Sandy M’s review of Catch of a Lifetime (Mer Series, Book 3) by Judi Fennell
Paranormal Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 5 Jan 10

Judi Fennell’s fun, lighthearted series comes to an end with this book, and there’s a little more seriousness in this one than the previous two. I think that’s probably why it’s my favorite of the three. There’s still the whimsical aspect of life under the ocean, sea monsters and all, but when it comes to life and death in this book, it has a little more impact than its predecessors.

I think that has to do with the fact that a child is involved in this story. Children always seem to pull at the heart strings with their vulnerabilities but stiff upper lip facade, all the while their chin quivers as they hold back emotion. You can’t help but love them and hope all turns for the best. Michael is no different in this case.

But let’s start at the beginning. Angel is the sister of Rod and Reel (I still can’t help but chuckle a little when referring to those twin brothers), who are the heroes of the first two books. She’s always been fascinated with humans. But Rod, now High Councilman of Atlantis, won’t even give her an interview for the coalition he’s proposing to finally let humans know all about their existence, in hopes of cleaning up the planet of its pollutants. So she’s going to prove to him and the rest of the council she’s the woman for the job. What she doesn’t count on is Harry the Hammerhead.

Finding a beautiful, sleeping woman on his boat is the last thing Logan expects, his reaction to her the next least expected thing. As much as he’d like to explore that reaction, his six-year-old son is now living with him after being dumped by his mother, so he puts a damper on the libido and tries to get rid of the woman fast. That doesn’t quite work when Michael gets a look at her and she ends up being the boy’s babysitter. And working her way into Logan’s heart.

Having taken refuge on Logan’s boat when Harry spies her as a late-night snack, she immediately becomes quite smitten with Logan, the best specimen of a human she’s ever seen. And Michael works his magic on her too. But when Logan finds out Angel is Mer, his logic flies out the window and he demands she get out his life for good. With nowhere else to turn, Angel goes home to face the Council, knowing her fate is dim due to all of the laws she’s broken in associating with Logan and Michael.

But it’s Michael who can’t bear the loss of Angel and goes in search of her under the ocean with the help of a shark looking for dinner. Logan quickly follows to rescue his son, Angel intercepts him, taking the blame for the current circumstances, and they find themselves trapped by the ugliest monster from the sea’s depths. So they must work together to save the child, even though Angel knows their survival is slim to none.

I’m a sucker for father and son stories and Ms. Fennell does a good job of getting the roiling emotions running through both Logan and Michael as they learn about each other. Angel is the princess who’s gotten everything any girl could want, except what she wants most, or at least she thought so. Things change quickly for both Logan and Angel, ups and downs along the way, heading for their happily-ever-after.

This was an enjoyable series and Catch of a Lifetime tops it off quite well. The series doesn’t take itself too seriously, though. It’s to be read to take away the doldrums, not as a heavy, full-of-platitudes book you have to concentrate on. Take it for what it is and you’ll have fun with it.

Grade: B+

Read more about this series by following its tag here.

Summary:

She’s on a mission to save the planet…

Mermaid Angel Tritone has been researching humans from afar, hoping to find a way to convince them to stop polluting.

When she jumps into a boat to escape a shark attack, it’s her chance to pursue her mission, but she has to keep her identity a total secret…

When he finds out what she really is, they’re both in mortal danger…

For Logan Hardington, finding a beautiful woman on his boat is surely not a problem—until he discovers she’s a mermaid, and suddenly his life is on the line…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Sandy M’s review of Wild Blue Under (Mer Series, Book 2) by Judi Fennell
Contemporary Paranormal Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 3 Nov 09

The fun and the intrigue continue in this second book in the Mer series by Ms. Fennell. This time, however, most of the action is inland instead of under the sea. I actually like this book a tad better than In Over Her Head. There’s still a slight lack of the family connection/emotion that I also wanted in the first book, but overall I was highly entertained throughout the story.

Instead of fish as secondary characters, this time around we get birds. From seagulls to sparrows, there’s a variety of avian represented by either helping Rod and Valerie or working against them as they race toward the ocean to save the earth, or so Rod has been told by the Atlantis Council. It’s Livingston the Seagull who steals the show most of the time. He’s the head of security for sea creatures and he loves food, especially human food, salty French fries being a favorite.

