Welcome to Judi Fennell's guest blog!

Wild Blue Under

Judi Fennell

Sourcebooks, Inc.

November, 2009

ISBN#:9781402224270


Rod Tritone is all set to take over the Mer kingdom when his father retires, until the ruling council tells him he has to marry first. The council gives him legs for the duration of his mission, as well as his future queen's address and phone number.

She's Valerie Dumere, the daughter of a Mer father and a human mother who raised her in landlocked Kansas. When devastatingly handsome Rod Tritone shows up and tries to tell her about the kingdom under the sea, not only does she think he's crazy, she's determined that's the last place she'd ever want to go.

Then a vicious squad of seagulls tries to stop the Mer Prince from inheriting his throne and Val finds out about her true nature. Now she has to make the choice of a lifetime—stay on land, or follow Rod to his underwater world...



Excerpt:




Val adjusted the lay of the cute, pink, scooped-neck shirt she’d paired with her jean shorts; tucked a few short, blonde curls behind her ears; then straightened her shoulders and stepped into the front of the store.

“Hello? I’m Valerie Dumere. Can I help you?” Not the most auspicious of beginnings, but still, it got his attention.

The smile he gave her after a quick once-over with his deep green eyes got her attention, too. Kicked back to one side, a deep dimple slashing the back of it, making little crinkles appear around those eyes… Oh, yeah. That got her attention.

So did the nicely muscled bicep that flexed when he held up the sand globe. “Is this really supposed to be Atlantis?”

She walked over and picked up another one, gave it a shake, sending sand and glitter shimmering around the spires of the castle and the not-to-scale seahorses twirling among open clamshells and treasure chests. She smiled at him. “What? You don’t like marble castles? Or is this one going to be too drafty for you?”

“Drafty? Don’t you mean wet? Atlantis is in the ocean, you know. You might want to read up on your history.” He smiled that devastating smile again and set the globe down.

She set hers down next to it. “You mean my mythology.”

“Oh. Right. Mythology.” He switched the duffel bag to his left hand and held out his right one. “Hi. I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Rod Tritone. I’m here to take you away from all of this.”

“That’s a hell of an introduction.” She couldn’t help laughing as she took his hand. Big, enveloping, and warm, with just the right amount of roughness to let her know he was a man and she was a woman…

He laughed along with her, rich and deep and sending shivers down her spine, which also made her acutely aware of her femininity.

“Then how about this one? I’m here to make all your dreams come true.”

Yeah, that worked. She could imagine some fairly wild dreams…

“Is your name Prince Charming, by any chance?” her friend, Tricia, added, emerging from the back.

Geez. Could the woman give her a few minutes on her own…?

Wait a minute.

Val held up a finger toward… Rod. Right. That was his name. “Can you excuse me for a sec?”

He inclined that gorgeous head of black waves with an almost royal nod, and she spun around to steer the grinning Tricia over to the walls draped in fishing nets and sea-themed stained-glass pieces.

“What do you know about this, Tricia?” she whispered.

“I believe it’s called a windfall, Val,” Tricia stage-whispered back, waggling her eyebrows and doing a really bad surreptitious head nod toward Rod. As if the guy didn’t already get that Tricia found him attractive.

A dead man would get that Tricia found him attractive.

“Seriously, Tricia, is this another of your set-ups?” Val tried to keep her voice down. No sense in embarrassing everyone.

Tricia had no such compunction. “Valerie Hope Dumere, I would never do that.”

Val arched an eyebrow. Tricia had done it more than Val cared to think about since she’d been home. Matter of fact, she had a date tonight.

“Well, okay, I’ve set you up before, but I wouldn’t do it with you in… that.”

Val rolled her eyes. So much for the cute top. Now she had to add burning cheeks to the equation. “So you don’t know him?”

“Trust me. If I knew him, you wouldn’t be going out with Glen.” Tricia took Val by the shoulders and turned her back around. “‘Take you away from all this’? ‘Make all your dreams come true’? And you’re standing here talking to me? I think you’ve been smelling the paint fumes in this place for too long. Go talk to him.”

