The Mermaid’s Pendant Virtual Book Tour Oct & Nov ’10

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Join LeAnn Neal Reilly, author of the general fiction novel, The Mermaid’s Pendant (Zephon Books), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in October and November ’10 on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About LeAnn Neal Reilly

LeAnn Neal Reilly grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, near the Missouri River, in that fertile land where corn, children, and daydreams take root and thrive. She spent countless hours reading and typing chapters on an old Smith-Corona in her closet, which luckily for her didn’t have doors. Then she put away her daydreams and her stories and headed off, first to graduate magna cum laude from Missouri Western State University, and later to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for a master’s degree in professional writing. Along the way, she majored briefly in chemistry, served as opinion editor and then editor of her college newspaper, and interned for the international design firm Fitch RichardsonSmith in Columbus, Ohio. The highlight of her internship came when she generated the product name renata for a Copco teakettle (although designing the merchandising copy for ceramic tile adhesive and insulation packaging surely runs a close second).

After graduate school, LeAnn worked first for a small multimedia startup and then a research group in the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science. At the startup, she spent her time writing user manuals and multimedia scripts for software to train CSX railroad engineers. While working among geeks, LeAnn became enamored and decided to take one home for herself. After getting married and starting a family, she returned to her adolescent daydreams of writing novels. Never one to shirk from lofty goals, she added home schooling her three children as her day job.

After years of working in an office not much better than an unfinished closet, LeAnn has finished The Mermaid’s Pendant and is currently working on her next novel. LeAnn joined GoodReads three years ago where she writes reviews regularly.

LeAnn lives outside Boston with one husband, three children, a dog named Hobbes (after Calvin &), and a cat named Attila.

LeAnn’s Web site is www.nealreilly.com.

About The Mermaid’s Pendant

Inspired by the beloved classic The Little Mermaid, THE MERMAID’S PENDANT is a modern fairy tale about growing up and discovering who you are—and what you believe in. At times lyrical, this novel is a fantastic journey filled with magic, myth, romance, and adventure.

Four years after John Wilkerson claims the mermaid Tamarind for his wife, they have an idyllic marriage that depends on a talisman that she crafted on their island paradise. But Tamarind learns a painful truth: it takes more than legs to live on land and more than magic to sustain a bond. When the talisman breaks, she and John are forced to rely on themselves instead of magic.

Three wise women play key roles in the young lovers’ journey to mature love. Ana, Tamarind’s aging mentor, casts spells and performs seductions to keep the lovers apart. Valerie, an expat jewelry maker cum fairy godmother, works her own magic to bring them together. Lucy, their widowed neighbor, grounds the couple in the realities of marriage, parenting, and family.

THE MERMAID’S PENDANT is a story for anyone who has ever believed in the transforming power of love.

Read the Excerpt!

John’s savior sat some minutes, watching him. Then she leaned forward and pressed several fingertips to his neck, feeling for his pulse. It was there, strong and steady. She let her hand slide along the skin of his jaw, brushing the hair away from his cheek. She put a light fingertip on his mouth, now a warm red. Her lips tingled and she leaned her face closer—perhaps she could press her lips there again? He moaned and rolled his head against the stones. The mermaid snatched her hand back and waited, her breath held, but he didn’t move again. She didn’t touch him a second time; instead, she caressed the hard muscles of his calves with her gaze. She looked away from his feet though. One still wore one of those pseudo-flippers that always made her shiver.
She had, of course, seen countless humans before—snorkeling and diving, on shore and on deck. But she’d never touched one before, never felt the dry skin that prickled with fine hairs. This man overwhelmed her. Already the sun had evaporated most of the water on his chest, which was covered with dark hair. Not like a merman, smooth and sleek and slender. His chest, shoulders, and hips were wider and his frame bulkier. His flesh was a different color, too. He was pale but not shark-belly pale like the mer people. His skin held warmth, the warmth of sun-bleached wood. Only his long dark hair resembled a merman’s. Her nostrils flared at his scent. She had no words to describe it other than hot and dry, but she used those words for the shore and he didn’t smell like the shore. He smelled like the wind from distant lands.
A voice, sandy and familiar, abraded her thoughts. “What have you done, young one?”
The mermaid looked up to see an ancient woman as gnarled and twisted as the roots of the trees that grew at the shore’s edge. The woman picked her way across the stones toward the place where the mermaid sat. She stopped a few feet away. Freeing her bag, which the mermaid had always seen at her waist, the old woman rummaged around for a few moments before withdrawing something. Then she came forward and nudged John with her foot. He didn’t stir.
“Pulled him out of the water, did you? Cough up all the water he breathed in?” The mermaid nodded. “And his heart’s beat is still strong?” The mermaid nodded again. “He’ll live then.”
She bent and tugged the flipper from the man’s foot. When it came off, the mermaid let a sharp sound escape her.
The ancient one laughed, a sound like dry stones shifting. “You think he’s strange? No wonder you find him so interesting, girl.” She smiled. It spread like seal oil on water. “I can help him, if you’d like.” She paused and waited. The mermaid stole a glance at the man and nodded. “This herb tincture will rouse him. I’ll see to it that he’s recovered his senses and can walk. You’d best get going. I’ll tell him I found him here.”
The mermaid nodded again. After one more look at the unconscious man, she propelled herself backward with her hands, her tail lifted slightly above the stones. Once she was in the water, she paused, her gaze taking in the wide stance of the ancient woman, who stood over the stranger as though he were her bounty from the waters. Was this all there was to saving a man’s life?
Before she could lower herself underwater and speed away, the old woman called to her.
“Oh, yes, young one, I need some turtle grass, and a sea cucumber. And one of those pink sea urchins, you know the ones.”
There was nothing of the usual promise of a human artifact or any stories about the human world on this island. The mermaid nodded. It was the old woman’s price for keeping her secret.

