I am very excited about this cover for a couple of reasons. One is that the background is my own photo, taken here in town at The Fox and Hound building, which holds The Fox and Hound Day Spa, condominiums, and various offices. It is a beautiful old building in downtown Bloomington, Illinois and the owner, Vicki Tilton, allowed me to wander around and take pictures for the cover of BLACKOUT, my first contemporary romance (without elements of suspense). I threw some of my pictures and some from stock photos at my cover designer, Steven Novak, and I'll show you what he came up with. First, a blurb to both entice you, ;) and give you a feel for what I was trying to capture in this cover.
Blurb ~
Max. The consummate ladies man.
Max is good looking, but not an absolute knockout. With his charm though, he could have any woman he wants. Once he meets Faith, he doesn’t want anyone else.
Eli. He is a knockout.
But a dark past shadows him and holds him captive. Drinking dulls the pain, but meeting Faith makes him want to change all that.
Faith. She loves them both.
When a blackout brings her together with Eli, she’s happier than she’s ever been before. When another blackout tears them apart, Max is there to pick up the pieces. But can she forget the man who first made her whole?
So, we gots ourselves a little love triangle here! These are both great guys. Faith couldn't lose anyway she chose~but, at the same time, she does suffer a loss in choosing. Sigh. Anyway, that's what we going for. Love triangle, contemporary, both guys are construction workers at the beginning, Faith is a waitress. Let's take a look at what Steven came up with from the images I sent him.
Okay, I actually love this cover. The colors are beautiful. Like the font. It says contemporary. But this cover doesn't say love triangle. And while it does say construction, it doesn't give us HOT construction worker, just hardworking construction worker. And who needs that? ;) Granted, these are images I sent him, but sometimes it's hard to know until you see it all together. Next--->
Okay. LOVIN' this one! The background picture is a set of stairs at Fox and Hound. It captures, for me, the mood of the book, the many layers and building of Eli and Faith's relationship, with all its twists and turns. It also gives that angsty feel, I think. I love how the guys are shadowy, like she's conjuring them up in her mind while trying to decide on which to choose. I like the way she is turning, looking over her shoulder, like she is knotted inside by this decision. She's looking back at her past relationship with Eli, while still moving forward with Max. You almost get the feel that she'd like to run away from this decision altogether. One problem though. As I'm sharing this cover with writer friends I keep getting the same response. The guys look too alike. Upon further examination I discover the reason why they look so much alike is they are both photos of the same model! Well, at least I am consistent in what I like in men. So, we can't have that, and I ask Steven to change it.
Okay, better. The guy on the left really captures Max. But the guy on the right isn't exactly Eli. And we've lost that neat translucent effect.
Now we've got it! He's added the tagline and the collection name. I like the backlighting on the title and my name. The guy with the longer hair really captures the soulful look of Eli. With two hunks like this, how can she choose? You'll just have to read the book to find out!
BLACKOUT will be available June 1st with a release date of June 15th!
Thanks for joining me! Any thoughts on the evolution of the cover?
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