Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Reckless Beginnings by Tina Hogan Grant

Welcome to my stop on the Reckless Beginnings by Tina Hogan blog tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. I have a book trailer, an excerpt, and an author guest post about book aesthetics for you. There's also a giveaway for a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card at the end of the post. Be sure to follow the tour here for other excerpts, guest posts, interviews, and more.

Tammy Mellows, a fourteen-year-old native of England, was shocked when her father and troubled older sister, Donna, moved to the States.

With her family now separated by divorce and divided by an ocean, Tammy felt helpless when she learned Donna had run away and couldn’t be found.

Thanks to her father insisting she stay behind in England to finish school, Tammy could do nothing for the next three years but pray that Donna would be found safe.

When Tammy’s lifelong dream of moving to the States was finally fulfilled, she had high hopes of looking for Donna. But with no leads and faced with turmoil in her own life, there wasn’t much Tammy could do.

After a forbidden secret love affair and a catastrophic dispute with her father, Tammy eventually meets Steven, settles down and has his child, only to discover he is a heroin addict. Thrown into a life of drugs and violence. Shadowed by his addiction, she becomes the silent and forgotten one. Living in fear of what Steven might be capable of and struggling alone to provide for her young son.

What consequences might she face if she leaves Steven? Is she ever going to find her sister alive? Will she have enough courage to conquer the impossible challenges of her twisted world and still come out on top?

Amazon

---
Book Trailer:

Excerpt:

When she opened the door, she froze. Time stood still. Subconsciously, her jaw dropped. Before her stood an extremely handsome man holding a bottle of red wine. This was Raymond? Dad’s friend? Was her first thought. He was tall with short brown hair, a broad, dark moustache, and high cheekbones that looked chiseled into his somewhat chubby cheeks, which had a slight distinction of redness to them—in an attractive way. Tammy wasn’t sure if he was cold or just blushing, but as she stood in the doorway staring at him, Tom Selleck came to mind.
She lost herself in his deep blue eyes, framed by long, thick black eyelashes. When he flashed a heart-warming smile, she found herself being drawn in even more. He wore blue jeans, blue loafers, and a blue and white checked shirt with the top buttons undone, revealing a few dark chest hairs.

Joanne had told her that he was just a few years younger than her father, but he seemed a lot younger. She could feel her heart rate increasing and soon realized she’d been staring at him in silence with her mouth drooped open like a puppy dog. She’d been staring at him in silence with her mouth drooped open like a puppy dog.

He spoke softly, albeit with a hint of nervousness, in a manly, alluring voice. “Er, hi. Is John home? You must be his daughter. Tammy, right?”

---

About the Author:

Tina Hogan Grant was born in England and grew up in a small town on the Yorkshire Moors. She is the youngest daughter of science fiction author, James P. Hogan. After moving to California, she became a commercial lobster fisherwoman, fishing off the coast of Southern California for ten years with her husband Gordon.

For fourteen years, she’d had a notion of writing her debut novel “Reckless Beginnings”. But it wasn’t until the sudden death of her father in 2010 and a battle with breast cancer a year later that she made the decision to get it done. Seven years later, she finally completed it. She is now working on a sequel titled, “Better Endings.”

She currently resides with her husband in the small mountain community of Frazier Park in Southern California. Together they enjoy anything that involves the outdoors, fishing, hiking, kayaking and riding quads.

Website * Facebook * Instagram * Pinterest * Twitter

---

Guest Post:

What is a book Aesthetic? And why I made one for my book

A book aesthetic is a group of pictures/photos that relate to a story or even possibly tell the story. Basically, this collage of pictures represents the aesthetic of the story you are trying to tell. But it doesn’t have to be about the entire story. You could do a collection of aesthetics, each representing a character in your story. Or maybe a scene in your book. Aesthetics are a great way to add visuals to your novel and bring aspects of your book to life, not only to yourself but also to your readers.

Ideas for Book Aesthetics

Once you begin thinking about different types of aesthetics you could create for your book, the list can be endless. Here are a few ideas.

● Create one for each character in your book

● A city/town where the story takes place

● A business/dwelling/building

● vehicles used in the book

● Hairstyles & clothes worn by the characters

● An action scene

● The mood of the book

● Tell the whole story in pictures (This is a fun one)

Character Aesthetic for “Reckless Beginnings”

Here is the aesthetic for my main character Tammy Mellows. I had a lot of fun with this one and I plan on posting other character aesthetics in the upcoming months, prior to launch day.

This one shows Tammy at the young innocent age of fourteen when the reader first meets her. With a strong desire to move to America, she takes on a waitress job to try and save for what she called the America Fund. Over time life becomes a roller coaster of ups and downs but one thing keeps her grounded. I tried to capture each of these emotions in the Aesthetic. I also included a quote that expresses Tammy’s life at some point in the book.

When making an aesthetic, you not only want to capture images of possible look-a-likes but also the moods. Look for facial expressions, quotes that set the mood. Even colors will set a mood.

The fun thing about these is that you can keep adding to them. When I come across images or other quotes that describe Tammy, I will add them to the collage of pictures.

Main Character Tammy Mellows – “Reckless Beginnings”

How to Make a Book Aesthetic

The first thing you’ll want to do is gather pictures that reflect your story. You could use your own or use stock photos off the internet. All of the photos I use are stock photos. There are three sites I use solely for this purpose. All of them are free to use and have a great selection of photos to choose from.

● Pixabay (My favorite)

● Pexels

● Stocksnap

Once you have your pictures saved on your computer, you’re going to want to organize them into a collage. For this I use Canva. The site is easy to use. and you can upload all your pictures on to their site. Pick the template “Picture Collage” and have fun, arranging your photos on the blank template provided. The best part is. It’s free!

When it comes to adding a quote or adding more pictures to the board, I use Pinterest. This site is a wealth of information and there are some wonderful ideas that are great for this project. Oh, and the best part is, I can link each image that I save to my Pinterest board to this site. How great is that?

So there you have it. If you are an author, I highly recommend creating some of these for your books. Give your readers visuals of your story and characters. Use Aesthetics to promote your book. People tend to remember images rather words.

---

Giveaway:

Be sure to visit all the stops on the tour here. The more you comment, the better your chances at winning. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway