The Little Mermaid gets a new twist with Sarah Henning’s Sea Witch series! I’m excited to welcome the author herself to the blog today for an exclusive interview!

Interview

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Introduce us to your main character!

SEA WITCH RISING picks up right after SEA WITCH’s epilogue, so there are a few spoilers ahead if you haven’t read SEA WITCH, just FYI.

SEA WITCH RISING follows alternating points of view between Evie from SEA WITCH and Runa, the twin sister of the mermaid who Evie helps go above to win the heart of NIk’s grandson in the epilogue of SEA WITCH. Runa is fiercely loyal and will do anything to help her sister succeed and live through her bargain, including making her own deal with the sea witch.

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What is your Hogwarts house?

If you ask my writer friends, I’m a SlytherPuff because I’m nice but ambitious but I actually test almost equally Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. So maybe I’m divergent all the way around? LOL.

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Your characters are sent into the Hunger Games. Who wins?

Well, Evie is tethered by magic to her ink-shadowed cove and unable to surface, so she’d be at a major disadvantage. Runa, however, because she’s been changed into a human to rescue her sister, would have a major advantage over everyone else because her magic translates on land and she’s determined to get the heck out of the games because her sister has a ticking clock.

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You just won America’s Got Talent. What’s your talent?

I was a competitive gymnast as a kid, so I’d be in an acrobatics troop. I mean, as long as my previous skills would randomly regenerate or I wouldn’t make the troop to begin with.

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Radioactive space rock fell from the sky and turned you into a superhero/villain. Tell us your new name, describe your powers, and what does your costume look like?

I’d be the sea witch, of course. The most powerful magical creature in the sea, but tethered by an unbreakable spell to a sunspot on the ocean. I’d consider it the true vacation I never really get because I’m always working through my vacation days.

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This morning you woke up with the ability to time travel to only one time period. Where (or more accurately “when”) would you go?

I’ve always been interested in Wild West-era Kansas, though that wouldn’t exactly be the calmest place to live. But it would be interesting to see the birth of my home state despite its super bloody history.

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Coffee or tea?

Most of my life I would’ve answered this question “tea” but publishing has turned me into a coffee drinker. I survived having two kids and a second-shift journalism career without it but my first real rounds of edits did me in. Now I love the ritual of drinking coffee while writing or editing every morning.

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Best ice cream flavor ever?

We have a local shop that mixes crushed up Oreos with cookie dough and a vanilla base and it is amazing. Also, I still think about a super delicious coconut gelato I had literally ten years ago in South Florida.

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Your theme song/personal anthem?

I don’t know if it’s a personal anthem but “The One Moment” by OK Go will probably find a place on every novel playlist I make from here on out. It’s a few years old but I only found out about it recently and it just fits so well with so many of the themes I touch on in my stories.

That said, my theme song for SEA WITCH RISING is “Rise” by Katy Perry. It was that way before we’d settled on a title! I promise. Anyway, the lyrics are perfect for the story and pertain to both Evie and Runa.

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Favorite quote?

Carpe Diem. (Seize the Day)

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What is one piece of advice you would tell everyone?

Trust your heart and your brain. They won’t let you down.

About the Books

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Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.

Book Depository Amazon Barnes & Noble Indiebound Wordery

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“The Little Mermaid” takes a twisted turn in this thrilling sequel to villainess origin story Sea Witch, as the forces of land and sea clash in an epic battle for freedom, redemption, and true love.

Runa will not let her twin sister die. Alia traded her voice to the Sea Witch for a shot at happiness with a prince who doesn’t love her. And his rejection will literally kill her—unless Runa intervenes.

Under the sea, Evie craves her own freedom—but liberation from her role as Sea Witch will require an exchange she may not be willing to make. With their hearts’ desires at odds, what will Runa and Evie be willing to sacrifice to save their worlds?

Told from alternating perspectives, this epic fairy tale retelling is a romantic and heart-wrenching story about the complications of sisterhood, the uncompromising nature of magic, and the cost of redemption.

Book Depository Amazon Barnes & Noble Indiebound Wordery

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