Win-It Wednesday: The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

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The winner of last week's contest for Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick is... Mary Ellen! Send me your address, ME.things300.jpgThis week, I'm giving away Dana Reinhardt's The Things a Brother Knows. This book knocked me out and made a sob bubble up in my throat near the end. I wrote an email to Dana right after I finished reading it and said, "SUCH an amazing book! An incredible journey. Entertaining and real characters and a non-message message on a really tough subject." So, you know, there's my vague review. Here's Gayle Forman's more eloquent one, which was on NPR (the other books she mentions are awesome too, of course). Anyway, here's your chance to win the hardcover of this incredible book. Just tell me what your favorite holiday gift was, if you celebrated... I'm nosy and curious, and I hope it was a book (but I won't hold my breath). I think mine was the leopard-print Snuggie my brother got me. Um, I'm serious. And no, I won't be showing a photo. But I will say it's great for reading in the winter--my old apartment gets drafty and it keeps me warm and hands-free! I'll pick a winner next week. Good luck!

Cover Stories: The Education of Hailey Kendrick by Eileen Cook

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Last year, Eileen Cook stopped by to share the story behind her bright, doll-starring cover for Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood. She's back with a new release, The Education of Hailey Kendrick, which Kirkus calls "the highest quality--like a gourmet truffle" in a starred review! This new cover is just as bright as the last (with less doll), and here's Eileen to tell its tale: hailey_frontpg.jpg"I have two (or at least two) great weaknesses as a writer. I'm lousy at titles and terrible at imagining covers. I'm so lucky to have the team at Simon Pulse behind me. My editor somehow manages to avoid laughing out loud at my titles ideas and the cover designer, Cara can be counted on to come up with some great ideas.

"The book takes place in an exclusive boarding school so my first idea was having a scene where you see Hailey climbing over the wall to sneak off campus. However, we didn't want it to look like she was breaking out of jail...

hailey kendrick 1.jpg"Cara then had an idea that she quickly sketched out with photoshop where it was the main character in her school uniform with a lollipop (right). The problem was that it looked a bit 'porny.' You have to watch out for those school uniforms -- who knew a blazer and knee highs could be so racy.

"The third time was the charm. When I opened the email with the cover the bright colors and typeface really jumped out at me. It felt like a great fit for the book."

Thanks, Eileen! I agree that the lollipop is a bit much -- it takes over the cover. The final image is just as bright and bubbly, so I think it's a great pick! Also, for some reason I love the look of that brick wall, which grounds the whole image somehow.

What do you guys think?

PS-Enter to win a copy of this book (and watch a great Happy New Year video by Eileen) at Wattpad!

Photo Friday: SNOW

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There was major snow in Brooklyn this week. I'm talking buses-stuck-on-the-street, kids cross-country skiing down my block, having to dig myself out of my apartment SNOW. Here's a peek!I love Hunter Boots: IMG_2034.JPG Stuck bus! IMG_2037.JPG Cross country skiing on the streets of Park Slope: IMG_2041.JPG Swayze watches the chaos: IMG_2027.JPG And this is how much I love iced coffee from Dizzy's, even in winter. Delish. IMG_2040.JPG Happy Friday!

Cover Stories: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

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HoldStill_112409.jpgI think Hold Still, which is a beautiful book, has gotten two great covers (hardcover and paperback) so I had to ask Nina LaCour about each one. Here she is:"I was super worried about my cover. My mom used to be a graphic designer so I grew up a little bit of a design snob. My biggest worry was that the art team would make the book look to girly, or too light, that they would strike a tone that didn't suit the story. So when I heard that Mia Nolting (who had been writing out the journal entries in the novel since before I even had an agent) was going to do the cover art, I was thrilled and relieved. I love Mia's work. It's clean and delicate and has this awesome current, indie quality while still being poignant and honest and really moving. Plus, she's my friend. I loved the first concept she came up with: a girl in jeans with a camera around her neck, a strip mall behind her, a layer of text (below). The concept evolved from there to include a girl's face with the camera raised in front of it and another girl spinning in the distance, and I liked this idea of overlapping images.hold still illo.jpg"Then, I got a call from my wonderful editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, who told me that people at Penguin were getting excited about the book, and what we thought was going to be a pretty quiet book was actually going to be a 'big' book for the fall season. I was thrilled to hear this news, but bummed to hear that it meant we were moving in a different direction with the cover. Mia's drawings were no longer going to be on it--instead we would be going with a photograph. "The next cover I saw was a complete departure. It was a photograph of a mournful-looking girl with a large shadow hovering behind her. The photograph was black and white and the title was written in a red computer font. I did not like this cover. The girl was too glamorous and it felt so oppressively sad. Hold Still is a sad book, but I see it as ultimately hopeful. It's funny because this cover was the opposite of my initial fears that the book would look too light and fluffy. Now it looked like it was all about suffering. I panicked. HoldStill_HI.jpg"Slowly, though, the cover evolved and I grew to like the new direction (right). The art team held a photo shoot with a different model who looked more like I imagine Caitlin. Mia's embellishments appeared as the leaves in the corner, and one of her early ideas of torn paper also showed up. Her hand lettering replaced the computer fonts, and ultimately it looked like a good cross between the artistic hand done cover we initially dreamed up and the more commercial photographic cover that came after. "Then, a year later and out of the blue, came news of the paperback redesign. Sara Crowe, my lovely agent, called me and told me that she hadn't seen the cover yet but that it was described to her as 'a girl with her arms out like she's flying.' Yikes! Again, I got worried. But then I saw the new cover (below), and I was blown away. HoldStill_112409.jpg "It still feels sad to me, but it also has the raw hope that fills the last sections of the book. When I showed it to my writing group, one of my friends said, 'That's exactly what you want to feel like when you're fifteen,' something that struck me as very true. Rosie Hardy took the photograph, and it's a self-portrait which fits perfectly with the events in the novel. Theresa Evangelista designed both the hardcover and paperback, and I feel really fortunate to have two such different and striking covers that represent different aspects of my novel." Thanks, Nina! I love knowing that the paperback image is a self-portrait, and I really do think both covers are winners. What do you guys think?

