Today, readergirlz diva and fantabulous author Justina Chen Headley is here! She's sharing the Cover Story for North of Beautiful, which I adored, especially for its deft handling of difficult family dynamics. Here's Justina!
"My book has a twin: Alyson Noel's Evermore. The funny thing is, North of Beautiful and Evermore don't just share the cover girl. They were also published on virtually the same day. Twins separated at birth!
"A bunch of people have asked me whether it's been a problem sharing the same cover girl. I don't think so. If anything, that anomaly has raised the profile of our books. Publishers Weekly even did a story about it. Plus, the treatment of the cover girl is so different I didn't even realize it was the same girl until a blogger pointed it out to me.
"I've hit the jackpot with all my book covers, thanks to my art director, Gail Doobinin who designed my first two books--Girl Overboard and Nothing but the Truth 
(and a few white lies). And my new book designer, Saho Fujii who created North of Beautiful. I know I'm lucky to love all my covers and to have a publisher who honors my opinion.
"For North of Beautiful, Saho played around with a bunch of different concepts--and obviously had read my book. One of her initial ideas was to collage the cover just the way Terra herself may have created. But then Saho found the perfect photo representation for Terra: hair draped over her cheek, downcast eyes. It was precisely how I imagined Terra holding herself in public.
"Then, the brilliance that is Saho found a fabulous old-fashioned compass rose that she used to separate the three parts of the story. My one and only request was that she somehow integrate that compass image on the front cover. Her treatment of the compass--placing it as a watermark over Terra's cheek--was inspired! It is a truly and exceptionally beautiful cover."
I agree--it looks so different on each cover that I can totally see it as both Terra and Ever--separate girls in two fantastic books. I also love how Justina's three books are blue, pink and yellow in overall color palette--gorgeous! What do you guys think?
And don't forget to check out Alea's Pop Culture Junkie Lookalikes post on this cover--you'll find even more twins (or triplets?).