☀☄ Reckless Beginnings [1] - Tina Hogan Grant

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Reckless Beginnings, a Women’s Fiction novel, based on true events, by Tina Hogan Grant (8 August 2018, Page Publishing Inc, 274 pages).

Don't miss our promotional interview with author Tina Hogan Grant.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis, trailer and the excerpt below.

Author Tina Hogan Grant will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.   Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

|| Synopsis || Trailer || Teaser: Excerpt || Author Q&A || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

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Synopsis

A sister that runs away and simply vanishes
A forbidden love affair
Turmoil between a father and daughter
An eviction with nowhere to go
A dark secret
Lies and deceit
Drugs, abuse and violence
Hope

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, Tammy lives in fear of what Steven might be capable of and struggles 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?

Reckless Beginnings is a story of fiction based on true events.

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Teaser: Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Tammy last saw her father two years ago when she was fifteen. He had managed to squeeze in a short two-day visit to England while on a book tour, but other than that, he had apparently been too busy for her to visit the States during the summer holidays.
      At that time, it had been a year since Donna's disappearance and there was still no trace of her. No matter how much Tammy pleaded which her father to allow her to move to America, he had always come up with a different excuse. His latest was: she needed to finish school in England.
      They had been sat at a small round table in a quaint English tearoom when he told her about his latest reasoning. Tammy's seat was next to a large picture window that looked out on to a busy street, clustered with many shops, restaurants, pubs, and people eager to spend their money. They were having lunch before he left the next day for his return trip home. His visits were always the same: short and rushed. Staying for just a few days, with never enough time for Tammy to persuade him to let her move to the States. His work as an author engulfed him entirely, leaving little time for anything else. When he wasn’t writing, he was traveling the world promoting his book or doing research for the next one.
      Sitting across from him which her back to the window, she had her arms folded high across her chest, expressing her disappointment with pursed lips and sullen frown when she was once again told "no" in a stern voice by her father.
      "I just don't understand why I can't go to school in America. It's just the same over there," Tammy argued.
      Frustrated, John rolled his eyes ac his daughter. "No, it's not the same, Tammy, and I've explained this to you repeatedly. The schools in England are far better than those in the States, and are you aware that students over there don't graduate until they're eighteen? Whereas here in England, it's only sixteen. Do you honestly want to be in school for another two years?"
      Tammy thought for a moment. "Not really. But if it means I can live over there, then I'm willing to make a sacrifice."
      Even though John had been living in the States for a few years, he still had a thick British accent, which usually became more pronounced when he was angry. "Enough of this nonsense, Tammy. My mind is made up. You're to complete school over here, then, and only then will we discuss you moving to the States." He scowled at her from across the table and, without saying another word, looked down at his food, picked up his fork, and continued to eat his meat and potato pie in silence.
      Tammy was tired and frustrated by his excuses. He used to say it was because she was too young or because he was too busy, and now it was because of school. When he first moved to the States, he had promised her that one day she could move out there with him, but he had always found a reason for it to never happen.
      She pleaded which him in an annoying, childish tone. "But I've lived here all my bloody life! I want a change and I want to live which you. I'm so tired of living here. There's absolutely nothing here for me. You know how much I love it over there."
      John was beginning to lose his patience which his daughter. They went through this every time he visited. He saw the shock on her face when he raised his voice at her. "You're only fifteen years old, for God's sake! You have your whole life ahead of you. There’s plenty of time for you to move to the States. If that's what you truly want in a few years, we'll discuss it then, understood?'
      As hard as she pleaded, she knew he had made his decision and it was final. She was to finish her schooling in England. Two more bloody years of being unable to look for any clues or leads as to the whereabouts of her sister. lt upset her tremendously. What if she was in danger? A lot could happen in two years. She hated not knowing. She needed to know something. Anything. She couldn't wait until she was legally an adult. But, at least by then, no one could tell her what she could or couldn't do.

