But let me tell you what makes this cover particularly interesting to me. I mean, besides the fact that yeah, it does make me want to read its summary: I love the typeface, colors, and sprinkling of symbolism on its face without it being too heavy in a “I got tipsy and fell into a giant vat of Photoshop” kinda way. But not too simple as it doesn’t feel listless, either. I definitely feel the “quirky, paranormal YA” vibe from this cover design. But as I started earlier, what makes this cover so great is that it was designed by its author, Adrienne Kress.

You know I’d be lying if I said that ebook covers aren’t stereotypically…ahem…different. I won’t come out with guns blazing claiming that the lot of them are fugly, either, but really, we’re on a cover blog here, folks. Currently, they’re not exactly drinking from the deep end of the great cover design pool. At least not from what I’ve gathered. And I think in a lineup of online jpegs of book covers I wouldn’t peg Outcast as an ebook-only release.

Designing her own cover was a new experience for this multi-talented creative. I’m honored to have Adrienne here on the blog to share the process!

TCG: Yo, Adrienne! (I’m so not sorry) You tell me you designed a book cover…by accident? How’d that come about?

AK: Lol, yes, it is a bit odd isn’t it? It’s not like you’re just walking down the street, trip, and oops here’s a cover!

What happened was this: I was going back and forth with my publisher discussing images that I thought might be interesting options for the cover. And I was kind of inspired. So one night I started playing around with Photoshop (Photoshop is my zen garden, whenever I play on it I have a singular focus and find it very calming), and came up with a cover idea. It was all images I’d grabbed from online and was cobbled together very roughly. But I sent it to my publisher as an example of something I thought might work. And they loved it. And while I suppose I could have left the actual cover making to them, I felt a sense of ownership for this project. I also rather liked the challenge. So I kind of took it upon myself to create a proper cover by licensing stock images and also creating original art with Clarice Thornton (a friend of my mother’s). And I played with it all in Photoshop.

And that is how that happened .

This may be a bit of an odd question, but what are your favorite things about the cover? What do you think is the most important thing that stands out?

I of course really love all the elements. But what I love most of all is how well the cover captures the essence of the story. It’s got a magical mysterious feel, but I think the silhouette of the couple adds a certain lightness to the tone. The image also captures a really nice moment in the book between the two main characters, which I like.

I also love the wings constellation in the sky. And the Spanish moss. I think the Spanish moss is just gorgeous.

Paranormal book covers, regardless of what genre they’re in, tend to get a pretty bad (and stereotypical) rap. What things did you know you didn’t want on the cover?

I didn’t want a photographic cover. While there are stunning photographic covers out there (I personally believe I was a recipient of one of them myself with THE FRIDAY SOCIETY), I think they can sometimes veer into the cliche. Especially in the paranormal romance genre. I also didn’t want a cover that was too too serious. While there are some real moments of pathos in OUTCAST, it also has a light touch and a sense of humour.

Also, as far as personal taste is concerned, I prefer graphic art covers. I like covers that look like posters and especially ones that have a two dimensional aesthetic. When I was studying art history in university, I was obsessed with Toulouse-Lautrec‘s poster art and I think that just always stayed with me. I love the precision of that look. There’s a unique kind of creativity behind its simplicity that I really respect.

Were there any other types of artwork/designs you looked to for inspiration?

Definitely movie posters.  But not necessarily actual movie posters, more often than not they’re fan art posters.  Like this one for SKYFALL:

In fact one of my favourites isn’t for a real film at all.  It was a poster someone designed when the Chilean miners were rescued with the assumption that someday someone would make a movie about it:

And other book covers of course.  This one I discovered through your blog actually and I really love that graphic novel kind of feel to the illustration:

I’d love to show you off: are there any other pieces you’d like to share?

Sure!  Here are a couple things I’m rather proud of .

This is a cover I designed for my friend Danielle Younge-Ullman’s novel FALLING UNDER.  It had initially been released by Plume, but when the rights reverted back to her she was now free to self publish the ebook and really give it the cover she wanted.  The artwork is by Louisa McFarlane.

This is a cover I designed for fellow author Lesley Livingston just for fun.  It was what I guess you could call fan art for her novel STARLING.  She showed me this amazing picture of actor Josh Holloway that she thought was a perfect representation of her male lead.  Well, I just was kind of inspired and decided to make a cover out of it.  I find Josh Holloway rather inspiring in general .

Yes, yes I agree:

I designed the logo for my theatre company “Killer Kat Productions”:

These are postcards I designed for a stage combat show I was in a few years ago called “Duel of Ages”:

I have also created a badge and banner for OUTCAST for its upcoming blog tour:

You’ve told me that you’re more of a Photoshop hobbyist — was there anything that you discovered in designing Outcast’s cover that came about to be more difficult or easier than you’d previously assumed?

Actually the hardest thing about doing the cover was not the photoshop, but rather learning about copyright and what stock images I was allowed to use and for what purpose etc. The language on some of those sites is very dense, so I had a lot of emails back and forth with support teams helping me out. 

And even though this is something I’ve already kind of known, I really learned to appreciate the beauty of a mistake. So much of why the cover looks like it does is because I clicked on the wrong thing, or pulled at the wrong layer, and suddenly was inspired by the accident. Keeping an open mind during the design process is key because you just never know what might happen.

What are 3 of your favorite book covers and why?

The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss: I love the simple Art Nouveau pastiche design that works brilliantly with the pastiche between the covers. I had never heard of this book when I saw it on the shelf in the bookstore (it had just come out), but I immediately picked it up, read the back cover and bought it, just like that. Highly recommend it as a fantastic fun read.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews: How can you not love this? It’s pure brilliance. In fact it’s so brilliant I think it speaks for itself.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Just beautiful covers and even more gorgeous in person. Also they both have Steampunk elements, and I do love me some Steampunk.

Love your picks, Adrienne! As you all may know, I’m pretty fond of Me & Earl’s cover.

Thank you so much for stopping by TCG, Adrienne! Outcast is out on June 4th (and will also be available as a print book), and you can read the first chapter via Diversion here!

Oh, this little beauty.

Yesterday, Making The Grade did a cover reveal for Trish Doller’s upcoming Where the Stars Still Shine. And it is quite shiny indeed! Today on TCG I have two lovely and insightful interviews with none other than the author herself, as well as her fabulous cover designer, Regina Flath.

Let’s get this cover love show on the road, shall we?

“Trish Doller writes strong, gutsy characters that you can’t help caring for and Callie is no exception. Her journey is heartbreaking and powerful.” — Melina Marchetta, Printz Award winning author of Jellicoe Road

For more Trish and Regina, you can find them both on Twitter, which is my favorite medium of communication to annoy them. Thanks again!

I’m back, at least for this week, and I just wanted to spread some more Eleanor & Park love. As if I didn’t spread enough of it back in August of last year, right? If you’ve posted about E&P on Twitter and I haven’t gone all YAAAAY in response, then apparently I missed your tweet, because I feel like I’m harassing each person every time I see those two characters’ names pop up in my feed.

In celebration of Eleanor & Park’s publication, I’d like to spread a little more love. I’m giving away a US copy of E&P, and because I’m too lazy to set up Rafflecopter, you can enter here. You’ll only have until Friday night (3/1/13 11:59CST), though, because I’d really really want you to have this book in your hands ASAP.

I probably should’ve started this giveaway thing weeks ago, eh?

Anyhoo, a winner will be drawn by a random number chosen by my husband, who is my real-life, older, non-half-Asian but sweet-just-the-same Park.

Best of luck!

Spines don’t often get a lot of love, but I think if this one can distract me enough from remembering who was talking at the time, that’s saying something. And no, not that I’m a poor listener, either. (Okay, maybe so.) Bold colors, a good hefty type and a what is going on with his face can do things to a person’s brain. Namely, it can cause you to clear the 30 feet that separates you so you can find out what the book is about.

Things got even better when I saw its pretty (messed-up) face, too.

Even better? Here’s the back, which was illustrated by Sam Bosma.

It’s the type of cover that shocks you (in a good way). It has an arresting, in-your-face photograph that makes you wonder about its MC, Ryan Dean West. But it’s the back of the jacket that ultimately pulled me in, hook, line and sinker. Is the cover how we see West, and is the illustration how he sees himself? I’m eager to find out come May 2013, that’s for sure.

And it’s my pleasure to have author Andrew Smith on the blog today, who let me pick his brain for this bout of authorthoughts. And spoiler alert: he loves it.

Welcome, Andrew!

TCG: When you were writing Winger, did you have any initial thoughts on what the cover should look like, how best to represent this novel and draw readers in?

AS: I’ve always played around with art and graphic design, so like a lot of authors do, I usually invent covers for my books after I’m finished with them and while I’m in the long boring period of waiting for editorial notes or waiting for contracts. Since most of the characters in Winger play rugby (and I coached and played the sport for many years), I used a photograph I’d taken — an extreme closeup of boys’ hands bound in a scrum. I know this is all sports-nonsense to a lot of people, and the book truly is NOT a sports book, but I liked the image of the bound hands because the book has so much to do with friendship, trust, and love. That said, what Simon & Schuster did for the cover — and the artistic presentation of the novel — are WAY more effective than anything I could ever have come up with. And that says an awful lot about the power of a team, which is another important concept in the book.

