The lovely debut author Heather Davis is here to share the cover story of her fall release, Never Cry Wolf! Kirkus Reviews says, "What's a girl courted by an amber-eyed hottie to do? Fans of paranormal romance will enjoy this sweet debut." Nice!
Here's Heather:
"From the beginning, I think my agent, my editor and I were all on the same page for the cover for Never Cry Werewolf. There is a pivotal scene where Shelby, the protagonist, is lost in the forest -- and with the tie to the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood, well, it just seemed right to have the cover nod to that connection. That, and Shelby is wearing a red hoodie in the story and well... there is a wolf involved.
"We'd discussed the idea of Shelby in the forest in her red hoodie. Then, they asked me to provide a detailed description of what Shelby looked like and who she was on the inside. It was probably the deepest character study I'd done to date. From those paragraphs of description, they really pulled an amazing image together.
"The first time I saw the cover, I was blown away. It was fantastic, gorgeous, and captured the mood of the book perfectly. I love how it stands out on the bookshelves -- and I love that the image of Shelby is on the spine of the book, too.
"I didn't really need to make too many suggestions. We had at one time wondered if we really wanted Shelby 'staring' out from the cover instead of looking over her shoulder, but I think we made the right decision. There was also talk of a wolf in the distance, but I think you get from the title what the book is about.
"The art department was wonderful I know that the art director loved my book and the care she took with the cover really demonstrated that to me. I feel so lucky.
"The cover model even mentioned being on my cover in a newspaper article in her hometown in Michigan! They showed me some of her headshots and asked if I thought she could be Shelby and - she was!
"I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of my very first cover. It is literally everything I dreamed it could be. I have to say it's unreal to me, even still. When you're an unpublished novelist, sitting at your computer writing a book you say to yourself, someday this could be a real, published book. You allow yourself to picture the cover and some people even sketch it out on paper. (I think if I went back through old papers, I might even find the sketch I made of this one.) Skip to the day you walk into a bookstore and seeing it on the shelves. It's amazing! I can't thank HarperTeen and their amazing team enough for what they've done for the book. My editor and I are thrilled."
I'm into the tree-branch-moon-clouds background, and I love the Little Red Riding hood nod on the cover, plus you know I'm a fan of the cover model and author talking to each other. What do you guys think of this one?