FALLING INTO FOREVER by Tammy Turner - Virtual Tour and Giveaway

 

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Why YA fiction? What draws you to it?

Unless you are a Kardashian or a Real Housewife being an adult can really just suck sometimes. Bills and bosses and babies – reality and responsibility – they take a toll on your patience and sanity. That is why I chose to write my first novel Falling into Forever in the YA fiction genre. I see enough adult issues in my own life and the world around me everyday that I do not want to recreate that in my fiction. I prefer a little escapism. In your tween and teen years you are not burdened down yet my having to be a realist and grow up and face the facts of life. At that age it is still okay to fantasize you will grow up to marry a prince or a rock star and live happily and wealthily ever after. With young characters an author can use naivety to conjure fantasy that is fun and juicy without being too provocative or over the top unbelievable.

Pretend your protagonist is at school and opens his/her locker – what will we see inside?

My protagonist is a shy, quiet seventeen year old high school student named Alexandra Peyton. She is a natural beauty who does not realize how pretty she is at all. She is strong and smart and boys and men alike are not sure what to make of her. So if we were to peek inside of her locker we would see this:
*Pop-Tart wrappers because they are yummy. Alexandra is not concerned about her diet. She can eat whatever she wants, and her nervous energy keeps the weight off of her.
*A full bottle of girlie pink nail polish her best friend Taylor Woodward gave her and Alexandra has never used but keeps in her locker for the day she stops biting her nails.
*A SAT preparation book
*A pack of cigarettes she stole from Taylor to keep her from smoking
*Taped to the back of the door would photo torn from a gossip magazine of Johnny Depp in full on Captain Jack Sparrow costume

What would you write in a letter to your teen self?

Everybody grows older, but you do not have to look old. Wear lots of sunscreen. Buy expensive moisturizer. Lots of it. Drink water and do not overdo the adult beverages or your face and your belly will get poofy. Everybody grows older, but you do not have to act old. Skip and dance in the grass because the sun is shining. Smile even when you do not feel like it. You never know who might be looking. Fall in love. Fall out of love. More than once. Do not be afraid of anything. Ever. Or you will always have regret.

What superpower would you love to have? Why?

I am thoroughly convinced from hours of watching TMZ that all Victoria’s Secret supermodels are born with a superpower. Eating double cheeseburgers and funnel cakes actually makes them taller, thinner, and blonder than mere mortal human beings. So I would definitely choose that superpower.

What book is on your nightstand currently?

I am nurturing an obsession with zombies right now so I just bought a copy of World War Z by Max Brooks. I have not seen the movie yet, but I am sure the book is better.

Immortality, thousands of years, and voodoo will make you fall in love . . .

High school senior Alexandra Peyton has a secret admirer with devilish good looks: shoulder-sweeping raven hair, brooding azure eyes, and a ten-foot wing span. But their thousand-year age difference may be a deal breaker for the shy seventeen-year-old. Kraven, the admirer (and immortal victim of an ancient curse), is certain that Alexandra is the reincarnation of his long-dead princess bride.

When Alexandra returns from a road trip to her grandmother’s beachfront estate on the South Carolina coast to the hectic, big-city life in Atlanta, Georgia, she possesses two souvenirs. The first is a once-lost package, sent to her by her now-missing father, which contains a mysterious pendant necklace. The second is a journal filled with the ravings of her dead uncle, an army officer who wrote of meeting the devil during his service in Europe during the final days of World War II.

However, a voodoo priestess who stalks the grounds of Peyton Manor is convinced that the journal will help her conjure the devil and wants the book returned at all costs. As school starts, a vicious wolf man, working for his voodoo mistress, plots an attack on Alexandra. When her life is threatened, the immortal stranger who has vowed to protect her reveals himself and changes her life irrevocably.

Now Enjoy an excerpt:

“Did your father ever tell you that once upon a very long time ago, a girl in our family was a princess?” Granny June asked as she picked up a lonesome yellow bucket and began to fill it with sand just like her granddaughter.

“My daddy never told me that. Please, please tell me about her!” squealed the girl.

"Her name was Princess Iselin,” Granny June said, rubbing the matted bangs from her granddaughter’s forehead. “She was beautiful and kind, just like you.”

Alexandra smiled. “What happened to her?”

“Her prince was put under a spell by an evil wizard,” Granny June continued. “On the day of their wedding, the wizard sent a dragon to attack the prince’s castle. But the prince sent his bride away to keep her safe.”

“Did he see her again?” Alexandra asked. “The princess always lives happily ever after.”

“Not always,” Granny June sighed. “The wizard turned the prince into a dragon.”

“How did he fit into his clothes?” asked Alexandra, wide-eyed.

“Good question,” said her grandmother, nodding her head in approval. “According to the legend, the wizard gave the prince eternal life as a man who could turn into a dragon and then back into a man whenever he wanted. Then the wizard gave the prince a choice. The prince could choose to be the wizard’s servant, and the princess would not be harmed, or the prince could choose to fight the wizard. Though if the prince did choose to fight, then the wizard swore that the prince would never see his bride again.”

“Which one did the brave prince choose?” asked Alexandra, patting the sand down on the sides of the castle.

“The brave prince chose to fight the evil wizard. But before their battle, the wizard found out where the princess was hiding, and he sent a dragon to attack her.” Alexandra picked up the blond doll from the sand and turned to her grandmother.

“What happened next, Granny? Please tell me.”

“The prince defeated the wizard and became king of his people for many years,” Granny June told her as she dumped her bucket of sand on top of the castle. “But he never saw his princess again.”

“That makes me sad. He didn’t have a queen,” said Alexandra, turning her head to the ocean behind her and gazing to the horizon. “What was his name?”

“Kraven,” said Granny June, drawing a letter K into the center of the sand castle with her finger.

“The dragon king,” she whispered.

“Kindergarten starts with a K,” Alexandra announced brightly as she read the letter her grandmother had drawn in the sand.

“That’s right,” Granny June said, hugging her.

“Mommy and Daddy said I have to go there in a couple of weeks,” Alexandra explained, hanging her head. “I’m five years old now.”

“Don’t you worry, Alex,” Granny June said, lifting the girl’s chin with her finger.

“Why do I have to go school, Granny?” Alexandra asked, an auburn curl falling in front of her wide, emerald green eyes. “Do princesses have to go school?”

"Is that what you’re going to be when you grow up?” Granny June brushed the curls from Alexandra’s freckled cheeks and tucked them behind her ear.

“Yep!” Alexandra shouted as she scooped a handful of sand into her red pail.

About the Author: Growing up in the coastal town of Charleston, South Carolina, instilled an infatuation with history, mystery, and legend in first-time author Tammy Turner. From the time she could shuffle along behind her father, they would hunt for sharks’ teeth, explore crumbling cemeteries, and dig for pirate gold along the low country beaches. Attending school in the heart of the city, the palpable lore of history fed her imagination and inspired her to craft her own stories. An honors graduate of Georgia State University, Tammy has a degree in journalism and works in the field of international trade. Now a resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Tammy plans adventures with her son and capturing the essence of make believe with her writing.

website: http://thetammyturnerbookshelf.com/

Buy Links:

BQB Publishing: http://shop.boutiqueofqualitybooks.com/Falling-into-Forever-978-1-937084-46-2.htm?categoryId=-1

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Into-Forever-ebook/dp/B00864NZ7C

Amazon Print: http://www.amazon.com/Falling-into-Forever-Tammy-Turner/dp/1937084469

Barnes & Noble Print: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/falling-into-forever-tammy-turner/1110207402?ean=9781937084462