The day you’ve all been waiting for is here!!! Merry Christmas . . . I mean . . . Happy Halloween? Hahaha, that was my editor’s joke to me, the awesome Krystal Wade, because it sure feels like a holiday to us. We can finally share my cover for my YA paranormal, 18 Things . . .
And here’s the blurb incase you have no idea what that cover is supposed to represent:
Can eighteen things save a life?
Olga Gay Worontzoff thinks her biggest problems are an awful name (after her grandmothers of course) and not attending prom with Conner, her best friend and secret crush since kindergarten.
Then Conner is killed in a freak boating accident and Olga feels responsible. When she downs an entire bottle of pills to deal with the emotional pain, her parents force her into counseling. There, her therapist writes a prescription in the form of a life list titled 18 Things. Eighteen quests to complete the year of her eighteenth birthday.
Alls she has to do is fire-walk, try out for the cheerleading squad, break a world record, and err . . . go on her first date. Good thing Nate, a new hottie in town, enters her life with perfect timing. He brings the fun factor to her list and helps her discover the beauty and strength inside herself, then complicates things by falling in love with her.
Just as she’s finally embracing the joys of YOLO, her therapist reveals a big secret and Olga’s world is shaken. In the past year it took eighteen remarkable things to change a life, but nothing she believed about her mission is true.
Now she doesn’t just risk losing her true soul-mate forever, she risks losing her very soul.
*Squee* I’m so excited about this I’m about to squeeeee like a little piggy all over this page. Shout out to artist Michelle for doing an A*W*E*S*O*M*E job on my cover!! Of course all of this leads perfectly into the second part of my post for . . .
IWSG
I have a book coming out in roughly two months! TWO months! I should be excited, right? Right. So why do I feel terrified, ya’ll? To be honest, I kinda only dreamed of this dream happening. I never really expected to fulfill this one. I mean, I wasn’t giving up. Giving up writing is akin to giving up breathing. But still, I would’ve been content to just write and query and . . . hide. With publication, I can’t hide from those inevitable bad reviews. And I’m wondering what to do about that, because I seriously don’t have time to waste and worry about bad reviews.
So I’m thinking, should I even read the reviews at all? Do you think head ninja captain Alex J. Cavanaugh can scare the bad reviews away for me? It is, after all, his support group, and I’m pretty sure his skills are equal to or greater than Chuck Norris.
P.S. Shout out to my whole Curiosity Quills family for their support: Krystal Wade, Sharon Bayliss, Courtney Worth Young, Dawna Raver, Thea Gregory, Jade Hart, Lisa Moran Collicutt; as well as my friends Marisa Cleveland and Tonya Kuper for their help in revealing my cover! I’d link back to all of you, but WordPress isn’t cooperating tonight and making me angrier than a bird right now so I’m going to bed *sighs*
Jamie Ayres 
Congratulations Jamie! The book will be a hit!
Keeping fingers crossed that you’re right!
I can’t see the cover!!!! It’s an empty white box!!!! The suspense is killing me!!!!!
Sent from my iPhone
Sorry to piss you off early in the morning;-) Glad you liked it later though!
I don’t know why it’s not showing . . . it’s showing in my post when I log into wordpress. Ugh!!! I HATE wordpress:-(
Yeah, I’m just getting a white box too, but my computer is being especially slow today. I love the blurb! The suspense is killing me! Her soul? I have to read this story! Great job with that.
I like how you said just write, query and hide. That’s exactly my plan! Good for you, having the courage to face reviews, whatever they might be. I’m sure there will be plenty of great ones, even if there are a few negative ones.
Hopefully you stopped by and saw it later . . . got your book in the mail. Thank you so much!
I did. 🙂
Wow, that’s gorgeous! The lightning and the title and Olga’s red hair are so beautiful. And then I saw the writing in the sand …
You must be so proud.
I’ll send the whole Ninja Army after those bad reviews!
They will happen. Just keep this in mind – your book wasn’t meant for that person. It’s not bad – that person just wasn’t your target audience. You didn’t write it for her or him!
When you maintain that perspective, reviews don’t bother you.
That’s an awesome way to look at it, Alex! THanks:-)
Ahhhh. Bummer! I can’t see it either. It’s a thick pink line for me.
Alex made excellent points about reviews.
Sorry, I should do another cover reveal post b/c this one sucked, lol
Congratulations on getting your cover!
I usually read the 1, 2, and 3-star reviews of a book first, just to get all angles instead of mindless gushing praise, but I’m not so sure I’d have the stomach to read negative reviews of my own books.
Wow, I’ve never heard of anyone reading all the negative reviews first. I guess if you do that and STILL want to read the book, then you must really feel like it’s worth your time
I want to see it!! Let me know when it is reposted.