Rod has been sent to find Valerie, the half-human/half-Mer woman who is pivotal in The Prophecy and has no idea she’s not all human. He has to figure out a way to get her to the ocean, where the Council and the Gods will take over, but in the middle of his attempts to get Val to their destination, the coup to bring down the current royal family hits hard, leaving Rod, Valerie, and Livingston on their own, fighting off a contingent of fish-bomb carrying birds, among others, lead by a revenge-seeking JR, a seagull intent on teaching Rod’s father a thing or two.

Valerie is only along for the ride to take possession of the inheritance her no-good father left her, thereby saving the ocean-themed souvenir shop her mother started on the open plains of Kansas. She’s always been restless, moving around looking for something she can’t name, but when Valerie’s mother passes away, she realizes that little shop is home and where she needs to be. Saving it from the tax man suddenly seems easy when Rod shows up spouting news about her father, a man she’s glad she never knew.

Through the many dangers that blocks their way, the antics of a talking seagull, and the intrigue of what they’ll find at the end of their journey, Rod and Valerie try to fight their growing attraction. But when Rod is denied his tail when finally back home in the water, when it becomes clear who wants him dead, he realizes for the first time he hasn’t really been living his life in preparing to become High Councilman. His life is the woman who stuck by him through thick and thin, to hell with everything else. But will the gods agree and let him walk away to spend a normal life with Valerie?

I really liked how Valerie adapted to every situation that came at them on the road, choosing to stay instead of run like she’s done all of her life. There’s a couple of female sparrows, Maybelle and Adele, who are so cute, and they do their part in helping keep Rod and Valerie safe.

Similar to what happened in the first book, what I didn’t get was a meeting between the brothers, Rod and Reel, when it’s Rod’s guilt over a situation with Reel that has guided him through his life so far. I realize it’s Valerie’s love and his own realizations that help him on that score, but the added emotion that could have come from such scenes with the brothers would have been very welcome.

But this is still a light-hearted book that keeps the fun and smiles coming just as its predecessor did. It’s different and it’s entertaining. I mean, who wouldn’t want a Mer man if he showed up at their door out of the blue? Fanciful fantasy to the very end.

Grade: B+

Summary:

Rod Tritone, heir to the throne of the undersea world, needs a queen capable of ruling the oldest kingdom on earth. Someone regal, learned and of noble birth. Problem is, the only eligible noble-born Mer princess is half-Human – and she doesn’t have a clue about the non-Human part.

Valerie Dumere has screwed up her life at every turn, so when her mother dies and leaves her the family business, Val realizes it’s up to her to buckle down and get her life on track. No more excuses.

So when a guy shows up claiming to be her destiny, she scoffs. No way. She isn’t running away from her responsibilities ever again – no matter how good the guy looks without a shirt.

But Rod isn’t going away. He can’t claim his inheritance without her – and Val will lose hers if she goes with him.

It’s going to take one whale of a tale to get her to chuck it all and follow him off into the wild blue under…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Sandy M’s review of In Over Her Head (Mer Series, Book 1) by Judi Fennell
Paranormal Romance released by Sourcebooks Casablanca 1 Jun 09

I have to say after our Duck Chat with Judi Fennell where we learned she’s afraid of the ocean and, therefore, went with that idea and gave her heroine the same fear, I wanted to read this book to see what she did with it all. What I got was a light, fun, and quirky read that put a smile on my face.

I have a feeling this book might not be for everyone, however. Ms. Fennell takes our colloquialisms and gives them a new look and sound that fits perfectly in Erica and Reel’s under-the-sea world. “Hello? Sea to Reel” and son-of-a-Mer as a couple of quick examples. And there’s other little cutesie things, like Reel’s brother’s name is Rod. Come on, you have to laugh at that. It’s fun and it’s light-hearted. Don’t go looking for anything dark with morals or anything like that.

