Haunted Halloween 2011: Guest Post - Amy Plum + A Giveaway!!

5:15 p.m. Halloween. Loire Valley, France.

I am sitting in my kitchen in my tiny countryside village (1300 inhabitants!) webcamming with my friend Lisa back in New York. The doorbell rings.

“Who is it?” Lisa asks.

“I have no clue!” I respond.

My husband is in New York on business and my baby is asleep, and I don’t know a single soul in my new town. I turn the laptop around, facing the door, so that Lisa can see who it is. Not that she could do anything all of the way from New York if it turned out to be an attacker. But at least, I reason, there will be a witness to the crime.

I open the door to this...

...and am flabbergasted. I have never seen trick-or-treaters in France. When I last lived in Paris—back when dinosaurs roamed the earth (the early '90s)—Halloween wasn't celebrated. At all.

However, the day after Halloween—All Saints Day, or La Toussaint in French—is a national holiday, and everything is closed. Everyone spends November 1st going to the family graveyard and putting flowers on the graves. But, as far as I knew, October 31 was not celebrated in the Land of Baguettes and Cheese.

So I stand there gawking at these little girls as they hold out their pumpkin baskets. I am so surprised that I don't even notice what they say, but I’ll bet you five bucks it wasn't "Trick or Treat".

I stammer, "Um...Attendez", and scramble around the kitchen, looking for anything resembling candy. While I search, I hear Lisa yell “Bonjour!” from my computer screen in a super-strong American accent. The girls mumble “Bonjour” back, and stand there looking very sorry that they ever considered stopping at the crazy foreigner’s house.

Of course, I don’t have anything to give them. Candy isn't a staple in my house, since I will devour it within minutes of it passing through my front door. I do, however, spy the chocolate cupcakes that I made a couple of days before for my son’s birthday. “Saved by baked goods!” I think, and wrap four of them individually in foil, then bring them out to the trick-or-treaters.

"These are American," I say, pulling back the foil to display one. "They're called 'cupcakes'."

“Cupcakes," they repeat, and stare dubiously at the pink buttercream icing.

"They're chocolate. You'll like them," I say, trying to reassure myself more than them.

“You’re giving out cupcakes to trick-or-treaters?” I hear Lisa exclaim from the laptop. “Their moms are probably going to think they’re poisoned!”

The girls glance nervously at my laptop, chime "Merci" as one, and then speed out of my yard to safety.

I close the door with a sigh of relief, turning to see an amused Lisa smiling out at me from my computer screen. “So, how many more cupcakes do you have?”

“Those were the last ones,” I confess.

“Well you better come up with something else. Wouldn’t want French youngsters egging your front door. Or do they throw eggs? Maybe instead they throw baguettes. Or croissants,” she muses.

“Bye, Lisa!” I call, closing the computer and leaping into action, scouring the kitchen for cookie ingredients. I open a cupboard, peer into my special ingredient hiding place, and notice that my husband has not found the baking chocolate. His habit of sneaking down to the kitchen in the night and consuming any form of chocolate I have hidden has been thwarted by my crafty plan of hiding it behind the box of oatmeal. It is well known that the French despise oatmeal as much as they do peanut butter and jelly. I rub my hands together in glee.

A half hour later I am wrapping chocolate oatmeal cookies into little wax paper bundles and tying them off with festive blue bows. (Lacking any orange or black bows, of course, since I was totally unprepared.)

No one else comes, of course. If I hadn't bothered making cookies, there would have had been droves of trick-or-treaters. But it taught me a lesson.

Now I know...the French DO celebrate Halloween. And next year, I will be ready.

 Die For Me is currently available from HarperTeen!

Synopsis: In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Order Online:

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Enter to win a DIE FOR ME Prize PACK! 

One winner will receive a SIGNED copy of DIE FOR ME and the choice of a J or V key chain!

First runner up will receive the remaining key chain and a SIGNED Book plate!

4 Other winners will receive a SIGNED Book plate!!

So that's 6 WINNERS in total for this amazing giveaway!!!

Rules and now to enter:

You must be at least 13 years old to enter.

To enter, please fill out the form provided below.

Giveaway open INTERNATIONAL!!

Giveaway ends: October 27th, 2011

 Don't forget to stop by and check out who Jessica is featuring today for Haunted Halloween!

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Amy, thank you SO much for sharing with us about your first Halloween in France. I know I would have felt and done the same thing! I told you a bit about my first Halloween in the UK lol, so I totally get it. Loved hearing all about your experience. Also a HUGE thank you for donating some amazing prizes for some very lucky winners!

*I am not compensated at all for any of the links within this page.