Thank you to everyone who has read Chapters 1 and 2 of In Over Her Head. It was because of the over 100 emails I received from the Gather community that I entered this First Chapters Romance Contest. I have enjoyed all the "punny" comments on the threads and appreciate all the support. Voting ends tonight at midnight, Eastern time, so here's the link to In Over Her Head, Chapter Two.
Many of you have emailed me to ask me what's next for the Mer world. Here are the blurbs for the next two stories.
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Whale Of A Tail
Catch Of A Lifetime    Rod Tritone, heir to the throne of the undersea world, needs a queen capable of ruling the oldest kingdom on Earth. Someone regal, learned and of noble birth. Problem is, the only noble-born Mer princess is half-human.
    And she doesn't have a clue about the non-human part.
    Valerie Dumer has screwed up her life at every turn. Trying to please her over-protective, single mom while searching for independence, she's made more than a few bad decisions. But when her mother dies and leaves her the family business, Valerie realizes it's up to her to buckle down and get her life on track. No more excuses.
    So when a guy shows up claiming to be her destiny, she scoffs. No way. She isn't running from her responsibilities ever again--no matter how good he looks without a shirt.
    But Rod isn't going away. He can't claim his inheritance without her--and Val will lose hers if she goes with him.
    It's going to take one Whale of a Tail to get her to chuck it all and follow him off into the wild-blue under...
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    Logan Hardington is living the dream. Single, successful and never hard up for a date. Everything a thirty-four year old guy could want.
    Then a love child he never knew is dropped on his doorstep and suddenly Logan is trading corporate jets for model planes, incentive trips for field trips and evenings with the ladies for evenings with babysitters. What he needs is someone to keep his life on an even keel.
    Angel Tritone, mermaid princess, has always been fascinated by humans to the chagrin of her father, the High Councilman of the Mer World. So when she flees a hammerhead stalker and ends up in the arms of a human, she fears returning home to reprisals. Plus, the human doesn't seem to know what to do with his child. Mer or human, a child is a child and Angel has more than enough experience to deal with two clueless humans.
    Problem is, Logan isn't sure if Angel is just one more fish in the sea or...the Catch of a Lifetime.
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Book Trailers, In Over Her Head, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
First Chapters and Habitat For Humanity - A Winning Combination
Many thanks to Emerald de Leeuw for her generosity in allowing me to use her gorgeous artwork for the mock cover. This cover was made solely for the purposes of this contest, as any Marketing Department that works on this book will have their own interpretation and marketing strategy. Emerald is an incredibly talented artist; please check out her website. I know of two authors already who have contacted her for commissions.
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Comments: 52
Good luck Judy
You are a delight, Judi.
That being said, Rod and Val do have their own situations to get through and the part about her being the noble heir but half-human is a branching part of the Mer history. That's the great part about fiction; you can make the history be what you want/need it to be. Of course, it can't change the rules already set out; which has given me a bit of a quark, but I worked it out in the current story.
I knew when I wrote about Reel having a brother (and I didn't know that when I first started writing this story, but then wham! Reel clued me in) that Rod would get his own story. I didn't realize Angel would. There are two other Mer sisters, but they aren't talking to me yet. Well, Marianne kinda is, but Pearl is being very quiet. Almost too quiet, I think.
The stories look wonderful, Judi. Can't wait to read them all. And trust we don't have to wait years to do so.
All I can say is "another fantastic job" and "your humor placed into a pseudo-real life situation" makes 'In Over Her Head' just that much more enjoyable to read. I was left thinking "Okay, now that Erica has almost accepted her life as a mermaid, where do we go from here"? At least I've an idea now from reading the blurbs above. This should turn out to be another great book from a Gatherite.
Good Luck!
Good luck !!
way to go