The Art of Book Cover Design for Historical Fiction

*This is an older post, but it remains so popular that I keep it pinned here on the main page.*

I had the pleasure of speaking on The Art of Book Cover Design panel at the Historical Novel Society conference last June with Emily Victorson from Allium Press, Sarah Johnson from Reading the Past, Anna Michels from Sourcebooks, and Kris Waldherr from Art and Words. We each presented on different aspects of designing historical fiction covers, and my task was to discuss my approach and trends in the genre. In case you missed it, or if you attended and would like to have a copy of your own, here is my portion of the presentation!

L to R: Anna, Kris, myself, and Sarah

The first thing I do when working on a cover is determine the genre or subgenre and the target audience, and then I spend some time browsing through the bestsellers to see which covers are selling books and what they look like. It’s important that you pay attention to cover trends when creating yours. You may think your cover is going to stand out because it’s so different from others in the genre, but that approach can often backfire. Cover trends exist in the first place because they sell books. Readers of a genre are used to seeing a certain style of cover, and if your cover doesn’t even come close, they may very well skip over it, thinking it’s not the type of book they like to read. So the trick is crafting a cover that falls within the trends in the genre while standing out and catching the eye of your target reader. 

So with that being said, I want to briefly touch on some popular trends in today’s historical fiction covers. A significant portion of the historical fiction market is targeted toward women, so that’s where we’ll begin.

So let’s start with the trend readers either seem to love or hate: The Headless Woman. This trend is popular because the heroine in a reader’s imagination rarely matches a real-life depiction on the cover. So it gives us a chance to envision what her face looks like and also adds an air of mystery. (Check out Sarah's portion of the presentation for the original headless woman cover that started the trend!)

A Maiden's Prayer

Please join me in congratulating Srianthi Perera on the publication of her debut novel, A Maiden's Prayer! I had the pleasure of helping Srianthi design the cover. Here's the book description:

Berty Uncle must have a wife! 

  

In 1970s Sri Lanka, matchmakers performed family introductions, and families placed advertisements in newspapers when young people could not find partners on their own. Using the ancient study of celestial bodies—Vedic Hindu Astrology—astrologers paired men and women for lifelong companionship. 

  

In A MAIDEN’S PRAYER, precocious Tamara de Silva narrates her handsome uncle’s story through the romantic lens of youth, and comically highlights the wild machinations of her extended family in their efforts to marry him off.  

  

However, the successful engineer ignores all matchmaking efforts and proceeds recklessly according to his fancy. His rejection of family tradition brings startling and unexpected results. 

A Maiden's Prayer is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Srianthi's website for more information on the book, including photos and music, and Srianthi's nonfiction articles.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Lassoing a Montana Heart

Please join me in congratulating Ramona Flightner on the publication of her newest historical romance, Lassoing a Montana Heart, book ten in the Bear Grass Springs series! I had the pleasure of helping Ramona design the cover. Here's the book description:

A desperate journey to an unknown land. A selfless act of kindness. A marriage of convenience.

Davina MacQueen yearns for a loving family. After fleeing from her conniving father in Scotland, she arrives in Bear Grass Springs, Montana Territory, with hope and determination. Soon, she is an integral part of daily life on Sorcha and Frederick’s ranch. Unfortunately, the giant of a man, Slims, is to be her tutor in the kitchen. He’s intolerable. Insufferable. And all too attractive for her liking.

Slims has no time for teaching Miss Sorcha’s cousin. Against his will, he begins to yearn for the time alone with her, even if it’s obvious she loathes him. What he wouldn’t give to trace his fingers through her silky, golden hair and hear her laugh.

When they are stranded in the middle of a blizzard, he is shocked by her dedication to his wellbeing. Upon arrival in town, she is threatened by vicious gossips, and he realizes he will do anything in his power to protect her. If only she would accept his love as readily as she accepts his proposal.

Will Davina learn to trust in a Slims’s love again, or will she allow the fears from her past to keep her alone?

