The Art of Book Cover Design for Historical Fiction

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!)

Publish and Perish

Please join me in congratulating Anna Castle on the newest installment in her Francis Bacon mystery series, Publish and Perish! I had the pleasure of helping Anna with a copyedit, and I designed the cover. If you're a fan of historical mysteries with a touch of humor and tongue-in-cheekiness along with fun and memorable characters, this series is for you! Here's the book description:

It’s 1589 and England is embroiled in a furious pamphlet war between an impudent Puritan calling himself Martin Marprelate and London’s wittiest writers. The archbishop wants Martin to hang. The Privy Council wants the tumult to end. But nobody knows who Martin is or where he’s hiding his illegal press.

Then two writers are strangled, mistaken for Thomas Nashe, the pamphleteer who is hot on Martin’s trail. Francis Bacon is tasked with stopping the murders — and catching Martin, while he’s about it. But the more he learns, the more he fears Martin may be someone dangerously close to home.

Can Bacon and his band of intelligencers stop the strangler before another writer dies, without stepping on Martin’s possibly very important toes?

Publish and Perish is available now in print and ebook formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes. 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.

**Right now you can download a copy of the first book in the series, Murder by Misrule, for free on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes!**

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

I'm Interviewed by indieBRAG!

I am so excited to share this interview! The B.R.A.G. Medallion is a hallmark of quality in self-published books, and several of my awesome clients have been awarded this honor. I was honored to receive an invitation to appear on the blog to talk about my book cover design business. I'm sharing a handful of questions here, but there are many more, and I'd love for you to head on over to the indieBRAG blog and check it out!

How did you get into Graphic Design?

I’ve always been an extremely visual person. Even as a child I was tearing pages out of magazines to hang on my walls and making collages out of pictures. My love for design began about eighteen years ago when I started scrapbooking. That was back when we worked with actual printed photos and paper, scissors, glue, etc. A few years later, I started working in the advertising department of my hometown daily newspaper. As an outside sales rep, I met with local and regional business owners and helped them create print and online advertising campaigns, and I worked with our team of graphic designers to bring the ads to life. I learned more about the process then and the collaborative relationship designers have with their clients. Then I moved into real estate and began designing marketing materials for my brokerage. When the economy collapsed and advertising and real estate both collapsed along with it, I turned my attention and my skills to self-publishing.

What are your goals as a graphic designer?

My goal is first and foremost to design a cover that sells books. That sometimes means that I need to coax an author into considering another approach to what they envision on their cover.  My years in marketing and advertising and my in-depth knowledge of the genres I work with have given me a pretty good eye when it comes to figuring out which elements will work best. I also have a huge competitive streak, and it’s really important to me that my covers are able to hold their own standing alongside those coming out of the Big Five houses.

What covers have you designed that are B.R.A.G. Medallion Honorees?

Sebastian’s Way by George Steger, Tales of Byzantium by Eileen Stephenson, Murder by Misrule, Death by Disputation, and The Widow’s Guild by Anna Castle, (all of which I also edited), and Reconstructing Jackson, Red, White & Screwed, and Romancing Olive by Holly Bush.

Click here to read the full interview!

The Mother Keeper

Please join me in congratulating Paula Scott on the publication of her new contemporary novel, The Mother Keeper! I had the pleasure of working with Paula on a copyedit of this inspirational tale of love, faith, and family secrets, and I helped her design the book's cover! Here's the description:

They say the truth will set you free . . . but what if the truth ruins your life?

Jenny McBride has lost her faith and her reason to live in a terrible accident in Colorado Springs, but meeting a girl in trouble in Tennessee just might turn things around.

Ellie Ryan is seventeen and determined to move to Nashville to pursue her dreams of making it as a songwriter, but an unexpected pregnancy shatters her plans and sets her on a course she never imagined. 

Shawn Klein has it all. The beautiful girlfriend. The scholarship to play football at Vanderbilt after he graduates high school. At eighteen, he leads worship at his father’s prosperous megachurch. His life is perfect. So why isn’t he happy?

Everything changes when Shawn’s parents bring Ellie into their home to care for her until she gives birth. It’s the life with a real family that Ellie has always dreamed about, and the kind of future Shawn never knew he wanted, until Ellie’s past threatens to destroy everything.