What was it like working with S&S on this particular cover? At your YALSA Lit Symposium panel you’d mentioned that you were able to pick out a model from a crop of Polaroids — what was the process like? What exactly did the model have to endure for that shot?

First off, TEAM WINGER: (I think every one of these people had some input on the cover and presentation of the book) David Gale, editor; Navah Wolfe, editorial assistant. Lucy Ruth Cummins is responsible for the jacket design. The cover photography was done by Meredith Jenks. And, of course, Sam Bosma illustrated the back cover and did all the interior artwork as well.

As far as the model was concerned, yes, David Gale sent me some Polaroids of the kid, and I thought he looked like a perfect Ryan Dean West (the narrator of Winger). All I can say about the photo shoots was that, based on the pictures that were culled out due to what I like to think of as pure ballsyness (and I’m not going to say what they depicted), the cover kid had to do some things that we never before attempted in the history of book jacket production.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall during that shoot.

What’s your favorite part about the jacket design?

When I first saw the cover, I gasped and laughed out loud. I think David (and my agent, Michael Bourret) were both waiting quietly to see how I’d react to it. Maybe they were a little worried I’d have a how-the-hell-can-you-do-something-like-that-on-a-book-cover reaction. But I LOVE this cover. I especially like the hand-lettered blurbs that wrap around Ryan Dean’s face on the back, and how the spine is actually the school tie from Pine Mountain Academy (where most of Winger takes place).

You’ve published your books through different pub houses over the years, and have had some pretty great covers to say the least. How has the design process differed between publishers?

I really enjoy the process, but it is a bit different at every house. At Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), the Art Director Rich Deas hides in his art-cave for months toiling over the perfect representation of elements on the cover, and then — BAM! — he drops it on everyone. He’s never disappointed me. It seems that the process is a bit “bigger” and more collaborative at Simon and Schuster, and there’s an awful lot of square footage in that building dedicated to their art department. I’m also working on a novel (Grasshopper Jungle) for Julie Strauss-Gabel at Dutton (Penguin), and, naturally, I have “invented” my own cover for the book, but I’m sure Julie’s already come up with some things she’d like to see on that jacket.

Have you ever had a reader tell you that he/she picked up your book because of the cover art?

Definitely! I probably have heard that comment most of all coming from readers of The Marbury Lens. It has a cover that makes people want to pick up the book. No doubt in my mind that the cover for Winger is going to have the same effect.

You mention in your post about the cover that you liked how your MC, Ryan Dean, didn’t look like a YA Cover Boy. My favorite trope to call out in YA cover land has involved the Sad Girl in a Pretty Dress, which thankfully we’re seeing less and less of nowadays. How do you feel about the current standards for YA cover art — are there any covers out there that you see doing the YA sphere justice? Any other tropes that you feel need to be banished from jacket art forever?

Yes — I like the representation of Ryan Dean on the cover of Winger for the following reasons:

1. You can see his face

2. He does not look like an Abercrombie and Fitch model

3. He is fully clothed

4. He looks vulnerable and real — not some airheaded object of sexual fascination

Saying that probably effectively conveys some of the things I find tiresome and vacuous in many examples of YA cover art. Enough with showing teenagers from the midsection down — wearing 501s and Converse high tops! Teenagers actually have heads!

Andrew Smith with his copy of WINGER. If only I had the privilege of photographing every author on this blog with his or her book.

How does cover art speak to you as a reader and a writer? Is it important to you? Do you tend to overlook it?

This is probably the biggest weakness I see in e-books. You can’t hold on to the cover, and it’s a chore to go back and look at it, which is something I enjoy doing when I’m reading a book. Don’t get me wrong — I have lots of books on my iPad, and I appreciate the convenience of shopping for books and carrying a virtual library around with me, but there is no escaping the power and effectiveness of a great — REAL — book cover.

I’m the exact same way – I love reading a book and having those little aha! moments that make you flip back to the cover and search for correlations and clues.

What are some of your favorite covers?

Off the top of my head, here are four covers from recent titles that I absolutely LOVE:

1. Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King. It is absolutely perfect.

2. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

3. Rotters by Daniel Kraus

4. The Raft by S.A. Bodeen. At the risk of embarrassing myself by using a word I never use, it’s a gorgeous cover.

Thank you so much for the interview, Andrew! Winger is in the top 3 of my 2013 reads list, and May can’t get here soon enough.

This immediately reminds me of Mindy Kaling’s character on The Office being super annoying when she chants, “Fashion show at lunch!”