Lassoing a Montana heart is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Ramona's website for the scoop on all of her books!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

The Edge of Hell

Please join me in congratulating S.K. Keogh on the publication of her newest historical novel, The Edge of Hell. I had the pleasure of helping Susan design the cover. Here's the book description:

Thirteen thousand Union soldiers will lose their lives at Andersonville prison. James Keenan is determined Nate Calhoun will not be one of them.

James and Nate have nothing more in common than their rural hometown. In Burr Oak, class distinction and petty jealousies pit the two young men against each other. Their combative relationship carries over into the ranks of the Eleventh Michigan Infantry, where Nate struggles to live up to the reputation left behind by his brother, and James contends with an abusive sergeant, Robert Langdon. Once a preacher in Burr Oak, Langdon seeks retribution for James’s part in his fall from grace.

The bloody battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga wipe away past differences and forge a deep bond between James and Nate. As Sherman’s armies march inexorably toward Atlanta, Nate’s capture puts that bond to the test. Determined to rescue his friend from notorious Andersonville prison, James risks desertion to embark on a dangerous journey through the wilderness of war-torn Georgia, pursued by Langdon, bent on revenge.

The Edge of Hell tells the story of the rank and file from small-town America—farmers and shop-owners who made up the nucleus of the Federal army and, through extraordinary valor, preserved the Union.

The Edge of Hell is available now in ebook and print formats on Amazon! Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Susan's website for the scoop on all of her books and articles of historical interest.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

The Murderess of Bayou Rosa

Please join me in congratulating Ramona DeFelice Long on the publication of her debut novel, The Murderess of Bayou Rosa! I had the pleasure of designing the cover. Here's the book description:

In the summer of 1920, the town of Bayou Rosa, Louisiana, is in its twilight, but hope arrives with the construction of a new railroad depot. The brighter future is imperiled when a free-spirited local woman shoots her lover in the back, but won't say why. Now, the town is faced with a legal and moral dilemma. With rows of new graves in the cemetery from a devastating world war and influenza epidemic, can a jury of twelve men vote to hang a woman they’ve seen grow up since birth?

Joelle Amais was a willful child, an unwed teenage mother, and now an accused murderess. As the weeks stretch between her arrest and a delayed trial, her defiant silence threatens to blow Bayou Rosa apart. Joelle’s only ally is her daughter, Geneva, the town schoolteacher, whose demure demeanor hides the stubbornness she inherited from her mother. Geneva is determined to see her mother get a fair trial, even after Joelle’s enemies turn their ire, violently, toward her.

The Murderess of Bayou Rosa is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Ramona's website for more information about the book and her writing inspiration.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

The Drive in '65

Please join me in congratulating Sandra Lynne Reed on the publication of her memoir, The Drive in '65! I had the pleasure of helping Sandra design the cover. Here's the book description:

In 1965, two sisters packed up their five children and their mother--eight people--in a nine-passenger van and traveled North America for fourteen weeks. After living in Alaska twenty years, they wanted to see more of the world and show their children what lay beyond Alaska's borders.

Sandra Lynne Reed was thirteen that summer. The tiny town of Moose Pass, and the southern edges of Anchorage, one hundred miles north, defined Reed's provincial childhood and left her curious about the world she saw in magazines and on television--strange places that were her own country. In a summer of "firsts" she and her siblings discovered the magic of fireflies, natural wonders, and treasures of history. On their tinny transistor radio, they followed news of the space race, the Civil Rights movement, and the escalating war in Vietnam. The musical sound track of the British invasion and the rising rock-and-roll era followed them as they circled North America, traveling as far south as Mexico City.

The courage of her mother and aunt, undertaking an international adventure in a day when women could not obtain a credit card or serve on a jury, provided an example to all their children.

Like the Good Friday earthquake had done in 1964, the Drive in '65 shook up her world, exposing shocking poverty and racial divides and lighting a fire in her for further travel but also weakening fault lines in her family that no one had predicted. Using a trove of letters and memorabilia, and her own memories, Reed has recreated the adventure of a lifetime in The Drive in '65.

