The Cover

I've been struggling with what to share about this book because there are a lot of twists and turns (or at least I hope there are) so I'm sorry that I haven't blogged more about this book.   However the cover art is always a great topic.  As I said before, I don't just slap art on the front of my book, because I've always been disappointed when the cover has no ties to the story.  So this cover has a lot to do with the story.  (I've written about this before, so I apologize to those of you who have read about this cover already.)

The reason Rose's whole back is showing because it was important to me that she isn't hiding from all that happened.  It was never intended for people to think she's naked, sorry my brain doesn't think that way.  (I've always liked when I'm reading a story and something grabs my attention because I realize that's why it's in the cover art or after I read the book I look at the cover and think "oh, that's cool" or "I get it".)  As I've already said there are a lot of horrible things that happen to her.  Most of my female leads go through a lot, but Rose's story is probably the worst (possibly second to Sasha from "Huntsman's Daughter".  Although Sahsa's horrible stuff is on a whole different level - an adult story.)   Also, the fact that Rose is not centered on the cover allows the eye to see that there is light shining upon her, which I feel is important.  Almost as much as the fact that Rose is looking away from the light.   The silver circles, the gash on her neck, and the one on her lower back happen relatively early in the story.  The imperfect black zig-zagging lines happen a little later in the story, but are more important to the story than the two gashes.