Jenny Han shared the Cover Story for The Summer I Turned Pretty last year, complete with inspiration board and amazing on-set back story. Now, she's here with tales of the sequel, It's Not Summer Without You, which just came out last week.
Here's Jenny:
"I actually didn't really have too many ideas or preconceptions for It's Not Summer Without You. Since it's the second in a series, I knew it had to be of the same mood/general look as the first--and I truly loved the first (below). My one thought was, since the first one is so up-close and intimate, I thought the sequel could maybe be from far off.
"We weren't able to get the same model from Book 1, because she is (obvi) gorgeous and busy and on the cover of Nylon now or whatever. But, after much debate and back and forth, we found someone we liked just as much. We knew that her face would be somewhat obscured, so as long as Belly's 'essence' (ha!) was there, it was all good.
"As a birthday present to me, my editor invited me to come to the set. Best birthday present ever! The set was actually on Rockaway Beach at Jacob Riis Park. There was me, my editor, my book designer, the models, the photographer, and the makeup artist, who kept spritzing the models with some sort of beachy hair tonic. I mostly stayed quiet and watched them work their magic. Everyone was lovely and I just felt honored to be there.
"The one thing I asked for after the fact was to sprinkle some (digital) freckles on Belly. The first model had lots o' freckles and I loved them and I wanted to keep that consistent.
"I love the end product and I truly hope the readers will too. Much love to the designer Lucy Cummins, who works very hard and is pretty much brilliant!"
I just adore the beachy summer feel of these covers, and they certainly depict the books' insides (two boys!) well. Also: Love the on-set shot. Thanks, Jenny!
What do you guys think?