The Mermaid and the Unicorns by L.T. Getty - Book Tour - Book Sale - Book Review - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host L. T. Getty and her new book, “The Mermaid and the Unicorns,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with L. T. Getty and to increase your chances of winning!!

This eBook is on SALE for ONLY $0.99 during the book tour!!  See below for more details.

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

The Mermaid and the Unicorns

by L. T. Getty

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GENRE:  Middle Grade Fantasy Adventure

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BLURB:

Daphne’s a typical mermaid, and at least according to her, that’s a problem. She’s courageous and has a beautiful singing voice, but lacks the power of an elemental, the ability to command water with the sound of her voice. Jealous of her best friend, she makes a deal with a sea-witch, only to be betrayed, in place of her beautiful tail and flukes Daphne’s left beached with a pair of human legs. The spell keeping Daphne looking human will become permanent, unless Daphne can hunt down and bring the scheming Lorelei a unicorn horn before the next full moon.

Unable to reach her friends and family for help, Daphne doesn’t know how to walk, much less where to find a unicorn or how to catch one. Even if she’s successful, Daphne’s still not sure if she can trust Lorelei and her pint-sized kraken to keep their end of the bargain and let her return to the sea.

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EXCERPT THREE:

"What's wrong?" Esperanza asked as Daphne went to retrieve the arrow.

"Nothing," Daphne said, unstringing the bow. "Not like I'm ever going need to use this skill. Let's just pack up and go."

"What are you talking about?" Esperanza asked. "You're already better than I am. Here, let me have a try and I'll show you."

"I've already unstrung it," Daphne snapped.

"Fine," Esperanza said, matching Daphne's tone. Esperanza went to go get more water from the river with the large buckets to boil so that they could wash their dishes.

"I'll do that. Water's heavy," Sean said, ignoring Daphne as she struggled to take their tent down.

"Here, let me help you," Esperanza said to Daphne once Sean started towards the river.

"Sure—let's send the person with the tallest reach to the river, great plan," Daphne muttered, climbing onto the wagon to reach the tip of the tent as Sean descended towards the river.

"What's your problem?" Esperanza demanded as soon as Sean was out of earshot. "We're helping you get to Taralee. Sean didn't have to come all this way, you know."

"He didn't come for me, Espy. If it was just me who wanted to go, he wouldn't care that I had to walk the whole way. What do you want, me to kiss your feet and sing your praises? Wait, I forgot—you're the better singer, you should sing your own praises. I might not do it good enough without a four-stringed harp and a cat to squeeze for background noise."

"Our voices are different. Neither one is really better than the other."

"It's just... do you know what it's like to be overlooked?"

"All the time," Esperanza said. She looked away, towards the river. "Hey, wait... be quiet for a minute."

"Don't you tell me what to do—" Daphne became mildly insulted when Esperanza put a hand over her mouth.

"Listen."

They heard singing. A beautiful, high pitched and soft melody, barely audible above the breeze. The sound had a haunting quality. "Doesn't sound like it's Sean's range," Daphne muttered, but then really heard it. She ran, and got the arrow and the quiver as well as Sean's knife and axe. She quickly strung the bow before heading towards the river bank.

"What are you doing?" Esperanza asked, following after Daphne.

"Stay with the wagon!" Daphne ordered.

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MY BOOK REVIEW:

This book is an intriguing, enchanting, charming fantasy read filled with important life lessons and engaging story lines!!

Mermaids and unicorns and a sea witch, oh my!!

This book follows Daphne, a young mermaid with a deep jealousy streak that triggers her to strike a deal with a mean sea witch, putting her on the trail of a seemingly impossible task of retrieving a unicorn horn.

While Daphne faces an all-too-common dilemma we’ve all been guilty of at one time or another – wanting what you don’t have and/or being envy of someone who does have said coveted characteristic, this book shows the great length someone will go to in search of obtaining the unattainable.

