Cover Stories: A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Alex Flinn, who shared the Cover Story for Beastly on Monday, is back to talk about another of her retold fairytale covers, A Kiss in Time, based on Sleeping Beauty. Here's Alex: "I don't think I had much input for the Kiss in Time hardcover. I was pleased with the color scheme and general look, but I thought it was a bit bland. I've seen other covers by this designer, such as Fairest (below right) and Princess Ben, and they always have a little something more to them than just a girl in a pretty dress. It was obvious that the cover was 'set' when I saw it. It was a photograph, and they'd spent weeks going through dozens of photos to find the perfect one -- it was shot specifically for the book. I liked the colors and the font.

"The girl does look like Talia in my book, and the dress is important in the story and is as I portrayed it, the same color as the girl's eyes. But I was a bit disappointed that you couldn't tell it was Sleeping Beauty, as you can easily tell that Fairest is Snow White. That said, it has been a successful hardcover. I do think the cover art has caused it to be mostly overlooked by the young-adult library community, because it makes it look like a younger book. However, bookstore sales have made up for that. It is so pretty that you want to pick it up.

"My editor and I had discussed a spindle for the A Kiss in Time paperback and, in fact, even looked at photos of spindles on Etsy, but they ended up going a different way. When I first saw the cover, left, I didn't really think the flower had much to do with the story.

"I had originally thought that the flower was a pansy. However, I later realized that it was a poppy (the colors are reversed so that the poppy's distinctive red color is the background color while the flower is white). The poppy is a symbol of both sleep (because of the poppy's relationship to opium, as in The Wizard of Oz) and also, remembrance (such as in Macrae's poem, 'In Flanders Field'), both strong themes in Sleeping Beauty. Indeed, the poppy is a symbol of resurrection in Greco-Roman myth, and Talia and her kingdom are resurrected by Jack's kiss. On the cover, the poppy has thorns and, of course, a thorn-covered wall is strongly associated with the story of Sleeping Beauty. Will readers get all this from the cover? Probably not, but it's pretty."

Thanks, Alex! I like the iconic design of the paperback more than the hardcover, to be honest. I also like how it goes with simple Beastly's design. (And I think the thorny font is cool!)

What do you guys think?

Cover Stories: Beastly by Alex Flinn

Alex Flinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly (you may have heard of a little movie based upon this book, no?) is here to talk about the evolution of her cover. Take it away, Alex! "I'm not a very visual person, and I knew the art department would do their thing. I've generally been pleased with my covers.

"I didn't give much input for Beastly. We may have discussed a rose. I have given more input in the past, but they've really always come up with something completely different than what was discussed, so I don't think I really said anything.

"Regarding the original cover, above, I was happy with it. I was a bit concerned about whether the rose would be a turn-off to my usual boy audience, but the black cover seems to make it less feminine. At least, plenty of boys read the book.

"Regarding the movie tie-in cover (right), well, of course, I was excited. I knew it would be the poster art for Beastly. I think it's cool how they found a way to include the Beast's handsome look and his ugly look in the same picture.

"The cover is actually somewhat reminiscent (unintentionally, of course) of the cover of my very first novel, Breathing Underwater (below left), which portrays the two sides of the main character's personality.

"I was really quite pleased with the Beastly cover and had no suggestions. The original cover is a drawing, and the movie tie-in cover is the movie art and features the actors (Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer)."

Thanks, Alex! Note: After we did this interview, the movie poster changed, and so did the tie-in cover. The actual cover on shelves is shown at right.

I really love the original cover -- I think it's lovely and I'm a sucker for black & white & red together. And of course, the movie tie-in will generate lots of interest -- though I think I like the original one better than the new one, I guess the new one has more of a breathless, romantic moment going on. What do you guys think? And have you seen the movie yet?!

PS-Read a full interview with Alex about the book-to-movie process (and what she thinks of the casting) on I Heart Daily.