The prolific Lauren Baratz Logsted's new novel, Crazy Beautiful, is getting major buzz. Just check out these reviews from Angieville, The Compulsive Reader and GreenBeanTeenQueen. Raves!
And the cover is dark and compelling, so of course, I had to ask for a Cover Story. So here's Lauren:
"When I thought about the cover, I knew I wanted there to be a hook on it, since Lucius Wolfe has prosthetic hooks in place of hands.
"It came up during a visit my family paid to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Boston to discuss The Sisters 8 series for young readers [read that Cover Story here!]. I said I wanted a hook and my editor agreed there should be one.
"When I first saw the cover, I was overwhelmed. I'd envisioned a realistic hook, not the wispy, smoky hook that you can barely see for what it is, but I absolutely loved it. HMH does great covers.
"My editor is wonderful. With each cover, she says something like, 'Sales loves this, but the most important thing to me is: What do you think?' Who knows? She may just be the world's greatest politician, but she always makes me feel like my point of view matters.
"However, no further comments or suggestions were needed from me, other than: 'I love it - you people rock!'
"The photo of the couple is by Harry Vorsteher, the photo of the hook is by Sean McHugh, and the jacket design is by HMH's own Carol Chu.
"I just think they did an amazing job and the reaction to the cover by the YA blogosphere has been phenomenal, nothing like anything I've ever experienced before. One thing I hadn't noticed before I started answering these questions for you: At the bottom of the inside back jacket flap there's a much more pronounced hook. Neat. I'm so unobservant. Oh, and I like how when you remove the mostly black jacket the book underneath is hot pink with silver lettering."
Ooh, cool! I have an ARC that doesn't have that hot pink interior, so I'll have to find that in a bookstore. What do you guys think of this cover? (I also love the hint of pink in the title font... gorgeous.)