A Smugglerific Cover (& Giveaway): Cracked by Eliza Crewe

Today, we are thrilled to host the cover reveal for Cracked by Eliza Crewe, coming from Strange Chemistry in November in both the US and the UK. This is really cool too, because Ana read – and absolutely loved – Cracked ages ago when it was only a draft.

And now, without further ado, behold! The Smugglerific Cover (and summary)!

THE SMUGGLERIFIC COVER:

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Meet Meda. She eats people.

Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.

They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by Crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her “kind” is.

Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.

The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it.

AUTHOR’S THOUGHTS ON THE COVER:

Seeing your cover for the first time is a surreal experience. Not only does it hit home that your story is going to be a book (a real book!), but also that other people have read it, thought about it, and have gone so far as to create art to represent it. I have two publishers, so I actually got to experience this twice. Here is the Penguin cover, published in India earlier this year:

Both publishers asked for my ideas for the cover, and I think I blurted out helpful suggestions like “something cool” and “I like fonts.” I did ask that if they showed my main character, Meda, that she actually look like Meda — there’s nothing worse than a character on the cover who looks completely wrong (like, say, a blond Anne of Green Gables) — but that was about it.

Fortunately, despite my uselessness, my publishers managed to come up with two totally cool, completely different concepts. I love how different they are, that Penguin’s cover is a portrayal of the characters and places in the book, while Strange Chemistry went all symbolic; that Penguin’s cover leans more horror with a shadowy Meda (who, I am assured, is not blond) in a creepy forest, while Strange Chemistry went more for the urban fantasy angle with magical flame and the secret society’s symbol. Even the crosses they used to represent the Knights Templar are different. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both dark, but as it’s a book about a people-eating monster girl, that was probably unavoidable! I am just so happy with both covers–thanks so much for letting me show them off on your site!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eliza Crewe always thought she’d be a lawyer, and even went so far as to complete law school. But as they say, you are what you eat, and considering the number of books Eliza has devoured since childhood, it was inevitable she’d end up in the literary world. She abandoned the lawyer-plan to instead become a librarian and now a writer.

While she’s been filling notebooks with random scenes for years, Eliza didn’t seriously commit to writing an entire novel until the spring of 2011, when she and her husband bought a house. With that house came a half-hour commute, during which Eliza decided she needed something to think about other than her road-rage. Is it any surprise she wrote a book about a blood-thirsty, people-eating monster?

Eliza has lived in Illinois, Edinburgh, and Las Vegas, and now lives in North Carolina with her husband, daughter, hens, an angry, talking, stuffed dwarf giraffe, and a sweet, mute, pantomiming bear. She likes to partially-complete craft projects, free-range her hens, and take long walks. Cracked is her first novel.

Follow Eliza on her blog and on twitter (@ElizaCrewe).

Thanks, Eliza!

The Givevaway:

Courtesy of Strange Chemistry, we are giving away THREE copies of the Cracked. The contest is open to ALL – everybody, anywhere – and will run until Saturday, September 21 at 12:01am ET. To enter, use the form below! GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway