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.
***
Excerpt from Falling into Magic by Elizabeth Pantley. Copyright 2022 by Elizabeth Pantley. Reproduced with permission from Elizabeth Pantley. All rights reserved.
Review:
5 stars!
Fun and fanciful, with just the right amount of menace
lurking around the edges of this cozy mystery debut.
Falling Into Magic is the debut novel in author
Elizabeth Pantley’s paranormal cozy mystery series, Destiny Falls Mystery
and Magic. The story is fun and fanciful, with just the right amount of
menace lurking around the edges of the mysterious tale.
Hayden is the plucky heroine with an amazingly accepting and
positive outlook on life and all the magical happenings. It was unique that she
and her friend, Luna Caputo, worked together on an online natural living
magazine. In a twist from the typical reporter, this highly portable occupation
offers the freedom to travel and provides a broad cover story when needed to
solve mysteries or disappear into Destiny Falls. And although Hayden had a
loving and joy-filled childhood, things really started out rough for her. The
“Minis” were so alive and vibrant. Her older brother, Axel, grew up in a
different environment with his extended family.
This author’s writing never fails to capture and hold my
attention from start to finish. In fact, the prologue for this book, while
short, was one of the most compelling I’ve read in a while. And with that
kick-off, the tension steadily builds. That opening is awesome!
I liked that there were several cats in the story. I liked
how Sassy/Princess Latifa’s personality blossomed once she could communicate.
She sounded just like what I thought a cat would if it could speak its mind. I
enjoyed the comments sprinkled throughout, which offer fun observations and a
humorous nod to pop culture.
Published in late 2020, I am so happy to note that there are
already five more books in the series! I certainly look forward to falling into
those soon. I recommend FALLING INTO MAGIC to cozy mystery readers who enjoy a
touch of the paranormal or magic in their stories and fans of the author’s
other series.
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.
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