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That was the last time Tammy had seen her father. She was now seventeen and living in her own flat in the northern city of Leeds. Donna still hadn't been found. If she was still alive, she'd be twenty years old. Tammy had to believe she was. She couldn't bear the thought that she might be dead.
      Her flat was a place of convenience. Somewhere to eat, sleep, and bathe. She had made no efforts to make it feel like a home. The walls were white and bare with no pictures or decorations. She had little furniture.; just the basics to get her by: a bed, chairs, couch, table, a TV, and a few bookshelves. She would make her real home in America.
      Tammy didn't know how, but some way, she was going to get to the States. She'd lost faith in her father helping her. For the past five years, he had point blank refused her requests. But the pay of a waitress wasn’t much and didn't go far. After paying her monthly bills, she had little left over for the so-called "America Fund."
      After completing school, she was anxious to leave home and took a job in the restaurant of a five-scat hotel, working mainly nights. The job required no previous experience or special training, and she was hired the same day. Tammy figured she could always look for a better job later, if she was still in the country. But, for now, it was a way to make her own money and begin saving for her move to the States.
      While still in England, nothing in her life could be permanent. Even her boyfriend, Ian, whom she'd met three months ago at a disco. It was his dancing that caught her attention. He danced exceptionally well and wasn't afraid to dance alone. He was somewhat attractive, but if it weren't for his moves on the dance floor, she'd probably never have noticed him. His hair was dusty brown and cut short. She'd never really liked short hair on a man, but it suited him. He was a little bit taller than her five-eleven frame and skinny for a man of his height. Like most English people, including herself, his skin was pale, almost the color of ivory, and his freckles were plentiful on his arms, the tops of his hands, and all across his nose and cheeks.
      He noticed her smiling and swaying her hips to the beat of the music as she watched him from the edge of the dance floor. He returned the smile along whit a playful wink. He turned his body toward her, moving it in a suggestive manner as he held out his hand, inviting her to join him, which she did.
      That was the beginning of their causal relationship with no strings attached. That night, Tammy took him home to her flat, where they frolicked beneath the sheets until the sun came up. In the three short months they'd know each other, she still knew very little about him apart from the fact that he was a waiter at a tearoom and still lived with his parents. She didn't need to know anything else. It was the perfect relationship; when she needed a little bit of fun, he was just a phone call away, but she chose not to share with him anything about her plans to someday move to America. She had a mission, and nothing or nobody was going to stop her.

Searching for a missing loved one becomes impossible when she is terrified of the turmoil in her own life.

Reckless Beginnings
Available NOW!

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Author Q&A

Have you ever had an imaginary friend?

"I actually did. Hadn’t thought about her until I read this question. Her name was Jeanie and she went with me everywhere. I think I was around five when I started talking to her and having tea parties with her. She lasted about year until I made real friends."

Do you have any phobias?

"My biggest phobia is snakes. I run a mile in the other direction when I see one. And I live in the mountains where snakes are plentiful. Rattlesnakes, gopher snakes and kingsnakes. I even wrote a blog a few weeks ago about a snake that crawled up in my ATV. I have the video too, to prove it!"

Do you listen to music when you're writing?

"I do not. I have to have complete silence when I write. Any kind of noise I find distracting. Now having said that. This rule only applies at home because I’m able to go to coffee shops and spend some time writing and the noise doesn’t bother me. Not sure why I need complete silence at home. Maybe your readers will know."

Do you ever read your stories out loud?

"Only my own when editing. Reading out loud while editing really helps me to pick up on flow of the writing. If I have to pause during a sentence or re-read it, then something isn’t right. I will keep reading the sentence out loud until I find the cause for the break and find a better alternative. I can only pick up on the flow when reading out loud."

Tell us about your main character and who inspired him/her.

"Tammy Mellows character is based upon myself. She was born in England and the reader is first introduced to her at the young age of fourteen while living in a quaint english town. After her parents divorced she spent her summer holidays in the United States with her father who moved there due to his work. It was those trips that planted the seed for her to want to move to the States which she finally did at age eighteen.

Like most teenagers she makes many bad decisions and lives life on the edge, not thinking things through clearly and ends up making many mistakes. But these lessons in life that she experiences only make her stronger. We see Tammy grow into a mature woman who is able to set goals and will stop at nothing to reach them."

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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.

Follow Tina Hogan Grant:

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Giveaway and Tour Stops

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Follow Reckless Beginnings's tour at:

October 1: Long and Short Reviews
October 1: Travel the Ages
October 2: Edgar's Books
October 3: Andi's Book Reviews
October 3: A Hippie's Bookshelf
October 4: Sharing Links and Wisdom
October 5: The Tired Buyer
October 5: Tina Donahue Books - Heat with Heart
October 8: Rogue's Angels
October 9: BooksChatter
October 9: Straight From the Library
October 10: Fabulous and Brunette
October 11: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
October 11: Southern Delights Book Blog
October 12: bookish bibliophile ✍
October 15: The Reading Addict
October 15: Readeropolis
October 16: Two Ends of the Pen
October 17: Rachel Brimble Romance
October 17: Deal Sharing Aunt
October 18: All the Ups and Downs
October 19: Jazzy Book Reviews
October 19: Bookaholic ✍
October 22: The Avid Reader
October 23: T's Stuff
October 23: So Many Books
October 24: Independent Authors
October 25: Notes from a Romantic's Heart
October 25: Author C.A.Milson
October 26: Welcome to My World of Dreams

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