**Blog Tour** The Love of My (Other) Life ~ Review, Character Interview & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the Official Blog Tour for 

The Love of My (Other) Life. 

So, I'm sure you are all familiar with quantum chronodynamics. I mean, it's the hot button topic these days, right?!? What's that? You've never heard of such a thing? Well, you're about to be introduced! Prepare to have your brain scrambled...I mean pumped full of fabulous physics! Science was never this fun in school! :)

The Love of My (Other) Life

by Traci L. Slatton 

What worlds would you move to be with your soulmate?

The latest offering from critically acclaimed author and Yale and Columbia graduate Traci L. Slatton, The Love Of My (Other) Life follows the beguiling and uncompromising Tessa Barnum, a 30-something would-be painter struggling to find her rightful place in the city that never sleeps: the ever-bustling, always-magical backdrop of New York City.

Frustrated by a world that champions meaningless post-modernism and money over truth, beauty and transcendence, Tessa is about to be evicted, too insecure in her own talent to let her Turner-esque landscapes leave her closet, and emotionally exhausted by a recent divorce. When she is suddenly faced with Brian Tennyson behind every corner – a disheveled yet devilishly handsome man who, out of virtually nowhere, claims to not only be a Yale physics professor who has uncovered a gap in the time-space continuum, but also her husband in an alternate universe (!) – Tessa finds herself on a rollercoaster ride the likes of which she never in her wildest dreams imagined she would have to be prepared for.

A touching and immersive portrait of a young woman reconciling her passions, convictions and realities with an impossible love story unfolding around her, The Love Of My (Other) Life is a surprising, funny and engrossing addition to any romance lover’s bookshelf, digital or otherwise.

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MY INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN & TESSA

So Brian, I gotta ask...what's with the all the physicist humor?? Did it really help you woo Tessa, in your world?

Absotively posilutely! Everyone loves to laugh, and what's funnier than physics? Quantum chromodynamics gets a belly laugh out of me every time. That reminds me: how many theoretical physicists specializing in relativity does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Two. One to hold the bulb and one to rotate the universe.

Brian, how hard was it trying to convince Tessa of who you are - considering who she is to you in your world? And was it difficult seeing how different a person can be based solely on a decision that made?

That Tessa, she's smart and creative, but sometimes she's got rocks rattling around in her cranium. I just couldn't get through to her. I loved her so much in my world that I just assumed she'd know me right away and fall into my arms and we'd pick up right where we left off. That was my plan.

Tessa, why did you have such a hard time believing Brian? Clearly, some part of you recognized him in some way...

Well, he didn't exactly make sense. I mean, he was cute, in his scruffy way, but have you heard his jokes? Ugh. I wasn't sure he was sane.

Tessa, what was the real motivation behind taking the Bucknell skull?  Did you really believe it would all turn out in the end? And by the way, what was Guy always spouting about?

Did you ever just snap, because you'd had enough? Enough aggravation, humiliation, etc? That skull represented everything that was wrong with my life, with the art market, with contemporary art.... I wasn't thinking about how it would all turn out, and isn't that part of my problem? It was just that I had Brian's words rattling around in my head. He really knows how to get to me. 

Guy, what a jerk. He quotes this boring art critic named Umberto Eco. That kind of art criticism is the blah-blah-blah of art. We don't need it. We know how we feel about a piece of art by looking at it with our eyes, not be listening with our ears to some critic.

Also, I guess we can understand your rabid feelings toward modern art considering what happened with Cliff Bucknell. How are you feeling about art now? How is your show going? 

I've realized that people have to bring themselves to art and find their own meaning in it, whatever that meaning is, and it will be different for everyone. Brian loosened me up, I guess. My show is going really well. Do you like landscapes? You know, Frances Gates, the gallerist, will make a deal if you see one you really love. You can pay in installments.

Brian, what, specifically, did you hope to accomplish by jumping to a parallel universe to see Tessa?

I wanted to hold her one more time and tell her how much she meant to me.

Tessa, how are things going with Brian - in your world?

Brian takes me rock-climbing. Anything else we do, we aren't video recording, though if we did, it would get twice as many hits as the one I made with the other Brian.

Tessa, have you made any money from your *ahem* video?

Oh, dear. Well, to be honest, some people have come to Frances' gallery just to see the girl from the video. I don't think Frances made any sales that way. A number of people have inquired about a painting of my birthmark.

Brian, how are you handling the adjustment back to your own universe? Started writing How the Enterprise Can Beam Us Up? Any lucky lady caught your eye yet?

I'm writing and getting my career in order. It's about damn time that I attended to that. Why should I only be famous in your universe? My assistant Rajiv keeps trying to set me up with women. We'll see.

This one's for you both - I know you can't change your reality but are you happy - knowing what you know about other universes?

Brian: I'm happy that I got to meet the Tessa from your world, who is a perfect Tessa in her own right. Tessa: I'm happy and so grateful for everything I learned from Brian!

Brian, do you still believe in the innate goodness of the universe?

Absotively posilutely! But the universal good doesn't always work out the way you think it should. It's like a physicist: it has a mind of its own.

Tessa, do you think having known the "other" Brian has given you the knowledge and strength to continue moving forward?

With all my heart, yes, and I'm so glad I got the chance to meet him!

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MY REVIEW

Wow! This was such a fun read! I have to say that I can't remember laughing so hard while simultaneously feeling kinda dumb. :) I mean, what's not to love about a story containing a time-traveling physicist who's constantly offering silly physics jokes?!? It was very entertaining despite my uneducated-ness in physics...and art...Hey, I was an English major, what can I say??

When we meet Tessa Barnum, she's a bit down on her luck. She's about to be evicted, she's been divorced for three years and she's a starving artist...literally. She's hasn't painted in three years, couldn't get a gallery showing anyway so she spends her days working with the elderly at her church for minimal to no pay.

Brian Tennyson is a brilliant physicist who earned his PhD at 17 from MIT. He's now teaching calculus at Yale, where he's an assistant professor, and a baseball player, when he meets a lovely student named Tessa Barnum --- in his world. In his world, Tessa plays cello and ends up falling madly in love with him. They marry and have a great life...in this alternate universe.

But something happens in Brian's universe that influences his decision to test his decoherence device on himself and travel to a parallel universe - the one where Tessa's an artist divorced from her college beau.

The trick is getting Tessa to believe he is actually who he says he is - not some nut job spouting off physics jokes and making Star Trek references. This is easier said than done - especially since it involved decoherence theory and quantum chromodynamics. But Brian is brilliant, and hey, Tessa made some bad decisions but she's pretty smart too! So does Brian accomplish his goal? And will Tessa ever let go of the past and move forward? 

Well, you'll have to read the book, silly!

I absolutely enjoyed The Love of My (Other) Life. I felt as though the author was trying to convey the message that we should make our choices and if they end up being mistakes, let them go and keep moving forward. Of course, that message could have been meant for the other me in a parallel universe! :) I'm completely fascinated with the idea of a multiverse. (This sparked quite a bit of conversation with my son, an aspiring physicist!) I was also drawn to the characters, with their delightful personalities. I liked the banter between Brian and Tessa, as well as their inner dialog, particularly on Tessa's part. Ms. Slatton has written an innovative story that's also very witty. Despite the science and art references that flew right over my head, the unique story and appealing characters all combined for a lovely read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Traci L. Slatton is a graduate of Yale and Columbia, where she taught freshman composition. She lives in Manhattan, though her love for Renaissance Italy inspired her historical novel Immortal
[Bantam Dell], which is currently in film pre-production and reached bestseller status in Italy, Russia and Brazil. Also the author of The Botticelli Affair and the After trilogy (Fallen, Cold Light and Far Shore [forthcoming late spring 2013]), Slatton has published The Art of Life, a photo essay about figurative sculpture; a book of poetry; as well as a non-fiction title on science and spirituality, Piercing Time & Space. Her forthcoming novel, The Mission, is a meaty historical saga set during World War II.

To learn more please visit, 
http://tracilslatton.com/ 
http://parvatipress.com/

Find Traci on Twitter & Facebook

GIVEAWAY
I will gift one person an ebook copy of The Love of My (Other) Life. All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know if you believe in soulmates and why or why not AND what you think you might be doing in an parallel universe. Also please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. This contest ends February 13, 2013, at 11:59 p.m. MST. Winner will be chosen randomly.