I’m excited to share with you what I have on the blog today! I recently read Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone and completely fell in love with everything about it. Tamara is a total sweetie and agreed to an interview! I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do!
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Title: Time Between Us
Author: Tamara Ireland Stone
Published: October 9, 2012
Publisher: Hyperion
Series: Book #1
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Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.
As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time.
Hi, Tamara! I absolutely loved Time Between Us, so thank you so much for being here.
Thank you, Christy! I’m so glad you enjoyed the story, and it’s such an honor to be here today. Thank you for having me!
Can you tell the readers a little about yourself?
Sure. I live in a small town just outside San Francisco with my husband and two kids. As you can probably tell from reading Time Between Us, I love world travel and I’m a big music fan (I especially love live music). I’m not as athletic as Anna is, but I enjoy hiking and skiing with my family.
Please describe the book in 10 words or less.
Two happy people meet and completely change each other’s lives.
I have to ask: how did you come up with the idea for the book?
One evening, my husband and I got into a funny conversation about superpowers. He said he wished he could fly. I said I wished I could time travel. But then I clarified it, and said that I really just wanted to go back to the mid 90’s for a few hours and see Green Day when they were playing small clubs in Berkeley. He laughed and asked if I’d take him with me.
I didn’t say another word about it, but that night, this story started coming together in my head. By the time the sun came up the next day, Bennett Cooper had a name, lived in San Francisco in 2012, and was madly in love with a girl named Anna Greene—a girl he never should have met, because she lived in 1995.
I love that the book is set from 1995 – 2012, what made you chose that time period?
Thank you! The idea to set it in 1995 came very early in the writing process.
I wanted Bennett to be seventeen-years-old in present day, and Anna to be sixteen and from his past. Once I did the math and realized that Bennett would have been born in 1995, I got really excited about setting it in that timeframe. So much about our world has changed in those seventeen years—the Internet, mobile phones, access to people and places around the globe—and I became fascinated by the idea of recognizing those differences in subtle ways.
I lived in Evanston, Illinois in 1995, so I set the story there.
Time travel stories can get messy and inconsistent, but Time Between Us was done very well. Did you do anything special to make sure everything stayed consistent?
I use lots of tools to keep track of research and information, and I rely on spreadsheets to track details like Anna and Bennett’s ages at any particular point in time. But I also do a lot of scribbling. I feel like I’m constantly drawing timelines—most with stick figures and lots of arrows—to be sure my logic works.
That makes it sound complicated, but the idea is to get all of these moving parts clear in my head so it’s never confusing to the reader. That’s the main reason I set the story in 1995 and didn’t jump around a lot. I wanted readers to disappear into Anna and Bennett’s story, not spend their time trying to figure out “when” they were on the timeline.
There is a major do-over in the book, if you could go back in time and have one do-over, would you?
There are a million moments in my life when I said something hurtful, or put my foot in my mouth, or did something I later regretted and wished I could undo. But that’s part of being human. As convenient as it would be, I wouldn’t want a do-over for those.
There is one moment I wish I could go back and change. Like Bennett’s grandmother, Maggie, my grandma suffered from Alzheimer’s. I spoke with her on the phone one day and she didn’t sound well. My gut instinct was to drop everything and drive from California to Oregon to check on her, but I didn’t do it. A few weeks later, my family and I learned that she wasn’t being well cared for. We acted right away, but we were too late. If
I’d listened to my gut, things might have been different.
Was there a favorite part of the book for you to write? Was there a least favorite?
I have always loved the rock-climbing scene. By the time I wrote it, I felt like I really knew both Anna and Bennett as individuals, and when I placed them in that setting together, they came to life for me even more.
I love that Anna is completely out of her element. She’s not used to being vulnerable or having to rely on someone else, but when you’re climbing, your safety is literally in someone else’s hands. I liked putting her in danger and seeing how she’d react. But I love that scene most because it’s the moment the two of them start to trust each other completely.