Tricia made a good point.


What people are saying about Wild Blue Under:


"Fennell returns with another underwater adventure, her second story about the Tritone brothers. She's proving herself to be a solid storyteller, and this tale is an enjoyable and pleasant read."

-Devon Paige, RT BookReviews Magazine.com



"Wild Blue Under" is the second book of author, Judi Fennell's Mer Trilogy, and the first of hers I have read and definitely won't be the last! This book was such a fun, delightful read."

-Jaime, Revenge of the Book Nerds



"Judi Fennell is a bright star on the horizon of romance.

-Judi McCoy, author of Hounding the Pavement



"The best Mer book I've ever read."

-Rowena Cherry, author of Knight's Fork



"Bubbly fun! Judi Fennell whips together talking birds, princely peril and a sexy Mer man in this sparkling 'under the sea' tale."

-Virginia Kantra, USA Today best-selling author



What people are saying about In Over Her Head:


"Nora Roberts? Danielle Steel? Much acclaimed romance writers should step aside. There is a new romance writer in town and she is certainly causing a great splash with her debut novel, In Over Her Head."

-ABibliophile.com



"I truly found a pearl in my oyster when I read this delightful tale. I was surprised how good of a book In Over Her Head is. It is extremely well-written, the storyline flows and I was hooked from the first page."

-LongAndShortReviews.blogspot.com



"IN OVER HER HEAD is a delightful, quirky blend of humor, adventure and passion. All in all, this is a fast, fun read and a great way to spend a snowy afternoon or a sunny day at the beach."

-Lynda K. Scott, Star-Crossed Romance



"The beauty will draw you in, the action will get your pulse racing and the sensual scenes will keep your eyes glued to the pages."

-Katrina, Bloody Bad



"In Over Her Head is a heartwarming, but action-packed story of two people–one human and the other of the seaworthy body–joined together in an adventure. I enjoyed this story immensely."

-Dawn M. Ekinia, Armchair Interviews



"A delightful underwater adventure... full of good-natured humor and fun. A strong first effort by a promising new talent."

-Romantic Times



"A playful debut... sincere wit."



About The Author:
Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to “get outside!” instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad’s hammock with her Nancy Drew books.



These days she’s more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she’s still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends’ books.



A three-time finalist in online contests, Judi has enjoyed the reader feedback she’s received and would love to hear what you think about her Mer series. Check out her website at www.JudiFennell.com for excerpts, reviews and fun pictures from reader and writer conferences, and the chance to “dive in” to her stories.



Welcome Ms. Judi Fennell to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.

Did you always want to become a writer?
Thanks so much for having me! I was so excited to get your email asking me to be on your blog. As for always wanting to be a writer - the answer's yes. I've always written, ever since my first Raindrop story in first grade, to the Caldecott Honorable Mention Award I won in second grade, to the journal of paranormal stories in fourth grade, the first romance I ever wrote in ninth grade, a winning poem in my high school's publication, working for the yearbook staff… yep, pretty much always wanted to write.

What is the most, and the least interesting fact about writing?
Most interesting thing to me is when the characters take over the story. I'll be writing along, following a very loose proposal, when all of a sudden, the characters head off in a totally different direction I hadn't planned. This really happened in the third book, Catch of a Lifetime. I thought I knew who the villain was, but apparently, the characters had other ideas. The story was going along fine until all of a sudden, the new villain shows up and takes the story exactly in the direction I didn't want to go. I kept wrestling with it, but, in the end, the story went the way it wanted - the way it was supposed to and I have to say, I really love the end result.

The least interesting thing about writing? Hmmm… I don't know. I'll have to let you know when I find it. Right now I'm enjoying every aspect. Even revisions. I like watching my vision become stronger.

How did you celebrate your first release? What was it like to see your book in a bookstore? Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

When In Over Her Head hit the stores, I was deep into deadline mode on the third book, plus I had a raging fever. I kept getting calls from people that they saw it in X bookstore or Y bookstore in my area. And I couldn't go out and see it! Finally, about four days later after I turned in the revisions, I picked my aching body off the sofa, suffered through a shower, got dressed and drove to the bookstores.