When Jenny arrives in Tennessee to adopt Ellie's baby, only one thing is certain. A baby will be born, along with a crime of passion, and a desperate struggle to bury the truth. 

The Mother Keeper is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon and will soon be available at other online retailers. 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

For the Brave

Please join me in congratulating Holly Bush on the publication of her newest historical romance, For the Brave, the first book in her new Gentrys of Paradise series! I had the pleasure of designing the cover. (And let me tell you it was no hardship spending my time looking for a hunky, rugged model :) Here's the book description:

1869 – Matthew Gentry joined the Confederate Army at eighteen years of age after an argument with his father, leaving Paradise, his Virginia home and famed horse breeding stables, for the fields of Gettysburg. Having survived the War Between the States, Gentry is haunted by the violence and inhumanity of the war. He continues to roam the country long after the conflict is over, finding solace in the arms of soiled doves and at the bottom of whiskey bottles. Finally traveling home after learning of a family tragedy, he nearly loses his life in a spring-flooded riverbed.

Annie Campbell, lone survivor of her family, lives at a remote farm near the North River, raising pigs and trying to grow enough to feed herself, and to stay out of the crosshairs of the Thurmans, violent men who run the town of Bridgewater. Annie’s secrets threaten her safety, even as she rescues and nurses Matthew Gentry. 

Matthew knows he must return to Paradise, to grieve with his family. Will his heart lead him back to Bridgewater and Annie Campbell? 

For the Brave is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Holly's website for the scoop on all of her historical romances.

Need a cover designer?

Email me anytime to chat about your project!

jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Twilight Empress

Please join me in congratulating Faith Justice on the publication of her newest historical fiction novel, Twilight Empress! I had the pleasure of designing the cover of this first in a trilogy about Theodosian women. Here's the book description:

One woman battles the coming Dark Ages

Twilight Empress tells the little-known story of a remarkable woman: Placidia, sister to one of the last Roman Emperors. Roman Empress and Gothic Queen, Placidia does the unthinkable: she rules the failing Western Roman Empire. A life of ambition, power, and intrigue she doesn’t seek, but can’t refuse, her actions shape the face of Western Europe for centuries.

A woman as well as an empress, Placidia suffers love, loss, and betrayal. Can her intelligence, tenacity, and ambition help her survive and triumph over scheming generals, rebellious children, and Attila the Hun?

Twilight 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

Chance Meetings Cover Is a da Vinci Award Finalist!

I'm thrilled to announce that the cover I designed for Chance Meetings by Madhu Bazaz Wangu was a finalist for the 2017 da Vinci Eye Award! Here's the description from the website: 

"Each year, the Eric Hoffer Award presents the da Vinci Eye to books with superior cover artwork. Cover art is judged on both content and style. The da Vinci Eye is given in honor of the historic artist, scientist, and inventor Leonardo da Vinci."

While our cover did not win, it's still such an honor to be nominated!

In this eloquent collection of stories, twelve different people from different walks of life discover how one chance meeting with a stranger can change a person forever. Drawing from her own Indian-American heritage, Madhu Bazaz Wangu examines the lives of ordinary people facing challenging circumstances—cruelty, prejudiced minds, twisted family relationships, unhappy marriages—and demonstrates how these situations transcend ethnicity and background as interactions with strangers force each character to look deep within themselves, often acknowledging painful truths and long-held secrets, in order to seize control of their own destinies and forge their own paths to independence and happiness. Madhu Bazaz Wangu poignantly weaves a universal message that ties the characters in these stories together, one that applies to anyone who has experienced poverty, jealousy, fear, prejudice, disillusionment, and above all, the feeling of being a foreigner, even within one’s own family.

Chance Meetings is available now in ebook and print formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads and visit Madhu's website for the scoop on her Mindful Writers workshops.

