Friday Flourish: One of the Guys + Play On

Happy Friday Everyone!

Most of you who visit this blog frequently know that as of the beginning of this year, I overhauled the design business I run from home and switched my focus from weddings and related stationery to book cover design. This was a terrifying and exciting (terrifyingly exciting?) change for me since I was essentially starting over and going in a completely new direction, but the past seven months have been absolutely amazing.

I've learned so much in a short amount of time, taking online classes and watching hours and hours of Photoshop tutorials to learn new tips and tricks I never had to use for my wedding design work, and I'm having a blast while doing it. I've been wanting to share some of the projects I've had the pleasure of working on in a more organized way, and when I saw my good friend Mary's Creative Mojo post last week, I got inspired. I would have completely stolen her post title, but I have a thing for alliteration, so I went with the above instead ;-)

On select Fridays moving forward, I'm going to post some of my recent cover designs and their accompanying blurbs so those of you who may not have these books on your radars yet can add them to your lists! This will not be a weekly, or even monthly, feature as I obviously have to wait until the covers are released through official channels first before sharing them, but I have seven covers in various stages of completion currently, so I hope the business continues to grow and I can make this a regular feature in the not-too distant future! *fingers crossed*

I have two contemporary YA covers to share today, both of which are releasing from Spencer Hill Contemporary next year. Let me know what you think in the comments!

ONE OF THE GUYS

Lisa Aldin

Releases February 2015

Tomboy to the core, Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and burping contests over manicures any day. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a "lady" while the guys move on without her.

Then Toni meets Emma Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her friends as a pretend date to make Emma's ex jealous. Soon word spreads of Toni’s connections with boys, and she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine’s Rent-A-Gent Service.

But the business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends—the same guy who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love.

Goodreads • Amazon

PLAY ON

Michelle A. Smith

Releases April 2015

In the small town of Lewis Creek, baseball is everything. Especially for all-star pitcher Austin Braxton, who has a one-way ticket out of town with his scholarship to a top university. All that stands between him and a new start is one final season. But when Austin starts flunking Chemistry, his picture-perfect future is in jeopardy. A failing grade means zero playing time, and zero playing time means no scholarship.

Enter Marisa Marlowe, the new girl in town who gets a job at his momma's flower shop. Not only is Marisa some home-schooled super-genius; she's also a baseball fanatic and more than willing to help Austin study. As the two grow closer, there's something about Marisa that makes Austin want more than just baseball and out of Lewis Creek—he wants a future with her. But Marisa has a past that still haunts her, one that she ran all the way to South Carolina to escape.

As Austin starts to peel back the layers of Marisa’s pain, it forces him to look beyond the façade of himself and everyone he thought he knew in his town. What he sees instead is that in a small town like Lewis Creek, maybe baseball isn’t everything—maybe it is just the thing that ties them all together.

Goodreads

If you want to see more of my work, including some fun fan art posters, you can check out my full portfolio online at Seedlings Design Studio!