Music For a Merman by Alice Renaud 💕 Q and A, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Fantasy Romance)

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“Rob Regor knew that humans were trouble. All the shape-shifting mermen of the Morvann Islands knew it. And human women were double trouble, especially when they were lying on the road in front of a digger.”
Rob has a mission. Go to the mainland. Work as a policeman. Find out as much as possible about the mainland humans. Report back to his father, the head of the Regor Clan. It should be easy.
Until he has to arrest Charlie. Rob can’t fight his attraction to the sexy eco-warrior, and it puts him on one hell of a collision course with his family and his Clan. Will he break the rules – or break her heart, and his?

What inspired you to write this book?

I grew up in Brittany, western France, in a village by the sea. I return there most summers. As in other seaside resorts, the local policemen double up as lifeguards. So they could be breaking up a riot in the morning and rescuing swimmers in the afternoon. I thought it would be fun to write a romance with such a cop-lifeguard as hero. But then I turned away from contemporary romance and started writing fantasy romance instead. After writing the first book in my Sea of Love series, “A Merman’s Choice,” I was casting around for characters for my second book. I remembered the lifeguards on the beach who were also cops, and the idea of Rob Regor came to me. A shape shifting merman who is also a policeman. Then I imagined him arresting a woman and falling in love with her, and Charlie, the heroine, was born.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I am working on the third book in the Sea of Love series, “Mermaids Marry in Green.” It’s about a feisty mermaid called Caltha, who travels to London to help a warlock save the city from a water monster. Of course, she falls in love with him! I would also like to write more short stories. I have a short story in the BVS supernatural romance anthology “Mystic Desire,” which is on pre order now. The story, “The Sweetest Magic of All,” is about an apprentice witch and a hot warlock who go back in time to locate a magical amulet, and find more than they bargained for! It was great fun to write.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Music for a Merman?

Rob is tender and sensual, brave and caring. He is a bit of a rebel, he wants to be loyal to his father and Clan, but can’t help feeling attracted to the human world. He is a talented singer, and composes beautiful mermen songs. Once he falls in love with Charlie, that’s it – she’s the one, there’s no doubt about it, and he will risk anything to protect her. He’s a shape shifting merman – in his aquatic shape he looks a bit like a dolphin (no fish tail!) but he’s black, like a porpoise.

Charlie is sassy, brave, smart and funny. She’s been a rebel since childhood, but under the confident mask there is a more fragile, vulnerable Charlie. She had a difficult relationship with her parents, who she feels preferred her brother, and this feeling of rejection has pursued her all her life. She guards her heart for fear it will get broken, and is wary of falling for Rob because she’s worried she will get hurt.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

The heroine, Charlie, is sassy and confident, more so than the heroine of my first book. I enjoyed writing her and her banter, and her sexually charged relationship with Rob. I think my heroines are getting spunkier and spunkier – Caltha, in my third book, is properly kick-ass!

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

I would explain what happens to the development that Charlie, the eco-warrior, has been fighting against. She convinces her father to abandon the development, which is damaging the environment. But I didn’t write that in, mainly because the things that happen to Charlie towards the end of the book are so mind-boggling and life-changing she could be forgiven for forgetting about everything else! But I will say a little about what happened to the area in the third book.

What is your favorite part of this book and why?

The part where Charlie is chased by hostile mermen across the marsh and hears a mysterious voice guiding her to the sea. I put a bit about old legends and dreams (or nightmares) in there. Charlie shows her mettle during that scene, when she takes on the nasty merman.

Rob’s scream reached Charlie as she was squelching through a puddle. Fear caught her chest in its jaws and bit down hard. She stopped. Where were the mermen? She squinted. Was that a moving shadow, at the very edge of her field of vision? She retraced her steps, pushing against the panic that threatened to crush her.

