FUN FACT:

Did you know that books 1, 2, and 3 all have different cover artists? (for different and valid reasons) I can tell the difference in their styles, but I still feel like they go together really well.

First and foremost (and I hate having to say this) but no A I was used to make any of my covers—or any part of my books—and I only work with with artists who won’t use it on my covers.

I’ve always loved art—from pastels to clay to pencils—and maybe if I’d put the time into it, I could’ve been an artist. Instead I chose to paint with words. I’m an okay artist, but I know my limits and creating my own covers was never an option. I had a vision for book 1’s cover, though, and sent a very rough sketch to the cover art team I’d chosen to work with. They really captured what I was looking for, and in other circumstances, I might’ve worked with them for the entire series. Before we got started on book 2, I found out I have a different opinion on certain human rights than the company, and I opted to go with someone else moving forward.

That lead me to Jamie Dalton, a fellow author and a member of a facebook group I’m in. I felt her style would work with my vision and she was amazing to work with. Unfortunately a family situation prevented her from finishing the back cover and spine, and she pointed me toward a friend of hers she felt I could work with.

I decided to continue working with the amazing Clara Stone at Author Tree for book 3 after her amazing flexibility at stepping in to help 85% into a project. She listened to my fumbling descriptions and was so easy to work with! When her time opened up, I hadn’t yet finished writing book 3 and so some of the plot of the book was determined literally as I was trying to answer her questions for the cover! And so…

Onto book 4. I’m so grateful to work with Clara again, making Wild Spirit and Season of the Witch the closest of the book siblings I guess! This is what I sent her initially. Please understand also that I was very much still writing the book (again) and didn’t know all of the plot elements (yes, again) when I drew this! So this was the first image I sent to Clara...

When she started working on it, a few aspects of the story had changed, so I sent these to her instead...

And *DRUM ROLL PLEASE* THIS is the final! Hard to believe THIS came from that sketch, huh!!? 

I love all the colors and how it evokes the coming of spring—book 4 takes place at Ostara, the Spring Equinox—and yet also carrying with it tones of danger and unknown. Though I don’t really put easter eggs into the covers, you may notice one big difference between the new cover and the other three. This was done 100% intentionally. Stella has always been off to the side, almost as if she was simply reacting to whatever is blowing up in front of her.

Now she’s firmly rooted front and center, taking charge. I love that this happened not only at the end of this first four book arc, but also at the Spring Equinox. But maybe that’s just me!