The Drive in '65 is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Sandra's website for more information about her books and her blog posts on history and inspiration.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Shiloh Valley

Please join us in congratulating Doris Dumrauf on the publication of Shiloh Valley! Anna had the pleasure of assisting Doris with a developmental edit and a copyedit, and Jenny designed the cover. Here's the book description:

A powerful depiction of the choices we make in pursuit of our dreams and the sacrifices we bear to make them a reality

Rhenish-Bavaria, 1849: Revolution is sweeping across the province, changing the lives of three young people from different social classes forever.

Desperate for freedom and adventure, and trapped in a profession he hates, nineteen-year-old Martin Dupree eagerly joins the rebels. When his own father causes the revolution to flounder, Martin turns to America for deliverance.

Katrin Weber, adored by Martin but betrothed to a man she does not love, boldly leaves home to strike out on her own until a tragedy suddenly ends her hard-won independence.

Drafted into the rebel army, Katrin’s brother Nikolaus wants nothing more than to return to the comfort of his small family farm. But life has other plans, forcing him and Katrin to likewise seek their destiny in America. It isn’t all milk and honey, as the America of the 1850s is breaking apart over the question of slavery, forcing the young immigrants to make difficult choices.

From the vineyards of the Rhine Valley to the banks of the Mississippi, from rebel skirmishes to the battlefields of the Civil War, Shiloh Valley follows their quest for freedom and struggle for survival.

Shiloh Valley is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Doris's website for more information on her books and her photography.

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email us anytime to chat about your project!
info@historicaleditorial.com

Bacon's Dozen

Please join me in congratulating Anna Castle on the publication of Bacon's Dozen: Thirteen Historical Fiction Short Stories! I had the pleasure of assisting Anna with a copyedit, and I designed the cover. Here's the book description:

This collection of short stories ranges through time and space from the Yucatán peninsula in the early years of the Spanish conquest (The Broken Circle) to a bank office in late Victorian London with Professor & Mrs. Moriarty (The Stockbroker’s Wife).

Most stories feature Francis Bacon and other characters from his milieu. You’ll read about Bacon’s first case (For Want of a Book) and Tom’s first solo investigation (In Walked a Lady). You’ll find out how Trumpet wangled her year at Gray’s Inn (Artful Bargains) and what really happened to Captain Valentine Clarady (All Englishmen Look Alike). Sir Walter Ralegh and two friends trade ghost stories on a stormy night (Dark Tales from the School of Night).

You’ll even travel through time by a most unusual method (The Sneeze). A bonus story brings you into the present, but not quite the present you’re used to (Extinction).

Bacon's Dozen is available now in print and ebook formats on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Anna's website, where she blogs about her research and writing historical fiction set in England.

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Pioneer Yearning

Please join me in congratulating Ramona Flightner on the publication of Pioneer Yearning, the third book in the The O'Rourke Family Montana Saga series! I had the pleasure of helping Ramona design the cover. Here's the book description:

A dangerous love. A shameful secret. Is their love cursed?

Niamh O’Rourke Ahern knows she should feel shame. Regret. Remorse. Anything but the deep relief filling her to the depths of her soul. What kind of woman is she to rejoice at the death of her husband? What woman yearns for another’s touch as her husband’s casket is being lowered into the ground? In the end, she knows it doesn’t matter for she will always be alone. No man will ever fully earn her trust again.

Cormac Ahern watches his brother’s widow with covetous eyes. Niamh should have been his. From the moment they met, she should have been his. Now, his brother is dead, and he finally has his chance to right the wrongs of the previous few years. However, even from the grave, his brother exerts influence over Cormac’s future.

Will Cormac overcome his resentment and grief to fully accept the past and love Niamh, as he’s always dreamed? Or will Niamh use her guilt and fear as a shield, preventing her from truly loving again?

Discover the O’Rourke Family Montana Saga set in the frontier town of Fort, Benton, Montana Territory! Follow as each sibling forgives childhood heartbreak, discovers love, and finds their happily ever after!

