Saturday, February 13, 2010

COOP2 2: Nordic Combined

Confession time: I had to look up the Nordic Combined. I knew it was an Olympic sport because it's listed on the website, but ... what kind of sport? Well, let me tell you. An awesome sport. Take hard-core sport #1 (cross-country skiing) and hard-core sport #2 (ski jumping), put them together and you get Nordic Combined.


Honestly, I thought Nordic Combined was something like the biathlon. Skiing, shooting, and, er, ice dancing or something. I'm not much of a skier (read: not at all) but I think it would have to be tough to train for both cross-country and ski jumping, They use completely different muscles and skis and I'm sure the psychological training is different, too. You have to admire athletes who are that versatile.

Today's bonus prizes(!) are donated by an author who knocks out a similar one-two punch, writing for both adults and teens: MY SOUL TO TAKE and MY SOUL TO SAVE by Rachel Vincent. Here are the blurbs:


She doesn't see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next…


When Kaylee Cavanaugh screams, someone dies.

So when teen pop star Eden croaks onstage and Kaylee doesn't wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can't cry for someone who has no soul.

The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad's ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend's loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls: a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can't possibly understand.

Kaylee can't let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk….

Wow! To get pulled even deeper into these stories, visit Rachel's website to watch the spooky trailer video. *shivers*

And to enter today's contest, confess whether you knew what Nordic Combined was before I told you. Answer in comments for your chance to win Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp and MY SOUL TO TAKE and MY SOUL TO SAVE.

NORDIC COMBINED CONTEST
Answer this question: Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

PRIZES
(1) copy of Oh. My. Gods.
(1) copy of Goddess Boot Camp
(1) copy of MY SOUL TO TAKE by Rachel Vincent
(1) copy of MY SOUL TO SAVE by Rachel Vincent

Enter below and check back tomorrow (and the day after that and the day after that) for a new contest. Winners of all contests will be posted after February 28th.

And don't forget the other contests:

Gold Medal Contest
COOP2 1 HEIST SOCIETY by Ally Carter

Hugs,
TLC

93 comments:

Gaby G said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

I have no idea...My excuse is that in my country there is no snow...But anyway, I didn't even knew something like Nordic Combined exist. Thanks for sharing it!

ReggieWrites said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Nope! I never ever knew or even heard about it! I agree with Gaby, I have no snow here! LOL! Thanks for the interesting tidbit! I never knew something like this really existed! It looks wayy cool though!

jpetroroy said...

Nope, but it sounds interesting. I'm always amused at biathlon, myself!

Mariah said...

No, I have never even heard of it. But it sounds cool!

kittyism said...

I had no idea this existed! Looks tough, though, even for seasoned athletes.

Liyana said...

I didn't! I thought it was Viking related, with sword fighting and gladiators ala old Olympics. Kind of disappointed that it's not, but SKIING! Tis cool.

rainydays said...

nope, I'm with you. I definitely thought it was more of a biathalon thing.

FICTION STATE OF MIND said...

I had NO idea, all i watch in the winter olympics is skating and bobsleding :)

Jordan S said...

I had no clue. I prefer the Summer Olympics honestly and really only watch the hockey in the Winter Olympics with the odd downhill skiing or figure skating thrown in.

JB said...

I had no idea what it was. I usually just watch the figure skating.

Jess said...

I had no idea! It looks really fun though.

donnas said...

I have no idea and I have never heard of it before this post. Might have to try and watch it though if its shown and at a time I am home and awake.

Karen said...

I saw something about them training for it on TV awhile back but I had no idea wha tit was called or that it was an olympic event!

Karen

Karen said...

oops - it, sorry @ that :-)

Gingerkatie said...

I actually did know what the Nordic combine included. I'm obsessed when it comes to the olympics. We record everything. Before the DVR we used to have four TV's recording 4 different stations... The Sydney Olympics took 26 tapes... The Olympics is like a family holiday everyone stays home from work/school and we sit and eat sweats and lounge around.

Katy said...

I've heard the term Nordic Combined, but I had no idea what it was before.

LucĂ­a said...

I haven't heard about Nordic Combined, and of course I did't know what it was, so thanks Tera ;)

Hannah said...

I have NEVER heard of Nordic Combined before but, i LOVE skiing (i'm an expert) and ski jumping (soooo cool!) so i think i'd love to try it! i'm gonna do some more research on it! Thanks for enlightening me Tera!

Leslie said...

Before reading your post I had no idea what Nordic Combined was. I'm not very good with what the different events are called. I just know like the skiing. :)

Unknown said...

I've actually done Nordic Combined before, and it was veeeeeerrrry fun.

Anonymous said...

im going to have to be honest...i had no idea. oh well =] now i know

chocowafer said...