Though the Mers do have a time with sea monsters and the usual predators swimming around at such deep depths. After Reel turns Erica into a water-breathing half-breed of sorts, they’re sent by the Atlantis council to retrieve stolen diamonds from Ceto, the ostracized mother of Medusa, who sends out scavengers when a ship goes down. Thinking they’ll be able to waltz in and out, diamonds in hand, because he’s dealt with her once before, Reel is in for a huge surprise when Ceto reveals her demand for their release.

Able to escape with their lives and little else, Ceto’s son, a true sea monster, chases them across the ocean floor, cornering them on a deserted island where their attraction for one another finally hits its pinnacle. Reel is delighted to be with Erica and has thought of her daily since he saw years ago as a child, a time that scarred her both inside and out. Erica now has to come to grips with the fact she may never live on land again and will have to call the one place she fears home.

I enjoyed Reel’s character quite a bit. He’s the spare, as in heir and a spare. He’s never gotten along with his father due to his father’s disappointment in him. So over the years he’s given his father and the council a lot of grief. We learn near the end of the book that not all is as it seems regarding father and son, and that was really my only disappointment of the book. I wanted to see these two together, feel their emotion when they finally face each other concerning their history.

Erica’s character was just okay for me. She does come up to snuff when the chips are down, saving Reel a time or two when he needs it. But I didn’t like her attitude of not accepting Reel for who and what he is. She tries, but she always falls back on his with/without a tail business and that just didn’t seem true to her character. She knows what it’s like to have everyone talk about her or believe certain things about her because of her fears, so I thought she could have been much more accepting. She does eventually take him like he is, but it’s almost too late.

There are a number of fun sea characters roaming about who give a lot of comic relief. I also enjoyed Reel’s relationship with his mother and sisters. Erica has a good relationship with her family, but we see that only in her remembrances of them. All in all, if you’re looking for a fun time after reading a lot of suspense or thrillers, this is the book to pick up. Take it for what it is and just enjoy yourself!

Grade: B

Summary:

When Erica Peck, one terrified-of-the-ocean marina owner, finds herself at the bottom of the sea conversing with a Mer man named Reel, she thinks she’s died and gone to her own version of Hell. When the Oceanic Council demands she and Reel retrieve a lost cache of diamonds from the resident sea monster in return for their lives, she knows she’s died and gone to Hell.

When they escape the monster and end up on a deserted island, she amends her opinion – she’s died and gone to Heaven.

But when Reel sacrifices himself to allow her to return to her world, she realizes that, Heaven or Hell, with Reel, she’s In Over Her Head.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

This just in…

Judi Fennell has just announced she’s signed her second contract for a new series with Sourcebooks!

~ “Think I Dream of Jeannie meets Indiana Jones,” Judi said.

~ The working title for each book is I Dream of Genies, Genie Knows Best, and Leave It to Genie.

~ Short synopses of each book can be found at Judi’s blog.

~ This new series is not connected to Judi’s ever-popular Mer series. But from her comment on her blog, there hopefully will be more books forthcoming in the world of her Mer!

Consider yourself flashed.

We had a terrific day with Judi Fennell during her Duck Chat and we’d like to thank her very much!

Now let’s find out who won the mermaid cell phone charm Judi had up for grabs! Drumroll, please!!

With the help of that handy-dandy random number organizer, our winner is:

**PamS (18)**

Congrats, Pam! Please send your snail mail address to lighthousetagger (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll get hold of Judi for you!

Welcome back to Duck Chat!

Debut author Judi Fennell joins us today to talk about her new series and a lot of other fun stuff.

Judi’s first book in her Mer series is In Over Her Head and it’s flying off the shevles as people find out about it, and it’s getting some great buzz all over the place. Her very first taste at publication came when Reader’s Digest ran a pieces of hers and that led to her stories finaling in contest after contest.

Like most authors she caught the writing bug early, mesmerizing anyone and everyone with her stories, and now she’s actually living her dream and loving every minute of it. Judi is married and has a houseful of kids and pets. She loves pop culture and, in her words, “manipulating language.” That alone should make reading her books loads of fun for readers. Well, sexy mermen are a plus too!

