Preparation for the blog tour actually begin back in November. We had scheduled it for the last week in February, but we cut it a little close with the tour starting just three weeks after the book released. When I signed up for the blog tour, I didn't realize how far ahead we needed the completed manuscript and cover.
Thankfully my editors and the cover design person, Derinda, were all very gracious about the tailspin I put us in. Basically, I had no cover. And since this is a small publisher, we provide our own covers, often using stock photos.
I had shot the cover photo for Freerunner, and as you've read, it features a young lady that I know and admire. But I didn't have a red haired 15-year-old for my second cover. And I didn't start thinking about it until too late. We tried a cover with two different stock photos, but honestly they were horrible. I kept trying to think of someone red haired. I even thought about changing the main character's hair color to make it easier. Then Derinda said she could simple turn someone's hair red. And I thought of a photo I'd taken the weekend of my daughter's wedding. I didn't have quite what I wanted, but Derinda was able to take the photo and combine it with another photo for the cover below. It's not quite what I had in mind since the book is action adventure, and to me it looks like a romance novel cover. I'd love to have a photo of her tumbling down a raging river, but no time to stage that, so this is what we came up with.
This photo was taken in October 2014 when the cover model, Ari, was 14. She's now 20 and in college. She is engaged to a wonderful Christian young man and plans to get married May 2022.
Here are some other photos of Ari.
This is the one that was used on the cover. I am working on my third YA book, and I am already thinking ahead to the cover. I'll need a fifteen year old with straight brown hair and blue eyes. The main character is a photographer, and she photographs both children's parties and sports events as well as those for her school. I'm excited to be working on another book.
So far Catching Hope has gotten all good reviews on this blog tour.
Day Two
I guess this book was less intense than "Freerunner." Most of the reviews for that one started, "This was a hard book to read" because it dealt with child molestation. Catching Hope is issue based too, but in a different way as the story itself is adventure. Here's a bit from today's review, "I liked that there was so much going on that I didn't want to put the book down at all. You didn't feel overwhelmed by all of it, it just kept the pace of the book up." You can read the rest at Ashley's Clean Book Reviews
Day Three
"Catching Hope" by Kathy Cassel is a book that I read in one setting and really was kept on the edge of my seat because the book felt like it was a true story." Read more at Debbie's Dusty Deliberations