The Reading Frenzy: #Giveaway - Review - Falling into Magic by Elizabeth Pantley blog tour Partners in Crime virtual tours

Falling into Magic

by Elizabeth Pantley

February 27 - March 10, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

An accidental journey through a magic mirror. A portal to an enchanted land. A mysterious family she never knew she had. Hayden's life is upended with the wonder of Destiny Falls. But it is tainted by the danger that brought her here and that threatens her newfound family. Can Hayden and her sassy sidekick remove the threat, so that she can begin her magical new life in this captivating world?

~ Nominated by The Cozy Escape Book Club for BEST BOOK in the Cozy Escape Awards ~

…When Hayden was a child, she lost her cat. Adults told her the cat ran away, but she knew the truth. The mirror had taken her. She knew because the mirror gave her a glimpse of an alternate world and had nearly pulled her in, so she was certain the cat had suffered that fate.

Twenty years later, Hayden discovers the secret of the mirror when she is thrust into it. She learns of an enchanted world she never knew existed, and a family she never knew she had.

But danger brought her here, and it followed her. Now, Hayden is on a mission to remove the threat, so that she can begin her magical, meaningful new life in this enchanted world.

Praise for Falling into Magic:

"Will blow you away!"
Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

"Absolutely brilliant, delightful, magical story. This is one book that you cannot stop reading. More please, much, much more!"
Carol, Goodreads

"Oh my goodness this was SO GOOD!! Please do yourself a favor and read this book."
Prockish

"A captivating read! A great story, full of interesting people and places, with surprises around every corner."
Linda C. Goodreads

"This is no run-of-the-mill paranormal book! Unique ideas. You will be glad this is a series!"
Susan G. Amazon

"A magical, delightful tale with a quirky cast of characters, engaging dialogue, a pleasantly appealing universe, and an intriguing plotline that I could not put down"
Dru Ann, drusbookmusing.com

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mystery; Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Published by: Better Beginnings, Inc.
Publication Date: November 2020
Number of Pages: 352
ASIN: B08MCRCW9J
Series: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic, Book 1
Book Links: Amazon | Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

Chapter 1

Twenty Years Ago

Nana and Gran always told me I could figure anything out. They said I had a sharp mind and an abundance of curiosity. I knew I could make the drawbridge work on the castle I was building. Just a few more hinge pieces and maybe a rubber band and a paper clip. I found the pieces and worked to connect them.

I stepped back to look at my creation and caught a glimpse of it in the mirror above my dresser. I stepped closer. It was my castle I was seeing. But it wasn’t. The reflected version was glowing and floating on carpet that looked more like a cloud.

I turned around, squinted my eyes, and spied my castle. My non-glowing, non-floating castle, sitting on the beige carpet. I giggled. Nana was always saying I let my imagination run away with me. I shrugged my shoulders and turned my back to the mirror.

I added a few more pieces and was pleased to see my drawbridge could go up and down. Success!

“Look at that, Fluffball! I made a real drawbridge!” My new pet rubbed against my legs and meowed. It was fun to have a friend. Growing up with no brothers or sisters sometimes made me lonely. A cat wasn’t exactly someone to build with, but it was someone to talk to, and I liked that.

I placed my favorite piece on top — a flag I had painted. It was my castle’s crest: a shield with a waterfall and an old-fashioned goblet like the one on our bookcase.

Standing up, I took a slow trip around my creation. As I moved around the back, I saw the mirror-version castle. It was still glowing, still floating — and now, it had a small flag with my crest on top. But the flag was waving in the breeze from the open window overlooking the sea. The sea? I lived in the city and could see only the other homes in our neighborhood from my bedroom window.

As I moved closer to the mirror, I saw a child’s arm wave over the structure, and then, suddenly, a boy came into view. His eyes popped open, and his mouth made a wide, soundless “O.” He was about my age, maybe a little older. He stepped closer to the mirror, tilting his head to the side, and reached out toward me. I sucked in a breath and spun around to look behind me. There sat my castle, my bedroom, my bed. The same as always. I very slowly turned back to the mirror and gasped. The boy had his face pressed up against the other side, looking directly at me!