Judi has kindly offered a charming mermaid cell phone charm has a giveaway today, so be sure to leave a meaningful comment or question for her and we’ll put you in the running. A picture of the charm is included below in the interview. Now let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Wow, Judi, folks are clamoring for your new books! Congratulations. First would you tell us the idea behind the stories and how they’ve evolved into the books now being published?

JUDI FENNELL: I didn’t start In Over Her Head thinking there would be a Mer series. I was actually writing another series of twists on Fairy Tales: Beauty and The Best, Cinda Bella, Fairest of Them All. The next one in the series was a twist on The Little Mermaid and the easiest way to twist it was to make HIM the Mer. So I did. Then I entered the story in an online contest similar to American Idol, called First Chapters Romance on Gather.com. (Beauty and The Best was one of the Top 20 Finalists in the original First Chapters contest for all genre fiction, out of almost 2700 entries, as well as a finalist in the third American Title Contest sponsored by Romantic Times Magazine and Dorchester Publishing.)

I hadn’t planned on entering any online contests (people were sick of me asking them to vote for my story), but the day the contest was announced I had more than 100 people I didn’t know email me to ask me to enter. So I quickly edited In Over Her Head and entered.

When it made the Top 5 Finalists and was going to the final round judges, I knew I wanted the judges to know (two editors, the CEO of Gather.com and Sue Grimshaw, Romance Buyer for Borders Books) that I wasn’t a one-trick pony. That this world I’d built could lend itself to other books. So I came up with the partials for the next two books in the series and waited. In the interim, I garnered multiple agent offers, accepted one, then didn’t win a publishing contract from the contest. Sue Grimshaw was a big advocate of the story and gave me some great advice, as well as talking it up to editors for me, and once my editor, Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks, learned there was more than just one story, it went pretty quickly. From submission to Deb to an accepted agreement, was one month.

DC: In Over Her Head hit the shelves last month. This is Reel and Erica’s book. Would you give our readers a little insight into their story?

JF: Reel is the second son of the Mer ruler, destined by the gods to be The Spare, and, therefore, has legs and a mortal life span. His brother, Rod, gets the throne, all the power, a tail, and Immortality. It kinda rankles him. Throw in the fact that whatever he does is never good enough for his father—including the fact that he almost revealed his existence to a Human girl when they were both kids—and Reel has kind of tossed in the towel on ever living up to his father’s expectations.

Then Erica—the girl, now woman, he fell in love with all those years ago—is in the water, shot by her ex-fiancé. There’s a shark about to eat her, and, well, the hell with the rules about not letting Humans know about Mers. He has to save her. And the only way he can do that is by kissing water-breathing ability into her. But, by doing so, he’s now condemned her to a life under the sea, something Erica, who’s terrified of the ocean all thanks to some incident she doesn’t remember from her childhood, doesn’t like at all—especially when The Oceanic Council demands that she and Reel recover the stolen diamonds she’d accidentally thrown overboard from her ex-fiancé’s boat (hence the reason she was in the water in the first place).

So Erica and Reel are off on an undersea adventure to recover the stolen diamonds, outwit a few sea monsters, and somehow come to terms with their diverse lives and the growing attraction between them.

That special treat time – an excerpt from In Over His Head:

Reel crossed his arms and studied her. “You’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would. I didn’t know Humans had such open minds.”

“Apparently we have lots of neat tricks, us humans. Like breathing water, for instance.” Erica sucked in a few pints just for kicks and giggles. She hoped she remembered this hallucination when her body recovered from the bends.

“Actually, you can’t breathe water.”

“But I am, ergo, I can.” She demonstrated again.

“Well, that’s only because I did that to you. To save your life.”

“Oh. Right.” She choked on that last pint. “Um, to save my life? Well, that’s a relief. I had thought that I might be um, well, dead, but then, this certainly isn’t my idea of Heaven. So, I’m alive but unconscious? I just have the bends, right? I mean, yes, I’m seeing you as a naked, water-breathing stud-muffin, but you’re really just an illusion, aren’t you? Maybe a doctor at the hospital some passing boater took me to?”

Reel didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. The tittering of the little fish scattered among the whelk art answered for him.

“Um, Reel…?”

“Erica, I think you better rest on the bottom.”

