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Denise L. Barela, Author

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Trouble at the Freakshow and the Start of Something New?

Posted on February 17, 2021February 17, 2021 by deniselbarela

We all have those people in our lives who like to get us into trouble or rope us into things we never intended on doing in the first place. I have two such people in my life: Sandy Barela (my mom) and Chautona Havig.

When they first began talking about this fairytale mystery mashup I thought it was a great idea and that was the extent of it. I never imagined I would be a part of it. Not until I was approached with the idea of writing one for the “The Little Mermaid” fairytale. At the start, I was looking to do something with Houdini, but I just couldn’t make that happen.

So, I went a different direction. How else could I bring “The Little Mermaid” to life? When I’m writing or doing anything creative, music is usually a part of it. I had recently seen The Greatest Showman, and as I was working I had the soundtrack on. My favorite song from this movie has to be the opening song “The Greatest Show”, and it’s one I enjoy singing along to quite often. That’s how it came to me. What better way to tackle mermaids and the 1920s than the common sideshow attraction of the freakshow! That’s how this story was born, with a little prompting from Chautona, my mom, and The Greatest Showman.

One of my favorite parts (also one of the hardest parts) of writing this book is all the research that went into it. It was so much fun to delve into the world of New York in the 1920s, and learn how the rich, fancy people lived back then. I enjoyed using Andrew and Annabel to bring all of it to life.

I have never written a mystery before, but I loved adding some fun twists and turns in this book that I hope you’ll enjoy! So, without further ado, here’s my cover! I hope you love it as much as I do!

I am so in love with this cover! Isn’t Annabel just beautiful! Joshua Markey did such an incredible job bringing her to life for the cover. What do you think? Will silencing the siren work?

Here’s a closer look!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to head over to the Amazon page and keep an eye out for the cover change! The first person to screenshot it and send it to celebratelit@celebratelit.com will receive their very own copy of the book when it releases! Until then, enjoy the next cover reveal tomorrow on Liz Tolsma’s website! You can find it here!

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