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

Into the Evermore

Please join me in congratulating Holly Bush on the publication of her newest historical romance, Into the Evermore, the prequel novella to her brand new series, The Gentrys of Paradise! I had the privilege of designing the cover, and this is the tenth cover Holly and I have worked on together! Here's the book description:

Virginia, 1842

Eleanor McManus, upright daughter of a minister, is rescued from kidnappers by a rough and tumble fur trader, Beauregard Gentry, in the wilderness of northern Virginia. With Beauregard’s help, Eleanor makes her way back to her intended groom who declares her soiled, and she finds herself alone, pressured to make life decisions without benefit of family or others she can trust. Beauregard and Eleanor agree to begin a life together, build their legacy together, and their growing devotion to each other is witnessed one cold, crisp Christmas morning.

This novella was originally included in the anthology Christmas in America.

Into the Evermore is available now in ebook format for 99 cents on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Holly'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

A Mass for the Dead & The Faerie Hills

The first two books in Susan McDuffie's Muirteach MacPhee mystery series have been republished with brand new covers designed by yours truly! Susan wanted new covers with more color, a bit more "pop," and a look we could carry over to each new book in this series set in 14th century Scotland. Here are the book descriptions:

Before & After:

Scotland 1373: Crispinus, the head of Oronsay Priory, is found dead, strangled and battered, his mouth stuffed with sand, in the middle of the tidal strand separating the holy island of Oronsay from the larger island of Colonsay. The Lord of the Isles, overlord of the islands, assigns the task of finding the killer to Muirteach, the Prior’s bastard son.

Since breaking with his father and leaving the monastery, Muirteach has spent his time acting as scribe for his uncle, an island chieftain. Muirteach’s father, a powerful churchman, leaves behind a mistress and several other bastards as well as his embittered eldest son, who is thankful he will never hear the words, “My bastard son, the cripple” again. 

As Muirteach seeks to find his father’s murderer he is helped by the physician Fearchar Beaton, and his daughter Mariota. Muirteach himself is suspected of the murder, as are the Prior’s mistress, her family, and the sub-prior. The killer strikes again, His Lordship wants the mystery solved before the Pope and the King in Edinburgh learn of it, and Muirteach himself must come to terms with his own troubled relationship with his father. Muirteach’s investigation submerges him deep into a whirlpool of deceit, long buried sins, and treachery, from which no one emerges unscathed. 

The Mountain of the Wolf

Please join me in congratulating Elisabeth Grace Foley on the publication of her newest historical fairy tale novella, The Mountain of the Wolf, with a cover designed by yours truly! Here's the book description:

A Western re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood in which a girl is willing to walk into the wolf’s den—but will she really find what she is seeking?

In the shadow of the mountain, Rosa Jean Kennedy lives alone, waiting. Vengeance for her brother’s death is the only object left in her life, the one thing that steels her resolve to continue in a solitary, sometimes perilous existence.

When mustanger Quincy Burnett arrives on the mountain, he finds himself strangely drawn to the silent, lonely girl who seems to rebuff all attempts at friendship. But Rosa Jean is determined not to let anyone—even Quincy—stand in the way of her revenge, and her determination may lead them both toward disaster…for there are other dangers lurking in the mountains besides the wolves whose howls are heard at night.

The Mountain of the Wolf is available in ebook format on Amazon! Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Elisabeth's website, The Second Sentence, where she blogs about reading, writing, and history. 

Need a cover designer?
Email me anytime to chat about your project!

jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Banished Saga Box Set

Check out the box set cover I designed for Ramona Flightner! It features books 1-3.5 in her popular and highly rated Banished Saga series. Here's the description:

Love and family loyalties triumph in the Banished saga’s vivid description of one family’s struggle against the stifling social restrictions of pre-World War I America.

With over 1200 pages filled with romance, adventure and intrigue, these individual books have over 100 five star Amazon reviews. 

Banished Love: Book 1:

Free-Spirited Clarissa Sullivan dreams for more from life than sipping tepid tea in stifling parlors in Victorian Boston. She defies her family's wishes, continuing to teach poor immigrant children in Boston's West End, finding a much-needed purpose to her life.

As a suffragette, Clarissa is considered a firebrand radical no man would desire. For why should women want the vote when men have sheltered women from the distasteful aspects of politics and law?

When love blossoms between Clarissa and Gabriel McLeod, a struggling cabinetmaker, her family objects. Clarissa's love and determination will be tested as she faces class prejudices, manipulative family members and social convention in order to live the life she desires with the man she loves.