Today I’m rolling out the red carpet for Antony John’s latest beauty (pubbed today!), Elemental. I was able to get my copy early (thank you, Antony!) while I was in St. Louis earlier this month visiting with Adele. Adele actually got her copy first, so I was excited to see the final finish and production work and immediately ran my hands over the raised title, took the jacket off to inspect the binding and spine like the book nerd I am. All in all, it really is a great, solid cover. And while those may not be the most flowery words I’ve used in regards to cover art, it doesn’t make me love the jacket any less.

*cue upbeat runway music*

Sorry for the rug pics. My poor office desk is currently buried underneath a crap-ton of remodeling tools.

But the best part of this post? Antony let me pick his brain about the jacket artwork!

TCG: So here we are again doing another cover interview for a completely different story. You won’t find any misfit band members anywhere in this story (as far as I’ve read, at least!). When it came to thinking about a cover for Elemental, what was the first thing that came to mind?

AJ: To be honest, I had no idea what kind of cover the novel should have. The only things I knew for sure were that I wanted it to feel both fantastical and cool, and also that the wildness of the Outer Banks ought to be evoked in some way. Apparently, Tony Sahara felt the same way!

Yes, Tony Sahara was definitely tracking with that same thought! And this is the same guy who designed Eona. (!!!) Were you able to see any thumbnails/comps before the final version? What was your gut reaction when you first saw the cover art?

Okay, so first off, let us all take a moment to observe the awesomeness that is Tony Sahara. I’ve often said that the authors I admire most are the ones whose work has a connecting thread, but in which everything also feels new and fresh. I think this description fits Tony perfectly. His work is instantly recognizable, but there’s never anything remotely lazy about his work. Indeed, the cover to Elemental was constructed by overlaying twenty separate elements (bad pun) – which, let’s be honest, is pretty amazing.

As for sketches, no, I didn’t see any. Ordinarily, I’d crave an early glimpse of the cover direction, but he nailed it so well, I’m rather pleased I didn’t see it earlier. There’s nothing quite like receiving a cover and issuing a few well-chosen (and joyful) expletives. Seriously, I was head-over-heels in love with this cover from the get-go.

I remember when you were on the Guys Read panel at the YALSA Lit Symposium, you had mentioned that Elemental was the book you wrote for teenage you. What kind of cover would Teenage Antony be drawn to?

This one. I’m not just saying that, either. As a teen, I found movie posters infinitely more arresting than book covers, because it felt like there was a gulf in design quality between the two. That gulf has disappeared now, and some book covers are truly iconic.

Put it this way: If teen-me was browsing the local bookstore, I would find Elemental irresistible (from the perspective of the cover, I mean). I hope other teen boys will too.

It’s nice knowing that nowadays there’s much less of a design gulf between movie posters and book covers. What kind of covers did you grow up around, and what movie posters were you drawn to?

These two book covers are pretty representative of what book covers looked like in 1980s England. There’s something decidedly young about these covers, which reflects the fact that they were to be kept separate from adult literature. Edgy is most definitely not a part of these covers’ make up, which was problematic when you consider that at the same time I was seeing movie posters like Batman and Empire of the Sun. In the latter, the juxtaposition of the small boy holding a toy plane while a real plane crashes from the sky is a really powerful image. It seemed a shame to me that book covers couldn’t shoot for the same level of complexity – after all, we know very well that teens would pick up on it! (Random aside: Christian Bale went to my school, and was only allowed six weeks away to shoot this movie.)

I have always been a huge Hitchcock fan, and this poster is genius, in my opinion. Actually, the original Catch 22 book cover dates from around this time, and is also really striking.

I brought my book with me to work one day and my coworker stopped in to talk to me and saw it sitting on my desk. His exact words: “Ooooh. This looks interesting.” It’s this kind of reaction that I can only imagine any author would want. What draws me to Elemental‘s jacket is that title, front and center with that white-hot ball of energy behind it. It just makes you wonder, “What does that mean?” What’s your favorite part of the cover?

Actually, while I love both of the elements (oh man, there I go again!) that you mentioned, my favorite part is the way the stormy ocean is twisted as though the whole world is being manipulated and contorted. It has a freaky circus-mirror feel to it that I find really compelling.

Has this cover set the precedence for branding its following novels, since Elemental is the first in a trilogy? Because if so man I can’t wait to have all of those side by side!

I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to give away here, and because of that, I’m going to give away everything. Yes, it IS setting the precedent for branding, and I’ve already seen an early draft of the cover for book 2. It’s freaking amazing, and is going to elicit some VERY strong responses from readers, I think. I can’t really tell you much about it, other than to say it’s based around one of the elements, and features the setting of book 2. Tony has outdone himself yet again.

Excuse me for my lack of maturity/professionalism/ability to use normal words, but: *insert well-chosen joyful expletive* I’m even more excited to finish the book and see the next cover!