As far as a least favorite part… I honestly don’t have one. There were scenes that were more challenging than others, but overall, writing this book has been an absolute joy for me.
If you had to go back in time 30 years and stay there for a year, and could take 3 books with you, what 3 would you take?
That is such a hard question. I love far too many books to limit it to three! But I could happily read these three books over and over again: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Hunger Games.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers? Any upcoming projects or events?
I just want to thank people for reading Time Between Us. I am completely blown away by the emails I receive from readers, telling me how much the story resonated with them and how much they connected with Anna & Bennett. That means the world to me.
I’m currently working on the sequel, which I’m ridiculously excited about. I’ll be announcing more details soon, and can’t wait to share what happens next!
I am beyond excited that you are writing a sequel!! Thanks, Tamara!
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♥ You can read my review of Time Between Us HERE. ♥
About Tamara Ireland Stone:
Blissfully married. Occasional superhero in the eyes of two remarkable small people. Animal lover. Avid reader. Gadget freak. Music addict. Dreadful cook. Happily stuck in the mid-90s. I write young adult fiction about fun stuff like travel, music, romance, and normal people with extraordinary talents.
My debut novel, Time Between Us, is being published in sixteen languages and has been optioned for film. I am currently working on the sequel, which will be available from Hyperion in Fall 2013. (Bio from website)
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I think I’d like to travel to the Regency era 🙂
I would want to time travel back to the 18th or 19th century. 🙂
I want to know more of Philippines’s history during that time and perhaps meet a lot of heroes from that time too. 😉
Thx!
Definitely Rome when Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel:))
Thank you:)
I would love to time travel to England at the Victorian Era! Thank you for the giveaway 🙂
There are SO many time periods I’d like to travel to, but I’d have to go with around 1950 ~ it would be awesome to spend some time with my now deceased grandparents when they were my age.
I would love to re best days of my life–my baby ad this–1950 was one of the
best days of my life–my baby brother was born.
Paris at the turn of the last century would be amazing.
I’d love to go to the 70’s/ 80’s just to see what my parents were like when they were teens and in their early 20s 🙂
I would like to go to the 70s and meet my husband when he was a kid.
I’ve always thought the 20s were interesting.
Dunno. Maybe 80’s
I’d love to travel to Victorian England. 😀
Thanks for the giveaway!
There are so many….either ancient Greece, the Victorian era in England, or the 70s 🙂
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
The future. I love the past, but I’m too curious to see what’s coming to pass up a chance to go forward.
I absolutely love how the idea for this came about! it just goes to show that some of the greatest ideas come from a simple conversation.
I really need to push this up my TBR pile, I love books about time travel!
If I could visit another era I would actually love to visit the 1920’s. It just seems like such a magical time. With flappers and dancing and prohibition, I don’t know. I think it would be neat to see.
thanks for the fun interview and giveaway! I think I’d love to visit ancient Egypt or Rome 🙂
Can I travel to the future? I think moving forward 100 years would be very interesting. I’d also like to visit the Regency era because I love Jane Austen so much.
I would love to travel to the 1920 – looks like it was such a fun time, the Roaring 20s!
I’ve always been attracted to the early years of the 20th century in Europe. Thanks for the giveaway!
Brilliant interview! I have always loved the time travel concept, but I imagine it must be quite tricky sometimes keeping track of ages, dates etc. Time Between Us sounds like a great book though, and I can’t wait to read it. Thanks for the giveaway!
I love her answer for how this book came about – sounds like conversations I’ve had!
If it’s only within my lifetime…depressing answer: I’d go back and spend more time with my dad and actually get a chance to say goodbye to him. Fun answer: I’d either go back to the late 80s or early 90s and see U2 during their Joshua Tree or Zoo TV tours (I was too young at the time!).
Since it`s only in my lifetime I would go back before the death of my grandad and tell him how much I loved him, and spend some quality time together.
Love your interview, chica! Tamara sounds like such an awesome person.