Will she yield to expectations, or follow her heart on a journey of self-discovery as she learns what she cannot live without?

Reclaimed Love: Book 2:

Committed to living a life she desires with the man she loves, Clarissa Sullivan continues to teach poor, immigrant children and to agitate for the vote for women as she awaits Gabriel’s return to Boston. Will her stepmother leave her in peace or is her life about to change again in unforeseen ways?

Convinced Clarissa is the woman he now wants to marry, Cameron Wright renews his pursuit of her. Charming, wealthy and well-bred, he is perceived as the ideal gentleman for a blacksmith’s daughter. With Gabriel far from Boston and his return uncertain, why should Clarissa continue to reject Cameron? 

Devastated after his banishment from Boston, Gabriel McLeod forges a new life in a remarkable city. Will the memories of the love he shared with Clarissa sustain him? 

Unrelenting Love

Please join me in congratulating Ramona Flightner on the publication of Unrelenting Love, Book Five in the Banished Saga! I had the privilege of helping Ramona design the cover of this tale of women's rights and romance in the early twentieth century. Here's the book description:

Crushed…

After the disappearance of her beloved in the Great War, Zylphia McLeod focuses her energy on the Massachusetts referendum to grant women the right to vote. Unwavering in her love for Teddy Goff, she eagerly awaits any news of him. What will she do if he doesn’t return to her?

Steadfast…

In her selfless dedication to her family, Parthena Tyler accedes to societal pressures in order to protect her sisters. Determined to play the piano and to continue in the struggle for women’s enfranchisement, she discovers an inner strength to combat the pressure to conform. She soon discovers not everything is as it appears in her marriage.

Distraught…

At the loss of the woman he loves, Lucas Sullivan immerses himself in music composition. A sought-after piano maestro, he relishes in taunting society matrons with pro-suffrage songs while performing in their private parlors. As he struggles to overcome rumors and avoid scandal, he learns that commitment and integrity are as essential as passion when it comes to love.

Join the McLeod, Sullivan and Wheeler families in 1915 Boston as they champion a woman’s right to vote, defend and celebrate their artistic pursuits, and learn that an enduring love is an unrelenting love.

Unrelenting Love is available now on Amazon in ebook and print format. 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

A Lady without a Lord

Please join me in congratulating Bliss Bennet on the publication of her newest historical romance, A Lady without a Lord, book three in The Penningtons series, with a cover designed by yours truly! Here's the book description:

A viscount convinced he’s a failure

For years, Theodosius Pennington has tried to forget his myriad shortcomings by indulging in wine, women, and witty bonhomie. But now that he’s inherited the title of Viscount Saybrook, it’s time to stop ignoring his responsibilities. Finding the perfect husband for his headstrong younger sister seems a good first step. Until, that is, his sister’s dowry goes missing . . .

A lady determined she’ll succeed

Harriot Atherton has a secret: it is she, not her steward father, who maintains the Saybrook account books. But Harry’s precarious balancing act begins to totter when the irresponsible new viscount unexpectedly returns to Lincolnshire, the painfully awkward boy of her childhood now a charming yet vulnerable man. Unfortunately, Theo is also claiming financial malfeasance. Can her father’s wandering wits be responsible for the lost funds? Or is she?

As unlikely attraction flairs between dutiful Harry and playful Theo, each learns there is far more to the other than devoted daughter and happy-go-lucky lord. But if Harry succeeds at protecting her father and discovering the missing money, will she be in danger of failing at something equally important—finding love?

A Lady without a Lord is on sale now in ebook and print editions on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out Bliss's website for the scoop on The Penningtons series!

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

Moriarty Takes His Medicine

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

Professor & Mrs. Moriarty tackle a case too ticklish for Sherlock Holmes to handle on his own...

James and Angelina Moriarty are settling into their new marriage and their fashionable new home — or trying to. But James has too little to occupy his mind and Angelina has too many secrets pressing on her heart. They fear they’ll never learn to live together. Then Sherlock Holmes comes to call with a challenging case. He suspects a prominent Harley Street specialist of committing murders for hire, sending patients home from his private hospital with deadly doses or fatal conditions. Holmes intends to investigate, but the doctor’s clientele is exclusively female. He needs Angelina’s help.

