Take it away, Katie!
~*~
The book is about – big surprise – mermaids! I’ve always loved mermaids, and anything to do with mermaids! Splash, starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, ranks up there as one of my favorite chic flicks.
And since I live on Cape Cod, there’s plenty of mermaid art and whatnot all over the place! (and, as a result, all around my home, too!) I love living near the ocean. Walking on the beach at sunrise or sunset, it’s hard to imagine there aren’t mermaids swimming just below the surface.
The main character of my novel, Shea MacNamara, grew up on a farm in Oklahoma far away from any oceans. When a freak tornado destroys his farm, he has to move back east, to Cape Cod, where his father was born and raised. He gets his first view of the Atlantic Ocean and feels its power. He meets a mysterious girl in his new neighborhood. A girl with secrets – and who knows some secrets about Shea as well.
I think the first time we actually get to “see” any mermaid magick is in Chapter Six. It’s the first time the reader knows for sure that Kae is actually a mermaid. (Well, except that it tells you she is on the back of the book. But in terms of the story, this next scene confirms it all!)
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Son of a Mermaid excerpt
She climbed up onto the jetty, and walked carefully to the end of the rocky outcropping. The sky above her had already changed from its hesitant pastels of early morning to a brilliant shade of blue, the few clouds having evaporated like morning mist on the ocean. Seagulls wheeled overhead in slow lazy circles.
At the jetty’s end, she clambered nimbly down the algae-covered boulders. She sat on the one lowest to the waterline, feet dangling ankle deep in the lapping waves. Putting one hand around the stone medallion hanging at her neck, she closed her eyes and recited the words her mother had taught her long ago. “A pedibus usque ad caput mutatio.”
Suddenly, the sun seemed to shine more brightly on the water at her feet, orangey and yellow sparks dancing on the blue green surface. Kae watched the sparkles slide soundlessly along the surface straight toward her, to where her feet made contact with the lapping saltwater. The dancing lights ran up both her legs, shimmering along the skin as they twined up her thighs. Sitting very still, she kept her hand on the transmutare stone, rubbing her thumb in slow circles around its rim. The whole process took mere seconds until the twinkling lights receded back down to the water’s surface, leaving behind a glittering green mermaid tail where once two separate legs had been.
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In conjunction with my Splash Into Summer blog tour, there’s a Rafflecopter giveaway going on, now through June 21. One of the prizes is a beach stone necklace, similar to the transmutare necklaces the mermaids in my story wear! And there’s an ebook up for grabs as well as some cool swag!
Thanks for inviting me over today, Kate! It’s been fun talking about my book!
~*~
It's my pleasure, Katie! You're always welcome on my blog. Happy sales to you! *hugs*
Here's what you need to know about Katie and her wonderful novel:
Shea MacNamara's life just got complicated.
After a freak tornado devastates his Oklahoma farm, the fifteen-year-old orphan moves to Cape Cod to live with a grandmother he's never met. Struggling to make sense of his new surroundings, he meets a girl along the shore who changes his life forever.
Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders. The daughter of royal servants, she knows the planned marriage of her Princess to the foreign King should put an end to the war between the clans. Two things stand in the way of lasting peace: an ambitious Regent and rumors of a half-human child who will save the oceans.
Sparks fly when she meets Shea, but could the cute drylander really be the Son of a Mermaid?
About the Author:
Katie O’Sullivan lives with her family and big dogs next to the ocean on Cape Cod, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust. She writes YA and romantic suspense novels, and works as an editor making other people’s words sparkle. For the last four years, she’s been the Editor of CapeWomenOnline.com magazine and writes a column entitled “The Write Way.”
She hopes her debut YA novel, SON OF A MERMAID, will make a big splash this summer, engaging young readers with a Cape Cod tale of a boy who discovers both his roots and his destiny far below the waters of Nantucket Sound.
Find Katie online:
Follow her Blog – http://katieosullivan.blogspot.com
Like her on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKatieOSullivan
Check out her website at http://www.katie-osullivan.com
Add Son of a Mermaid on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17184560-son-of-a-mermaid
Guess what? Katie is having a giveaway in conjunction to her release. Here's what you can win:
Join by using the Rafflecopter widget below!
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