It was amazing how much better I felt when I walked in that Borders and saw it on the New Romance Release tower. Then at B&N when it was on the New Paperback Release tower in the middle of the store. Fever? What fever? LOL. I signed the stock and had one of the booksellers take my picture with the book. Surreal moment. How does that feel? Honestly, a well of emotions. Disbelief, relief, giddiness, awestruck, more disbelief, you want to tell everyone in the store that it's your book and why aren't they all making a fuss? I wish that feeling for everyone out there who's trying to become a published author.

As for what I'll do this time, I'll probably take a nice long bubble bath and read the book. :) Seriously, there's so much promotion to go along with it, plus more deadlines coming up, that a nice long soak in the tub, maybe with a glass of wine, some candles, etc., would be very relaxing and refreshing. The book will be out and done. No more revisions. I'll just enjoy reading the story. AFTER I go to the bookstores. :)

How did your family react to fact that you write romance novels? Have your family read your book?
My family has always known this was what I wanted to do and my kids were young when I started, so they grew up with it. It's no big deal to them. Have they read it? They're really not interested. Maybe some day when they're adults and realize that making your dream come true is pretty special. For now, it's all about them (they're teens - what are you going to do?). My husband, on the other hand, was my biggest fan. And, yes, he's read it. The best compliment he could have given me (which he did) was, when he put In Over Her Head down, he looked at me and asked, "So, can I read the other one now?". My father has read it and enjoyed it, my mom too, and my grandmother gets first reads on all of them if deadlines permit. She loves them.

I'm still waiting for my sister to finish it. She's not a big reader.

Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?
Oh, I'm definitely a big reader. Sadly, less now that I'm published than before, but deadlines now fill my "free" time. Favorites: Bewitching by Jill Barnett is my absolute favorite book ever. Love love love it. It's cute, it's light, it's emotional, and it's magical. To say I was utterly thrilled to get cover quotes from Jill is an understatement. I also love When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. I love all her Bridgerton books, but that one just has soooo much emotion. Michael is just wonderful.

When I started doing the RWA contest circuit, my voice was compared to Katie MacAlister's and MaryJanice Davidson's, and I hadn't read either one of them, so I can't say they influenced my writing, but I remember one instance in particular where I'd wanted to include an obscure pop culture reference in one of my books and didn't know if that was "allowed" or permissible. Then, don't you know? I was reading one of Katie's and there was that same reference. So, seeing voices similar to mine in the market place and seeing where they let their imaginations go, yes, that influenced me and kept me writing.

Do you feel each of your characters live with you as you write? Do their lives sometimes take over a part of your life? Can you name an example? Do you have living role models for your characters?
Each one of my characters is a real person to me, in that I want to make them as three dimensional for the reader as they are to me in my head - if that makes any sense. LOL. As for taking over my life - writing takes over my life, especially when the story ideas are coming fast and furious. I wouldn't say it's the characters that do it as much as the story does. I'll get woken up at all hours of the night with some little snippet or other, so I know my brain is working while I sleep - or the characters are having one big long party up there!

No role models yet for the characters, but I do take certain traits on people I see. The best example of this is Reel in In Over Her Head. Reel is the devil-may-care second son of the Mer ruler, whose nickname is Spare. As in The Heir and The… And he plays it up with all the "bad boyness" he can muster. I had begun writing Reel with his smart-alec ways and then went to the movies and saw Failure to Launch with Matthew McConaughey playing an adult who still lives with his parents and has no plans to change that. He's a smart-alec, no real sense of responsibility and is treating life as one big party. Bam! That was Reel. So Reel got to look like Matthew (such a hardship, I know), and, hey, if Matthew wants to buy the rights and star in the film version of In Over Her Head, I would be thrilled out of my mind!

