The cover models for both books are amazing young women, but have very different stories, backgrounds and families.
Today I'll talk about Freerunner.
When it came time to plan the cover for Freerunner I asked a friend if I could photograph her daughter to give the design team an idea of what I envisioned for the cover. Needing a break from my own life, I had shown up on their doorstep to hang out for a few days. I took action shots and mood shots (and even have some fun bloopers). When I sent them to the design team, they actually chose to use one of my photos for the cover. Now one of my friend’s daughters is on the cover of my first teen fiction book. She’s an amazing young lady, so it’s special to me to have her as the cover model.
The cover model is fifteen–year-old Larissa (fourteen when the cover photo was taken), who is part of an adoptive family that has twelve children. She and her brother were adopted as toddlers, and while Larissa doesn’t share Kia’s story, she has had struggles of her own. To accommodate some medical issues, she is homeschooled. She is involved in modeling, dance, musical theater and singing. The amazing part about Larissa performing is that because of the trauma of spending three years in foster care she struggled with selective mutism, not able to talk to anyone outside of her family. Amazingly she has been able to overcome it and is now able to express herself verbally as well as through music and dance. Larissa’s newest interest is photography, and she loves llamas and collecting realistic dolls.
Even though we live hundreds of miles apart, I've had a chance to hang out with Larissa when our families have shared vacations, and I even stayed with them, along with three of my children, when our town was hit head on by Hurricane Michael.
I'll be sharing more about Larissa in coming posts. This is one young lady to keep your eye on because she is going to do amazing things in life.
You can order your copy of Freerunner here.
This link is to the audible version where you can hear a sample of the book. It's also available in print and kindle editions.
Next time I hope to introduce you to the cover model for Catching Hope.
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