I had absolutely no idea what Nordic Combined was! Thanks for the info! And the awesome giveaway! :)

Diana Dang said...

Haha, not at all. I'm really not a big sports fan.

molly said...

I did not know what it was. hahha! But, that is crazy awesomeness that those people can train for it and actually DO that.

Brodie said...

Nope, I had absolutely no idea what it was before reading your blog post! I'm going to use the same excuse as some other folks have - no snow in my little town! Ever. Sadly, I've never seen the snow in person. But it's always so cool to learn something new!!

DeNiSe said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

NO had no idea I wonder how well know it is ??? seem difficult

Denise

Holly Judge said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Yes, yes i did.

Jokes. Nope. I had absolutely no idea. I had never even heard of it before. It actually sounds pretty darn awesome.

Holly.

Michelle said...

No idea frankly. Why the combination anyways? But still, fun to watch.
Thanks!

Kristen said...

I had no clue. lol. :-D I really need to watch some of the olympics..

ArkieRN said...

No I didn't but it sounds very exciting. I'll have to try to watch some of it.

Belle said...

I had never heard of the Nordic Combined. I live in snny Florida and have never been skiing or snowboarding or anything... I didn't even know that cross country and jumping used different skiis.... So no. I had not heard of it and I did nnot know what it was.

Rachel said...

No, I never knew what the Nordic Combined was.

Christine Danek said...

No, I never knew what the Nordic Combined was but now I do. Thanks!

YzhaBella's BookShelf said...

I had no idea what Nordic Combined was! Lol, my first thought was a bunch of blondies skiing in a row! Thanks for the clarification!

Anonymous said...

Sadly I didn't know what Nordic Combined was. Though now I can happily say that I have learned something today!

Mandy said...

I'd honestly never even heard of it. Thanks, I now feel more educated (:

Tura Lura said...

Ah ha! Now I know what Nordic Combined is. I hadn't heard of it before. Thanks for the information.

Jean Viola Ryan said...

I did but only because my husband told me earlier

Anonymous said...

I accidently answered this question on Coop 3 but here it is again -

I've seen Nordic Combined before but I never knew it was called that. But now I know and can act like I know more than my guy when I talk about it now, lol.

Book~Adorer

E.J. Stevens said...

Well, I used to know but would not have been able to remember. Oh no! Thanks for the refresher. ;)

Great giveaway!

e.j.stevens.author[at]gmail[dot]com

Van Pham said...

i had no clue!

thanks for the giveaway

Littopandaxpress(at)yahoo(dot)com

Bobbie said...

I knew about cross-crountry ski and ski jumping, but Nordic Combined. Thanks for the info

Llehn said...

No, I have no idea what it was before this. Thanks for sharing!

Ashley Crosby said...

I had absolutely no idea what Nordic Combined was. But...now I do! Aha.

Kate at Read This Book! said...

Nope I have no idea what Nordic Combined was before reading your blog. xD

kate.readthisbook [at] gmail [dot] com

~THE OPTIMISTIC PESSIMIST ~ said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Sigh... nope nada zip... did't know at all. *Hangs head in shame*
I do like Ice Skating :O)

Linda~
Lifkdasux at aol dot com

buddyt said...

No i must admit that I had never even heard about it and would have thought it something like you did.

Then again snow sports and not big in Africa !

Lori said...

Nope. Not a clue......LOL

Bianca said...

I actually thought it was cross-country-skiing and ski-jumping (because my brother watches all kinds of sports ALL the time) but i thought there was a third discipline involved - well now i know better.

Violet said...

I had absolutely NO idea what Nordic Combined was until reading your blog today! Thank you for hosting this generous series of contests & thank you for providing my "learn something new each day" opportunity today. :)

CrystalGB said...

I did not know what the Nordic Combined was until reading your post. Thanks for the great giveaway.

Leanne said...

Yes, I actually did know what Nordic Combined was, and I think it's *incredibly* cool! Wish I had the athletic talent for that.

Love Rachel Vincent's books so I'm glad you're featuring them! I actually was linked here from her blog and I'm really enjoying your Olympic sport profiles (and of course discovering new YA authors!).

Anonymous said...

Had no idea what this meant before seeing it here! tWarner419@aol.com

Melia M said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Nope, I had no idea what it was, but now I do. Thanks, Tera.

Steph S said...

I had no idea what the nordic combined was until today :)

I love rachel vincent, great contest!!

Kelly said...

I had no idea what it was... my guess would have been skiing and shooting, like you. That must be called something else. The Olympics are so fun!

I love Rachel's Shifter books and can't wait to get into this new series of her!

Bere said...

Answer this question: Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Truthfully I had no idea. Happy to have
learned something new today, thank you =)

Thanks so much for this great contest!