Where do you get the inspirations for your books?
I have no idea. Sometimes a line will just come to me, or a story idea or a character. I never set out to write a Mer series. I was working on a fairy tale series (Cinda Bella, Beauty and The Best, Fairest of Them All) and figured I'd twist Th Little Mermaid. What better way to twist it than make him the Mer? And from there, the world was born, the brothers and sisters showed up and there was the series. Case in point about characters just showing up: When I first started writing In Over Her Head (about a Mer man and Erica, a Human who is terrified of the ocean), when Erica meets Reel and hears his name, her dialogue is: "So do you have a friend named Rod around here?" and Reel answers, "He's my brother. He's in charge of the South Atlantic." I sat there and looked at the computer screen and went, "Really? He's got a brother?" I had no clue. And from there, the story started to form. Before that, I had no idea where we were headed.

Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?
Not difficult, but I have to be in the mood. And I don't mean feeling sexy. I need to be geared up for a big emotional scene. Love scenes are like any other scene in the book - they need to convey something. Mine usually are defining moments for characters. They confront something within themselves. Usually. Not always. But there has to be a purpose for the love scene or otherwise, it's just gratuitous. So, I have to gear myself up for the emotions. Those scenes drain me as much as action/adventure scenes when you have knives or birds or what-have-you flying at the hero and heroine and they're both trying to protect the other/get away… You have to feel those emotions while you're writing them or they won't come across to the reader.

Do you have a problem with deadlines and have you ever suffered a writers block?
So far, knock on wood, no.

Do you prefer stand-alone books or series (As a reader or a writer) ?
As a reader, I love knowing the author's world. I love picking up the next book in the series and seeing familiar characters, knowing their backstory and rooting for the ones I met in other books. As a writer, I will say writing a series can be a bit tougher if you're not planning to at the outset because once you do decide to do a series, you have to stick to the rules in the world you set up and sometimes that's not as easy to do in subsequent books as it was in the first one where the sky (or the sea) was the limit. It tests your creativity and your ability to weave plot lines together. But it's actually pretty fun and that "aha!" moment when it all works out is just priceless!

If you could change places with one character from your book, who would it be and why?
Honestly, there isn't one. I love each of them - even the villains. I try to give my villains reasons for doing what they're doing. They've got a noble cause (to them, anyway); they're just going about it in the wrong way. Each of my characters serves a purpose to the story, so so far, I like them all.

What is your favorite book from the books that you have written so far? Who are your favorite hero and heroine, and why?
This answer will change every time I write a new story. I always love the ones I'm "with" the most. But then I finish that story and go on to love the next characters more. You have to, I think, to get that realism for the readers. And since I'm writing about Mer people, I have to really make sure that my readers are along for the ride and see the characters as real people with the same problems/hopes/fears that we all have. If I don't feel it while I'm writing it, they aren't going to when they're reading it.

Would you like to give another genre a try?
Maybe some day, but since I've been big into paranormal pretty much my entire life, I'm not sure when that will be.

Which book was the hardest to write and which the easiest?
The hardest book to write was the first one I ever wrote. And it's in a drawer somewhere and will never come out. The easiest was In Over Her Head. By the time I got to that story, I knew craft and how to construct a story, so I could write it with the tools/abilities I had and not have to focus on that aspect. Plus, I wasn't under deadline and I was really writing it for me. Having written that story, however, made writing Wild Blue Under and Catch of a Lifetime easier to write because I'd already set up the world. I'd already done a lot of the research and had my reference books and knew the characters somewhat, so writing their story was expanding what I already had set up.

If you could choose of your books for a movie, which one would it be and who would you as the cast?
I'd have to say In Over Her Head because it's the first in the series and I'd hope people would love it enough to want to see the rest of the world. As to who'd play who, this is easy. Cast of characters for all the books:

Reel & Erica: Matthew McConaughey & Sandra Bullock

Rod & Valerie: Bradley Cooper & Kate Hudson

Angel & Logan: Jessica Alba & Hugh Jackman

Ceto: Susan Sarandon

Not that I've thought about it or anything… LOL

If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?
I think everyone answers Jesus or Muhammed or others like that, but I find Henry VIII utterly fascinating. What a self-absorbed, insecure boy who became such a powerful figure in shaping a country and staying in the public consciousness all these years. I'd love to sit down and talk to him and tell him a few things. Make him realize what he is in history and how his decisions affected so many things. Of course, I'd need protection from his ego and the swordsman's axe, but I'd love to be able to show him how he's perceived, where he went wrong, what he did right, etc. And ask him what in the world he was thinking every time he went after another woman. Sheesh!