Pioneer Yearning is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Ramona's website for the scoop on all of her books!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Dawn Empress

Please join me in congratulating Faith Justice on the publication of her newest historical novel, Dawn Empress! I had the pleasure of designing the cover of this second book in her Theodosian Women trilogy, this one about Pulcheria. Here's the book description:

As Rome reels under barbarian assaults, a young girl must step up. After the Emperor’s unexpected death, ambitious men eye the Eastern Roman throne occupied by seven-year-old Theodosius II. His older sister Pulcheria faces a stark choice: she must find allies and take control of the Eastern court or doom the imperial children to a life of obscurity—or worse! Beloved by the people and respected by the Church, Pulcheria forges her own path to power. Can her piety and steely will protect her brother from military assassins, heretic bishops, scheming eunuchs and—most insidious of all—a beautiful, intelligent bride? Or will she lose all in the trying?

Dawn Empress tells Pulcheria’s little-known and remarkable story. Her accomplishments rival those of Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great as she sets the stage for the dawn of the Byzantine Empire.

Dawn Empress is available now in ebook and print formats on Amazon! Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Faith's website for the scoop on all of her historical fiction novels!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Leaving Lonesome

Please join me in congratulating Paula Scott on the publication of her new book, Leaving Lonesome! I had the privilege of helping Paula with a copyedit, and I helped design the cover for this emotional tale of love and redemption in the years following the Vietnam War. Here's the book description:

A family torn apart by war. A love affair that reaches to the sky. And a secret with the power to redeem or destroy them…

Sutter County, California, 1972

John Reno returns from Vietnam a disgraced army helicopter pilot wracked by guilt and grief. Homeless and alone he makes his way from one crop-dusting job to the next until he reaches the woman who can grant him redemption or ensure his damnation.

Swampy Callohan is a young widow barely holding on to her crop-dusting company. She flies her trusty old Stearmans from dawn until dusk, desperate to make it in a man’s world of faster, more efficient ag cat planes, but time, technology, and a family on the brink threaten to destroy her.

When John Reno—the best pilot she’s ever seen—arrives one fateful afternoon, she believes Callohan Dusters can be saved. And maybe her heart will be reborn as well. Reno becomes her saving grace until the day she discovers he harbors a secret that just might shatter her whole world.

Leaving Lonesome is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Paula's website for her inspirational posts about writing, family, and farm life.

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Wings of Fire

Please join me in congratulating Martin Lake on the publication of his new historical novel, Wings of Fire! I had the pleasure of helping Martin design the cover. Here's the book description:

A life and death struggle for control of the skies

Claire Lamb believes she is as good as any man and being a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force gives her the opportunity to prove it. Harry Smith joins the Royal Air Force because he wants to fly. Frank Trent, an American pilot, risks prison to join the fight against Nazi Germany.

When Hitler invades Poland, he begins a conflict which eventually engulfs the whole world. Within eight months his army and air force conquer most of Europe.

Only one adversary remains. Great Britain, led by Winston Churchill, refuses to surrender. Yet people fear that, in the coming weeks, the German Luftwaffe will bomb British cities to rubble and strew the country with poison gas.

Worse yet. A huge German army prepares to cross the English Channel to conquer its last remaining enemy.

One foe stands in their way. The Royal Air Force remains defiant. Hitler is reluctant to attempt an invasion while the RAF controls the skies above England. He unleashes the hitherto all-conquering Luftwaffe against it.

Throughout the summer and autumn of 1940, three thousand RAF pilots, the men Churchill called the Few, fight a grim life and death struggle for command of the skies. They are supported by the courageous and unstinting effort of thousands of others, many of them women.

The Battle of Britain will decide the fate of the world.

Wings of Fire is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon and Amazon UK. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Martin's website for information on all of his books and his interviews with fellow historical fiction writers.

Need a cover designer?

Email me anytime to chat about your project!

jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

The Cross of Ciaran

Please join me congratulating Andrea Matthews on the publication of her newest romance, The Cross of Ciaran! I had the pleasure of working with Andrea on a copyedit, and I designed the cover. Here's the book description:

When a fifth-century pagan priest is unearthed in Ireland fifteen hundred years after being entombed, archaeologist Caitlin O’Connell is convinced it’s the find of the century. The body is in perfect condition, right down to the intricate tattoos adorning the Celt’s skin. In fact, if scientific data hadn’t proved otherwise, she would swear he hadn’t been interred more than a few hours.