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog, Antony. I’m definitely looking forward to rolling out the red carpet for book 2!

Edit: The cover art is available on Tony Sahara’s website — get thee to wallpapering, folks!

Because not only do I have some cover love for you, but I’m happy to announce that the aforementioned cover love revolves around some brotherly love, too!

And that’s a lot of love.

Ahh. I remember like it was yesterday. (Actually, more like a few days ago because that’s when it actually happened.) I was trying to catch up on two months of blog-reading, and I happened upon Lenore Appelhans’ Cover Story for T. Michael Martin’s The End Games. My first thought about its artwork was: “Whoa.” And then: “Hmmm…reminds me a little of Big Fish, sprinkled in with some illustration from A Monster Calls, and maybe with a healthy serving of that scary nervousness that the Chaos Walking series evokes.” And then my third thought, selfishly: “Oh please be a YA cover so I can rave about it on my own blog, too.”

I have several other thoughts about it as well.

You see, it’s covers like these that just make me want to high five everyone who was involved in its process — from the author’s story behind that image to the editor’s input to the publisher for believing it doesn’t have to fit within a certain mold, and certainly to its designer (Jon Smith). Yes, I’d like to high five this team that brought it to life and proclaimed that its artwork deserved to tell its own unique story, the one that welcomes a reader to discover the words underneath its jacket and at its heart.

I’ve missed waxing poetic about great YA cover art.

I’ll throw more words out there about how I love the balance between each distinct level of space that’s on display — from Martin’s name at the top, to the spindly title that stretches across, front and center. I love the fact that the artwork utilizes every bit of space to amplify the scope of our young protagonists’ environment, their shadows stretching before the daunting red hell that awaits them.

Here’s the jacket copy, pulled from Mike Martin’s blog:

It happened on Halloween. 

The world ended. 

And a dangerous Game brought it back to life.

Seventeen-year-old Michael and his five-year-old brother, Patrick, have been battling monsters in The Game for weeks.

In the rural mountains of West Virginia, armed with only their rifle and their love for each other, the brothers follow Instructions from the mysterious Game Master. They spend their days searching for survivors, their nights fighting endless hordes of “Bellows”—creatures that roam the dark, roaring for flesh. And at this Game, Michael and Patrick are very good.

But The Game is changing.

The Bellows are evolving.

The Game Master is leading Michael and Patrick to other survivors—survivors who don’t play by the rules.

And the brothers will never be the same.

I’m not sure about you, but I’m a big fan of “brothers” stories. In fact, last Friday night I watched over two hours of one of the best brothers stories I’ve ever seen in my life, Warrior. I’d include a GIF of a scene from the movie but everything seemed pretty spoilery, so I guess the next best thing is to show you Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton shirtless the poster:

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I mean when I say this is a brothers story. It’s about the mess of life you go through to survive, the circumstances you can and cannot control, and I felt like every single relationship in this movie was genuinely real and raw. It even made me cry ugly tears (twice), which doesn’t happen very often.

After reading Martin’s inspiration for writing his novel, I have a feeling it’s going to be the same with The End Games. Hurry up, May 2013. And bring on the ugly tears.

St. Louis is a beauty, no?

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this post, to be honest. I normally talk cover art here at TCG, my Tumblr isn’t meant for holding more than 100 words, and I sure wasn’t going to start another new personal blog.

So I decided to post here. Feel free to skip over this entry if you’re used to the design-related posts, but read on for my St. Louis adventures!

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been online friends with Adele for approximately 80 gazillion years. Well, to be honest, just a little over 4, but since we’ve never met in real life, that translates to 80 gazillion years. We met through an online mutual friend and just sort of hit it off. We’ve talked more than just books and movies and blogs — we’ve been there for each other through big life changes and have been moral support for when times were both good and bad.

So I was pleased as punch when Adele told me she was going to be presenting at the YALSA Lit Symposium in St. Louis this weekend. It was a long few months between booking my flight and finally meeting her at the airport last Wednesday. When we met, it was a wonderful moment of hugging and looking like loonies outside the Southwest baggage claim.

Dang. We look tired. But HAPPY!

I’m not quite sure how to summarize those 4 days, but I would definitely say they were jam-packed with things to do. I don’t think I sat in the hotel room for more than an hour at a time (not including sleeping). After landing and picking up the rental car, Wednesday night involved grabbing a late night bite at Flannery’s, where for some reason I thought it’d be a good idea to get egg rolls filled with corned beef and cabbage. (Note: don’t ever order those anytime, anywhere.)

Thursday morning involved eating at Rooster. I had a B.E.L.T. sandwich and I don’t quite remember what Adele had but it did involve potatoes, egg, and me stealing some of it. Breakfast definitely made up for the nasty egg roll experience.

