Finding My Faith Book Tour: Guest post, excerpt + Giveaway

Finding My Faith
by Carly Fall
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Paperback (366 pages) and eBook (386 KB)
Publisher: Westward Publishing, March 1, 2012 (first published February 29, 2012)

Blurb: Growing up in a small Northern Arizona town, Faith Cloudfoot’s life was spent playing in the forests surrounding her house under the protective eyes of her father, and learning about the legends of her Native American heritage. Yearning for more out of her life, she moves to Phoenix, Arizona at the age of twenty-three where she is kidnapped and almost killed.

Rayner has a special ability, one that weighs on him like a curse. He can see spirits trapped in between life and their final resting place. Because he can’t do much to help them, he studiously ignores them. He concentrates, instead, on working with his fellow warriors to right the wrongs caused by the evil criminals from his home planet.

When Rayner sees Faith in her spirit form while investigating a lead in Phoenix, his attraction to her is immediate, yet he follows his own personal code and ignores her cry for attention. When he realizes that she may be a stepping stone to getting him home to his own universe, he engages Faith and begins to use her as a means to an end: going home.

As the attraction grows stronger, Rayner finds himself breaking all sorts of self-set rules, as well as the code of ethics set by him and his fellow warriors. When Faith nears death, Rayner realizes that he must do everything in his power to save her, because if he doesn’t, he may just lose himself.

An excerpt from Finding My Faith: 

I see you, Faith. He didn't say the words out loud, but instead projected them at her. Stopping in her tracks, he watched as she turned slowly, carefully looking at the people around her until her eyes settled on his. When their eyes met, he felt like he had been hit in the solar plexus with a two-by-four. Jesus, she was incredibly beautiful. He was certain that she was like no woman he had ever seen. He wondered how in the world a woman with Native American skin and features could have such fiery red hair. He had only seen hair like that on women with skin so pale it was almost translucent. He broke eye contact when some guy in a suit walked right through her. Literally. 

“You can see me?” she asked, giving the guy who had just busted through her a dirty look. 

“Yup.” 

"How do you know my name?" 

He took a second to think about an answer, and then she did something he had never encountered with a spirit. 

She turned around and ran. 

Rayner sat stunned for a moment, and then he was up after her, his heavy boots pounding on the pavement, his newspaper forgotten on the bench. He couldn't imagine what he looked like to all the skirts and suits making their way to work. He wasn't chasing anyone, and he wasn't being chased. Just some nutjob hauling ass down the sidewalk. 

Faith had an edge—she didn't need to dodge things like people and cars; she just ghosted through them. 

She ran for three blocks, then took a right up 1st Avenue. He kept projecting his thoughts to her, a mantra that started to get on his nerves. I'm not going to hurt you, Faith. I'm here to help.


Guest Post: 

Your story sounds so intriuing and involved. Could you share with us how Finding My Faith came about? From the nugget of an idea to fruition?

Thank you for having me, ladies.

This is the second book in the Six Savior Series and centers around the warrior Rayner. At the end of book on (The Light Within Me), Rayner plays a pretty significant roll in bringing the two main characters of that book back together using his gift, or his curse as he calls it, which is seeing the spirits of those who are caught in between life and death.

Because of this, I wanted his background to be somewhat spiritual, but I also wanted it to parallel Faith's life (the heroine). Rayner is what is called a Forest Dweller on his planet, and they live similarly to how the Native Americans used to. They are very spiritual people who live off the land and have many legends.

When bringing Faith to life, I wanted to use the rich heritage of the Native American culture, and explore some of their legends, customs and beliefs, such as the way the women used to (and some still do) make jewelry and blankets, and how animals have spirits and their beliefs in reincarnation. So I made her a Native American woman in her mid-twenties who grew up under the thumb of an overbearing father who is certain that his little girl is part of a legend. It's almost as if she has one foot in the past of her rich culture, and the other foot in the present trying to live her life and explore new things.

Rayner's life is parallel- he has one foot in the past where he longs to go home, and spends most of his time either thinking about going home, or taking steps to get there. He is so wrapped up in these thoughts, that he rarely takes time to live in the present.

With both characters solidified, I threw them together in a plot, mixed, added a dash of drama, a couple pinches of romance, and there was Finding My Faith.

About the author: I live in Arizona with my incredibly supportive husband, our son and our dog.

I love my family, hiking, writing, our pool, and wine, and depending on the day, not necessarily in that order.

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Purchase links: Kindle | Nook | All Romance

Giveaway:

Carly will be giving away two eBook copies of The Light Within Me (the first book of this series) at each tour stop; 

a $15 All Romance eBooks GC for one randomly drawn commenter and $10 Amazon GC for blog host with the most comments (excluding the host's and the author's).

To enter our giveaway leave a comment for Carly along with your email address 

and you're entered! The tour dates can be found here.