While this book bears a strong resemblance to Disney's famous mermaid tale, "The Little Mermaid," the author was able to cleverly create a unique and refreshing take on a timeless favorite.

This book encompasses so many valuable lessons and morals that are sure to teach, inspire, and resonate with young readers.

Although this book does have many interesting and engaging scenes, unfortunately, I occasionally found some of these passages to be on the slower paced side.  While the author excelled at quickly sweeping the reader off into an intriguing, fantasy world, some overly detailed and lengthier scenes caused moments of disengagement and disconnect from the story.

There are some predictable scenes.  However, there are still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming but will enjoy watching unfold!!

This book is not currently listed as part of a book series.  It can easily be read as a standalone.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it!!  I think all fantasy and adventure book fans – especially readers that fall into the MG, YA, and NA genres will like this book too!!  So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed!!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations**

Did you find this review helpful???

If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R285AHXOM6J1B8

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GUEST POST:

Inventing and Developing Mystical Creatures

Adding Flavor to an Already Established Myth

Some creatures are so iconic images and tropes pop up at the mere mention of their names, such as unicorns, dwarves, and vampires. Others have had so many interpretations, that you have questions before we get started. Are the elves in this story more like Tolkien’s, beautiful and etheric and almost too good; or more hostile, like we’d see in The Witcher or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld? Assuming we stick with that tall, slender aesthetic and we’re not talking about the Christmas or Cookie-Baking in a tree variety, that is.

So what can we draw on? What is set in stone? When is a dragon no longer a dragon?

Most cultures are familiar with the notion of a dragon. If we were to paint with very broad strokes, let’s divide all of mythology into Occidental (West) and Oriental (East) for a moment. One side has a beast that’s been historically treated as evil, hoards gold, eats maidens, and while it can be intelligent, can also be mindless or seen as the greatest object one can defeat. The other sees them as more traditionally benevolent, often seen as more of a heavenly creature if not a manifestation of the natural world (such as Haku from Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, he was the spirit of the river) and has the possibility of shape shifting. There may be regional variations (for instance, Japanese dragons are usually depicted with three toes on a foot, whereas the Chinese feature four) that should be considered if you’re drawing from a specific setting or tradition.

So when developing a dragon, one has options. You may chose the more western, wyrm type form while wanting the dragon to be a figure of wisdom and can chose to be good or evil. Maybe they lack the ability to speak, but can commune telepathically. Maybe they don’t hoard gold, but something else of innate value that your hero wants to obtain.

The first thing to consider is the audience expectation. I know some people would want to start with the creature and develop the world around this idea, but I would politely point out that’s acceptable in this genre, because the audience is so vast. An audience who wants something gritty and realistic may prefer a dragon that closely resembles a dinosaur and is mindless, pointing out that its wings can only glide and it cannot breathe fire, whereas the audience who wants romantic or epic wouldn’t mind taking liberties with wings that could not support the beast. Some audiences get hung up on these details, others don’t mind that you’re breaking *some* rules because you’re being consistent. Just be aware that if you do break rules, someone will notice, and probably will complain.

Developing mermaids for my novel was fun, because I got to make some executive decisions. For instance, do I want to make them more fairy-like, or do I want them to be almost more gruff, and consider the realities of underwater living? Some people like to draw them with extended fish features on the upper half, and it’s very obvious that it’s not just the bottom half. What do they eat? What is their culture like? What are their fins like; are they one like we traditionally see, or the more rare two-style fin?

Although I really consider the origin of merfolk to be in the greek tradition (Poseidon and his Undine, I’ll talk about that more in another post on this tour!), there’s sea-folk creatures found all over the world, so I got to be really choosey when creating my merfolk.

Giving really features to the protagonist wouldn’t have worked with a heroine like Daphne who is turned human by Lorelei and who mostly fits in – and while I’m not against Lorelei altering Daphne’s appearance further, it’s an extra step in the story that was really not important. I do draw out the characters, and there’s little hints (Daphne’s feet or skirt almost always flares out in a fish-tail like shape) but nothing to beat the audience over the head. I didn’t chose a descriptive style, and Daphne’s the main character, so we’re mostly in her perspective and it wouldn’t make sense for her to mention having ‘beachy waves’ for hair or whatever.