Then it was time for shopping. Adele had never been inside a Sephora (I KNOW RIGHT) so of course I had to correct this problem — and make her break the bank in the process.

We shopped for a few hours at the Galleria mall, then headed over to The Loop to visit the pop culture shop, Star Clipper. Judging from the website, I thought it was just a shop that had fun pop culture/comics items — it turned out to be an awesome little comics shop as well! So of course I had to get a book, even though I shouldn’t have — OH WELL.

And then! Sweetie Pie’s! The restaurant that changed Adele’s life. She’d never tried soul food before and it was on my list of restaurants to visit in St. Louis since it has soul food (duh) and its own reality show on OWN. We got a TON of food. And then ate like, half of it.

I’m not sure why I’m not smiling all big like I normally do. It may have been because I thought I had food stuck in my teeth or something.

After Sweetie Pie’s, we rolled ourselves out to the car and drove over to the Missouri Botanical Garden where I proceeded to mock art like the great art appreciator that I am.

No, really, you all know I love me some art.

Adele loves squirrels — they don’t have them in Australia — so of course I had to take a picture of her taking a picture of a squirrel because I thought it was totally weird. I may have whispered, “I hope it doesn’t have rabies and bites you” while she was taking this photo.

Dinner involved Adele’s first experience eating BBQ. Which of course involved way too much food.

Friday morning involved pre-conference panels for Adele, so while she was off doing librarian things, I went and stole off to other corners of St. Louis. First up on my list was the Cathedral Basilica, which I hope I can do some sort of justice with a few of my favorite photos:

It was so incredibly beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. Had to pick my jaw up off the floor beautiful.

Afterwards, I headed straight to the Forest Park area to check out the St. Louis Art Museum. Parking was a bit atrocious so I didn’t spend near as much time there as I would’ve liked, unfortunately.

After getting in a few hours of staring at gorgeous artwork, I headed to the next best place I could visit while wandering the streets of St. Louis.

A CHOCOLATIER, OF COURSE.

I ended up buying a few truffles for myself and Adele, some candy and dark sea salt chocolate truffles for hubs, and seriously refraining from dashing back in to buy more when I got to my car. Little Rock doesn’t have any chocolatiers, so it’s my weakness when I go out of town. (Get on that problem, Little Rock.)

After leaving Kakao Chocolate, I went and picked up Adele to take her back out to Forest Park for lunch at the Missouri History Museum. I’m tellin’ ya, Missouri does not mess around when it comes to history, art, and architecture.

Or food. I had a delicious prosciutto and grilled chicken sandwich, and while it was tasty, it wasn’t near as pretty as Adele’s vegetable tart.

Friday night, Adele had to prep for her Saturday morning presentation with her co-presenter, so I headed to Left Bank Books for Brian Katcher and Deborah Heiligman’s author event. Deborah read aloud from her latest novel, Intentions and Brian read from an upcoming novel that should hopefully release in 2015 (that I’m really looking forward to reading!). I really enjoyed listening to him talk in different character voices.

And then! I finally got to meet author Antony John! Talk about a moment for me! — Antony was one of the very first authors I interviewed and one of the first supporters of TCG. He is so incredibly nice and funny and if you haven’t read his work, you absolutely should. Five Flavors of Dumb is my absolute favorite, and Elemental comes out at the end of this month. (Stay tuned for a cover interview!) 

After the event, I got to meet Deborah, Brian, David Levithan, some lovely Left Bank books and SLPL staff, and Torrey Maldonado as well. For those of you who have not had the pleasure to meet Torrey, I’m sorry. That man is hilarious (and has so many fun stories), and I will definitely be checking out his YA novel, Secret Saturdays. Adele joined us after her presentation prep and we had a fun time hanging out.

I also got to meet Audrey, Antony’s wife, who is incredibly funny and awesome and so down-to-earth and friendly and I would like to be her best friend some day.

Saturday morning was Adele’s presentation, so I took some photos of her panel, “Globalize Me! Young Adult Literature from Outside the U.S.” She and her co-presenter, Cathy Andronik, did a fabulous job and got lots of great feedback from the audience. Adele’s a serious pro — it was definitely interesting watching her put her presentation together and formulating exactly what she wanted to say, and then watching her talk about Australian YA in front of a packed room as if she and I were talking about TV or food. Except, you know, she was being way more professional and posh. So very proud of her.

See? A pro.

She even gave out a few books as well as Australian koala caramel chocolates! I may have side-eyed all of those candies going into the hands of other people because apparently I’m extremely selfish. And those koala caramel chocolates were good.