Do you listen to music while you are writing and if so what music is it?
I can't listen to anything with lyrics while I'm writing, otherwise I find myself singing along and that takes the focus off what I'm writing. I play an eclectic mix of instrumental: Celtic, classical, new age, etc.

The setting and the characters of your Mer series are pretty unusual how did you come up with the ideas for the series and the characters?
The story ideas were pretty fluid (pun intended). I just knew I wanted a Mer man and who would be the exact opposite of that? A woman who's terrified of the ocean. Now, I had a little help with Erica, because I'm terrified of the ocean (thanks to Steven Spielberg, Peter Benchley and JAWS). So writing her feelings was very easy for me, but since I don't like to go in the ocean (and I have been snorkeling a few times in different oceans/seas) I had to do a lot of research. "They" say to write what you know and my family has been going down the Jersey Shore for as long as I can remember. I know the shore. I know the waters and they have a great scuba website to provide what I didn't - not to mention a very helpful man at the marina in Marmora who helped me with the boat research. But once I had them in the ocean, then I got to use my imagination. When designing Atlantis, I looked to Greek architecture, and threw some topiary coral in there. I had to work with reality to figure out how to get light in there and whenever you're working with magic you can make whatever you want to have happen, happen.

When it came time for Rod to head to Kansas in Wild Blue Under, I was a little more bound by reality, but I've been to Kansas. My family drove across the country in 1979 and I remember what that was like. I also have friends who were actually doing a similar drive when I was writing the story, so they did some research for me, and, of course, there's always the internet. I love Google Earth.

The characters pretty much just show up. I usually have an idea of either the hero or heroine and then I play "Who's the worst possible person for Character to fall in love with" and that's who becomes the love interest.

I absolutely love your series about the Tritone siblings. How many books do you have planned for the series?
Thank you so much! I have three written, but as I told my editor, it's a big ocean out there! Mariana's story is poking at me and I've jotted some notes down, know the hero and a basic outline of what's going to happen, but right now I've started my next series, so I have to write those. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to come back and write at least Mariana and Pearl's stories.

Big congrats to your latest release, Wild Blue under, can you please tell us something about the book?
Wild Blue Under is Rod and Valerie's story. Rod is the Heir to the Mer throne but he can't inherit the throne until he fulfills the Mer Prophecy - to bring back the "that which was lost" to the Mer Kingdom.

Enter Valerie Dumere. She's the Kansas-living half-Mer princess who doesn't know she's half-Mer and thinks she's allergic to the ocean. When Rod shows up in the shop she inherited from her mother (that sells ocean tchakes in the middle of Kansas…), she's not about to leave. Even when he tells her he has an inheritance from her father. Nope. Not going to do it. Valerie has been bouncing from job to job all her life, always searching for something, and when her mother was killed in a car accident, Val figures the shop--her mother's dream--is where she's supposed to be. Until she finds out she owes back taxes or she's going to lose the shop.

Off they go to collect Val's inheritance, accompanied by a talking seagull who helps them dodge dive-bombing peregrines and an albatross with an agenda. Things, as Valerie comes to find out, are not as they seem.


Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?

I'm just finishing the first book in my next series about genies and I'm having a blast writing it! I've created a whole new world in the magical city of Al-Jannah in the Sahara Desert where anything's possible. The first book, tentatively titled I Dream of Genies will come out in Fall 2010.



Thank you, again, for having me and I'd like to let the readers know about a contest I'm having on my website. You can register to win one of two remaining Romantic Beach Getaway Weekends to celebrate the release of the Mer series books. The next drawing is November 30 at the Atlantis Inn in Ocean City, NJ, and the final drawing is February 28, 2010 for the Hibiscus House in West Palm Beach, FL.

Reviews of the Mer series:

In over her head

Wild Blue under