A Novel Cover Up: Paul Coomey on the Proof Covers for Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

A Novel Cover Up is a semi-regular feature that looks at how covers are made. Here is the second of my Night Owls A Novel Cover Up double-whammy! Thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's Books, we're fortunate enough to have a guest post* from Designer Paul Coomey about how he designed the cover for the ten different proofs of Night Owls by Jenn Bennett. Other than the first photo, all images in this post are copyrighted to Simon & Schuster Children's Books and used with permission. They can be clicked to be enlarged.

I knew we had something special as soon as I started reading Jenn Bennett’s artsy, cool, YA novel, Night Owls. It follows the story of Jack and Beatrix who meet on the Owl – San Francisco’s night bus. Both protagonists are artists, though wildly different ones: Bex is fascinated by anatomy and wants to be a medical illustrator, while Jack is a street artist, spray-painting giant gold words across the city’s landmarks. When they meet, their worlds explode in the best possible way – and although they’re on a journey that neither of them is supposed to be, they might just end up exactly where they need to go.

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A Novel Cover Up: Leo Nickolls on Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

A Novel Cover Up is a semi-regular feature that looks at how covers are designed. Today I have a double-whammy for you. I have two A Novel Cover Up posts on Night Owls by Jenn Bennett; one for the final cover, and later today, one for the proof cover!

I have been fortunate enough to interview Graphic Designer Leo Nickolls about how he designed the cover for Night Owls. All images in this post are copyrighted to Leo Nickolls and used with permission. They can be clicked to be enlarged.

Can you tell us about the cover for Night Owls? What do you hope it tells readers about the story?

Well, it's a cover for a book about a girl called Bex who meets a boy called Jack on the San Francisco night bus – the owl. A can of gold spray paint in his bag tells her he is the mysterious graffiti artist who has been creating gold words in distinctive spots around the city. That’s a very abbreviated version of the story, but hopefully it explains the cover! The cover (again, hopefully) sets the scene for this story, so its gold graffiti above a san francisco map at night time!

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Review: All of the Above by James Dawson

All of the Above by James Dawson (review copy) - When sixteen-year-old Toria Grand arrives at her new school she needs to work out who her friends are in a crazy whirl of worry, exam pressure and anxiety over fitting in. Things start looking up when Toria meets the funny and foul-mouthed Polly, who's the coolest girl that Toria has ever seen. Polly and the rest of the 'alternative' kids take Toria under their wing. And that's when she meets the irresistible Nico Mancini, the bassist in a local band - and it's instalove at first sight! Toria likes Nico, Nico likes Toria, but then there's Polly ... love and friendship have a funny way of going round in circles. From Goodreads.

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A Novel Cover Up: Nathan Ryder on Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi

A Novel Cover Up is a semi-regular feature that looks at how covers are made. Thanks to Vertebrate Publishing, I have been fortunate enough to interview Creative Director Nathan Ryder on how he designed the cover for Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi. All images in this post are copyrighted to Nathan and used with permission. They can be clicked to be enlarged.

Can you tell us about the cover for Here Be Dragons? What do you hope it tells readers about the story?

I knew from an early stage that I wanted to have something abstract as the basis for the cover (the dragon skin) and then build on it. I hope it signals to the reader that this is fantasy fiction and of course, the dragon skin is red, matching that of the Red Dragon of Wales, which is central to the plot. The white text, in contrast, represents the White Dragon – which also plays a major role in the book. There is also a little motif in the design – the footprints with a swirl in the heel. Whilst a potential reader won’t know the significance of these initially, once they’re into the book, hopefully, they’ll have another look at the cover and make the connections. This is also a love story – hence the love heart in the word dragon. The descender of the ‘g’ (the curly bit) is a stylistic dragon tail. I have deliberately avoided making the cover too ‘signposted’; this is a book about myths and legends after all. Ultimately, I hope the cover intrigues a reader and makes them want to read the book.

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Blog Tour: Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi - Sarah Talks The Death Zone

It's Once Upon a Bookcase's stop on the Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi Blog Tour, and I have not one, but two different posts for you today! Sarah Mussi is stopping by today to continue discussing the various stages of the writing process, and if you come back later today at 1pm, you will see how cover designer Nathan Ryder designed the cover for Here Be Dragons in A Novel Cover Up! But for now, over to Sarah...

(Warning! I think there are some minor spoilers in this post. I've not read the book yet, so I can't be sure, but in reading this post, I found out things I'd rather have discovered as I read the book. So decided if you want to read on or not.)

GO TO THE BOTTOM OF SARAH’S BLOG TO SEE COMPETITION DETAILS
Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi - Ellie Morgan wants a boy who’s all hers. Just for once, it would be nice to meet someone that Sheila (the cow) hadn’t got her claws in to.

A remote farmhouse on Mount Snowdon is hardly the ideal setting for meeting anyone unless, of course, you count her best friend George or creepy Darren (which Ellie doesn’t). But when a boy, glimpsed through the mist and snow, lures her up to the Devil’s Bridge, Ellie realises the place she knows so well, still has its secrets...

