Living in the Shallows by Tani Hanes - Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tani Hanes will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Five Things You Might Not Know About Tani Hanes

1. I’m fifty-one. And a half lol! Most people think that teen fiction writers are younger, and some are; some are actual teenagers, even. But I’m not. Being a substitute teacher for past fifteen years, however, has kept me “young at heart”, I believe. I still cry over sad songs, and I can still get fluttery when I see a nice photograph of certain beautiful boys in certain boybands. Many people I’ve met online have been shocked to learn my age, which I never try to hide. Anyone can have a teen romance in her. Or him, for that matter.

2. Some of the best moments for me have been when students walked in the classroom and saw that I was there. Their outbursts when this happens include, but are not limited to:

“It’s the sub who swears! Sweet!”
“My favorite sub!”
“My day just got so much better!”
“Oh no, it’s the sub who makes us WORK!”
“Ms. Hanes! Remember me? The one who called you that name that time?”
“It’s the RUBIK’S CUBE sub!”

3. I can solve the Rubik’s cube, as you can tell from above :o)—and I learned back in the dark ages, before the internet; I used a pencil and notebook!! It took nearly four months, and was the best ten dollars I ever spent in my life. I now entertain students of all ages with my prowess.

4. This is not a surprise if you’ve read any of my books, but I LOVE ONE DIRECTION. My students were sometimes surprised by this, as I was known to have cred or whatever, musically speaking; that is to say I knew the words to “The Real Slim Shady”, and was “into” Flight of the Conchords and The Lonely Island. Especially the boys would get sad when they found out I was a major Directioner. The truth is that this says more about the band than it does about me. They are amazing; most of them, anyway. Their music is so good, especially the newer stuff, and unfortunately they’ll never get the credibility they deserve because of the boyband moniker. MITAM should have been nominated for a grammy, not because it was derivative, but because the gestalt of how the songs were written put it way beyond “derivative”. IMHO :o)

5. All seven of the books in the UK Crush series are FINISHED. The later ones need a lot of revising, of course, but the basic story is out there, on paper, so to speak. They poured out of me like water from a pitcher, splashing all over my life and the lives of those around me, unfortunately :o)—so when a reader asks me, “What happens to (insert name)?” I already know, down to details. Not going to tell, of course, but it’s done. And not all of it is good, unfortunately. Into each life a little rain must fall, right? Or a hurricane, in Tink’s case…

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.

Read an excerpt:

"No, don't do that, little one, not yet."

"I fell, right?" I asked. "Teddy came in, he was drunk, he said—he said some things, you got mad at him—" I looked up at Gethin, "Matty hit him, then I ran over to them and tripped and hit my head on the edge of the table." "What?" Matty exploded. "Tinker Bell, Theo hit you! He was aiming for me, I mean, I assume he was aiming for me—" this with another glare at Teddy, "but he took a swing as he was going down and he hit you in the face, bloodied your fucking nose!"

"Dammit, Matthew, of course I was aiming for you!" Teddy shouted. "Why would I want to hit her? You'd just clocked me in the face! She just got in between us at the wrong moment, and I was going down at the time, that's why I swung so low! Don't you think I'd cut my own arm off before I'd hit her?"

"Actually, I think he hit me in the jaw," I said, again reaching for my face. "Could you take a look?" Geth leaned in, turning my head gently so he could see.

"Jesus Christ, she has a cut, just under her ear, along her jawline, a pretty deep one, too," he said, horrified. "Guess we didn't notice it with all the blood from her nose, but this looks awful." He turned and looked at Teddy, and his silence was worse than any words he could have spoken.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Ronan tearfully to Teddy.

About the Author: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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