Win-It Wednesday: 12 Days of Sockmas!

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Last week's winner of Stalker Girl by Rosemary Graham is... Katie! Send me your address, K.sockmas.jpg This week, I'm glomming on to the I Heart Daily and Sock It To Me 12 Days of Sockmas contest. Go here for all the details, and if you already get the newsletter, you're automatically entered! Follow IHD on Twitter or Like IHD on Facebook for more chances to win. These socks are seriously cute (I have a mustache pair!).

Cover Stories: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

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Paranormalcy_front.jpgKiersten White's Paranormalcy has a gorgeous, dark cover with lots of movement. Here she is to tell the story of how it came about: "I went in knowing that authors don't have much say in covers so I really didn't have anything specific in mind. In fact, my editor asked me for ideas and I was like, 'Wait, what?? I have no ideas!' I didn't want to get attached to an image and then be disappointed in what ended up being used.

"That being said, I did have several things I didn't want. My greatest fear was that the cover would be hot pink and feature a headless torso.

"The one idea I had was two arms crossing the cover and holding hands in the middle--one glowing slightly, and one a nearly invisible outline, to represent the two main characters. I'm really, really glad they didn't listen to that. I also suggested a hand rising out of a grave and a pink booted foot standing on it, but it was way too Buffy-esque, and I'm again glad they didn't even consider it. At one point they told me they were playing with an extreme close up of eyes, which I liked because eyes are very important in the book.

"All along the way I was really hoping that my cover wouldn't feature a model.

"When I first saw the cover, I freaked out--in a good way. I was shocked that they went so dark and dramatic with it, but I was so, so pleased. I was worried because of the humorous tone that it would get a very playful treatment that wouldn't be very true to the darker elements of the book. So when I saw their initial concept with the foreboding, dark background and the full model in the foreground I was very surprised and very excited. All of my fears about using a model disappeared because it was such a striking image and felt atypical.

"We got the cover mock-up to get a feel for the design, which we loved, and then they sent it to us again when all of the elements were in place but still being tweaked. We suggested shifting the placement of the thistles in the foreground and softening some of the lines around the model.

"They took our comments to heart. Of course, we didn't suggest anything huge, but we really didn't need to since it was such a jaw-droppingly beautiful image. But they did change the thistles and fix some of the lines.

"They changed her dress to flow directly out instead of swooping down a bit first (and I'll admit I did like the swoop, but the flowing went over better onto the back of the cover), and adjusted some of the smaller elements. But it remained pretty much the same.

"They did a casting call and sent me the photos of the model they picked. I loved her because while she's obviously beautiful, she's also a little unusual looking and has striking eyes, which was important to me. My editor sent me video from the photo shoot, in which the poor model had four huge fans blowing on her and people all around holding her dress out with fishing line! They actually took a whole series of photos of her to use for future books, which was really great (see a shot from the shoot, below). I'm glad they planned ahead so we can have a consistent look. After that they put in the back- and foregrounds and type elements.

paranormalcy shoot.jpg "I think the final cover is a great representation of the book. Some people have complained that it's too dark, but I love the counterbalance of the dark, stormy sky with Evie's white blond hair and shimmering pink dress, because she really is this sort of beacon of hope and humor in a very dark, dangerous landscape. If I could change anything I'd have a hint of smile on her face, but all in all I think it's an incredible cover. And it did end up being an almost exact match to a scene in the book, which was awesome! All in all I feel incredibly fortunate that I ended up with a cover much better than I had imagined or hoped for. I love it! And just wait until you see the sequel's cover..."

Beautiful cover aside, this book sounds seriously good. Have you guys read it yet? What do you think of the cover?

PS-Here's the trailer, which makes me need it NOW.