Eager to discover more about the mysterious Celt, Caitlin accompanies the body back to the New York museum where she’s employed, but before she has time to study him, the priest disappears without a trace. Rumors surrounding the event begin to circulate and result in the excavation’s benefactor pulling the plug on the entire expedition.

The rumors are not far off the mark though. After being buried alive for betraying his goddess and his priesthood in the dawning age of Christianity, Ciarán wakes to a strange new world. Alone and frightened in an unforgiving city, he stumbles upon the only thing familiar to him and seeks sanctuary within the church walls. With the help of the parish’s pastor, Father Mike, Ciarán slowly grows accustomed to his surroundings, though he’s plagued by dark dreams and the disturbing sensation that an evil from his past has followed him into the future. But a more immediate danger lurks on his doorstep.

Caitlin is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery concerning her missing Celt, and when she meets her Uncle Mike’s new handyman, Ciarán Donnelly, she’s convinced the handsome Irishman knows more about the theft than he’s letting on. Yet even she can’t deny the attraction between them, simmering below the surface and blurring the lines between her personal and professional life. But will Ciarán’s secrets draw them together or shatter their future forever?

The Cross of Ciaran is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Andrea's website for tons of great historical information and a peek behind the scenes of her books.

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Private Lives

Please join me in congratulating J.G. Harlond on the publication of her new historical mystery, Private Lives! I had the pleasure of helping her design the cover. Here's the book description:

While reluctant wartime detective Bob Robbins is enjoying a few days' holiday he becomes involved in a shooting incident on a derelict farm. An elderly farmer lies injured, then disappears. A young man is found dead in the barn. Bob reports the incident to the local police but they are so over-stretched with Home Front duties he finds himself in charge of the case.

In urgent need of assistance, Bob requests the help of the young police recruit Laurie Oliver. They take rooms at Peony Villas, an unusual sort of guest house where a troupe of London actors are in residence, and where Bob soon finds himself involved in yet another peculiar mystery.

Private Lives is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit J.G.'s website for more information on all of her books.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

The Daring Mrs. Kent

Please join me in congratulating Michelle Morrison on the publication of her newest historical romance, The Daring Mrs. Kent! I had the pleasure of designing the cover! Here's the book description:

She was not always daring…

Josephine Kent risked everything to escape an abusive husband: a perilous sea voyage, a new life in the Caribbean, and the constant worry that Mr. Kent would find her. She settles into a safe new life in her brother’s house, content to avoid society and serve as her brother’s housekeeper…until her identity is discovered by one of her husband’s henchmen.

Hungerford Spooner walks a careful line among the residents of St Kitts’ capital. As the son of a wealthy English landowner, he has holdings and a successful shipping business. But he is also the son of a former slave, a combination that puts him on the fringes of Basseterre’s high society. When he rescues a young woman fleeing a pursuer, he finds himself drawn to her beauty and spirit. And he recognizes in her a fellow soul carrying a heavy burden.

To save her, he hides her aboard his ship. In such close quarters, their feelings intensify. But just when happiness seems in their grasp, their journey is cut short by a rogue slave ship and now Josephine must overcome her past fears to save the man she loves.

The Daring Mrs. Kent is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon! Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Michelle's website for more information on all of her books!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Shame the Devil

Please join me in congratulating Donna Scott on the publication of her debut historical novel, Shame the Devil! I had the pleasure of designing the cover. Here's the book description:

England, 1643. The Civil War has created a great divide between those who support King Charles and those who would rather see his head on the block. Young Scot Colin Blackburne finds himself caught in the middle when he witnesses Parliamentarians murder his mother because of his father’s allegiance to the king. As further punishment, the family is sent to Yorkshire as indentured servants.

Mistreated by his master and tormented by a Parliamentarian soldier, Colin vows to take up arms for the king and seek vengeance against the men who killed his mother. The only bright spot in his life is his unexpected, and forbidden, friendship with his master’s daughter, Emma Hardcastle.

