What Happens When You Design a Book Cover UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR? Brilliance!

My last post showed what can happen when a cover artist and the author are on the same page. Like my cover for TAKEN BY STORM. I told Steven what I want and he sent it. I thought it was gorgeous! No changes needed to be made. That's got to be kind of rare.


However, Steven and I don't always start on the same page. But, with a lot of patience on his part, we eventually get there. Today we're going to be looking at the cover creation for my romantic suspense, UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR. Let's start off with a blurb to give you an idea of what we're trying to capture.

Blurb ~

Dylan Fisher is a paramedic & part-time mall Santa Claus. But he never heard anyone ask for what Delaney asked for, a dad. When Dylan’s eyes land on her mother, Keira Kelly, he almost finds himself in need of CPR. She was stunning.

Keira is still grieving the loss of her husband, but a reckless driver has her thinking about nothing but survival. When she wakes in the hospital to find a hunky paramedic at her bedside she begins having thoughts that would put her on the Naughty List for sure.

Okay. So it needs to say hot paramedic, Christmas, and romantic suspense. That's a lot to encompass in one cover. Here's the first cover I got from Steven. 

I've got to admit, as this picture slowly came up on my computer I was like, wow! I love it. Only problem was Dylan's a paramedic, not a doc.

So we get cover 2.  And, yowza!Again, I love it, but I'm a little concerned that this isn't right for my book. Maybe it's me, but bare-chested men make me think the book's going to be really racy. Now I think my writing is hot, but not verging on erotica by any means. I also feel like we're missing the suspense element. I suggest adding siren lights to give it that urgency and the tagline, "When Christmas magic turns to murder." I show the cover around and several people comment that they aren't getting a Christmas feel, so I suggest adding some holly. About now I'm definitely kicked off Steven's Christmas card list and probably well on my way to being an ex-client. 

Cover three. Whoa! Too much going on here. I meant the ambulance lights instead of the guy. And now the guy's all funky colored...

Cover four. Now we've got urgency all right, but no romance. Sigh. I ask Steven to bring the guy back, but put a shirt on him. I'm also moving the holly around to get it in just the right spot. Steven's replies are getting shorter. "Take a look at this one." He no doubt is imagining a special place for me in the fiery pit.

Cover, gulp, five. I really, really like this one. 

...but is there too much white now? Could we make his shirt red to bring out the Christmassy feels?

Cover six. Okay. Really

digging this! We've got Christmas going on. The tagline gives us the suspense. The dude is fully clothed, but still hot. This is working!

But, although I liked the banner being purple before, now it doesn't work. I ask Steven to change the banner to red, and the font on the tagline to black, and the exclamation point to a period. I'm always getting carried away with exclamation points. I'm excitable. 

At this point Steven is either a). rethinking his choice of careers, or b). figuring out a way to do away with me that involves hemlock. Cover 7. Now it's really coming together. It's 

Christmasy, we've got the hot guy, and suspense with the tagline, and we're all color coordinated. Or are we? I had one last change to make. 

Steven?! (In my best whiny voice.) Can you make the banner red closer to the red on his shirt? And change the REAL ROMANCE COLLECTION to green? Our final cover--->

I'm sure Steven was breathing a sigh of relief!

So whatcha think? Better than where we started?

Join Me for Cover Work and Another Romantic Knight!

Sometimes Steven and I connect on the first shot, sometimes it takes a bit longer. For instance, the first cover for LEAP INTO THE KNIGHT. I sent Steven some images I found for the characters and asked him if he was up for a challenge. I told him I wanted half of each character's face in the blade of a sword--a laser sword--like it was etched or a reflection. I had three books, three main characters, I thought this would work nicely. 

Here's a blurb to give you an idea of what's going on in Book One:


Sir Darius Lee is a Knight of the High Order.

But when Darius discovers a stranger in his room in the middle of the night, and the intruder turns out to be a beautiful woman, he begins to question how he is meant to live his life.

Princess Megan of Bethyea is being held captive.

But when two knights help her to escape and bring her back to her home planet, she finds the home she knew no longer exists.

When The Council of Twelve questions Darius about his relationship with Maggie, she tries to flee from The Academy of the High Order to prevent him from losing his knighthood.

Will Darius and Orion find Maggie before she leaves Albion? And if they do, how can they face the decision of The Council? And what about the feelings Orion has developed for the princess?

Here is what Steven sent me! --->

I absolutely loved it! It is even better than I imagined. He captured the intensity of Darius--it's great! The only suggestion I had was maybe bringing the color up a little. Making it look more vibrant.

The result? --->

What can I say, the man is fabulous!

He always gives me just what I ask for!

So in just two tries I have my first cover for the series!

And so I began my quest for Book Two,
LADY OF THE KNIGHT. This one is about
Maggie!

The blurb:

Can she betray the man she loves in order to save him?

Newly wed, Maggie is trying to figure out how life married to a Knight of the High Order is supposed to work. Then an explosion rips her husband away from her. Everyone believes him to be dead, but in her heart she knows it’s not true. How is she supposed to find him when others think she’s crazy for even looking?


Will he betray The Order to make his way back to her?

Darius’s captor wants information about Council members. If the Knight is killed keeping The Order’s secrets, his newfound life with Maggie will come to an abrupt end. Will duty win out over love?


And will he betray his best friend for the woman he loves?

Orion has learned to keep his distance from Maggie, but when circumstances throw them together in a very intimate way, how can he be expected to remain a loyal friend to Darius? He may be a Knight, but he’s human, too. He wants to do what’s right for all of them, but what’s right is becoming increasingly unclear.


When hearts are pulled in separate directions, each painful decision they make could affect them all. Join us for another ROMANTIC KNIGHT! 

Steven sent me this:

Granted, I sent him the image, but this is not Maggie. Too doe-eyed. Not strong enough. I asked him to try one of the other images I sent.

Okay, DON'T like this one!

She looks mean! The next one he sent I felt we finally got the image right.

Digging the image, it has the intensity I was after. ...But now I don't like the red. If I was looking at the book for the first time I would think it was hell fire, and the hilt almost looks like alien/devil horns. I suggest purple. 

And I get the final cover! 

I love it! I hope you enjoyed watching the evolution of this cover and will come back for more. Please share your thoughts below. Do you think the changes we made improved the cover?