Gooch Hummer


Operation Tenley by Jennifer Gooch Hummer is currently on tour with Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.


Description
Meet Tenley Tylwyth, an Elemental Teen born with the power to produce weather. Cool? Not really. Elementals who can create weather make Mother Nature angry. It’s time she got rid of them. Only one thing is standing in her way - Fair Ones. These ancestors of fairies keep kids like Tenley safe, but when rookie Fair One, Pennie, fails to do so, she’s forced to travel to Earth - a place where no Fair One wants to go. Now, Pennie has forty-eight hours to convince Tenley to give up her power. It won’t be so easy. Tenley’s got a way with wind. And after falling deep into Mother Nature’s gardens, where trees grow upside down and insects attack on command, a little wind might be just what Tenley needs to survive. Even if it kills her.

Excerpt from Chapter 36
Above them, a gigantic pink petal, the size of a hula-hoop, was creaking downwards. Halfway to them, it jerked to a stop. Then it started again. Just as it looked like it was going to land directly on top of Tenley, the petal jerked violently, swung to the right and then to the left, and finally slammed against the tree trunk across from them, nestling itself inside a branch.
“Snail secretions!” a voice from inside yelled. “Need a filter change!”
“Yeah. Um, hello?” Holden ventured.
The same voice fell into a coughing fit.
“Lame-alarm,” Tenley whispered, rolling her eyes.
The petal shifted around until an antique-looking woman, four feet tall at most and wearing a wilted crown of purple flowers and dead branches, popped up.
“You’re so old,” Tenley said.
“Tenley,” Holden warned, except she was right. The woman’s face looked like it had been sketched in with pencil and her faded red hair was piled high under the wilting crown.
The old woman squinted back and forth at both of them. “Fair One or sipLip?” she asked in a raspy voice, pointing a crooked finger.
“Ah—” Holden hesitated.
“Wait. Did you say Fair One?” Tenley asked.
“Which one are you?” the old woman demanded.
“I’m a kid?” Holden answered.
“And you?” She pointed to Tenley.
“A more popular kid?”
The old woman considered them. “Humans. How did you get into my gardens?”
“Yeah, about that,” Holden said. “We don’t know. We were on the Log Ride in another part of the park, and she was about to fall over the edge,” he nodded to Tenley, “the next thing we knew we landed in here instead. Somewhere down there, to be specific.” He pointed through the trees.
The old woman narrowed her eyes. “What do you seek?”
“A lemonade?” Holden smiled. “I’m dying.”
“How convenient,” the old woman said.
Tenley frowned. “I don’t want some stupid lemonade. I got my hair ripped out and my Uggs muddy. I just want to get back to our bus and wait for this whole thing to be over. I have a big night tonight.” She checked on her sash and noticed the new gash in it. “No!” she cried.

Praise for the Book
"Move over every superhero to ever exist - there's a new weather-controlling heroine in the world and she has our full attention ... A total downpour of ingenious storytelling and thrill." ~ Brit + Co
"Crackling with buzzy energy, Operation Tenley is an adventurous foray into a new, richly imagined world perfect for middle-grade readers. Holden, Pennie and especially Tenley make for prodigious lead characters, and there is something undeniably fresh about their make-up; they are relatable while still being fun, a hard balance to find in children’s lit sometimes. With positive messages that range from accepting those different from you to the danger of global warming, young readers will find a book to love in this quirky, fun world of tech, fairies and elementals." ~ Colleen Oakes, author, the Wendy Darling Series and the Queen of Hearts Trilogy (Harper Collins Summer 2016)
"What an enchanting, smart, and whirlwind fun read. Adult novelist Hummer has crafted an ingenious and magical novel about what it means to do unto others, and how we find our truest selves. Kids will love the fairies and the fantasy, but adults will relish the sly wit Hummer imbues on every page." ~ Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling author, Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You
"If you like stories with fairies, you’ll love Operation Tenley where futuristic fairies are tasked with guarding earth’s teens who have gained elemental powers, risking the ire and wrath of Mother Nature. With a fun, high-stakes battle for control over the planets elements, it’s sure to please middle-grade readers." ~ Alane Adams, award-winning author, The Red Sun and Kalifus Rising
"7 Fall Middle-grade must reads." ~ Buzzfeed

About the Author
Jennifer Gooch Hummer is the award-winning author and screenwriter of her debut novel, Girl Unmoored (SparkPress). Girl Unmoored has also been published in German (Carlsen). Jennifer has worked as a script analyst for various talent agencies and film studios. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three daughters.









Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a Scrabble tile book cover charm (US only) OR one of five ebook copies of Operation Tenley by Jennifer Gooch Hummer (international).

Links