Guys, Morgan Matson is here! You know I love her, and she has a new book out, so we must read it asap. Also: The Cover. Here she is to tell its tale:
"I had absolutely loved my cover for Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour [read that Cover Story here]. I wasn’t worried about how the cover for the second book would turn out. I was still in the midst of writing the first draft of the book when my editor asked me what I had been thinking about for the cover.
"I mentioned that since the book takes place in a summer lake community, with a dock being a very important part of the story, maybe there could be a dock featured somewhere. An initial idea I’d had was two sets of bare feet on a dock, or hanging over the edge and skimming the water. And then I basically just gave her vague, summer-conjuring words – pine trees! Mountains! Lake!
"By the time I saw the first cover proof, we’d actually been going back and forth a lot on the title. I tend to pick long, not-particularly-evocative-titles, and then cling to them stupidly. The original title of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour was Amy & Roger Discover America. Which now seems so not to fit the book at all! When I was writing the first draft, I had been calling the book The Summer of Second Chances. My editor had suggested Second Chance Summer, but I wasn’t totally on board with it yet. But that all changed when she sent me the cover proof. I adored the cover, and I loved the way that the title fit on it. Which is probably a strange way to settle on a title, but ever since I saw the cover proof, I knew that was the book’s title.
"And I just adored the image. It captured the book so perfectly, and the mood of it – the sun setting, the dock, the trees across the lake. And I love the detail of the girl wearing a pink bikini.
"One thing I’m also grateful for is that my UK covers are so different. They give much more information to the events of the book. In the UK cover (right), you can see all the little details that make up the story. So I love having two versions – one evokes what the book will be about, and one that gives you concrete details of the story."
Thanks, Morgan! Here's what I love: The colors. I mean. That sunlight, so muted and soft and dreamy, like sunset or even very early morning. And I'm with Morgan on the title script--it flows perfectly, becomes part of the image. Total summer, with tinges of sadness and hope.
What do you guys think?