Cover Reveal & (Previous Iterations)

I hope you guys like it! It's a combination of the first two covers--the white and black with the small burning details! Sorry for the label/watermark saying, "Not for Distribution." Since the cover hasn't been uploaded on all retailers yet, someone could take the final cover or even the previous versions and publish it. Better to be safe than sorry. I hope it's not too distracting. I blotted out the titles so you can at least see the design.

My original idea was to have a butterfly over the mouth which is symbolic of the "confessions" part of the title. It's also a polarizing image and reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs (though that's a moth, not a butterfly). I don't think the cover is bad, but the switch to having a person was more jarring than I expected and the model wasn't exactly what I envision for Jasmine. I wasn't completely happy with it and it did give more suspense/horror vibes.

I didn't have any other ideas for the cover until I finished the rewrites and talked to some of the Super Patrons who had completed the book.

There's a lot of significant jewelry in this book (Roth giving back her original wedding ring, her mother's jewelry, and the diamonds she wears to the Ball). So a way to encompass all of that and also represent their return to high society and all the glitz and glamor that comes with it was diamonds. I think the designer did a great job with it! I love the darkness and light, the seductive gleam of the diamonds, and the subtle burning on the edges and smattering of ash hinting at a darker undertone… Very appropriate not only for this installment of Roth and Jasmine’s story, but the series overall.

The last cover with the large butterfly and the diamonds in the back was what my designer did last week and I felt it was mostly butterfly and the diamonds were barely discernible. I originally asked for a diamond encrusted butterfly or blinged out butterfly wing, but OMG that was a disaster. My designer said sparkle and diamonds are really hard to work with, which I didn't realize. So, we stripped it down to that image, which was ok, but nothing to really talk about. Also, compared to the previous covers, it didn't even look like it was from the same series! So we went back to the drawing board and I asked for a burning/spark/fire element from the first 2 covers and for the diamonds to be more of the focal point and the butterfly in the background and she delivered. Phew!

And that concludes the back story on the cover. LOL. I hope you like it!