Bianca said...

You know, I watch the Olympics every year that they are on. However, I never really did pay attention to this sport so I didn't really no what it was about!

iffath said...

I had definitely never heard of Nordic Combined before reading this post! ;D

lanna-lovely said...

Nope, I'd never heard of it before nevermind what it was. O.o

Bidisha said...

Lol..I had never even heard of Nordic Combined before this post!

Kristin said...

I did know what Nordic Combined was before this post! I watched the winter Olympics 4 years ago. :-)

Sara said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

Well, actually I did! I'm from "The Nordic countries" so that's my excuse ;) Lol. Guess it was invented somewhere around here!

Sara

Hannah said...

OOOOOOHHHHH!!!! so THATS what Nordic Combined is!!! i LOVE that!! that one of my favorite sports to watch on the Olympics!!! Actually, before i didn't know that that is what its called! i actually didnt know that that sport had a name! i just refered to it as "Ski jumping-slash-cross country." Nordic Combined is TOTALLY awesome!!!

YA Book Queen said...

I definitely had no idea what Nordic Combined was (so thanks for informing everyone!).

Amanda said...

No, I had no idea what Nordic Combined was. I never really get a chance to watch the Olympics, so I hadn't heard of it before. It sounds exciting!

Nancye said...

I knew it was skiing!! I had no idea what particular type of skiing it was.

nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net

Marjolein Reads said...

I have to admit..that I didn't! I'm just not a very big sport follower..

marjoleinbookblog at gmail dot com

kaymf said...

I had no idea that this sport even existed.

Librarykat said...

I did know what Nordic combined was before reading this blog, but that is only cause I was watching the Olympics and Nordic Combine was on and wanted to know what I was watching on T.V.

Esther said...

Nordic Combined sounds like you take a Swede and a Norwegian and smash them together - maybe with the help of some genetic splicing!

In a less dystopian world I was like you in thinking it involved skiing and shooting.

Though I do love watching the ski-jumping I always wonder how many bones they break practising to get so good.

nymfaux said...

I did know what nordic-combined was--but that's because I watched the competition before checking out the contest! It rocks!

Shy said...

Seriously have no idea! I thought it has something to do w/ sword fighting or something, lol!

Spav said...

I had absolutely no idea.

Jo said...

To be perfectly honest, I didn't know. But saying that, I didn't know there was such a thing as Nordic Combined to guess at what it meant. I'm ashamed to say I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to sports.

sarah said...

no, but I think I heard a joke about it once.

Meggie said...

I had no idea what Nordic Combined was, I had no idea that it existed, and I'm still not sure I understand it. But sometimes I think that's okay!

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that there was even a sport like that in the Olympics! much less the name...although it does sound like the name for a perfume or something...

hahaha,
Grace L

Just Your Typical Book Blog said...

No, I had no clue what it was! Learn something new everyday :)

Lasha said...

Did you know what Nordic Combined was before reading this blog?

No, I did not know about it, i love playing sports. Me and my family have been watching the olympics togetehr, my little sister loves the figure skatinga nd i have to admit i do to. their so graceful! im glad to actually know what nordic combines is.

Anonymous said...

Nope, I watched bits and pieces of the Nordic Combined on TV, but not enough to really understand what all it really involved.

Ynysawdre Elderly Residents Association said...

No you have provided an educational experience *smiles*

God's gal said...

No, sadly I didn't. Though I'm learning something new every day. Thank you.
I am not even close to being so adept and skillful. What a pro :)

Faith said...

Haha, I had no idea... I kept hearing announcements about the events too, but didn't have a clue.

And on that note, Rachel Vincent is an excellent author! Whoever wins this prize is a lucky gal/guy!

Mitali D said...

I did. I looked it up on the NBC website because I was looking at the sports that were included under the Winter Olympics.

Thats how I found out about the Nordic Combied. :)

deltay said...

Haha, I had no idea what Nordic Combined was either.

Steph said...

I had no idea what Nordic Combined was. I don't keep up with the winter Olympics and what sports are being played, so I didn't even know it was an Olympic sport to begin with. LOL

Annia Lennox said...

Did I know what Nordic Combined was? No, I honestly hadn't even heard of it before.

svgirl13 said...

Nope, I had no idea what Nordic Combined was. I wouldn't have ever guessed.

Unknown said...

I had an idea what Nordic Combined was, but I definitely did not add in the ski jumping part.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I did know what Nordic Combined was before this blog. I think that is because I always watch the winter Olympics. They are my favorite!

Rebecca said...

I didn't know what Nordic Combined was but I did watch it and I know what it is now. It was a fun sport to watch.

L said...

I had no idea what Nordic Combined was, but I'm glad I do now!