Sarah Alderson's Blog: Writing and all the bits in between - Posts Tagged "cover-art"

A couple of weeks ago I was sent the first proof of the cover for Hunting Lila.

My immediate reaction was to leap squealing from my seat. I loved it. I loved the sense of action and excitement conveyed, because the book is no mistakes a thriller – a paranormal thriller – but a thriller all the same, with murder, intrigue, plotting and enormous sexual tension to boot.

I wasn’t so sure about the shoes though at first – and as a friend on facebook pointed out – she’s not going to be able to run very far from the truth in them heels. The cover is actually a scene from the book – the crux scene where Lila discovers something awful about herself and the people she loves – and has to suddenly flee. And she is wearing a blue dress – I based the dress on a blue silk Balenciaga dress I wore at my wedding – that’s spot on.

But the shoes? She actually discards the shoes – Lila hates heels. She can’t walk in them. When she runs, she runs barefoot (she’s not much of a planner). So I talked to my editor about ditching the shoes – possibly having them lie on the floor by the door but they decided to go ahead with her wearing them because of the connotations of red (the colour of all things paranormal – think Twilight) and high heels screaming sexiness.

And at the end of the day who am I to get my knickers in a twist over shoes? The cover looks great– it’s garnering fantastic responses on the web and most importantly of all it has my name in large font across it. Something I never thought in my wildest imaginings I'd ever see(let’s out another squeal of excitement and passes out).

and no, to the person who asked, they're not my legs.