The stronger her feelings for this strange boy become, the more she is in danger: a battle as old as Snowdon itself has been raging for centuries and now Ellie’s caught in the middle.

Something has left its lair.

It’s out there stalking her.

Who ever said true love was easy?

The HERE BE DRAGONS Blog Tour – Post Six: Act 3 & The Climax
Hi there Once Upon a Bookcase! Thanks so much for having me on your blog.

Hi everybody and welcome back to my blog tour to celebrate the launch of HERE BE DRAGONS, book one in my new trilogy: THE SNOWDONIA CHRONICLES!

Continue reading Blog Tour: Here Be Dragons by Sarah Mussi - Sarah Talks The Death Zone

Review: Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway (#Ad)

Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway

I received this eProof for free from Simon & Schuster Children's Books via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Oliver's absence split us wide open, dividing our neighborhood along a fault line strong enough to cause an earthquake. An earthquake would have been better. At least during an earthquake, you understand why you're shaking.

Emmy and Oliver were going to be best friends forever, or maybe even more, before their futures were ripped apart. But now Oliver is back, and he's not the skinny boy-next-door that used to be Emmy's best friend. Now he's the boy who got kidnapped. A stranger - a totally hot stranger! - with a whole history that Emmy knows nothing about.

But is their story still meant to be? Or are they like the pieces of two different puzzles - impossible to fit together? From Goodreads.

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Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (eProof) - Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?

Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love. From Goodreads.

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Booktubing Isn't For Me, But Could that Be My Downfall?

Over the six years that I've been blogging, I've seen things evolve. New bloggers, new features, new ways of blogging.

As vlogging in general has become more popular, the way readers communicate our reviews to potential readers has moved forward into booktubing. As booktubing has progressed, it's been wonderful to see this new way of getting our thoughts about books across to people, and reaching a wider audience.

There are so many bloggers I know who have started to incorporate videos into their blogs, or have created group booktube channels, like Bookish Brits, and it's got me thinking about where things will lead. At the moment, booktubers and book bloggers exist in harmony. Booktubers have become so popular that publishers' publicity campaigns also include ways of getting booktubers involved as well as bloggers, which is fantastic - we share the same passion, and we should share in the wonderful perks that publicists give us.

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Review: Night Owls by Jenn Bennett (#Ad)

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett

I received this eProof for free from Simon & Schuster Children's Books via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Feeling alive is always worth the risk.

Meeting Jack on the Owl—San Francisco's night bus—turns Beatrix's world upside down. Jack is charming, wildly attractive...and possibly one of San Francisco's most notorious graffiti artists.

But Jack is hiding a piece of himself. On midnight rides and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who this enigmatic boy really is. From Goodreads.

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Interview with Holly Bodger: Feminism and 5 to 1

Today, I'm honoured to have YA author Holly Bodger stopping by Once Upon a Bookcase to talk about her novel 5 to 1 and feminism.

Can you tell us what led you to write such a feminist dystopia, over a general dystopia?

I honestly didn’t set out to write a dystopian novel at all. I wanted to write about the effects of gender selection and felt I needed to set the book slightly in the future in order to exaggerate these effects. While some of the elements of my imagined future are found in the average dystopian novel (i.e., a controlling government, a walled society), I built my world this way because that was how I specifically envisioned the society would evolve and not because I was trying to satisfy any rules of the dystopian novel.

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Review: Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb

Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Happy endings never last…

Years ago, they freed a dragon from the glaciers on Aslevjal. Then they parted ways, the Fool returning to far-off Clerres, while Fitz finally claimed a wife, a family, and a home of his own.

Now, betrayed by his own people and broken by torment, the Fool has made his way back to the Six Duchies. But as Fitz attempts to heal his old friend in Buckkeep Castle, his young daughter Bee is abducted from Withywoods by pale and mysterious raiders who leave ruin and confusion in their wake.

Fitz must find a way to rescue his beloved Bee. At the same time it is the Fool’s fiercest wish to return to Clerres with the best assassin he has ever known, to gain vengeance and justice.

Can Fitz bear to take up the tools of his old trade again, even to avenge his dearest friend and save his child? From Goodreads.

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A Novel Cover Up: Kate Gaughran on Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

A Novel Cover Up is a semi-regular feature that looks at how covers are made. Thanks to Quercus, I have been fortunate enough to interview freelance designer Kate Gaughran about how she designed the cover for Asking For It by Louise O'Neill. Other than the cover, all images in this post are copyrighted to Kate Gaughran and used with permission. They can be clicked to be enlarged.

Can you tell us about the cover for Asking For It? What do you hope it tells readers about the story?

In the story 18-year old Emma, the protagonist, is taken advantage of at a party, and becomes the subject of victim blaming. She is treated badly by everyone and becomes caught in a media storm after images of the incident are widely shared on social media. With the cover I was trying to capture how she has been stripped bare physically and emotionally, and is treated almost like a rag doll. I wanted to create a cover that suggested a cold, clinical, and de-humanising situation, something that tries to reflect both how Emma feels and is treated in the story.

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August's Monthly Recap

Inspired by Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts's Weekly Recap, here is a recap of my posts over the last week, and anything else I found interesting.

Continue reading August's Monthly Recap