A Wicked cover for a WICKED book…

When I came up with the idea behind Wicked in May of 2014, I really didn’t know what I wanted as a cover, but I knew I wanted to work with Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations again. She was the master of magic behind the original Wait for You cover, which has been one of my favorite covers of mine.

Until now.

Several weeks ago, Sarah and I went back and forth on what kind of cover I wanted for Wicked and the following two books. I wanted something different for me and something symbolic for the characters. As we were browsing through stock photos, I stumbled across an underwater photo, and I knew IMMEDIATELY what I wanted. I’ve always loved underwater photos– they are just so stunning and striking.  So I asked Sarah if she thought we could get one of them. The problem is, most underwater photos are rights managed, and in every day people speak, that means a huge pain the arse to use.

So Sarah suggested we do our own photo shoot underwater, and I was all like:

She brought in photographer Kelsey Kukal- Keeton, who apparently has been dying to do an underwater photo shoot. So there was a bit of serendipity in this. And a lot of hot guys I got to pick from before settling on our “Ren” and then our “Ivy”

But I was concerned. I mean underwater shoots are no joke. You need special equipment and models who don’t look like they’re holding their breaths in every photo. A lot of things could go wrong. Like, our models could drown when weights are attached to their dress. Underwater shoots are some serious shit, ya’ll.

Then I started seeing the photos from the shoot and I… I was like…

The photos were stunning and hot and overall amazing. And did I say sexy as you’ve guys have seen from the pics I shared in August. Both Kelsey and Sarah listened to what I wanted, from the models down to the color of the dress to the positioning of the models UNDERWATER for all three books.

Anyway, they did an awesome, awesome job.

The actual cover for Wicked will be revealed on October 10th (bloggers will have a chance to sign up for the reveal) and shortly thereafter we have some awesome behind the scenes stuff for you guys, but I do have a cover placement for you today that is everything EXCEPT the main image, you know, just to give you a taste of what’s coming.

Click to enlarge:

Yeah, Sarah and Kelsey? This sums them up