He smiled and waved. I smiled and waved back. He pointed at his castle and then pointed at mine and gave me a wild, dancing two-handed thumbs-up. I laughed at him. He laughed, too. I could see the happy crinkles by the corners of his eyes, but there was no sound. My real bedroom seemed to fade, and the mirror room was becoming clearer.

“Hayden, time to go to the park. Come on downstairs!” Nana’s voice startled me, and I jumped back. My own room snapped back into focus. The boy looked confused. Then he smiled brightly and motioned for me to come over to his side of the mirror to play.

I stepped forward and reached toward the reflection. My hand should have been touching the surface of the mirror, but there was no surface to touch. Nana called me again to come downstairs. My bedroom seemed wavy now, in the same way that things looked when I swam underwater in the pool. Yet the castle in the mirror was crisp and colorful.

Fluffball meowed and jumped up onto the dresser. At that exact moment, a bright flash came out of the mirror. I grabbed Fluffball, jumped backwards and landed on the floor with a thump. Then I ran downstairs and went to the park with Nana.

Two days later, when I came home from school, Fluffball was gone. We waited for days, hoping she’d return. We put up posters in the neighborhood. But after a while, we had to admit that my cat was gone for good. Nana and Gran tried to tell me that Fluffball must have snuck out when a door was open. But I knew the truth. The mirror had taken her.

After that day, I didn’t trust mirrors. They even had to take the mirror out of my bedroom. As I grew up, I remained uneasy around them. As a teen, I learned to put on my makeup and do my hair in the reflection of the shower door or in my small compact mirror. Sometimes, when I walked by a mirror, I would swear I saw a man in there, looking at me. I came to understand that it could be any mirror, but not every mirror. It was unpredictable. Over time, I convinced myself it was a good image that I saw — like a guardian angel. He became a welcome sight.

If anyone questioned me, I explained away my unease by saying I was superstitious, breaking a mirror meant seven years of bad luck and all that, because the truth was harder to believe.

***

My Review:

Falling into Magic
Elizabeth Pantley
Destiny Falls #1

What an enchanted debut in a magical realism/fantasy series where readers will experience a house that grows or lessens in accordance with what’s needed and who it needs to shelter, a magical town that exists but doesn’t, a mystery, mayhem and characters that will enchant and frighten. Hayden is a total delight she’s an open book, wears her heart on her sleeve and is a joy to learn about, plus in Destiny Falls her furry bestie, her cat Sassy can talk to her and informs her that she wants to be called Latifa as in Queen Latifa. The audience will also get to know Hayden’s lost relatives and the other residents of this Brigadoon-ish town and will have to pay close attention to the clues to try and figure out who’s behind all the crimes in this idyllic seeming town. It’s a quick easy read that’s entertaining and will keep the reader’s interest for the entirety and leave them itching for book 2 (which luckily is available now). Fans of Heather Blake (Webber) Sara Addison Allen and Paula Brackston will eat this series debut right up.

Hayden Caldwell was raised in Seattle by her grandmother (Nana) and great-grandmother (granana) after the tragic loss of her parents just after her birth. Twenty-six years later Hayden is happy still in Seattle still with her Nana and Granana in her life and along with her best friend Luna publish, Natural Living Magazine, a successful online publication. Then one day on the way home from her cat’s groomer she literally falls down a rabbit hole and into a whole new world filled with magic, mystery and mayhem. Once she recovers from her journey she soon discovers she’s not in Seattle any longer but in Destiny Falls, a town that resides in an alternate universe from her own yet having all the creature comforts she’s used to. But that’s not the weirdest part, no, Destiny Falls is part of her heritage and contains puzzle pieces from her past including an older brother she knew nothing about, her assumed dead father who’s very much alive a grandmother and grandfather plus a large assortment of other siblings and relatives. Destiny Falls also contains danger and she must find out who’s threatening her and her newly found family before it’s too late.

Author Bio:

Elizabeth Pantley is the international bestselling author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution and twelve other books for parents. Her books are published in over twenty languages. She is also the author of the popular Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic series an the new Magical Mystery Book Club series. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is the mother of four and Nana to one. She hopes you have as much fun reading these books as she has writing them. Visit her & sign up for her mailing list at nocrysolution.com.