{blog tour + Giveaway} What's Your Winner's Curse?

To celebrate the release of Marie Rutkoski's The Winner's Crime, sequel to The Winner's Curse, for the blog tour we were asked to answer the following question:

The ‘Winner’s Curse’ is an economics term that means you've gotten what you wanted – but at too high a price.  What would you pay too much for?

My Winner's Curse:

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to take a lighter route with the question. While there are people (my parents, sisters and those I care about) that I would do anything for, I want to go a different direction with this post because I tend to be entirely too serious most of the time.

*note: this post has undergone three rewrites  and two revisions*

First off, this is a true story.......

Once upon a time there was a movie locked deep within the Disney vault. One that I love dearly that was starting to seem like it would be locked away forever. At least not for quite some time. This is where we find me, unhappily in a new state and disgusted by the cold.

Picture it, one day you see a DVD of it in what you thought was a comic book shop, they totally didn't deserve that title, and you have this great need for it. You begin to believe that it was destiny, it, surely must be destiny that has brought you to this store to find said favorite movie...until... you look at the cost. You know you should walkaway from the price, but it's your favorite movie in the entirely world and it calls to you with this siren call that you cannot resist.

Long, long story short. I ended up buying the really expensive dvd of my favorite movie. Was it worth it, yes! Do I regret spending that much (no, I'm not saying how much) on a single DVD...yes and no. I'm glad to have it, but that price was highway robbery.

As I've written this post many times, and changed topics even more times, since I first sat down to write this post. I think I'll end it here. The movie I had to have was 101 Dalmatians.

About the Author:

Marie Rutkoski is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Winner’s Curse (March 2014). She grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois as the oldest of four children and decided early on that she was Someone Who Loved Books.

After attending the University of Iowa and living in Moscow and Prague, she studied Shakespeare at Harvard University, where she honed her skill in referring to herself in the third person.

You can haunt Marie Rutkoski at-
Website | Goodreads | Twitter |

The Winner's Curse (Winner's, 1) by Marie Rutkoski, March 4, 2014. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love.
As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction.

Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart. 

The Winner's Crime (Winner's, 2) by Marie Rutkoski, March 3, 2015. Published by Farrar Straus Giroux.

Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

GIVEAWAY:
US only.
One winner will receive, courtesy of Macmillan Books, a copy of either The Winner's Curse or The Winner's Crime.

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