While Moriarty, Holmes, and Watson explore the alarming number of ways a doctor can murder his patients with impunity, Angelina enters into treatment with their primary suspect, posing as a nervous woman who fears her husband wants to be rid of her. Then a hasty conclusion and an ill-considered word drive James and Angelina apart, sending her deep into danger. Now they must find the courage to trust each other as they race the clock to win justice for the murdered women before they become victims themselves.

Join the Moriartys for the second adventure in the series hailed as “A must for Sherlock enthusiasts” by Midwest Book Reviews.

Moriarty Takes His Medicine 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

Still Waters Run Deep

I'm a little late in sharing this, but please join me in congratulating David Cook on the publication of the latest installment in The Soldier Chronicles Series, Still Waters Run Deep! I had the pleasure of working with David on a copyedit of this exciting tale of what a jaded soldier hopes to be his final military campaign, and I designed the cover. Here's the book description:

Rifleman Arthur Cadoc, guerrillero, rogue and hero, and now going by the moniker of El Tirador - the marksman, rides with Spanish Colonel Rai Herrero's irregulars, who have joined Wellington's allied army to fight in the Pyrenean campaign. It is the winter of 1813 and the French are being pushed back from their mountainous border defences and into southern France. The long and bitter war looks soon to end because Napoleon is rumoured to have suffered a spectacular defeat in the north against the Prussians, Austrians and Russians. However, Marshal Soult's French army will fight Wellington's men every step of the way, and so Cadoc has one last campaign to battle before he can hang up his prized rifle for good. Facing pitched battles, deadly raids, and the rescue of a comrade behind enemy lines, an old enemy returns and suddenly Cadoc finds that the war truly is far from over.

Still Waters Run Deep is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon and Amazon UK. Add the book to your shelves on Goodreads and check out David's website for the scoop on all of his books.

David also has a great January giveaway! Enter to win a bundle of signed books!

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

Sebastian's Way: The Paladin

Please join me in congratulating George Steger on the release of  Sebastian's Way: The Paladin, the second book in the Sebastian Chronicles series! I had the privilege of working with George on a copyedit, and I designed the cover too! George is a former military man and history professor, and his passion for the Carolingian era shines in this continuation of a young count's tale of adventure, duty, honor, and love in the time of Charlemagne. Here's the book description:

He’s fought for his lands, his marriage, and his king, but the fight for his soul is just beginning

“He’s alive.” With these two words, the world as Sebastian knows it will never be the same. After several years of hard-won domestic bliss bolstered by his status as one of King Charlemagne’s most trusted advisers, the news that his cousin Konrad—his sworn enemy and the abusive first husband of his beloved wife, Adela—is alive means that their marriage is not valid in the eyes of the almighty Church. Even the king is no match for the dictates of the Church, and Sebastian has no choice but to watch as the love of his life enters a convent.

Heartbroken and set adrift, Sebastian embarks on a series of reckless escapades, hell bent on killing Konrad or himself, whichever comes first. But he accomplishes neither and grudgingly accepts Charlemagne’s offer to make him one of his twelve paladins, men who hold the king’s absolute trust to undertake the most important missions for the realm. After helping to force the once-mighty Avar nation into submission, the king sends Sebastian to the capitals of Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. In each city, thrust into foreign worlds of intrigue and danger, he faces complicated diplomatic tasks with slender chances of success. Transformed from a faithful, idealistic youth into a bitter warrior ensconced in the violence of Charlemagne's world and surrounded by enemies, Sebastian’s arduous journey transforms into one not just for the glory of his king, but for his very life and the reclamation of his soul.

Sebastian's Way: The Paladin is available now in print and ebook format on Amazon and  Barnes & Noble. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads, and check out George's blog for the scoop on the series.

Need an editor or a cover designer?

Email me anytime to chat about your project.

jennyq@historicaleditorial.com

Far Side of the Sea

Please join me in congratulating Paula Scott on the publication of her new historical romance, Far Side of the Sea, Book Two in the California Rising Series! I had the pleasure of working with Paula on a copyedit of this exciting and inspirational tale of love, faith, and danger in Gold Rush California, and I helped her design the book's cover! Here's the description:

A woman running from God and the man she desperately loves because of the lies she believes . . .

