Cruel and Splendid Mermaids
Julie Catherine
(Broken Mermaids, #1)
Publication date: October 17th 2023
Genres: Adult, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy
For mermaids and humans, the rules are the same: be careful around strangers, be wary of magic and before you dive in, check what’s lurking under the waves.
Nineteen-year-old Ellara Merme’s whole life she’s known one purpose: to mate with men, to procreate, and to bear offspring to fight in Neptune’s underwater army. No problem… There’s just one hiccup. Her siren song doesn’t work.
No one can know.
She’s a broken mermaid with a faulty lure and she has only one week left to make the damaged song work. But all that can change with the ocean’s next deadly storm. Dragged from a shipwreck, mythology says a rescued sailor will be so grateful he’ll fall into anyone’s arms. Even a broken mermaid’s. Still, there’s a reason why merfolk and humans don’t get along. And a lot can go wrong when a girl from the ocean washes up on the shore.
Think mating is easy? Think again.
Cruel and Splendid Mermaids is a first-person dark and playful underwater fantasy. Book one in the Broken Mermaids series.
EXCERPT
This was the best part of every day. Floating in the surf, watching the earthy pinks, bathing in the heavy, orange glow. The manner in which the morning sunlight hit the beach and the other beautiful things on the shore.
He was early today.
Just a bit.
Always running like clockwork.
His tanned, heaving chest, warm brown and stretched firm over muscles. Blood pumping to his heart and lungs. The way his whole body flexed in his gait. The steady footfalls landing in the sand. Little divots tossed up with each tread. His body moved forward, reconnecting with the earth. Over and over. I couldn’t look away.
I would take any, of course. But this man was my favorite.
So deliberate in his path.
Though human and mermaid timelines didn’t one hundred percent line up, I liked to think we were of similar age. I eyed him up. Close, anyway. The backwards cap over wavy brown curls. Hair that only got curlier as he started to sweat. I liked his gray, cotton running shorts. That bare chest. I loved his strong, limber legs. It would be nice if he could be my first.
Not just nice. A dream.
The only dream of my heart.
I wasn’t picky, I wouldn’t be, I knew that. A man was a man was a man. But there was something about him. Every step that he ran. So damn firm and so upright. I rubbed my belly everyday as he passed.
“Put a baby in me,” I sometimes whispered, although he couldn’t hear me. That was clear, because no coughing fit overtook those simple words. I was out here in the waves and he was up there. Running home. Running for sport. Running somewhere. And anywhere. And everywhere.
I just floated.
Waiting.
Watching every day ’til he passed.
Then, I’d kick up my fin, dive beneath the waves and head for home. Another day in the life of a mermaid. A new beginning. A brand new chance to finally, finally show all of Merme my true worth.
Author Bio:
Julie Catherine is an author, screenwriter and playwright.
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