I'm excited to have Annamaria Bazzi on the blog today with a Guest Post for the Incantation Paradox Blog Tour!
First... a little about the book!
Magic is an illusion. It doesn’t really exist. Or does it?
A horrible car accident destroys Dolores Reynard’s life. But instead of waking up in a hospital bed, she awakens in a teenager’s body. Soon, she discovers she is at the heart of the murderous mystery surrounding the death of Mona, the young girl whose body she occupies. Caught between an evil greater than she ever imagined and a wizard who heals her tattered heart, she is forced to play a dangerous game of intrigue in the hopes of finding a way to return to her previous life.
Will magic be her ally, or will it lead to her demise once and for all.
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Now... let's hear from Annamaria!
Balancing the emotions of a teen with the thoughts of an adult...
When I was a teen, I struggled with my mother whose ideas I believed to be antiquated, but as an adult, I struggle with my children because I now understand that although fashion and slang may change the struggles teens go through to find their identity don’t change so much.
It was these conflicts in my life that made me want to revisit the struggle with a twist—two essences in one body.
Watching my children go through puberty made me realize that the new hormones cursing through their bodies, at times, made them resemble irrational, hormonal pregnant women. I knew what that felt like after having had four children. This became one aspect I played upon to bring forth Dolores’ struggle with the teen hormones in Mona’s body. It didn’t take too much to get the protagonist to realize this fact.
Hormones are powerful and, many times, they engulfed Dolores, pushing her into irrational acts she had a hard time reconciling because they came from the teenager. In many ways they felt familiar—the mood swings of a hormonal pregnant woman.
Sometimes it became difficult to find her adult feelings and rational.
At times, I had to sit back, close my eyes and just try to feel my way through a situation, thinking about my girls and how they would react. Although I have to be honest, it was easier to describe the reactions of the teen then those of the woman. Somewhere along the way, I think I forgot to grow up.
To find a good balance between the two women proved to be a bigger challenged than I had original thought when embarking on this adventure. Many times, even Dolores’ reactions were too childish and those kind souls critiquing the first drafts would chastise, wondering where the woman had disappeared too.
Throughout this journey I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for character driven novel—the inner struggles people have in their lives.
~ABOUT THE
AUTHOR~
Although born in the United States, Annamaria Bazzi spent a great deal of her childhood in Sicily, Italy, in a town called Sciacca. Italian was the language spoken at home. Therefore, she had no problems when she found herself growing up in a strange country. Upon returning to the states, she promised herself she would speak without an accent. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Computers with a minor in Spanish. Annamaria spent twenty years programming systems for large corporations, creating innovative solution, and addressing customer problems. During those years, she raised four daughters and one husband. Annamaria lives in Richmond Virginia with her small family where she now dedicates a good part of her day writing.
You can visit Annamaria at:
blog : website : facebook page : email : twitter : goodreads : KendÃka’s facebook page
And now for the review...
Waking up with the body of a teenager might be a pleasant surprise for a forty-something year old woman. Except, it's not her body. More than a little freaked out, Dolores is desperate to find out why everyone is calling her Mona and acting like nothing is wrong.
Right from the beginning chapter, I loved the premise for this book! The concept of a woman's spirit, or essence, being pulled from her dying body into that of a complete stranger is captivating. The repercussions are endless! Not only is Dolores utterly confused and frightened, she also has to deal with the conflicting and often irrational hormones of a teenage girl. Keeping hold of her real identity becomes more and more difficult as the days pass. She doesn't understand, and has a hard time escaping, the teenage lust felt toward Eric, even when he scares her and gives off a serious creeper vibe.v At the same time, grown-adult-Dolores is finding herself inexplicably attracted to Mona's "uncle" Jason. It's a mess. One Dolores has no clue how to fix.
On top of the emotional conflict and confusion, Dolores misses the two teenage daughters she was pulled away from. She's desperate to get back to her old life, but reluctant to leave Jason behind. No matter what, she needs help to figure out how to set things right. Eric doesn't seem to be an option, despite her poured-on charisma. She fears Jason is hiding things from her, though, and doesn't know if she can trust him completely. Watching her figure out who to trust was very intriguing. I was pulled into the story and was very eager to see how Dolores would escape the danger she finds herself in. I loved the romantic elements in the story. It was a tricky situation to navigate, but the author handled it beautifully. The last chapter was agonizing as I couldn't wait to see how everything would work out. This is a great read for teens (very clean story) and for adults who want a bit of magic and mystery!
Right from the beginning chapter, I loved the premise for this book! The concept of a woman's spirit, or essence, being pulled from her dying body into that of a complete stranger is captivating. The repercussions are endless! Not only is Dolores utterly confused and frightened, she also has to deal with the conflicting and often irrational hormones of a teenage girl. Keeping hold of her real identity becomes more and more difficult as the days pass. She doesn't understand, and has a hard time escaping, the teenage lust felt toward Eric, even when he scares her and gives off a serious creeper vibe.v At the same time, grown-adult-Dolores is finding herself inexplicably attracted to Mona's "uncle" Jason. It's a mess. One Dolores has no clue how to fix.
On top of the emotional conflict and confusion, Dolores misses the two teenage daughters she was pulled away from. She's desperate to get back to her old life, but reluctant to leave Jason behind. No matter what, she needs help to figure out how to set things right. Eric doesn't seem to be an option, despite her poured-on charisma. She fears Jason is hiding things from her, though, and doesn't know if she can trust him completely. Watching her figure out who to trust was very intriguing. I was pulled into the story and was very eager to see how Dolores would escape the danger she finds herself in. I loved the romantic elements in the story. It was a tricky situation to navigate, but the author handled it beautifully. The last chapter was agonizing as I couldn't wait to see how everything would work out. This is a great read for teens (very clean story) and for adults who want a bit of magic and mystery!
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