With her father constantly away on campaign and her mother plagued by madness, Emma is drawn to Colin and his brother, Roddy.  She introduces them to her troubled neighbor Alston Egerton, who has a clandestine relationship with Stephen Kitts, the soldier out for Colin’s blood.

As they all become entangled in a twisted web of love, jealousy, desire, and betrayal, the war rages on around them. Resentful at being forced into servitude and forbidden from being with the woman he loves, Colin puts his plan for vengeance into motion, though it will have disastrous consequences for all of them.

Secrets are revealed and relationships are torn apart. With the country teetering on the brink of ruin, Emma fights to survive, Alston is forced to confront his demons, and Colin must decide whether his burning desire to fight for justice is worth sacrificing a future with the woman he loves.

Shame the Devil is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Donna's website for the scoop on her forthcoming novels!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Gauging the Player

Please join me in congratulating G.K. Brady on the publication of Gauging the Player, third book in the Playmakers Series! I had the pleasure of working with G.K. on a developmental edit and a copyedit, and I designed the cover of this refreshingly realistic and meaningful sports romance! Here's the book description:

Gage Nelson doesn’t do one-night stands. In fact, he doesn’t date. He’s too focused on leading his team to the playoffs. Besides, he doesn’t need more women complicating his life—he’s got enough of that already.

But when a blue-eyed beauty bowls him over, he breaks his own rules and lets himself go with the flow for a night. A night he intends to be the first of many. When he wakes up, though, his dream girl’s gone, and he has no idea how to find her. He’s haunted by the woman he can’t get out of his mind.

Lily Everett is caught in a past she can’t let go. One night of steamy sex with a hot hockey hunk helps her forget—until she wakes up, and guilt grabs her by the throat. She runs and doesn’t look back. And that’s okay because hockey players are, well, players, right? Guys like him aren’t looking for long-term—and neither is she.

When a chance meeting brings them back together, Lily realizes she’s not only misjudged Gage Nelson, but she’s misjudged her own heart’s yearnings. What began as a one-night stand threatens to undo her carefully laced-up world.

Gage, aka Mr. Perfect, is trying to live up to his family’s and his team’s sky-high expectations. A lot’s riding on his big shoulders, but as long as he goes in the direction his moral compass points, he can’t go wrong. Right? As for Lily, he wants her. Period. He sets out to win her the same way he wins at hockey: with patience and persistence. But he finds himself facing off against a rival he can’t beat.

Can Gage convince Lily to give up the ghosts of her past and make room for him in her heart, or will she freeze him out forever?

Gauging the Player is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit G.K.'s website for the scoop on her upcoming projects!

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Pioneer Desire

Please join me in congratulating Ramona Flightner on the publication of Pioneer Desire, the second book in the The O'Rourke Family Montana Saga series! I had the pleasure of helping Ramona design the cover. Here's the book description:

A brilliant cook new to town. An honorable, restless man. Will they allow friendship to blossom into something more?

Ardan O’Rourke never thought to marry. Not after the heartbreak he suffered as a young man. Not after the years he helped raise his youngest siblings. He never expected to meet Deirdre Finnegan, a spirited woman with a past full of secrets.

Deirdre Finnegan is not who she appears to be. A fine cook and a loner, she yearns for so much more. When Ardan and the O’Rourkes befriend her, she cannot deny her desire to be part of the large, wonderful family. Just when she begins to believe in a new future, her past returns to remind her of all she has lost. And all she must face if she wants to live a life free of doubt and anguish.

Faced with losing Deirdre, Ardan discovers the one foe he cannot battle: a ghost. Fearing the past is repeating itself, Ardan has to hope her love for him is stronger than her love of what she lost.

Pioneer Desire is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Ramona's website for the scoop on all of her books!

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Moriarty Lifts the Veil

Please join me in congratulating Anna Castle on her newest release, the fourth book in her Professor and Mrs. Moriarty Mystery Series, Moriarty Lifts the Veil! I had the pleasure of working with Anna on a copyedit of this clever mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes's favorite villain and his charming wife, and I designed the book's cover! Here's the description:

It began as a harmless wager. Who could solve their case first?

