Tim and I trekked down to the Young Adult section of our local Barnes and Noble–where we perused book covers to determine which one(s) we liked best.

Many covers grabbed for our attention: Tim really liked Ally Condie’s series, Matched, Crossed, and Reached. I have to admit the brunette in a bubble idea is pretty cool.

  In Matched she’s trapped in the green-tinted bubble.

In Crossed, she’s wearing a blue jumpsuit and she’s punched and kicked out of a blue-tinted bubble.

     Reached has the red-tinted bubble cracked open like an egg and the brunette stands (back to us) in a cascading red gown looking like she’s going to walk away.

The winner, the book cover design that attracted us the most, was Splintered, by A. G. Howard.  We loved the bright colors and little bugs everywhere. 

I emailed Ms. Howard and asked who designed her cover and she emailed me back right away. And because I really appreciated that, I bought and read the hardcover version of her book. It’s a dark fantasy re-make of the old fantasy, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I never really got that book. I always thought Lewis Carroll must have been on an opium-induced high to imagine what he did. I enjoyed this new version much more and look forward to reading the sequel, Unhinged!

I immediately contacted the cover artist, Nathalia Suellen of Lady Symposia. Nathalia is a self-taught digital artist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Amazingly, she is only in her early twenties, a YA herself. Plus, she has a great book of her early art for sale at blurb: www.ladysymposia.com

And here is the final cover design for HIGH: The Way of an Eagle, by me.

So, let me know… What do you think?

Isn’t the model gorgeous? I just love her!