After taking pics at Adele’s panel, I headed out to the Galleria area again and met my long-time friend from high school, Phatch, for lunch at Mai Lee (Vietnamese). Talk about a convergence of YA-related activities in one city. Seeing her after 10+ years was a bit mind-boggling, but she’s still my sweet friend that I remember, that’s for sure.

She’s opening up a Thai restaurant (Fork & Stix) over on the Loop, so of course I had to snap a few pics of its beginning phases.

Afterwards, we walked up and down both sides of the Loop and stopped in shops along the way.

A few hours later, I headed back to the hotel and met Adele downstairs during Book Blitz at the symposium, where several authors were signing books. Or taking goofy pictures. Like Torrey and I.

Thanks for the photo, A!

Next was dinner at the hotel restaurant with Kelly from Stacked. It was so great to finally meet her in real life!

We had pizza and discovered that she, Adele and I have the same taste in rectangular wallets from Target.

Bright and early Sunday morning was breakfast with Sarah from YA Librarian Tales! Sarah, Adele and I talked up contemporary romance, TV and movies. During the TV portion I just kind of nodded along because I don’t have an IMDb brain like those two do.

Sunday morning was Kelly’s panel, “Get Real: Contemporary Young Adult Fiction as the Next Big Thing.” I took some pictures of her and her co-presenters — Angie Manfredi, Kathryn Salo & Andrea Sowers. After sitting through their panel, I decided that I need to somehow find a month of time to read all of the books they mentioned. I also now have an actual interest in Deadly Cool. (Sorry, cover art.)

After the “Get Real” panel was the “Guys Talkin’ to Guys: What Will Guys Read Next” panel featuring four St. Louis teens (yes, actual teens!), moderator Carrie Dietz from the St. Louis Public Library, and authors Andrew Smith, Greg Neri, Torrey Maldonado and Antony John. It was an incredibly insightful panel. Andrew Smith had his upcoming novel, Winger sitting on the table and my eyeballs zeroed in on that cover from across the room — it really is fantastic. I’m also really interested in reading Greg Neri’s Yummy.

Left to right: moderator Carrie Dietz from the St. Louis Public Library, authors Greg neri, Andrew Smith, Torrey Maldonado and Antony John.

Okay, I may need more than a month to read all these books that I want to read.  

And there were other bloggers and Twitter friends I got to meet, too! I met Jennifer (@yabooknerd), Gretchen (@librarified) and Sarah (@greenbeanblog)  and wished we could have spend more time together. I also met two new Twitter friends, Jessica (@whimsy librarian) and Jenna (@jenna_goodall) who were so incredibly sweet! And! I met a librarian from Arkansas! Finding another person from Arkansas in any state besides my own is a rarity, so I was especially excited about that. And she had a English accent to boot.

Me & Jennifer

Gretchen and me

L-to-R: Adele, Jessica, Jenna & me

Me & Sarah

Wow this really is an incredibly long post. And I think it’s important for me to even note that because I’m to the point where I’m even getting sick my own typing. But there are more pictures to be had!

 After the guys’ panel, we all headed out to Sweetie Pie’s (AGAIN, but a different location) where Adele had actually one-upped Antony on Sweetie Pie’s eating — he’d never eaten there before! What. We rectified this, and even spotted some celebrity lookalikes: a Diana Ross in front of us in line as well as a Samuel L. Jackson stunt double.

Making sure that we didn’t eat as much so we wouldn’t have to roll ourselves to the car this time, we went back to the hotel and walked over to the Arch.

Those little time capsules they stick you in to ride to the top are the worst. It feels like the longest 4 minutes of your life, minus oxygen but adding the smell of feet. 

But the view is definitely breathtaking.

St. Louis, you’ve definitely been good to me and Adele. And if you’re interested, I’ve got more pictures (but less words) posted on FB.

Wow. These past four days will not be soon forgotten, nor will it be my last visit to this city. Let’s all do a meet up next time in Australia, though, yes?

Oh who am I kidding, it is the best greeting card I’ve ever seen. A YA cover card.

This is what happens when you’re a book cover designer working for a publishing house and you’re surrounded by brilliantly hilarious people. For those unfamiliar with the cover art, it pulls from the Drake Chronicles series repackage (that Regina designed!).

Here’s a photo so you can compare the two:

Is that not hilarious or what? Kudos to designer Derrick Sanskrit KC who also designed the back of this genius card (quotes supplied by publishing staff):

I can’t stop smiling when I look at this card! All of the quotes play to Regina’s interests — gaming, kittens, LoTR, zombies and design. It’s so incredibly thoughtful (and have I mentioned yet how funny I find the card?!). And I absolutely love the engagement photos (by Marissa De Cinque), especially that middle one. Happy wedding, Regina & Dennis!