I don’t want to mess up where I’m at right now with my kiddo, but if I could go back in time and still have what I do now, I’d go back to my freshman year of college and pick the exciting guy who’d tramped across Europe, staying in hostels and not the safe guy who’d never left the state.
If I could time travel in my lifetime, I would go back and talk to my father and grandfather again (since they are no longer here and I miss them terribly)
If I could time travel I would go back and ask my grandparents to tell me their stories of growing up… I wish I knew more. I miss them. I know how much you loved this book, Christy so I got a copy. I adore time travel books and the 1990s was a decade that was big for me… graduated from high school, and college and got married! Thanks for doing Fire and Ice with me!
I would time travel back in time to meet Shakespeare and have a cup of tea with him 😀
Time travel only during my lifetime? I’d choose to go back to my 20’s and travel internationally while still single.
Awesome interview and yep..always trust your gut!
I would go back to some time before 2009 and get to see and talk to a friend who died and that I had not seen or talked for ages =/ I would say how much I feared at least, even if I could not save him from that awful accident! =/
thanks for the giveaway =]
I’d go back to 1999. Start high school again and do it ALL different dude! Lol
I’d go back to when life wasn’t so hard. :c
I’d go back to the end of high school and go into the college major I originally wanted to do (and am now starting on in my junior year of college) right off the bat instead of wimping out because I was too scared to go for it.
I’d go back to my high school or college years and spend more time with my father before he passed away.
I’d go back to my freshman year of college and go to the school I really wanted to go to instead of choosing a school closer to home.
This book sounds amazing. I love time travel and can’t wait to read this one. It was great to read about where the author got the idea and I liked her reason for wanting to time travel. 🙂 If I could go back in time I would probable go back to the early 90s and finish going to college. I would take lots of English classes. 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway.
I would definitely go back to my childhood – anytime before middle/high school. Things were so much better then!
To the 80s adn relive my childhood. 🙂
when I was younger and go to Disneyland
I don’t really want to go back to change/relive anything in my life, but I wouldn’t mind going back just to experience the different time, like relive the beginning of 2000, or any other major worldwide events.
to 1990’s when my parent still together…
go back to kid time, just playing and no worry thing to think
I’d go back to after I graduated college and take the publishing job that I had to turn down. Accounting is no fun!
Probably last year of high school, had the best time then and life was so much easier. 🙂
Thanks for a giveaway! 🙂
Back to my childhood when my dad was still alive to spend more time with him.
I’d like to go back to 80ies ..I’m sad I wasn’t able to enjoy that period of time.. clothes, music 😉
Two or three years ago in order to make different choices and spend more time with the people that I cared the most..:) Great giveaway!:)
I probably would go anywhere. I know it sounds boring =P but I think its better not to risk it, what if I made things worse?
There is no way in hell I would ever go back. I had a great high school experience, but never cared for learning in a traditional way. Now that I have learned the life lessons that I have learned, I am holding on to them.
Great interview questions. I enjoyed it very much.
I would go back and say a better good bye to my aunt and uncle
Maybe I’d go back to some year of high school when I fell in love with a girl one year more after me because I didn’t the things well and I would changed these things.
I would go back to the beginning of highschool. There is some choices that I made that I would love a do over on 🙂
I would want to go to the future!!
I’d go back to highschool, and I’d pay attention in math class. I used to fall asleep. lol.
Well, I’d like to go back when we used to travel with my family, long time ago, just to remember more things of those happy days. 🙂
I’d probably go back to my middle school years so I could re-live with my knowledge of today.
mestith@gmail.com
I would go back to middle school when I first moved so I could apply everything I know today. 🙂
I’d go back to 2000, when I was 8, and I went overseas. Had the best time and just would love to go back to that age where there is no responsibility, no pressure, just having fun!
[…] Christy at Love of Books interviewed me about my writing life. She’s doing a “Reader’s Choice” giveaway, including signed copies of all editions of Time Between Us, t-shirts, mugs, and music! Details HERE. […]
Uhmmm I really dont know :S
maybe when I was 17, i was in school and it was a nice time….
