#GiveAway Living in the Shallows by Tani Hanes

 Living in the Shallows

by Tani Hanes

Tani Hanes will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please use the Rafflecopter below to enter. Remember you may increase your chances of winning by visiting the other tour stops. You may find those locations here. 

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Interview with Tani Hanes:

Crystal: Today I have the pleasure of hosting Tani Hanes! Welcome Tani! I'm so excited to have you here today. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?

Tani: I’m old lol. No one expects the person who wrote Living in the Shallows, which is about a boyband, to be my age. I’ve always wanted to write, but I always thought I’d write something more serious, maybe about my Japanese grandma and her early life in the countryside of Japan. I never, ever, thought I’d write teen romance!
Crystal:  Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?

Tani: My favorite scene in this first book is a tie between the scene on the bus, when Birdie and Teddy are talking, and Ronan accidentally gives Birdie too much pain medication, and the koi pond scene. The first one is funny (I hope), and gives a lot of insight into the personalities of all of them, except for Matthew, who is unfortunately sleeping when it happens. The koi pond scene is just so romantic: there’s the pond, of course, a footbridge arching over it, shooting stars, fireflies, it has everything, all in Nikko, one of the most beautiful places in Japan. And of course the (possibility of a :o) kiss just makes everything perfect, doesn’t it?
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for your latest release?

Tani: My students couldn’t stop talking about the upcoming hiatus of their favorite boyband (you know which one), and how they just weren’t going to survive. So we were all talking about this, just about every day, and we thought I could write something for all of us to enjoy, a fantasy about what it would be like to actually spend time with lovely, talented young men who adored the girl who gets tossed into their midst as a translator. I tried to put in everything we talked about, to make it as satisfying as possible, so there’s drama, tears, fighting, but also romance, love, sexy stuff, you know. Crystal: What are you currently working on?

Tani: This began as one book, but I realized there was much, much more to tell when I “finished”, so I just kept going, winding up with SEVEN manuscripts! So this is all I’m doing right now. They span five years of these guys’ lives, so there’s a lot, and not all of it’s happy, either. What started as a happy fantasy wish fulfillment morphed into something completely different. No one would want some of what happens in the later books to happen to them…

Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?

Tani: Most of these books were written while I was substitute teaching at the local high school, so my routine was to get the kids going on whatever they were supposed to be doing, then delve into the story. That’s how a lot of my students’ names wound up in the story :o)
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?

Tani: The first book is set in Japan, so I drew on my memories of being there. I’m half Japanese, so I visited family there often, and went college there and all that good stuff, so the setting should feel pretty authentic. The second, Diving Deep, is set in London and Wales, where I spent very little time, so it was a bit more difficult, but the third, Learning to Fly, is set in New York City, my favorite city, where I’m lucky enough to live right now, so it should really come through. I hope readers can feel like they’ve really been to these places when they’re finished reading.

Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?

Tani: I like a little of everything: Richard Adams, Vladimir Nabokov, Stephen King, Anais Nin, Helen Fielding? I’m more a fan of individual books than specific authors.
Crystal:  Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?

Tani: Like I said, I always thought that, if I ever wrote anything, it would be more serious. My obachan, my Japanese grandma, had the most amazing life, just unreal, like a movie; I think I’d like to write about her life in Japan in the 1920s.

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BLURB:

Aileen is a bilingual music student with a chronic case of poverty. She gets a dream job as an interpreter for a boy band making a movie in Japan. Having spent her life as a sheltered, shy only child in the rarefied world of classical piano, she is utterly unprepared for this new world, these boys and their frank physicality and openness. Theo, especially, the known playboy and unrepentant flirt of the group, makes her uncomfortable in a way she's never felt before, and ultimately Aileen, or Tinker Bell, as she's known to the boys, has to decide if she's ready to leave the sidelines and become a participant in her own life.

 GENRE:   New Adult/Romance

Amazon buy link

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EXCERPT:

  

Minutes, hours, or months later, Teddy was gently shaking me awake. "Foster? Foster. We have to stop for food. We're hours away from the hotel because of the traffic, and everyone's starving. Do you need any food? Will you be okay if I leave for a sec to get something to eat, or do you want me to stay with you?"

I shifted and felt his leg under my head and his hand warm on my hair. I swam up to the light and tried to focus on his words. "No."

"No, you don't need anything, or no, you don't want me to go?"

"No, you don't need to go. Sandwiches for you guys in my bag. From the kitchen this morning. Ten of them. All kinds. In the seat behind Geth." I stopped trying to chin myself on the bottom rung of consciousness and let go.

Later. Warm breath in my ear. The bus was humming along smoothly, and that was what had awakened me. We were actually moving. I shifted a little, and felt the familiar firmness behind me, the arm around my waist, gathering me in, pulling me all the way to him. The walls of privacy I tried to put up when awake seemed to desert and betray  me in sleep, as my legs were tucked intimately around his; we were fitted together as tightly as two spoons in a drawer, and I had his arm clasped firmly in my hand.

My stirring had roused him a little, and he shifted his head against mine, pulled me even closer against him, if that was possible, touched his lips to my ear. "Shh, darling, it's okay, it's only me," he whispered softly in his sleep, exhaling warm air in a puff. I drifted back to sleep, pondering what he could possibly have said that I'd misheard as "darling."

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

My name is Tani Hanes, and I am a 51 year old substitute teacher. Im from central California and am a recent transplant to New York City. The most important things to know about me are that I'm punctual, I love grammar and sushi, and I'm very intolerant of intolerance. The least important things to know about me are that I like to knit and I couldn't spell "acoustic" for 40 years. I've wanted to write since I was ten, and I finally did it. If you want to write, don't wait as long as I did, it's pointless, and very frustrating!

FB: http://www.facebook.com/tanihanesauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tanihanes

Website: http://tanihanes.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16028512.Tani_Hanes

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