Taken from her conquered Californio family during the 1846 Mexican-American War to be forced into marriage with a Yankee she despises, proud Spanish beauty Maria Vasquez draws a knife and begins her journey to the far side of the sea. She will flee to Valparaiso, Boston, and finally San Francisco trying to forget the blood on her hands, only to find it is blood that will save her.

Dashing American ship captain Dominic Mason will win Maria’s heart, but shatter it when he rejects her for another, setting her on a journey back to San Francisco. There she discovers her heart can never be conquered, it must only be surrendered, not just to the man she loves, but to the God who will never let her go.

Captain Dominic Mason knows how to fulfill his duties. He’s living for God and country, determined to obey the Almighty and help bring California into the Union. Yet death and the devil’s deception will rob him of all he holds dear in San Francisco. 

As California rises to statehood amid the madness of the gold rush, men will die for gold and for Maria. Will she ever escape the darkness that enslaves her in San Francisco and discover the everlasting light and love she so longs for?

Far Side of the Sea is the second book in the California Rising trilogy. 

Far Side of the Sea is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon and will soon be available at other online retailers. 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

Legacy Redeemed

Please join me in congratulating Aubrey Grayson on the publication of her debut historical romance, Legacy Redeemed! I had the pleasure of helping Aubrey design the cover. Here's the book description:

Susannah Blackmon is desperate when she learns her fiancé jilted her and her dowry is gone. Her guardian devises a nefarious scheme to ensnare Susannah in an unsavory life, and she knows she must flee. But to where? When she meets a mysterious stranger at a masquerade ball, he inadvertently directs her to his family’s vicar, and she heads to the seacoast to escape the worst. But drat it all—her mystery counselor invades her newfound space, and she risks exposure. Will she ever redeem the life her parents had hoped for her?

Nick Daventry is a widower, with a young son, whose family is encouraging him to remarry. But Nick never expects to find love again. When he discovers his inheritance is in jeopardy thanks to a crazy provision in his grandfather’s will, he puts everything he has into saving it. He returns to his coastal home, only to encounter a deceiver in the form of a devilishly beautiful woman he’d traveled all the way from London to escape. But is she the key to redeeming what is lost?

Legacy Redeemed is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon! Add it to to your shelves on Goodreads, and visit Aubrey on Facebook.

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

The Moon-Eyed Ones

Please join me in congratulating Julie K. Johnson on the publication of her debut historical fiction novel, The Moon-Eyed Ones! I had the privilege of offering Julie some assistance with developmental editing and copyediting, and I designed the cover for this moving coming-of-age story set during a tumultuous time in Southern Appalachia. Here's the book description:

Deep in the mountain forests of Southern Appalachia lives a mysterious group of mixed race and unknown origins. While myths and folklore abound, they are labeled pejoratively with one word: Melungeons.

Fifteen-year-old Silas Vanover is thrilled at the chance to make a life for himself as a trader among the white settlers. But his optimism is crushed by his family’s horror stories of lynchings, excommunication, and worse. Determined to prove them wrong, Silas ventures down from his isolated colony to trade in the valley below, attempting to pass himself off as a member of an Indian tribe. There he meets Amadahy Kingfisher, a Cherokee girl who notices how out of place he is in town but still extends kindness and curiosity toward him. The two make a deal to befriend one another for their own protection among the hostile European frontiersmen, and their encounter makes Silas hopeful that his people’s haunted memories are scarred legends of the past.

But he is mistaken. After being wrongfully accused of a crime by the white settlers, a brutal raid on his people’s beloved mountain enclave destroys everything Silas holds dear. Now he must fight for his home, his identity, and his place among the people of East Tennessee, forming alliances with the white settlers and the remaining Cherokees of the area while trying to stay true to his own people. In the end, Silas must decide where his heart and loyalties lie as the white government sets into motion what will later be known as The Trail of Tears.

The Moon-Eyed Ones is available now in ebook and print format on Amazon. Add it to your shelves on Goodreads and check out Julie's website to read the first three chapters and learn more about the book!

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