RELEASE BLITZ: Swim by M.E. Rhines

We are excited to share with you this 7-day Release Blitz for M.E. Rhines' Sink, the second book in the Mermaid Royalty series! Yup! It's is a happy book birthday celebration! To celebrate, we will be sharing a sneak peek into the book with an exciting excerpt AND a cool guest post on Heroes and Villains. We're not finished yet... There's even a blitz-wide giveaway, too! Check it out and grab your copy today!

Genre:
Young Adult
Paranormal/Fantasy
Series:
Mermaid Royalty, #2
Publish Date:
August 29, 2017
Publisher:
Cleen Teen Publishing

Synopsis:
A mermaid has no fear of the deep...

Angelique is not your typical fairy tale mermaid. She’s edgy, with a quick temper and intense personality that sometimes leave her feeling like an outsider even among her own clan. Reeling from the recent changes in the Mer-world hierarchy, Angelique is struggling to find her place in the ocean. But a chance encounter with a handsome two-legged Fin-man will leave her questioning more than just her place in the underwater order.

Packed with adventure, romance and drama, Swim continues the compelling story of life and love in the magical underwater realm of Atargatis.



      

*Excerpt*

Would they serve me on a platter, or just toss me in tank and use me as an exhibit?  Some of the humans Mother captured spoke of places where even the ocean’s greatest predators were put on display for the amusement of the young and hardened of heart.  An aquarium they called it.  Manatees, dolphins, sharks.  All subject to the degradation of living in a box for the rest of their days.  

Oh, Poseidon help me, I’d rather die right now.

Almost as soon as my body contacted the sea floor, the rope connecting me to the human vessel tightened.  An illusion of weightlessness befell me as it pulled me up.  Despite already feeling drained, I swam against the pull right up until my entire body left the water.  Suffocating aridness strangled me.  I danged inside the net a good ten feet above the water, swaying along with the howling wind as if it was dancing with me.

I scanned the rough waters below, desperate for a trace that Lennox was around.  But the sea was fuming.  Furious, whether at me or the fisherman I didn’t know.  Already turbulent waters intensified, until waves the size of small squalls slammed into the boat from all sides.  

Even if Lennox was down there, and I doubted he was, there would be no way to see him through the chaos on the ocean’s surface.  I didn’t waste much time searching.  He’d said it himself; he was a warrior, a killer at heart.  It wasn’t in his nature to go around saving anyone or anything unless it served his king.  He was long gone, left me for dead.  

“You see,” I heard the horrible man shout.  “Look at that tail.”

“I’ll be damned.  You weren’t seeing things after all, Reggie.”

“Yep.  Heard stories about mermaids in this area.  Didn’t much believe them.  Until now, of course.  She’s awfully pretty, too.  Prettier than I ever imagined a mermaid could be.”

“What should we do with her?”

“Are you kidding?  People would pay a fortune to just take a quick look at her.  Mortgage their own houses, I bet.  We’re gonna be rich!”

The blond man tapped his chin with his index finger, pondering the idea.  A small, naïve part of me hoped he might listen to that slight little voice in his head, the one that should tell him I was a living thing.  A sentient, conscious, and intelligent living thing and should be treated with common decency.  His conscience should’ve told him to put me back in the water and drive his boat far out of here and leave me be.  

Then this human, the one who moments ago seemed so kindhearted and eager to help me until my tail was exposed, reminded me of that one ever-important detail I managed to allow myself forget:

Humans have no conscience.

M.E. Rhines talks about Heroes and Villains

Good and Evil - The Almost Invisible Line

It only takes a quick flip through the pages of the most beloved and timeless books to find one common theme - love.  And with good reason.  Romance is enchanting, intoxicating, exciting, and arguably down right addictive.  You’d be hard-pressed to find anything in the universe holding more influence.  It can create a hypothetical fairytale, filling our hearts and minds with visions of eternal happiness and happily ever-after.  Unfortunately, we learn as we grow it’s not all warm and fuzzy wonder.  There’s a dark side to love.  One that can take a perfectly innocent heart and crush it to pieces.  It is from these ashes that villains are made.

If you’ve ever read one of my books, you’ll notice I have a pension for zooming in on the uncomfortable creation of evil.  I’m a strong believer that in life we’re all born with an equal chance of going one way or the other.  None of us are born wicked; we’re made that way.  The path to hero or villain is complicated, dependent on circumstance, coping skills and surrounding support systems (or lack thereof).  To write a great villain, you should be willing to wade in their realm.  See the world through their eyes and justify their actions, even if your hero/heroine can’t.  Heartbreak is a powerful catalyst for action, and allowing a glimpse into your antagonist’s prospective adds an entirely different layer to the story.

The very best villains, the ones who stick with us past the final page, are the ones we can relate to in some way.  When we can say, “I understand why he/she feels the way they do, and I could’ve gone that direction, too,” we can truly immerse ourselves in the story.  Once we’re that invested, we can get excited when the heroine defeats that darkness, because in some strange way it’s like they did it for us.  The difference between the good and evil may seem like a chasm, but I think when you take a closer look, it’s more like a crack.

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Sequel to:

(cover links to Goodreads)

      

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**About the Author**

M.E. Rhines a southwest Florida native currently living in North Port with her two beautiful children and a third, much larger child whom she affectionately calls husband. She writes young adult paranormal romance to feed her belief that fairy tales are real and 
nonsense is necessary.

She also writes adult romances under her edgier alter-ego, Mary Bernsen.

Stay connected with M.E. Rhines

   

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***The Giveaway***

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