Today I'm please to welcome Lena Goldfinch to the Blogfest to introduce us to the characters in her novel, "Haunting Joy."
The story behind the cover of Haunting Joy: a ghostly little story
Haunting Joy by Lena Goldfinch
Release date: October 21, 2013
Joy’s new dress has a secret – one with a little supernatural history, one that’s a little more than she expected.
It all starts one ordinary afternoon, as seventeen-year-old Joy tries on some thrift-store clothes her grandmother gave her. The little white dress fits perfectly. Trouble is, now it won’t leave her alone. Soon Joy is swept up in an extraordinary journey to help a ghost complete some unfinished business. If only that didn’t involve Joy driving through dangerous intersections...or calling up her high-school crush, Nick...or getting stuck at a cemetery after dark.
Will Joy accept this ghostly challenge to be "more"? And just how far will she go to uncover the truth?
Light YA Paranormal
"I never believed in ghosts.
Until it happened to me."
Lena: As an author and a freelance cover designer, I have the absolute best time coming up with covers for my stories. I found a photo of a perfect dress for Haunting Joy on Flickr, and the dress designer gave me permission to use it on the cover. The dress is really a character in the story, because Joy (the main protagonist) is haunted by a thrift-store dress that her grandmother buys for her. Joy is sort of a tomboy, so she's perplexed at being drawn to the dress -- any dress -- but especially to a floaty white sundress with straps.
Wendy Firmin is the owner of the Creole Sha on Etsy and she designs gorgeous, funky-chic "Eco Upcycled" clothing. So the dress I found wasn't only feminine, floaty-looking, and white, it was also a recycled dress, which Wendy had put her unique design spin on. That made it doubly perfect for my story! (Unfortunately, the dress is already sold. I wonder who's wearing it these days...and if it's possibly haunted. ;))
Here's the original dress from Wendy and my two "haunted" versions, with a supernatural, glow-y effect, courtesy
of Photoshop. The pink & purple one is for the ebook and the black & white one is for the print edition.
Thanks for setting up the blogfest, DelSheree! And a special thanks to Wendy Firmin of Creole Sha: Eco Upcycled Clothing for Casual Living. :)
Haunting Joy is on sale this week for 99 cents on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks.
Stay up to date on Lena and her characters at
How fun! I didn't know that the dress was actually one you found Etsy! I love cover stories. :)
ReplyDelete~Amber
P.S. Thanks for featuring Lena, DelSheree!
Thank for stopping by, Amber! I love hearing what inspired cover art as well :) More often than not there's a interesting story behind it.
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