Oh gosh, this is such a hard question. The beginning of my senior year of college and try harder in BioChem!
I would probably go back on my high school days and relive the moment. I won’t change anything in it. 🙂
I would love to go back to my middle school years, they weren’t the best times and if I had a chance to go back, I want to change things so the experience was more pleasant.
I would go back in time to a specific night and go to the hospital to prevent a tragedy from occurring. I’m not even sure it would work even if time travel existed, but I wish I could find out.
I’d love to go back to the day WWI ended and everybody was just celebrating in the streets. I think that would be cool to see
I would go back to the day before the friendship with my best friend shattered to pieces and try to do things differently.
Inx
p.s. Thank you for the giveaway! 🙂
Hmmm… I think it would be interesting to go visit my parents back when I was a baby. Give them a heads up on the future, you know?
I would go back to a time before my health issues started, when I was working full time and in shape 🙂
can i travel to the future? lol
thanks for the giveaway 🙂
sunshine_pinkystar(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would go back to the 90s and attend a Backstreet Boys concert
I don’t really want to go back to any time of my lifetime but I am from Greece I would really like to travel back in Ancient Greece. I want to see our history with my own eyes.
Thank you for the giveaway!
I would go back to the time I’m deciding on my college course.. Then I would think 8 times before deciding..:D
I’d probably go back to the time when I was a little kid and to see how much of a brat I was growing up LOL
I would go back to when I went to my friends house a few hours away and spend more time with her, so that i could relive the memories
I would probably go back to the time when my whole family took a trip to Disney World. It really is the happiest place on earth!
And thanks so much for the chance to win!
Oh gods, I would probably go back start book blogging even earlier than I did! 😀 hehe Thanks for the amazing giveaway!!
Go back and start blogging in english ;p
I would love to go back to my chilhood!! Riding bikes, playing with dollies and not have a care in the world 🙂
I would travel back to 1995 or around that time period. I’m going through a divorce right now and I regret a lot of things in the past that I have done. And I wish I could go back and change those things that has lead up to my divorce. I love being married, I miss my husband so much, and I really would do anything to have him back in my life. Thank you for a chance to win your giveaway!
I would go back to the 1950s simply because it would be an amazing time to live in to me.
I think I would go back and redo/rethink some of the decisions I made in high school…so 1996 – 2000? I don’t know, this is so hard! =)
I’d go back in time when I was 10. Best times of my life!
Oh gosh, so many. I might go back to beginning of high school or before to start basketball sooner. I might go to sixth grade and do things differently with friends. I have too many choices and it depresses me to think about it 🙂
Oh I’d probably go back to my childhood, just to get a taste of the 90s. I wanted to see my parents and how they were like when they were in their twenties, lol.
And I’d probably pull a Bennett and go all over the world. It’ll be nice to travel.
i want to go back to when i’m 8 years old, so i can hold my fall
I would probably go back to the beginning of my sophomore year at University and find a way to get myself to not ruin the year by losing my best friend.
I would probably go back in time where I discovered the magic of books. I’d probably start being obsessed in books earlier.
I would go back in time and attend a Cheap Trick concert in the 1990’s when “The Flame” hit the airwaves.
I’d go back to August, 2007, and i’ll just tell myself to do things a bit differently, and that I don’t have to rush things.. Or something like that 🙂
I would go back to Paris in ancient or Grece!
Regency era!
I think if I could go back, I’d go back and redo high school and be a little less shy and intimidated. Of course, the chain of events made me into the person I am today, so maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing!
Thanks for the giveaway!
I would go back to my childhood just so I could relive it 🙂
I would go back to when I was a little kid. I would love to see what I was like and just… have no worries. 🙂
I’ll go back to the time when I was around 5 or 6 years old… when you can sleep whenever you want without worrying about deadlines and school work.
[…] read Time Between Us not too long ago and LOVED it! Loved it big time. Then last month I got to interview the author, Tamara Ireland Stone, which made me a verrrry happy girl. So I was beyond ecstatic […]