Side note — how awesome would it be to get prom photos done as YA book covers? I’ll go ahead and start scheming for spring of next year!

If you’ve got a moment, stop by Regina’s site and check out her illustrations or follow her on Twitter. And if you’ve read any of the Drake Chronicles, let me know in the comments! I haven’t read a YA paranormal in ages.

For example, if Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 & Carrie Harris’ Bad Taste in Boys had a cryonically frozen teenage daughter, she’d look just like this!

Both of these UK covers were illustrated by the brilliant Debbie Powell. I blathered on about the loveliness of both the US and UK covers for E&P (and interviewed author Rainbow Rowell) a few posts ago, too.

Okay, so where was I? Oh, yes, I’m supposed to be writing a review. I’ve basically been bubbling over the surface ever since reading Rainbow Rowell’s first novel, Attachments, a few weeks ago. Y’all. It was good. If we’re Goodreads friends, I’ve got a review (of sorts) of it here. After some online squeeing to my blogger friends who originally introduced me to her work, I then decided to read Eleanor & Park. Only halfway into it, I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d be reviewing it on the blog.

So, here I am.

Here’s brief summary of E&P from Goodreads:

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

The summary is a bit problematic because in its brevity, it fails to mention some pertinent facts, IMO:

1) You can’t get these characters out of your head.

Park is now my favorite YA boy. Sorry, Todd Hewitt (Chaos Walking series). Sorry W.W. Hale (Heist Society). Park is the quintessential nice guy who 16-year-old me would’ve tripped over her own two feet to date. From always respecting his mother to his shyness to his obsession with music and comics all the way down to his no-nonsense clothing, he captured my heart as soon as he thought it was weird that a redhead would have brown eyes (strange, I know). I’m so glad that this novel was dual-perspective so I could float around in his brain. Eleanor’s a bit more of a complicated character, but that doesn’t make her harder to love. She’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders, but throughout the book you can’t help but commend her because she’s only doing things the best way she knows how. And the girl definitely goes through some stuff. Despite her crappy life circumstances, her voice was so distinct and brazen. But reading their voices together, one after the other, was like watching a chemical reaction (of lurve) across 300+ pages.

2) You’ll want to re-read parts over and over again.

It’s no mystery that this novel is a love story. The cover declares it. The title declares it. The blurbs declare it. If you absolutely despise romance there’s no reason you should read this novel. But the way their love unfolds throughout (the beginning of their relationship is downright abrasive) is the part that will make you swoon. For lack of a better description, I’ll compare it to one of those little magic capsule toys that you set in water. (Even better, those are 80′s toys which is fitting since this novel takes place in 1986.) It starts out small, in a little pill form, until you drop it in water. Then it expands into something bigger than you ever expected. And it’s not instantaneous. It starts to take shape and form slowly and then before you know it, their love is this all encompassing thing and it’s in the shape of a tyrannosaurus rex something that you just want to squeeze. Okay, maybe that was a terrible description, but you get what I mean. Rowell’s writing oozes honey when describing all of the “firsts.” And believe me, there are some sigh-inducing, incredibly sweet, heart-wrenching, get-these-butterflies-out-of-my-chest firsts.

3) Rowell’s writing will make you take pictures of the book with your phone.

There are lines that will make you laugh, and there are lines that will make you sigh. And if you’re like me, you might even cry for 20 pages straight. But I like to take pictures of lines that make me laugh. 

And of course I’m a sucker for the literary slap.

There are many, many other reasons I loved this book (and there are many, many more lines). The diversity aspect is a unique one that I personally haven’t read (yet) in YA — I can only imagine it being a delicate and difficult thing to write and develop a hapa MC. But it’s hard not to be completely drawn to a character who grew up basically like yourself. My dad’s black and my mom’s Asian — like Park’s mom, and they also met while my dad was in the military. Diversity didn’t drive the story to move forward, though; it was only a small part of it.

There’s a part of me that wants to compare my experience of reading this novel to a giant heap of feelings. I want to shout, “Look, this is how this book made me feel!” If I could, it’d be like trying to grab every emotion I experienced from reading I’ll Be There, Shiver, Sweethearts and throw in a generous helping of tinglies from reading a few contemporary romance novels. That could accurately describe my feelings, sure. I think Eleanor & Park deserves more than that, though. It deserves all of the description that a heart-wrenching first love brings, because for me, that’s what it definitely delivered.

E&P isn’t available in the US until March 2013 (although Amazon claims February 26). For those of you who’d like to pick up the UK version, I purchased my copy through Fishpond (free shipping, too). Or, you can hang around this space until next year, where I probably won’t be able to shut up about this book as its release date approaches. There may be a giveaway as well.