“Why?” She did as he suggested, but put her hands up as he floated toward her. He had to be a figment of her imagination. He had to.

“Sweetheart, you’ve been out for a few days and you’re not in a hospital. You can’t have the bends because you never went up to the surface. Chum reminded me about them, actually. So I did the only thing I could.”

His face was grave, which, considering the situation, might not be an appropriate analogy, but then, what was appropriate when facing the impossible?

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“I turned you.”

“Turned me?” Somehow, that phrase did not offer comfort.

“Yes. Into a water-breather.” He crossed his arms, which flared some really nice pecs that tapered down to slim hips and–

Wait a minute–

“A fish? You turned me into a fish?” Forget the pecs. And other parts.

“Not a fish. Do you see any fins? Gills? You’re not even a Mer. I just gave you the ability to breathe underwater. Otherwise, you would’ve drowned. And Vincent would’ve had the right to, well, eat you. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Well, see? That made sense. “And Vincent was the, um, shark?”

“That’s right.” The faintest glimmer of pearly whites showed between his lips.

“And he wanted me for dinner.”

“Yes.” A bigger smile.

“So you somehow managed to re-route my entire oxygenation system and voila! Here I am at the bottom of the sea.”

“That’s it.” Full-out grin going.

“I’m going to be sick.” She turned her face to the side and felt her insides heave.

But then the floor blinked at her.

“What the hell was that?” she screamed, crab-walking backward.

“Flounder. They like to hang out in here since no predators are allowed.”

She put a hand on her chest, her heart beating three times as fast as normal. Or was that now normal with her newly-acquired aqua lungs? “Well there’s a relief. So I won’t have to worry about my body being torn apart by Vincent or others like him? Good to know. Now if I could only guarantee my mind won’t fall apart, I’ll be just fine.”

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

JF: Do they ever! I had no idea when I started that Reel had a twin brother named Rod. I had no idea why he’s the smart ass that he is. When the scene happens where he thinks something so bitter, so emotional, I kind of sat back and went, “Oh! That’s why he is the way he is!” It was a poignant moment for me, the author, to really get to know my characters. That’s why I don’t like to do character sketches or interviews with the characters. I love discovering them and why they are the way they are.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

JF: Heh. When I was writing Catch of a Lifetime, the third book in the series, the story started to go in a direction I hadn’t intended/foreseen/wanted. I tried to steer it back to where I thought it should go. The characters just wouldn’t let me. I know from past writing experience to let them tell the story, so I went with it. Turns out there was a whole bunch of stuff in my subconscious that knew where the story needed to go and I absolutely love the story. So I guess you’d say the characters usually win.

DC: Though it probably gets asked a lot at this point, tell us about “the call.” It has to be doubly sweet now that the reading community is embracing your books so warmly and so quickly.

JF: My editor and I have known each other for a while and she’d already rejected a few projects. I saw her at the Long Island Luncheon and she said she wanted something to work for us and to send her the last project she’d rejected and she’d give me feedback to make it workable. So I knew she wanted to work with me and I definitely wanted to work with her. Deb is amazing when she edits my stories—she can see exactly what needs tweaking. Anyhow, I told her that she had In Over Her Head in her queue, and then the fact that it was part of a series and the other two partials were done came up. She immediately jumped on that, told me to send them to her, which I did on Monday. Four weeks later, she called me to tell me she was taking it in to editorial, and I could probably expect to hear from her in two days. That flew out the window when I got an email from her while she was in the meeting the next day that they wanted to buy the series. So, it wasn’t quite The Call, more like The Email. When I opened The Email, I yelped, then ran into my family room and cried. Kids and Hubs gave me hugs, I made a few phone calls, then grabbed a book and hit the sofa to read it. It was an incredible feeling that I hope everyone gets to experience.

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

JF: A mess. I can’t work when my work area or rooms that I pass through are a mess. It drives me crazy. That’s why, if I’m under deadline, I’ll leave my office and go to Borders or Barnes & Noble to write.

DC: Your second book, Wild Blue Under, will be out in November. Can you give us a sneak peek into Rod and Valerie’s story?