Professor and Mrs. Moriarty have a few weeks to kill before their theater opens. Happily, two small cases drop in their respective laps. Moriarty has what looks like a scheme to swindle Army veterans out of their discharge pay. Angelina must find a missing servant by winkling her way into a circle of officers’ wives. Neither case seems terribly challenging; just enough to provide an agreeable competition.

But as soon as they start asking questions, things take an ugly turn. Moriarty discovers an army barracks riddled with corruption. Angelina uncovers a terrible secret at the heart of the circle of officers and wives. When Sherlock Holmes returns from a mission in India, he confirms her worst fears. Then a man is murdered, and a good friend is blamed. Scotland Yard sends Holmes to catch their suspect. The Moriartys must use all their courage and ingenuity to rescue their friend, stop a series of loathsome crimes, and put a cold killer behind bars.

Moriarty Lifts the Veil is available now in print and ebook formats on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Anna's website, where she blogs about her research and writing historical fiction set in England.

Need an editor or cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Kanzashi

Please join me in congratulating Christopher Kincaid on the publication of his new young adult historical mystery, Kanzashi! I had the pleasure of designing the cover. Here's the book description:

“Life doesn’t care about dreams, Mameko. It is as it is, no matter what we do.”

Mameko never thought she’d witness a murder.

Her life consists of songs, stories, lessons, and the other social demands of a maiko. Mameko tries to be a good daughter and follows her mother’s guidance, though she is known to rebel against tradition when she deems it necessary. Even with her rebellious acts, she is poised to become one of the most prominent geiko in Gion.

When Mr. Funaki is murdered with Mameko’s hairpin thrust into his throat, she becomes the main suspect. Mameko must resist the police’s efforts to get her to confess to the murder. As the news spreads and her reputation declines, she must find the true killer, or her dream of becoming a geiko will end.

Kanzashi is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Christopher's website for more information about his historical novels and his books on Japanese folktales.

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A Song for Lonely Wolves

Please join me in congratulating Lee Evie on the publication of A Song for Lonely Wolves, first in her new Joseon Detective Series! I had the pleasure of helping Lee design the cover. Here's the book description:

Joseon Korea, Winter 1590

At the foot of a jagged mountain range, an isolated village lies in muddy snow. From her bed, a young noblewoman vanishes in the dead of night, and rumours of a fearsome ghost with no face echo in her wake.

Hardworking and dogged Dan Ji arrives in the long winding valley with her own ghosts. As a damo, a tea servant of the police force, she is overlooked and undervalued. Yet this case has gripped her heart, and she craves to prove her worth beyond simply cooking and cleaning for her superiors – she is determined to solve the mystery.

With only the officer in charge on her side – a hard young man with a bloody past and secrets of his own – Dan Ji must convince the local Magistrate and his provincial policemen to trust her judgment. Yet with mistrust brewing, the investigation slowly grinds to a halt. Until a frozen body is unearthed from the deep snows of the mountain range.

It is not within Dan Ji’s nature to leave a mystery unsolved, yet soon she discovers the fine threads of this investigation run much deeper than anyone has anticipated.

A dark historical mystery set in old Korea.

A Song for Lonely Wolves is available now in ebook and print editions on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Lee's website for her blog posts and podcasts about Korean history.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Pioneer Dream

Please join me in congratulating Ramona Flightner on the publication of Pioneer Dream, the first book in a brand new series: The O'Rourke Family Montana Saga! I had the pleasure of helping Ramona design the cover. Here's the book description:

Sensible Kevin O’Rourke does not believe in ghosts, in love at first sight, or in the happily-ever-after type of love. Instead, he is convinced only hard work, dedication to family, and self-sacrifice will bring contentment. When he meets Aileen O’Keefe on the steamboat trip from Saint Louis to Fort Benton, Montana Territory, his world is turned upside down as quickly as she nearly tumbles into the Missouri River. After spending only a few moments in her company, he knows his life will never be the same. Although warned to guard his heart, he is drawn to Aileen, enthralled by her joy and the future he envisions with her.

