Book Blitz: How to be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes (Guest Post + Giveaway)

Title: How to be a Mermaid
Author: Erin Hayes
Publication Date: July 7, 2015

Synopsis: All Tara ever wanted was to be a mermaid.

So she takes a year off between high school and college to don a fake tail and tour aquariums across the country in a professional mermaid troupe.

Everything’s great until she meets a gorgeous real-life merman named Finn. Suddenly, what she thought was a dream turns out to be a nightmare — she’s turning into a mermaid herself. For real.

Yet when she returns to the sea to seek out Finn and reverse her transformation, she finds herself in the middle of an impending war between the land and sea. Tara may have always wanted to be a mermaid, but now it’s sink or swim. In order to survive, she has to learn how to be one, too.

About the Author: Sci-fi junkie, video game nerd, and wannabe manga artist Erin Hayes writes a lot of things. Sometimes she writes books, like the fantasy mystery novel Death is but a Dream, the sci-fi middle grade book Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average, and the Her Wolf paranormal series. She works as an advertising copywriter during the day, and she moonlights as an author. She has lived in New Zealand, Texas, and now in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, cat, and a growing collection of geek paraphernalia. You can reach her at erinhayesbooks@gmail.com and she'll be happy to chat. Especially if you want to debate Star Wars.

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Guest Post:

When I first started writing How to be a Mermaid, I knew next to nothing about professional mermaiding. I looked online, watched videos, and kept an eye on forums, but I didn’t think I’d get a chance to see a mermaid in real life. And if it wasn’t for the Georgia Aquarium’s Festival of the SEAson, I probably still wouldn’t have been able to.

As part of the Georgia Aquarium’s Christmas celebrations, the famous Weeki Wachee Mermaids did a special performance at the aquarium. I went to a meet and greet with one of the mermaids and watched them do a live show.

It was one of those defining moments in my life. Watching these mermaids perform was like watching fantasies come true. Up until that point, mermaids were a thing of myth.

The mermaids of Weeki Wachee brought them to life for me.

While I was there, I also did a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium. My wonderful guide took me to areas where a lot of aquarium goers don’t venture. I got to see my favorite animals, the whale sharks, from a whole new perspective. I learned that they ship in food everyday from New Zealand for a particular animal’s diet. And I saw the inner workings of one of the world’s biggest aquariums.

The mermaids were enchanting, but I found that the living, breathing aquarium was just as magical. There are far too many things on this earth that we take for granted. The beauty of the sea is one of them.

The entire experience was eye-opening. A lot of conservation efforts are going on taking care of the animals and our oceans.

If we don’t take care of our environment, there will be less opportunities for future generations to see the beautiful ocean and its creatures.

Finn, Tara, King Oceanus, and King Leviathan may take care of the oceans in this book, but it is our responsibility to do more.

We have a fantastical, magical world around us. We need to take care of it, too.

Giveaway:
A mermaid care package to help you be the best mermaid: 
-A signed copy of How to be a Mermaid Tara's necklace
-Two Mermaid Mix soaks A mermaid mirror compact
-Six starfish hairpins
-A mermaid wallet
-Mermaid perfume
-Mermaid Tail Nail Polish
-A mermaid makeup bag
-Four Little Mermaid Buttons
-And one mermaid handbag to carry all your dinglehoppers

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Kristen ♥