Buy on Amazon for $0.99! ---> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012QOY88C
Blurb:  When the land becomes a desert, the water will quench your soul
Orphan Lena McMillan used to think that what she shared with Truman Kent was real. Now she sees their relationship for what it really is- controlling and abusive.
She has to choose to die slowly from ‘love’ or say goodbye to the family she’s always desired. Leaving scares her though, so much so that dying seems like her only option.
But fate won’t let her quit life and Truman won’t let her quit his love. Not without a fight.
Under the layers of a lonely childhood and an adulthood romance gone wrong, a starfish holds the key to Lena’s parentage and the answer to the mesmeric ocean dreams that haunt her.
If she can find the strength to leave the only life she knows, Lena will discover the truth. And she will find a new world, one that will cleanse her of the memories of false love and abuse.
One that will finally lead her home.
Excerpt:
“I’m not crazy. I promise I’m not crazy.” I croak the words out quickly; they embarrass me.

Vera’s face melts into unassuming kindness at my words and her hand reaches up to cup my chin. She grips it firmly, making me gaze into her eyes and not look elsewhere. But I want to look away from her so badly, because what if she does not believe me now? What if she no longer thinks of me as a daydreamer? Maybe she’ll stop calling me Ocean eyes.

I am not insane…

“Listen to me, Ocean eyes. I don’t believe for a second that you’re crazy. But there’s something shimmering about you, a lightness in a dark world. It surrounds you like an amber halo. It makes you different. This world snuffs out brightness and specialness, stuffs it into a cage, and puts it behind bars. Don’t let that happen to you; don’t let evil put a barrier between your body and life.”

I open my mouth to speak, to ask her about the shimmering light that she sees, but we are no longer alone. Truman has stepped into the room quietly. I have no idea how long he’s stood there, but he is staring at Vera, unhappiness plastered across his face like an ill wish. I wonder if he’s heard what she’s said.

I wonder if he is the world ready to snuff out my brightness.

About the Author:



Eli attended USC-L, Columbia College, Texas A&M, & George Mason University. She studied everything from Mariculture to Differential Equations. Settling on Biology, Eli participated in research fellowships in Texas and at NIH, worked a few random jobs, and finally settled into a Virginia lab where she focused on mastering diagnosis procedures and implementations of histology and pathology.
Choosing to be a dedicated homemaker after the birth of her first child, Eli rediscovered her passion for writing. She's never regretted the decision. Not only are her kids the most amazing creatures, but writing fulfills her soul the way science never did. 
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Eli is the author of Dead Trees, Dead Trees 2, Mastic, DRAG.N & Z Children: Awakening. She is a contributing author to Let’s Scare Cancer to Death, State of Horror: New Jersey, State of Horror: Illinois,& Fading Hope. Her books are available in eBook, paperback, & audio formats.

Follow Eli:
  Twitter @Author_EliC
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/authorEliConstant
Books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eli-Constant/e/B00FN2O9YS/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6901568.Eli_Constant
Wordpress: https://authoreliconstant.wordpress.com/


An Interview with Eli:



1.     What is your favorite mermaid story or myth? It’s funny; I mean, I grew up with the traditional Hans Christian Anderson version of the Little Mermaid and it always made me sad. Each sister before the littlest mermaid waited patiently until she was old enough to experience the world above the water. They each came back with beautiful stories, but they always came back. They returned to their home after witnessing wonderful things. The littlest mermaid was impatient, as we all are- wanting to grow up and then once we have grown up, wanting to return to the novelty of youth- and when her time comes, she’s built this amazing vision in her head of what the dry world is like.
And then she saves a prince. And she is willing to give up everything to be with him, because if he loves her enough, more than anything else in the world, she gains a soul. So she abandons her mermaid’s tail and her long life span, even though she is warned that it will bring her nothing but sadness.
But I always thought that the sea was the little mermaid’s soul. And she gave that up, devoted every ounce of her being to winning the Prince’s hand, who would never love her.
And then she’s faced with killing her Prince or dying.
She chooses death, but finds life again in the sky.
How f***ing depressing is that?
So, I hate the traditional Little Mermaid. But, wait, I was supposed to say what was my favorite mermaid story or myth?
Well, I sort of liked J.K. Rowling’s interpretation of mermaids… Yeah, they were cool. Of course, I did ascribe to the happier version of a mermaid in The Water is Sweeter to balance out Lena’s suicidal mindset.
2.     What was the inspiration for your mermaid novella? Freedom. I’ve been a certified diver since the age of 14 (thanks, Dad!) and I always found that being in the water diving helped me separate myself from things that were going wrong in my life. I took that concept and I expanded on it, which makes The Water is Sweeter a deeply personal piece. At its core, it’s about an orphaned woman who realizes her fiancé is abusive, but she desperately clings to the idea of family. When she tries to kill herself, she finds that she’s plunged into an alter-reality beneath the waves.
3.     Cast your characters. If your novella was made into a movie, who would play your main characters? An actress playing Lena would 1) have to look great with maroon hair and 2) be adept at playing ‘beautifully broken’. I think my top pick would be Rose Leslie. She has a fierce strength, but is wonderful at deep emotion. For Truman, I’d want someone who could play the pretentious, entitled asshole, but also being devilishly sexy. Maybe Tom Hiddleston. For Vera, I’d definitely want Alfre Woodard; she’s amazing.
4.     What was most challenging thing writing about mermaids? I wanted the details to feel real, to force my readers to plunge into the water and experience what Lena was experiencing. I didn’t want to be too over-the-top with shimmering green tails and other Disney-esque details. I wanted balance. That was difficult as I’ve been so inundated with the happier version of mermaids. The hardest thing though was getting into the mind of a woman who truly feels that suicide might be preferable to living. It’s a dark place. I’ve been there and it jolts the psyche.
5.     Ursula or Ariel? Ursula, hands down. I loved the most recent season of Once Upon a Time. Villains need to win every now and then. And Ursula was so wonderfully conniving in the Disney movie (she was less so in the original HCA story, actually warning the littlest mermaid of what trading in her tail would bring).

6.     What else should we know about your novella? It has a lot of ugliness in it- flashbacks to an abusive foster home, the reality of psychological/verbal abuse in a relationship. If you’re going to read it, be ready to read all of it, not just the happy bits under the sea. 
********DFW Writers Conference (www.dfwcon.org)
 Holy. Cow. I attended my first ever DFW Write Con with fellow first timer, Author Bokerah Brumley (www.superbokerah.com), and DFW Write Con veteran Author Anna Albergucci (www.facebook.com/annaalbergucci.author). It was a whirlwind of a weekend, classes, panels, meetings. One-on-one sessions. We all came away with something positive and something to consider. It was amazing, and I'm hoping that I can return next year. If you'd like to see what we were up to, hop on to my twitter feed: twitter.com/adraeger.  My goal for this conference was to up my tweeting game, and I think I did. ;) Special thanks to the organizers, members of the DFW Writers Workshop, and the special guests - the agents, editors, and authors who traveled to come speak and mingle with us. <3 
PS. If you are interested in going to the DFW Writers Conference next year (held at Fort Worth Convention Center), they have a *super* early bird price of $190 until August 18th - you can find it on Eventbrite.com.

PPS. Wish me luck and say a prayer as I work furiously on my story/manuscript. The odds are always against an author, but here's hoping for a good shot at selling it. ;)

<3 <3 <3