Interview with Tera Lynn Childs, Author of Forgive My Fins

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Tera Lynn Childs. Tera Lynn Childs is a wannabe goddess and the award winning author of Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp and the upcoming mermaid tail, Forgive My Fins. Tera lives nowhere in particular, but has spent time fleeing hurricanes, blogging with the Buzz Girls and the Fivers, and writing wherever she can find a comfy chair and a steady stream of caffeinated beverages.

Your latest novel, Forgive My Fins is about a half-human mermaid princess who stirs up a world of trouble when she bestows a magical first kiss on the wrong boy. Can you share with us a favorite line from the novel?

"Bet Benson could never kiss you like that." (It's a little silly out of context, but anyone who's read the book will understand why that's my favorite line!)

What three words do you think best describe Lily, the half-human mermaid from Forgive My Fins trying to fit in on land and have a normal high school experience?

Awkward, loyal, and well-intentioned.

Being that Forgive My Fins is about mermaids, can you tell us about any particularly interesting tidbits of mermaid folklore you uncovered in your research?

Hmm, I'm not sure I did that much research into mermaid lore, because I mostly created my own. But I know they're supposed to swim around topless (not true!) and be obsessed with shiny objects (also false!) and totally vain (not--okay, sometimes true). In my mermaid world, they have eyes that glitter when they cry, can transfigure back and forth between mer and terraped (human) form at will, and have a mer mark on the back of their neck that matches the color of their tailfin. Making things up is half the fun!

You are the author of the novels “Oh. My. Gods” and “Goddess Boot Camp” which are based on Phoebe, a girl who moves to a new school in the Aegean Sea and finds out all her classmates are all descendants of Greek gods! So my question to you is this- would you rather be a mermaid like Lily or have superpowers like Phoebe?

Hands-down a mermaid. I'm a water baby. I was a competitive swimmer growing up and spent as much time in or around the water as possible. I dreamed of being able to stay under forever without, you know, drowning. Being a mermaid would be a dream come true.

If you had to pick an actress to play Lily in the movie version of your book, is there anyone that comes to mind? How about for the hunky Quinn?

The picture in my head for Lily is actually the singer Shakira, but with paler blonde hair. I love her wild, frizzy abandon and that is just like Lily. For Quince, I have a great picture of Eric Dane (McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy) riding a motorcycle. Quince has that same dirty blonde hair and that same cocky attitude.

Can you share with us any information on the sequel to Forgive My Fins? Are you working on any other projects?

The sequel, called Fins Are Forever, will be out in Summer 2011. Anyone who's read the epilogue of the first book knows that Lily's bratty cousin Dosinia is going to be a major player. And boy can that girl cause trouble, especially for Lily.

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it's not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you're a normal teenage girl, but when you're half human, half mermaid, like Lily, there's no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily's mermaid identity is a secret that can't get out, since she's not just any mermaid—she's a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn't feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she's been living on land and going to Seaview High School ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems—like her obnoxious biker-boy neighbor, Quince Fletcher—but it has that one major perk: Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren't really the casual dating type—the instant they "bond," it's for life.

When Lily's attempt to win Brody's love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily ever after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

Read an excerpt of Forgive My Fins HERE.

Read my review of Forgive My Fins HERE.

To learn more about Tera and her books, visit the author's Official Website.