JF: Rod is the heir to the Mer throne but he can’t take over until he fulfills The Prophecy—to bring the lost Mer princess back to Atlantis. Trouble is, Valerie lives in Kansas, has no idea she’s half-Mer and thinks she’s allergic to the ocean.

DC: Is there another genre you would like to try in the future?

JF: Not right now. I’m writing the kinds of stories I like to read, so I’m very happy where I am.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

JF: Ah, woulda/coulda/shoulda. I knew years ago that romance writing was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t pursue it. It wasn’t until my youngest started school that I focused on it. My advice would be to have started writing earlier and to have joined RWA back then.

DC: You’ve got a terrific contest running on your website. Would you like to tell our readers about it?

JF: I’ve teamed up with the Atlantis Inn in Ocean City, NJ and the Hibiscus House B&B in West Palm Beach, FL to offer a romantic beach getaway weekend for each book release. The first drawing was held on June 30, 2009 and the winner was Kate Hackett from Belcamp, MD. The next drawing is November 30, 2009 (Wild Blue Under releases Nov 1), followed by another drawing on February 28, 2010 (Catch of a Lifetime releases Feb 1). All the rules and entry information are on my website, and if you enter for November’s drawing, you’re automatically entered for February’s.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

JF: Stay-at-home-mom by day, Romance writer by night, Judi Fennell has a brain full of useless trivia that somehow ends up showing up in her stories.

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

JF: Tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted paranormal.

DC: Catch of a Lifetime is Logan and Angel’s book and it’s due out in February of next year. Can give us a look into what we can expect in their story?

JF: Angel Tritone is a Mer princess determined to earn the position of Director of the Mer/Human Coalition, but Rod, her brother, the High Councilman, won’t let her even apply for the job. So she sets out to prove herself worthy, only to have to swim from a hammerhead bent on a Mer meal and ends up on a Human’s boat.

Logan Hardington has a surprise six-year-old son show up who wants a mermaid for his birthday. Right. Like mermaids are real. Besides, the last thing Logan needs after his flighty, irresponsible, obviously birth-control-challenged ex-girlfriend is anything out of the ordinary. Having grown up in the circus and run away from it, all Logan wants is Normal.

So when a naked woman shows up on his boat and his son demands she be his babysitter, Logan is determined that normal is what his son’s life will be. Problem is, he can’t decide if Angel is just another fish in the sea or the Catch of a Lifetime.

DC: Will there be any other related books to these three down the road?

JF: As I said to my editor, it’s a big ocean out there. I’ve got ideas for Mariana’s and Pearl’s stories, as well as a few others, so we’ll see.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

JF: I was a professional meeting planner before having children, a job I absolutely loved. The travel aspect, however, didn’t work with our version of a family, so I stayed home. I would probably go back into that industry later on in life, but I would much rather be doing this.

DC: What’s on the horizon for Judi Fennell?

JF: Hopefully a long writing career.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?    – Milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?     – Smooth
- heels or flats?    – Heels
- coffee or tea?     – Hot chocolate
- summer or winter?     – Winter
- mountains or beach?      – Mountains
- mustard or mayonnaise?     – Mustard
- flowers or candy?     – Flowers (roses, lavender)
- pockets or purse?     – Pockets whenever possible
- Pepsi or Coke?     – Rootbeer
- ebook or print?    – Print

And because we still have a lot of fun with them:

1. What is your favorite word?    – I’ve got two – Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) because it’s fun to say and I love the number 13, and joie de vivre because it’s fun to pronounce and I love its meaning – joy of life.
2. What is your least favorite word?    – Can’t say it here, but most women hate this word.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – Laughter
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – Bad news/bad attitudes around me
5. What sound or noise do you love?    – Those quiet sighs a newborn baby makes.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?     – Napkins being ground between your teeth (my sister does this just to annoy me – still!)
7. What is your favorite curse word?    -  Freakin’
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?   – Movie star (this is not a surprise to people who know me)
9. What profession would you not like to do?     – Oyster diver-I’m a big chicken when it comes to the ocean, which made writing Erica’s fear so easy to do.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?      -”We’ve been waiting an awfully long time for you to get here!”

Thanks so much for having me!

DC: And thank you, Judi, for spending the day with us!