I had to consider the climate and the reality that most people would have froze in the water that the merfolk were in. Most creatures, especially mammals who live in cold water, have a healthy layer of blubber. I completely fudged this and regret nothing. I considered how they communicated under water, and even offered a bit of an answer, but subsequent beta readers told me that the audience (children) didn’t want a technical answer.

The next thing I had to consider was the relationship between humans and merfolk. I established that yes, some merfolk have powers related to their voices, but it’s not all of them. Because of this, humans can’t tell who can or can’t and because we’re a story telling species, they may know perhaps only a handful can, but they bring down powerful storms etc, and you can’t tell just by looking which merfolk will lure you and drown you and which ones are harmless.

Because the people the merfolk would have mostly interacted with would have been fishermen and sea faring, the people who make their livelihood from the ocean would have myths and stories about monsters of the deep, and even if they themselves were to have amicable stories about merfolk, I’d imagine that if they had travelers through their parts stories from other parts would be shared and there’d always be a healthy amount of caution given to the water. I am a prairie girl myself, and while I scuba dive and kayak, that’s mostly in and on calm waters, and I’ve been in situations where the weather changes very quickly and the winds pick up, and what was a beautiful and fun activity just got a whole lot more dangerous.

On the merfolk side, I implied that the wizards have an interest in merfolk because some of them do have elemental powers, which can be used and harnessed by the wizard under certain circumstances. Most merfolk would have developed a natural fear for being captured and imprisoned on land – whether they were sold to a wizard or put in a giant fishbowl to go with a traveling circus. That wouldn’t stop some of them from interacting from time to time – say a fisherman could befriend a young mermaid caught in his net that he released, and she’d bring him some shellfish in gratitude when he caught nothing that day, but because the world they inhabit was so different, there would be a natural fear of the unknown as well as a sense of helplessness when you’re thrust out of your element, or even trapped there even if your ‘friend’ on the other side meant well. There are many stories, including traditional Ojibwe, about merfolk (Nibiinaabe) who swam in the lakes in my area, and when children swam in areas where they should not have, almost drowned and were rescued by merfolk, only to be turned into mermaids themselves. Sounds like an exciting adventure – until you realize your legs are forever lost to you, and you yourself are now one of them.

This is just a general overview on creating a given creature, but I think it hits most of the notes to get you started. The big thing I would always consider is what other artists have done, and how they get around the technical issues. You never know, maybe someone else came to the stumbling block first and you can go into greater detail, or consider something you didn’t even think of when you were developing your version of a mythical creature.

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AUTHOR BIO:

L. T. Getty is a rural paramedic from Manitoba. She enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy and generally being creative.

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CONNECT WITH L. T. GETTY:

Blog:

http://www.ltgetty.ca

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/dreams-of-mariposa-by-l-t-getty

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6479207.L_T_Getty

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60006465-the-mermaid-and-the-unicorns

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3LBJXUN

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BOOK BUY LINKS & BOOK SALE INFO:

**The Mermaid and the Unicorns eBook is on SALE for ONLY $0.99 during the book tour!!!**

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3KXJ5Zs

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3ynVK58

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Mermaid-Unicorns-L-T-Getty-ebook/dp/B09F2MRB9N

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Mermaid-Unicorns-L-T-Getty/dp/1777698022

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mermaid-and-the-unicorns-lt-getty/1140115966?ean=9781777698034

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mermaid-and-the-unicorns-lt-getty/1140115966?ean=9781777698027

Champagne Books eBook:

https://champagnebooks.com/store/fantasy/843-witchslayer-s-scion-9781771552707.html

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-mermaid-and-the-unicorns

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-mermaid-and-the-unicorns

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

L. T. Getty will be awarding a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.