Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Wednesday Flourish: Hidden in Plain Sight

I always love sharing my design work with all of you, so I'm really excited today to reveal the cover for Hidden in Plain Sight, the fourth book in the Serenity's Plain Secrets series by Karen Ann Hopkins. Karen is one of my longtime clients, and we've worked together on so many projects now that we've become a bit of a well-oiled machine which is really fun.

Usually Karen shoots me an email before we start a cover with a few key things she's looking for, and then lets me run with those ideas as I collect various images and group them into basic concepts to submit for approval. With this cover though Karen didn't have the same kind of specific imagery in mind as she's had for previous designs, and I'm grateful that she trusted me enough to let me try and point us both in the right design direction.

Amish stock imagery is poor at best, so it's always a bit of a challenge for me to create a cover for this series that suggests an Amish country setting while still having that ominous murder mystery feel. With this newest cover Karen wanted the Amish element to be a bit more front and center than in previous books, so it took a little extra magic to help me find my way to the final cover and I couldn't be happier with the result.

I hope you guys love how it turned out!


When a cold case heats up, Serenity won’t stop until she discovers the truth.
In the fourth installment of the bestselling Serenity’s Plain Secrets’ series, Serenity must work with US marshals to uncover the truth behind a shockingly brutal fifteen-year-cold murder.
Desperate for answers, Serenity finds herself in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where she unravels secrets that threaten to tear her and Daniel apart. But digging up the past is dangerous, and the quaint Amish settlement isn’t as safe as it seems.
If Serenity chooses to trust the man she’s come to love, it could mean a happily ever after… or her final act.


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Be sure and check out the previous books in the series!

SECRETS IN THE GRAVE
Serenity's Plain Secrets #3


Just when Sheriff Serenity Adams thinks life is getting back to normal, the death of a young, pregnant Amish woman rocks the community. Is it circumstance…or murder? It’s up to Serenity and her ex-Amish boyfriend, Daniel Bachman, to discover the truth about the new shaman-type medicine man who’s brought his dark secrets to Blood Rock.

But Serenity has secrets of her own, and if she and Daniel don’t work it out, the reappearance of a woman from his past could threaten to ruin their relationship.

The deeper Serenity delves into the magical world of Amish herbal medicine, the phenomenon of laying of the hands and other cultural healing oddities, the more she wonders if miracles are real. What she witnesses with her own eyes may be too fantastical for her to believe.

In this riveting third installment of Serenity’s Plain Secrets, beliefs are challenged, a way of life is questioned and family skeletons are unearthed, leaving no one untouched.  


WHISPERS FROM THE DEAD
Serenity's Plain Secrets #2


Some Amish communities aren't so cozy.
Whispers From The Dead is the powerful and thrilling sequel to Lamb to the Slaughter, in the Amish mystery series, Serenity’s Plain Secrets.

Sheriff Serenity Adams and Daniel Bachman are once again partnered up in a criminal investigation, when they travel to a northern Amish settlement that has been riddled by arsons for the past two decades. Serenity quickly discovers that there is much more going on than just barns being set on fire in the touristy community, and that the new group of Amish has their own secrets to hide. She begins to unravel an extensive criminal underworld that threatens to destroy everything that the simple people of Poplar Springs hold dear and once again puts her own life in jeopardy.

And even though Serenity tries desperately to avoid it, things begin heating up between her and Daniel, making her wonder if true love and happiness are really within her grasp.


LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
Serenity's Plain Secrets #1


Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest.

Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate.  At first glance, the case seems obvious.  The poor girl was probably accidently shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious.  As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting.

Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up.  Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.



Find Karen:
 


You can find more of my cover design work at Seedlings Design Studio!

32 comments:

  1. it's intriguing, I didn't know about these ones. Good job as ever my friend!

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  2. The new one looks..happier perhaps

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  3. Aww this is such a pretty cover you've designed Jenny, it definitely gives a more hopeful vibe to the story, I also like the colours you've gone with this one too. Thanks for sharing this with us :)

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    1. Thanks Jasprit! I love working on all Karen's covers:)

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  4. Awesome job, Jenny! Hidden in Plain Sight is definitely my favorite cover of the series. It looks just like Amish country in Lancaster, PA. Beautiful!

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    1. Oh good! I'm so glad to hear it:) And glad I was able to give an authentic Amish feel!

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  5. Beautiful, Jenny! You were able to capture the Amish vibe of the book 100%. I'm loving the color of the sky on that photo! And I love how they all match.

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    1. Thanks so much Nick! This series is really fun for me, I love all the different landscapes:)

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  6. Love this series and you get just the right feel from the cover. Well done Jenny. Just perfect!

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  7. You've done an amazing job as always! I love how each one of the books feels like a separate story but have very much a cohesion of look & feel that also says they're all part of the same series!

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    1. Thanks so much Pili! I know I love it when it's very clear that a book is part of a particular series, so I try to make sure all the books feel cohesive while still being unique:)

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  8. Ok so ALL of the covers of the series are PHENOMENAL but we're talking the newest one here so here we go: I love the colours, how it goes from warm yellow and green tones to rich, deep dark shades of blue in the sky! The scenery is hauntingly beautiful too which fits the murder mystery theme perfectly

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    1. Thanks Micheline! I really love the colors on this one too, possibly my favorite of the series:)

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  9. That cover is so calming and it makes me peaceful looking at it.I really love how you have incorporated the small Amish cart on every cover.

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    1. Thanks Heidi! Amish stock imagery is crazy hard to find, so I wanted to make sure there was a little something on each cover to suggest Amish country.

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  10. Okay, for not having a lot of stock to chose from, you rock it! Sometimes limiting things helps since we don't become overwhelmed and are forced to concentrate on making what we want. Love these covers. You so rock.

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  11. You rocked it Jenny!! Fabulous as always. ;)

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  12. You really do a great job! It has the mystery feel but still shows the Amish setting really well. Love how these look together too!

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    1. Thanks! I love seeing them all lined up on my shelf too:)

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  13. This is absolutely my favorite type of cover. I am so drawn to the big, bold titles with pretty, but muted backgrounds. I especially love the colors, though, not to mention the carriage and horse silhouette at the top (not sure what it's called) which is so, so elegant and adds such a special touch. Absolutely beautiful, Jenny--this is amongst my favorite of your work!

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  14. Jenny, thanks for another great cover! I love working with you and look forward to many more covers to come. Cheers!

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    1. Likewise Karen! I'm so proud of everything we've done together:)

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  15. You definitely pulled it off. All I saw was the top half at first and it totally gave the ominous vibe. I like that you can see the Amish connection without being overwhelming.

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    1. Thank you! I want them to have the Amish feel but not turn any readers who might not be overly interested in that genre away. These are murder mysteries, they just happen to be set in Amish country:)

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  16. I think this is my favorite cover of the series, Jenny! I love the rich colors of the farmlands and the buggy definitely gives it more of the Amish vibe the author was looking for. Beautiful! :)

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