Here’s what critics are saying about The Mermaid’s Pendant!

When the magic ends, you need more to make a relationship remain strong. “The Mermaid’s Pendant” draws inspiration from the Little Mermaid to tell a story of the realities of marriage, and what happens when the starting magic ends and the realities of life start to sink in. A beautifully crafted fantasy that shows much symbolism and wisdom, “The Mermaid’s Pendant” is a fine pick that shouldn’t be missed.

— The Midwest Book Review, July 2010 Small Press Bookwatch

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The characters are so well developed that I often found myself talking to them—generally along the lines of “Ah. Don’t do that you idiot” or “What the hell is wrong with you?” (Some of them have a lot to learn about life). The action/drama scenes—an assault on Tamarind, riding out a hurricane, and a fight between a woman and her doppleganger—were gripping and the transition into them was very smooth. The magic of fairy tales is a major part of the book but it feels natural and its use in the metaphors for how to make relationships strong is excellent. This is a great fairy tale that takes us beyond happily-ever-after to the real world, where love and relationships have to struggle against everyday life and can’t depend on magic to survive.

— Dan Porter, GoodReads Librarian / bookblog.thechaoticbuffalo.com

Watch the Trailer!

The Mermaid’s Pendant Tour Schedule

Friday, October 22
Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book
Book spotlighted at Virginia Beach Publishing Examiner

Monday, October 25
Book reviewed at Colloquium

Tuesday, October 26
Interviewed at Blogcritics

Wednesday, October 27
Guest blogging at The Cajun Book Lady

Thursday, October 28
Book reviewed at The Cajun Book Lady

Friday, October 29
Book reviewed at Ohio Girl Talks

Monday, November 1
Book reviewed at Books and Things

Tuesday, November 2
Book reviewed at Edgy Inspirational Author

Wednesday, November 3
Book reviewed at Yzhabella’s Bookshelf

Thursday, November 4
Guest blogging at Yzhabella’s Bookshelf

Friday, November 5
Book reviewed at Down Under Views

Monday, November 8
Book reviewed at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Tuesday, November 9
Guest blogging at Diva’s Bookcase

Wednesday, November 10
Book reviewed at Diva’s Bookcase

Thursday, November 11
Book reviewed at Just Another Book Addict

Friday, November 12
Book reviewed at Marta’s Meanderings

Monday, November 15
Book reviewed at The Fiction Enthusiast

Tuesday, November 16
Book reviewed at Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm

Wednesday, November 17
Book reviewed at The Neverending Shelf
Guest blogging at Acting Balanced

Thursday, November 18
Book reviewed at You Have How Many Kids?
Book reviewed at Acting Balanced

Friday, November 19
Book reviewed at 2 Kids and Tired
Book reviewed at A Room Without Books is Empty

Monday, November 22
Book reviewed by Book Reviews by Molly
Book reviewed by Sherri’s Jubilee

LeAnn Neal Reilly’s THE MERMAID’S PENDANT VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on October 22 and end on November 22, ‘10. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing her book or click here to use the form. Thank you!

Update: LeAnn Neal Reilly’s The Mermaid’s Pendant Virtual Book Tour is now full. Thanks to all participating blog hosts and reviewers!

If you are a tour host and would like to add her banner to your sidebar, please use the html code directly underneath the graphic. Thank you!

This tour is brought to you by the fine folks at Pump Up Your Book. If you’d like to find out how you can book your own virtual book tour with us, click on banner below!

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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