My Secret Love’s No Secret Anymore

I came home today to find the package containing the proposed cover for CALLING MR LONELY HEARTS in my kitchen, waiting for me. There was a brief moment when I didn’t think I could bear to open it. What if I didn’t like it? What if I thought it should be changed? Would I be brave enough to say so?

CALLING MR LONELY HEARTS is my new baby. But it’s a muscular and strange baby, full of darkness and sex and want and tiny, shimmering shards of hope that will make you glad you peeked between your fingers for a glimpse.

Not being trained to imagine such things, I’ve been at a loss trying to picture what its cover might look like. For weeks, the novel has been in the hands of Ballantine designer Beck Stvan and his team. Beck did the cover for ISABELLA MOON, and when I first saw it, I knew that he had seen through to the heart of that book.

But I opened the package and fell in love all over again. I was speechless. When I shared the image with someone I trust very much, he said, “I think this falls in the category of ‘I didn’t even know I wanted it to look like this’.” Amen to that!

He’s here. He’s scary. He’s now appearing in the almost-flesh. He’ll be in stores around December 30th. But if you’re very good, I might just hold a contest or two that will get an advance copy in your hands in the coming months. Just because I don’t want you to be lonely….