Word . . . your husband is a dork;-) ~xoxo
Woohoo! It looks great, Jamie! Congratulations! 🙂
…Did I just type carrieabutlerutler? I don’t remember that. LOL
Yes, yes you did. Hahaha . .. I was gonna delete it for you but I thought it was too funny:-) Thanks for stopping by:-)
What a haunting cover! I love the font.
The font is my favorite! And smiling:-)
I am sooooooo in lurve with this cover! You must be freaking out with excitement:):)
Freaking out with soooo many things!!
How exciting!! Look @ all of that red hair. LOVE the cover. Can’t wait till your release. You must be on cloud 59 🙂
Cloud infinity!! Yes, the red hair was crucial!
Jamie,
Words can’t express how happy I am for you!!! You are an inspiration! Don’t fear….enjoy every minute of it. You certainly deserve it. By the way, the cover is amazing!
Hugs and Love,
Laura
You’re an inspiration, Laura! That means a lot coming from you~hugs!
I want to squeeeee with you. I love the cover and I can’t wait for the book to be published. Congratulations and I love you!
Aw, thanks Mom:-)
It’s stunning! I love it!
It really is stunning . . . I wish I could meet my artisit and give her a big ole hug!
I love the cover and I know I’ll love the book. You have many supporters and I’m sure many future fans. Negative comments will always happen…you know from our profession that you can’t please everybody..ever..no matter what you do. Revel in the praise and positive comments. Use the bad ones as an incentive to floor them next time…on the next book. No matter what the reviews, you have accomplished something amazing and there is power in your journey.
The constructive reviews I can handle, I just don’t look forward to the ‘mean girl’ trolls out there. I guess I can always use the pain and put it into my characters to torture them like a good writer should
Yay, you!!!!!!!!!!! Very exciting!
Thanks, sis:-)
Great news Jamie! I’m a big fan of YA and paranormal novels/series. I had no idea. Thank you Heidi for posting on your page. How exciting! The cover is great and I am very excited to read the book in TWO MONTHS. Congratulations!!!
Oh yay, I’ll have to give Heidi a free bookmark:-) Glad to find another YA paranormal reader!!! It really is the best, right?!?
Jamie – Is this book gonna be too scary for me?
If I’m not too scary for you, then the book should be fine:-)
Beautiful cover! So excited to read this — and, don’t read any reviews. None. Really. Just breathe, and write the next book.
Great advice, Amy!
Huge congrats… the cover is gorgeous… Love the colours on it.
Yes, I love the colors too! At first I had my heart set on purple, but I like this better:-)
Congrats to you! I’m scared of haters too, but like you said you don’t have the time or energy for them so it’s like they don’t exist. 🙂
Yeah, I’m gonna be all like, “Haters? What haters?” Hahaha . . . easier said than done, my friend!
Nothing we can do about bad reviews. Ignore them. Be happy! Be excited. Remember these moments. That what we live for! I can’t wait to be nervous!
Best of luck.
Heather
Best of luck to you too, Heather:-) Thanks for stopping by!
You’re so welcome, Jamie. Congrats on a beautiful cover. I’m posting on dawnaraver.com today. Looking forward to getting my hands on it.
🙂 Thanks for much!!!
Your cover is beautiful. It’s really one of the nicer covers I’ve seen lately. I love that you can’t see her face. I always want to imagine characters for myself, so I prefer a cover that doesn’t have people’s faces on it. It has a total air of mystery and energy, too. Your book is going to be awesome. Remember, even Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, and other great books get bad reviews.
Yes, I always pictured only seeing her back with the red hair the focus:-) And I guess if HP got bad reviews, I’m in good company! My 12-yr-old is off playing Quidditch tonight with her friends, I’m so jealous!
Awesome cover! Congrats!
Thanks, Ryan!!
I know you’re scared, Jamie, but turn it into a good scared. Or for what of a better word: excitement. Use that excitement to propel you into stardom. Readers love real authors with real approachable feelings. Because your book sounds fabulous. They’ll meet you, see the cover, attend your readings, and voila, instant star. Mark my words! Oh, and H U G H congratulations!!!
I’m breaking out into a cold sweat just thinking about it, lol. But yes, I think being “real” is the key, especially with teens!
I LOVE the cover!!! I would read it just based on that 🙂
I totally would too . . . hope my writing is just as good!
The cover is gorgeous. Super congrats!!
Super thanks!!!
Cover IS gorgeous!! Congratulations and the blurb sounds amazing!
So super excited for your book to debut! I can’t believe it’s really here. Feels like only a day or so when I was sitting in my office, talking on the phone with you, touching my zit, and squeeing for your excellent news! Now… where’s my monkey shirt?!? Hahahaa!!! Hugs!
*a day or so ago
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Ooh, I totally missed your covear reveal! I really like the cover, congrats! Look forward to reading 18 Things.