lovestruck summer

Cover Stories: LOVESTRUCK SUMMER by Me!

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LovestruckSummer.jpg.jpg This cover is a real departure for me, obviously. It's a summer romance in the HarperTeen "Beach Reads" category, which includes fun titles like these:

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So, you see the theme here? Colors, cartoons and general candy-coated-ness. I'm fully embracing my hot-pink-and-blue cover. Here's the back story:

Lovestruck Summer is the story of 18-year-old Quinn, an indie-rock girl spending the summer in Austin on a coveted music internship. While she hopes to find the perfect hipster boyfriend, she unexpectedly falls in love with a college cowboy who makes her challenge her own stereotypes, expand her musical tastes, and ultimately open up her world.

So, you'll notice that the cover isn't really "indie rock." At all. Haha. When my editor asked me for some cover ideas, and warned me that "music covers" are a harder sell (I have no idea why). She asked me to tell her about some scenes in the book (it wasn't quite done yet) and here's what I emailed her:

"Here are images that come to my mind: * guitar (can't help it, but feel free to ignore the music stuff... I'm just brainstorming) * little dog in a tiara (her cousin penny has this dog) * Tri-Pi greek letters (her cousin's sorority, although she hates it) * Barton Springs blanket-on-the-grass-under-trees moments (photo attached--she and Russ go here) * Bats over a bridge (flying in a heart formation?) (photo attached--i know it sounds crazy but they fly out from under bridges in the summer) * outdoor music festival scene (something sxsw-esque?) * the iconic shape of texas with a heart and music note? * something in the style of these old post cards (TEXAS postcard attached)"

And I sent these inspiration pictures (bats flying out from under a bridge are shown in the middle--how crazy is that?!):

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Obviously, that first image made an impression. I think it's fun and beachy, which is just what its meant to be! And now I'm going to change my profile pics and twitter page and all that, so you'll see lots of this cover through May.

I'd love to know what you think!

PS-Remember this post where I asked for band names? I used a TON of them in the book--seriously, they were a HUGE help! THANK YOU!

PPS-Yes, preorder totally available here, sans cover so far. Amazon, why you so slow?!

Win-It Wednesday: Maine Squeeze

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Great, great answers last week on which side character you'd like to see more of... if you haven't gotten a chance to read everyone's comments, browse here and on myspace--there are some really thoughtful ones! The winner of a signed copy of Violet by Design is... MYBKCLUB! Send me your address, and the book will be sent to you this week. 9780060567255.jpg Now, I'm giving away an awesome summer beach read today. It's Maine Squeeze, by Catherine Clark, and it's complete fun to read. I actually just signed on with HarperCollins to do a beach read for summer 2009! Here are the details from Publisher's Marketplace: "Melissa Walker's LOVESTRUCK SUMMER, in which an indie-rock girl spending the summer in Austin on a coveted music internship unexpectedly falls in love with a college cowboy who makes her challenge her own stereotypes, expand her musical tastes, and ultimately open up her world." I hope you guys will like it!

So to win a beach read for this summer, do me a favor: Give me a suggestion for a band name--could be country, indie, r&b, boy band--anything. I need some fake band names to use in my new book, so let me know if it's okay to use it. I will try to use as many of your band names as I can in LOVESTRUCK SUMMER. Cool?

And I'll choose a random commenter next week to win a copy of Maine Squeeze.

Happy Wednesday! (Oh, and Happy Birthday to me... my boyfriend got me these flowers, which I really, really love. Aren't they so quirky and cute?) IMG00088.jpg