Book Cover Reveal for Elevated by Elana Johnson and a Cash Giveaway!

I absolutely LOVE Elana Johnson's YA books. So when she emailed and asked me to participate in her cover reveal, I was like--YES!!!   I love her edgy cover, which really hits the YA crowd. =)

PS - Don't forget that today is the last day to cast your vote on my new series' town name.  Now, on to Elana's awesome book!

The last person seventeen-year-old Eleanor Livingston wants to see on the elevator—let alone get stuck with—is her ex-boyfriend Travis, the guy she's been avoiding for five months.

Plagued with the belief that when she speaks the truth, bad things happen, Elly hasn’t told Trav anything. Not why she broke up with him and cut off all contact. Not what happened the day her father returned from his deployment to Afghanistan. And certainly not that she misses him and still thinks about him everyday.

But with nowhere to hide and Travis so close it hurts, Elly’s worried she won’t be able to contain her secrets for long. She’s terrified of finally revealing the truth, because she can’t bear to watch a tragedy befall the boy she still loves.

Praise for ELEVATED:

"ELEVATED will take you on an emotionally gripping journey through the highs and lows of first love."
~Carolee Dean, author of Take Me There and Forget Me Not

"Poignant, raw, and intense, ELEVATED is a novel that will grip your heart and linger in your mind long after you turn the last page."
~Stasia Ward Kehoe, author of Audition and The Sound of Letting Go

Find ELEVATED on the web!

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/elevated

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18947183-elevated

 

About the AMAZING Elana Johnson: Elana Johnson’s work, including Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), is available now everywhere books are sold. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for download, as well as a Possession short story, Resist. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers.

ELEVATED Giveaway!

Enter below for a chance to win $15 PayPal cash! 

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Elana Johnson's New Book Covers!

Elana Johnson has new book covers!

For fun, she's asked her friends to announce and (ahem, honestly) critique them. So, to refresh your memory, here's the hardback cover for Elana's book Possession.

When Elana first revealed her cover, I thought it was unique, trendy, and awesome. But unique doesn't last for long in the publishing industry. Cause once something cool comes out, everyone wants to jump on the band wagon with their own versions. Browsing through the YA section, I've noticed more and more mostly white (or a light, mixed shade of white) covers. For example . . . 

Here's another series I love which as a white theme & funky captured image on the front cover.

 Then there's the facial close ups . . . When done well, they aren't nearly as freaky as this one is.

An everyday object to break up the stark white.

The white, washed out cover where the model wears clothes that blend into the background. You know what I see here - weeds.

And pictures of headless people - some of which just involve the lower portion of the body, other covers actually show shoulders down, and make me think of poor Marie Antoinette.

For as many white covers out there, there are just as many black, dark themed books too. It's like a clash of good and evil on the shelves. And in between those light and dark cover are super bright "happy teenage girl" color covers. And generally an eye-popping pink color.

Now, Elana has new covers. First, an updated cover for Possession's upcoming paperback release.

And the cover for the release of Surrender . . .

So, Elana wanted honesty. (No take backs, Elana. You're not allowed to hunt me down at the next writers conference and harass me.)

I have a love-hate reaction to the covers. Personally, I love the colors, but they are so NOT Vi and the society in my opinion. Although they really are excellent complementary choices for the images on the front cover.

I liked the original font better. This one seems too YA romancy to me.  I really like the graduated background coloring, but the layout reminds me a lot of Allie Condie's Matched series. I'm not so hip about that. I like being able to tell my friends' books apart at first glance. I admit to occasionally seeing either Elana's or Allie's covers and accidentally saying, "Oh that's Allie's book. Wait, no Elana's. Oops." and vice verse. But that has more to do with the captured image on the front than the background. Although Allie's series had more color with the graduated tints, while Elana's was stark white.

My overall opinion - I like the covers. I think they'll stand out on the shelves between all the white and black covers. But I think they went from looking distinctly dystopian YA to romance YA.

And now, I believe I'll send a bacon themed e-card to Elana so she'll forgive me.  =)

What do you think of Elana's new covers? Or the trend of YA covers in general?

What's Up With Those QR Boxes?

Everywhere I go, I see these doohickies:



Today I saw one on the side of my Mountain Dew cup. Then I found one while I was looking through a book catalog. I've even seen them on my church bulletin boards embedded with links to go check out pictures from youth activities.

Seriously?

Okay, my friends - what's so great about QR Codes? What do you love about them? What do you hate about them? I think I'm in a love-hate relationships with them right now.  =)

Ironically, whenever I see them, I can't help but think about Elana Johnson's Tagged system in her upcoming book, Possession.

Freaky co-incidence? Or is our society becoming a living dystopian novel?