ABOUT Dreaming of the Sea:
Years ago when her mother traded her to the Sea Witch for a love potion, she became the witch’s apprentice. Now Gia Chantal must find her own apprentice. If she doesn’t, the Devil won’t take her soul when she dies, and she’ll spend eternity tormented for every spiritual crime she’s ever committed. However, it’s the 21st century, and Gia doesn’t know where to begin when it comes to finding her replacement. She’ll turn to social media mastermind Cole—an exiled mer prince—to help her.
Ten-year-old, Miriam, an orphan with visionary tendencies, sought refuge in a convent to escape a life on the streets. Now a young woman, the walls and rules that have kept her safe for over a decade feel constricting. When she comes across the ad to be the wealthy Gia’s caretaker, she’s never wanted anything more in her life… until she meets Cole.
Dreaming of the Sea is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. In the original tale, after falling in love with a human prince, the little mermaid yearns to win his love—and gain an immortal soul—thus her bargain with the sea witch…
In this contemporary retelling, after refusing to heed a merman's warnings, a young woman will make a different kind of bargain with the Sea Witch...
~ EXCERPT ~
She was seven years old when the first mermaid came to their lair—a devastating encounter never to be forgotten. Gertrude had never fathomed herself as hideous, until she gawked at the mermaid’s silky hair, smooth complexion, and glimmering fins. In a blink, happy oblivion deserted the sea witch’s apprentice.
After the young girl took the potion that would transform her fins into human legs, Gertrude was full of questions for Beulah.
“Why are we so ugly?” she asked.
“Witches must be fierce creatures.” Beulah nodded towards the graceful form of the retreating mermaid. “Who would be afraid of something like that?”
She had a point, but Gertrude had already decided the mermaid’s beauty was another kind of spell. Everything and everyone stopped to stare at her. Certainly, the power to garner such attention was no small thing. Gertrude began to wonder: If her hair was smooth and flowing, not snake-like, and her complexion was fair, not pocked and scarred; if her form was comely, not in the shape of a blob with crooked hands and teeth protruding… perhaps her mother wouldn’t have traded her in the first place.
It set Gertrude to dreaming.
Beulah, who’d been enticed into her apprenticeship by promises of power when she was a young, impoverished girl whacked Gertrude on the side of the head. “Be grateful for what you’ve got.” She smashed a handful of fried sea beetles into her mouth. “There’s lots of girls who’d be glad to take your place. Your mother did you a favor bringing you to me early on. You’ve got lots of time to study and develop your cunning. By the time I’m gone, you’ll be one of the most powerful sea witches there ever was.”
Gertrude wished the thought made her more happy. “Why did the mermaid want to trade her shining fins for a pair of legs?” she asked. “I could understand it better, if she had a black snake tail like you and me.”
Beulah cuffed her again. “Nothing’s wrong with our tails, girl.”
By now, the back of Gertrude’s head and her jaw smarted. “But why did she want legs?”
“She’s fallen in love with some human. Folks fall in love, they’re willing to sacrifice everything.” Beulah let out a belch. It came out as a yellow-green gaseous cloud that hung in the water between her and Gertrude. “If you ask me, the mermaid wanted to make the trade because she’s stupid.”
“But she gave you her beautiful voice. What are you going to do with it?”
“The day will come when its best use will become clear to me. Until then—” Beulah ran her finger over a pile of bottles filled with rays of fluorescent gold, blue, green, and pink. “I’ll just be hoarding it, because I don’t like to let go of anything. You never know when it might come in handy.”
