BROMANCE THROWDOWN with Kendare Blake: Win $20 Gift Card!

We have a treat today! ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD author Kendare Blake has been hitting the blogosphere with these fantastically fun Throwdowns! We're thrilled to be included! And it's an awesome Bromance! 

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Throwdown! With Kendare Blake #3

Bromances:

Aragorn & Legolas 
vs 
Harry Potter & Ron Weasley

Bromances. That special relationship of loyalty and love, that exists between two special dudes. It’s not a student/mentor relationship. It’s not a father/son relationship. It’s something really special. Dr. House and Dr. Wilson. Damon and Affleck. Ace and Gary. These guys are more than friends. They’re Friend of Friends. 

Welcome, Teens Read & Write readers, to the third and final Throwdown! In previous installments, we’ve learned who would come out on top in a vampire matchup between Lestat de Lioncourt and Edward Cullen (Cullen) and in a werewolf matchup between Michael Jackson in Thriller and Jacob Black (Black). The Twilight boys were hoping to go 3 for 3, but I don’t think there are any Bromances in Twilight, unless you count Bella’s dad and that old Indian, which would just be weird. So here we go, with the boys who fight to destroy The One Ring facing off with the boys who fight to destroy He Who Must Not Be Named. Vote for your favorite set in the comments for a chance to win a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. Now let’s get it on!

The Bromances

One is a filthy human, the other, a cuticle-cleaning elf. Aragorn and Legolas, the future King of Men and his faithful immortal friend, have been together for years untold. Their devotion is obvious, though perhaps a bit one-sided: Legolas often follows Aragorn blindly into dangerous situations with very small odds of success or survival. Maybe that’s because he’s immortal and has a really skewed concept of death. Or maybe that’s just how strong their man-love is. “There’s nothing sexual about it,” Legolas says with a smile of elfish innocence. Which if you’re familiar, is the dirtiest kind of innocence there is.

Legolas: The Shadow moves.
Aragorn: So do my pants when you wear that little cloak.
Legolas: Aragorn, focus.
Aragorn: It’s a nice color, is all I’m saying. It’s a good dude’s cloak. But yeah. The Shadow moves. We should do something about that crap.

It’s worth noting that Bromances in Middle Earth are a dime a dozen. Between Sam and Frodo, Merry and Pippin, and Gandalf and Saruman (don’t deny it), there’s so much guy solidarity that women spend most days looking around uncomfortably. It should also be noted that this is a Bromance, not a romance, and is therefore not exclusive. Which is good, because:

Awk-ward!

Harry & Ron

This is really pushing the definition of Bromance. These guys, though close, are at odds with one another almost as often as not. Sirius and Remus might have been a better choice. But let’s see what Harry and Ron have to offer.


Harry, like Aragorn, gets into more than his fair share of crap. And there by his side, ever faithful, however generally close to wetting his pants, is Ron. Always ready to defend his friend, always ready to dive into danger, be it by going up against a million fafillion angry spiders or putting his entire family at risk by harboring a kid with a target on his chest, Ron is there. Sometimes jealously. Always clumsily. But he’s there, I guess is my point. And Harry, in return, got Ron onto the Quidditch team, where a young Edward Cullen tried desperately to school him in the ways of lady-getting…and failed.

The failure? Not Cullen’s fault.

The Throwdown

Sword and bow against wand and wand. I foresee a future where Legolas is screaming with bogies the size of bats flying round and round his face while Aragorn fights a jelly legs hex by dragging himself toward his opponents using nothing but his teeth, growling, “There’s no such thing as a jelly tooth hex, Bitches!” 


Harry and Ron would certainly get their licks in, but I think we all know who the real killers are. Harry and Ron, for all their flash and entertainment value, stop short of being truly lethal. And I don’t think Expelliarmus works on Anduril (I totally had to Google that). The only thing that might save the Hogwarts duo: In a surprise move, Harry takes off his glasses, and Aragorn mistakes him for Frodo.

Yes, we look alike. It's been pointed out once or twice.

But this doesn't have to be a Throwdown to the death. There are lots of ways to judge who is the best. One way? Who is the prettiest?!!

Don't be absurd. I'm obviously the prettiest.

Look, Legolas, I think you need to take a minute and check yourself-

Actually, Legolas is the prettiest. Look at those cheekbones. And that skin.
That's what 400 years of cucumber eucalyptus scrubs will do for you.

Fine, whatever. Harry? Ron? What do you have to say? On second thought, why don’t we just let Harry handle this one, okay?

Holy naked wizard!

Not bad. But it becomes less appealing when you realize that the horse is Dumbledore in Animagus form.
Well, there it is. The last Throwdown. Thanks to Alyssa and the guys at Teens Read and Write for letting the Bromances thrash it out on their blog. Vote for the winner in order for a chance to win a $20 BN gift card, and some Personal Demons swag in honor of fellow Tor author Lisa Desrochers’ Original Sin, releasing in July!
Check back next week to see who wins and read the winner’s gloat post.

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Isn't she a screech! And ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD sounds awesome. Love the premise. And the cover is uber gorgeous! Below you can check out the summary and trailer along with the contest details! Leave a comment with your vote and fill out the form for a chance to win a $20 BN gift card.

release: Aug 30

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Website/Twitter/Buy the Book

Kendare Blake is an import from South Korea who was raised in the United States by caucasian parents. You know, that old chestnut. She received a Bachelor's degree in Business from Ithaca College and a Master's degree in Writing from Middlesex University in London. She brakes for animals, the largest of which was a deer, which sadly didn't make it, and the smallest of which was a mouse, which did, but it took forever. Amongst her likes are Greek Mythology, rare red meat and veganism. She also enjoys girls who can think with the boys like Ayn Rand, and boys who scare the morality into people, like Bret Easton Ellis.

Giveaway Details:

• Fill out the form
• Leave a comment with your Bromance vote 
• Must be 13 years or older
• Enter by June 5