Fun Friday–Book Cover-Palooza!
Yesterday, those who subscribe to my newsletter got an early look at the cover for Ransome’s Quest, Book 3 of The Ransome Trilogy.
Now, as a reminder, here are the covers of Books 1 & 2:
From these covers, it’s pretty obvious in which era these books are set, right?
I have to hand it to Harvest House—they’ve been so patient with me this autumn and winter. They’ve initiated a new cover-art worksheet, which they sent me back in the fall to fill out to give them some direction for the cover of Ransome’s Quest. At that time, I was in the throes of trying to figure out the story of The Art of Romance which was already past deadline and I wasn’t even halfway finished. And then, as we all know, this happened:
Which has been followed by a temporary move to Arkansas, surgery, recovery, healing, doctor visits, holidays, trying to finish The Art of Romance, freelance editing, bills, more doctor visits, applying for financial assistance, more holidays, finishing The Art of Romance, more freelance editing, more bill issues, a fantastic weekend trip back to Nashville and a book signing event, even more doctor visits, edits and revisions and new scenes/chapters for The Art of Romance, and more surgery (next week).
All that to say, I never sent them the cover information they requested. And I felt horrible about it. Especially once I received this sample cover on Tuesday this week, to show me what direction they were going in:
No, this is not the final cover, keep reading!
I loved everything about it. It’s PURPLE!!! (My favorite color, in case you didn’t already know that.) I love the tropical feel with the greenery—and especially the ships in the background (who doesn’t want a ship with a pirate flag on the front cover of her novel with pirates in it???). And “Charlotte” even has short hair! But there’s just one little problem . . . even with as much as I love it, the dress is about 40 or 50 years out of date, and nothing like the clothing she wears that’s described in the book. So even with as much as I hate making extra work for people, and feeling even more guilty that I never made the time to send in that worksheet, I sent an e-mail back, asking if they could Photoshop in a new body in an era appropriate dress. I was prepared to be disappointed, to be told there was nothing I could do.
And then on Wednesday, I received an e-mail with not one, but TWO new covers to choose from, with “Charlotte” in two distinctly different, yet both era-appropriate gowns. I loved BOTH of them. I couldn’t decide. So I sent both out to a key group of writers and readers to get them to help me decide. And—wouldn’t you know it?—about five minutes after sending the e-mail, I decided which one I liked best. But I’d told Kim I would let her know the next day (Thursday). So I waited for my “focus group” to respond—and checked every five minutes to see if new e-mails had come in. (Good thing we went out for dinner that night. It would have been horrible if I’d been at the computer all night.)
By the time I got up around my normal crack of noon on Thursday, almost all the “votes” had come in. And not only were the opinions unanimous, but they all picked the one I’d decided I liked best, too.
So, now I proudly present . . .
Ransome’s Quest
Book Three of the Ransome Trilogy
ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-2755-0
Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
The pirate El Salvador has haunted the waters of the Caribbean for almost ten years. When he snatched Charlotte Ransome, it was a case of mistaken identity. Now Charlotte’s brother, whose reputation in battle is the stuff of legend, is searching for him with a dogged determination. But another rumor has reached El Salvador’s ears: Julia Ransome has been kidnapped by the man feared by all other pirates—the pirate known only as Shaw. The violent and blood-thirsty savage from whom El Salvador was trying to protect her.
When word reaches William of Julia’s disappearance, his heart is torn—he cannot abandon the search for his sister, yet he must also rescue Julia. Ned Cochrane offers a solution: Ned will continue the search for Charlotte while William goes after Julia. William’s quest will lead him to a greater understanding of faith and love as he must accept help from sworn enemy and have faith that Julia’s life is in God’s hands.
Coming August 2011
And here’s the second cover they did, which I didn’t choose, but which I liked almost as much.
Oh, and just in case you missed it last week, I also unveiled the cover of Turnabout’s Fair Play, Book 3 of the Matchmakers series.
Comments are closed.
KayeDacus.com 
You are certainly blessed when it comes to your publisher! Three gorgeous covers for one book 😉 (and I was excited to see Turnabout’s cover last week, too).
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Congratulations on the beautiful cover, Kaye.
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Wow-great cover!
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I love the cover and thinks it the right choice! The red on the other one was just a little too bright. (in my opinion!) It’s got to be so exciting to see your stories clothed to beautifully!
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“so beautifully” I cannot type this morning. 🙂
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It is gorgeous!! But August still seems so far away. I can’t wait!
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Great covers, girl. The new one is beautiful, but I think Ransome’s Honor will always be my favorite.
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Beautiful new cover!!! I know you are ecstatic! 🙂
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I’m so glad they didn’t stick with that first one. Beautiful, but just not right for Charlotte. This one is so much better (although I’m a sucker for red just like you are for purple! LOL).
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Kaye, I think I’m almost excited about your new cover as you are:) It just POPS! Of all things publishing, cover art is my favorite. Love the blurb, too. Love that you love the color purple, etc. Wish I had that dress, shawl, and bonnet! Ah, can hardly wait to hold the book… Bless you. And I’ll be thinking of you as you head into surgery next week. You are a trooper!
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I love them both, Kaye!
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I’m afraid this is going to be one of those books where I fall in love with the pirate! 🙂
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There are two pirates in this book . . . and if you fall in love with one of them, I’m going to be VERY worried about you, girl! 😉 The other one, well, you’re supposed to kind of fall in love with him.
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LOVE it! 🙂
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Hurray! I feel like a proud aunt for some reason.
I must hurry to the end of Ransome’s Honor because I’ve been researching kissing scenes today and I didn’t want to skip ahead to the HEA. Please tell me it will be more than one sentence! 🙂
That cover is going to send someone to the Caribbean, I’m sure of it. I’m ready to go right now!
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I think you made the right cover choice. The red dress was pretty but was too different from what was on the cover for books one and two.
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Purple is my favorite color, too,Kaye! The cover is great.
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