Cover Stories: In the Blood

Sara Hantz was here in 2008 to share the original cherry cover of her debut, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green. She's back with a very different book and a very different cover. In the Blood is the story of Jed Franklin, who has a normal life until his 17th year, the year when his father is charged with the abuse and murder of four young boys... and normal becomes a nightmare.

Here's Sara with thoughts on the cover:

"My publisher sends out a cover art form, though my input wasn’t very useful as I couldn’t think of anything other than I don’t like cartoon characters! I’m not a very visual person.

"When I first saw my cover, it brought tears to my eyes--it made me so happy. It was better than anything I could have imagined. I love the newspaper headlines on the body of the guy and also how dark and brooding he is."

Thanks, Sara! The shadow of the newsprint is my favorite part--so cool.

Bonus: Enter the giveaway on Sara's site to win a KINDLE loaded with a copy of In the Blood!

Cover Stories: The Second Virginity of Suzy Green by Sara Hantz

Thanks for weighing in on last week's covers. I love the final cover for Stephanie Kuehnert's I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone so much that I can't even imagine the other ones in its place. Last week's contest for a signed cover flat is... I'd Rather Laugh With the Sinners! Send me your address and you'll get the flat right from Stephanie herself.

This week, the fabulous Sara Hantz is sharing the Cover Story for her book, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green (also in my To-Read pile, which is massive and filled with titles I want to get to so badly, like this one!).

Sara, take it away!

"I remembering thinking that a cover for one of the other Flux books would be perfect for The Second Virginity of Suzy Green, as the book is based on a big lie and this cover had the back view of a girl with her hand behind her back and her fingers crossed. I’d also had a fun conversation with another writer who jokingly suggested the cover should have two cherries on it. I then got to thinking I’d love a plain white cover with two cherries on the front.

"My editor asked if I had any suggestions and I mentioned the two things above. When I first saw the cover, I LOVED it! I didn't make any change suggestions. My only slight reservation was that they had intended to photograph the cover with the model holding real cherries. To me, it looks like they were photoshopped."

Thanks, Sara! What do you guys think? Photoshopped? In any case, I love classic red-and-white stripes with faded jeans that Suzy's wearing, and I think the cherries add something really special to the cover. Those plus her position definitely make me think she's hiding something...