Aileen O’Keefe knows she is not the sort of woman to captivate handsome Kevin O’Rourke. Charmed by his attentiveness, she is unable to hide her mutual attraction to him, although she knows it is disastrous. For Aileen has a secret. One that will forever separate them. Due to a bargain made by her aunt, their time on the steamboat must be all they can ever share.

Upon arriving in Fort Benton, Kevin discovers that ghosts can return from the dead, love can endure years of hardship, and that his hope for a future with the woman he loves is worth every sacrifice. Aileen must adjust to the rough frontier town as she reconciles herself to the betrayal of one she trusted. She must learn to believe in herself so that she can have the confidence to have faith in Kevin’s love.

Can Kevin convince Aileen to trust in the strength of their love, or will Aileen turn to another for the fulfillment of her dreams?

Pioneer Dream is available in ebook and print editions on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Ramona's website for the scoop on all of her books!

Need a cover designer?
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jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

All the News and Politics & Bedfellows

Please join me in congratulating Hollis Bush on the publication of All the News and Politics & Bedfellows! I had the pleasure of helping Hollis design the covers. Here are the book descriptions:

John Schram, reporter for the Lancaster Standard Newspaper, husband, and father to two boys, is feeling his age. His paper has hired consultants who seem too young to understand a newsroom and worse yet, have required the installation of low-flow toilets. He’s juggling multiple stories and because of layoffs is now tasked with writing a love advice column called Listening with Lily. He feels a little left behind and less astute than he should be with new technology, and his fiftieth birthday is coming at him fast and furious. John wonders if he’s lost a step to the young reporters in his office.

His seventeen-year-old son is worrying him on the home front, as Justin has lost interest in playing baseball or his grades or college. He’s in some fights at school, and after several meetings with teachers and guidance counselors, John still has little idea what is troubling the teenager. He does know that the tension and arguments are keeping him, and his wife, awake at night and worried throughout the day. John is at a loss for what to do until a tragic incident brings everything to a head, and his family will never be the same.

***

Divorcee Glenda Nelson poured herself a cup of coffee, sat down at her kitchen table, and opened up the morning paper. That’s when she found out her hand-picked Congressional candidate was caught climbing out of the window of the Sleepytown Motel. With her job as a political strategist on the line, she must put together a damage control plan, and do it fast.

After a multi-year hiatus, Glenda’s love life is finally on the rebound when she meets handsome Christopher Goodwich, a successful artist with oodles of old money. But what will Chris think after witnessing one of her meltdowns? Will his fame and fortune only serve to magnify Glenda’s ineptitude? And sometimes she just can’t stop wondering why she stayed so long with her philandering ex-husband, or how her sister’s marriage has been so apparently picture-perfect. While uncovering the secrets behind a political scandal, Glenda finds love and makes the long trek back to happy.

This book was originally released as Red, White, and Screwed.

All the News and Politics & Bedfellows are available in ebook and paperback editions on Amazon! Add them to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Hollis's website for the scoop on all of her novels!

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jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Along the Road

Please join me in congratulating Pat Wahler on the publication of her newest novel, Along the Road, book two in the Becker Family series! I had the pleasure of working with Pat in designing the cover. Here's the book description:

Whoever said opposites attract?

Kat Becker is a starry-eyed optimist with a dream. She’s convinced a move to Nashville will turn her into a singing sensation, and nobody’s going to stand in her way. Not even the cute but grumpy ER doctor she meets after a fender-bender.

Dr. Dan McDonald is a hardheaded realist with a past. He knows firsthand how Music City can shatter a heart. It’s his duty to warn an appealing but quirky patient of the aftermath for anyone foolish enough to pursue such a fantasy.

Two people couldn’t be less likely to join forces, let alone fall in love . . . until one tiny lie changes everything.

Along the Road is available now in ebook and print formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo! Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Pat's website for the scoop on all of her books.

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!
jennyq@historicaleditorial.com