Over the Mountain and Back by Marie Astor

Marie will be awarding a $25.00 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.follow the tour HERE

With his father gone missing and his mother losing her grip on reality, Peter Bailey’s life is nopicnic. Peter’s gray existence changes unexpectedly after he takes his new snowboard for a ride in the mountains of Colorado and is stunned to find himself in Transadonia – a hidden world
that coexists alongside with the Earth.

Lara Grover never listened to her elders, so warnings like “do not talk to strangers” mean nothing to her. When a boy from an unknown world saves her from an avalanche with the aid of a snow dragon, Lara is not stunned in the least. Instead, she joins Peter on his quest to help him realize the purpose behind his arrival to Transadonia.

Together, Lara and Peter embark on an adventure filled with perils, trickery, betrayals, and unexpected alliances.

Exclusive Excerpt:

Bewildered, Peter looked around and saw that he was trapped inside a net, hanging in mid-air like a sack of groceries. He looked up and saw that he had fallen into a gash in the middle of the path. The path kept going up further, and Peter could see a dim light coming through the opening at the top. The ground surface was no more than twenty feet away, and if he had not slipped and fallen into the pothole, he would have been on the ground by now. Judging by the intensity of light coming through the opening, Peter guessed that the sun was about to set.
“Someone must have set up this trap on purpose, but whatever for?” he wondered.
He probed the net with his fingers. It was made of some kind of unknown fiber that was light, but very strong. Peter tried to cut the mesh with his pocketknife, but the net remained intact. Then he had an idea. With bated breath, he pressed Silverboard’s sharp edge against the net. The mesh gave way at once. Peter carefully enlarged the opening in the net - one wrong move and he would fall straight down into the yawning hole underneath him.
His plan was to use his body weight to swing the net to the side of the gorge and climb back up to the path. The surface of the walls was covered with icicles, but most of them did not look sturdy enough to grab onto. Peter noticed an outcrop on the left side of the wall. It was not very big, but it would hold him, and he could use it as a footing to start his climb back to the path. He would have to measure the force of the swing carefully. If he swung the net too softly, he would not reach the ledge, and if he swung too hard, he would smash against the hard ice. He took a deep breath and leaned against the net. Holding on to the edges of the opening, he swung the net towards the ledge. The effect was that of a pendulum, and Peter was catapulted towards the icy wall. He leaned forward quickly and pulled himself onto the ledge. The climb upward was steep, and Peter had to be very careful or else risk slipping and falling down to the very bottom of the pothole and having to start the climb all over again. He avoided looking down and concentrated on climbing up, testing each and every icicle and ledge before leaning on it. He could only use one arm, since with his other arm he was holding Silverboard and was unwilling to abandon it. Finally, with one last effort, Peter emerged onto the ground.
He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by a completely unfamiliar landscape. He was standing on a small clearing covered with patches of ice and frozen snow and everywhere around him there loomed vast mountains that made the mountains back home look like mere molehills. Suddenly, Peter heard voices and quickly ducked behind a cliff. Peering from his cover, he had to rub his eyes because he could not believe what he was seeing. Two incredibly tall and bulky figures clad in furs and skins were advancing towards the clearing. The creatures’ vast height and girth made it impossible for them to be human, and although Peter had never seen giants before, he could not think of a better word to describe them. The giants carried their girth with slow deliberation and appeared to be somewhat clumsy. If they see me, I can outrun them, thought Peter, gripping Silverboard tightly.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Dear Reader,

Thank you very much for joining me for Over the Mountain and Back blog tour. The story of Over the Mountain and Back began over twenty years ago when I was fourteen years old and decided to write a novel as an anniversary gift for my parents. It was going to be a fantasy adventure about a boy named Peter and a girl named Lara set in a magical country, Transadonia. I remember writing studiously on the pages of an ornate notebook I had acquired especially for the occasion. Back then computers were not yet widely used, so I had to pay extra care to my handwriting. A year later, Over the Mountain and Back was completed, or at least I had thought so at the time. Needless to say my parents were very surprised with their anniversary gift.
Years passed; I finished high school and went on to college. Lara’s and Peter’s story faded from my mind, replaced by the hustles and bustles of everyday life. Then, one day – the day that happened to be my thirtieth birthday, my parents presented me with a gift: it was oblong in shape and wrapped in shiny paper. After I opened the wrapping, I was stunned to find the long forgotten story I had written all those years ago.

Long story short, after two years of extensive work, I rewrote and expanded Over the Mountain and Back into a novel of 95,000 words. For me it had been an exciting journey to be reunited with my old friends: Lara and Peter, Forest Witch Ramona, Chancellor Libra, Bookbrownies, and, of course, Carnelion, among the many others.

I hope that you will join Lara and Peter on their adventure in Transadonia.

If you would like to find out more about my books, please stop by website: www.marieastor.com.
Regards,
Marie Astor

Books by Marie Astor:
For Young Adults:
Over the Mountain and Back – a fantasy adventure novel


Kindle link:


For Adults:

To Catch a Bad Guy – romantic suspense

This Tangled Thing Called Love – a contemporary romance about overcoming one’s inhibitions, learning to tango, and finding one’s true love match.


Lucky Charm – a humorous contemporary romance about love, luck and friendship.


On the Rim of Love – a contemporary romance about the unexpected power of love.


A Dress in a Window – a collection of short stories about love, coincidences, and fate.


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Twitter @marieastor