As if to mock her, a cloud covered the moon. All she could see now was the coal-black night, thick and pitiless. Her breath rasped in her throat. Every nightmare she’d ever had came back to her. She was a child again, in the creaking, ancient Fitzwilliam castle, hiding under the covers from the many ghosts that loomed over her bed. The instinct to scream for help almost overpowered her, and she pressed her hand to her mouth to stifle it. She was growing dizzy. Her legs buckled, and she sank to her knees into the soft, oozing silt.

Water sloshed over her hands and thighs. The gentle, cooling touch reached through her anguish and brought her back to reality. It was as if a friendly animal were licking her, comforting her. She breathed in and out a few times. She had to stay calm and fight. It was her only chance. She scrambled in the mud for something to use as a weapon. Her fingers scraped against a sharp rock and the vice of fear relaxed its grip a little. She picked up the stone and got to her feet.

Somehow she felt that one merman, at least, was near. She forced her body into perfect stillness, hoping that the invisible enemy wouldn’t hear the frantic beating of her heart. Unless he had infrared vision, he couldn’t see her any more than she could see him. Maybe he’d walk right past her.

The merman hissed at her out of the darkness. “I can smell you, human.”

Terror tore into her. She was in every fairy tale, facing every monster. Alone. She tried to inhale, but no air got in. Crushing pain radiated from her lungs into her limbs.

A tiny wave lapped over her feet, though there was no breeze. A mysterious voice whispered in her head. The monsters won’t win. Run to the sea. I will protect you.

Maybe she was going mad. But if so, it was a helpful sort of madness. Strength was rising through her body, easing the pressure on her ribs. Wherever the voice had come from, she’d follow its advice. She gripped the stone harder and put her hand behind her back. She had to buy some time, until the damn moon came out and lit her path to freedom.

“What do you want?” she asked.

A suction sound informed her that her enemy was moving through the mud, but he wasn’t coming any closer to her. Maybe he too was waiting for light. Or maybe he was wary of her. The thought comforted her. He was right to be careful. She could be dangerous too.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the merman said. “I want to help you.”

Charlie almost sniggered. He must think I’m stupid. She’d play along, until she saw an opportunity to escape.

“That’s good,” she said, trying hard not to sound sarcastic. She put on her best “lost little girl” voice. “Can you help me get out of the marsh?”

“Sure!” The merman sounded eager, almost enthusiastic. She heard him move forward, but slowly. “I’ll give you a ride on my back, if you want.”

The voice murmured in Charlie’s head. She couldn’t tell if it was real, or a childhood memory. An old fisherman had told her that story once, when she was holidaying on the Morvann Islands with her parents. And she had read the same story, in the old book she’d found in the police station. The Water Horse offers the unwary traveller a ride on its back, only to throw him off and drown him in the marshes.

💕 Always double-check the price 💕

For centuries the shape-shifting mermen of the Morvann Islands have lived incognito among humans. But one of them, Yann, has developed some bad habits. Like rescuing humans, even when doing so risks revealing his true nature. When he fishes Alex out of the sea, he doesn’t expect her to reappear eight months later, and turn his life upside down by asking him to be her guide.
Alex is determined to fulfil a promise to her dying grandmother, by gathering pictures and stories of the Morvanns. But she soon discovers that, on these remote Welsh islands, legends have a habit of becoming true!
Over the course of a few days, Yann and Alex grow close. But some mermen hate humans. Their hostility, and Yann’s secret, threaten to tear the couple apart just as they are discovering that they are soul mates. Can Yann overcome the obstacles in his path and make the right choice?

I was born and brought up in Brittany, Western France, my father was French and my mother British (from Wales). I moved to London, UK, in 1997, where I now live with my husband and son. I have been writing since I was 14. I got quite a few short stories published in UK magazines, before moving to longer fiction. I wrote three contemporary romance books, but didn't find a publisher for them. I then realized that mermen, sea witches and water demons were a lot more fun than sheikhs and billionaires! My first two paranormal romances did not find a publisher either, then I wrote A Merman's Choice, which was accepted for publication this year by Black Velvet Seductions. It is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy inspired by the landscapes and legends of Brittany and Wales. I love reading and writing stories, and sharing them with anyone who's interested!