Usually, in my books, there’s a house that has a big part to play in the story. In Tempted By Trouble, it’s Elle’s home, the one she’s fought so hard to keep together for her family.
The village of Longbourne was already familiar to me since I’d set the Five Year Baby Secret there. It’s a big village, with an out of town garden centre and a plant nursery growing prize-winning Fuchsias. There’s a shop, a post office and a primary school. (The older kids take the school bus to the High School and College). People want to live there, not just because it’s pretty, with a great atmosphere, but it’s near Maybridge, a large town with a growing business park and great shopping. It’s also within commuting distance of the city of Melchester.
I knew the village green and the common land by the river. Could see it, walk through it in my head - they are all taken from the towns and villages I grew up around – but what would Elle’s house look like?
It’s a bit vague to be honest. I think readers just need a few details to allow them to imagine it for themselves. The kitchen quarry tiles scrubbed so many times that the colour has all but gone. The mess in the hall left by teenagers in a hurry. The lilac tree in the back garden. Part of the magic of reading is that we bring our own pictures to the party.
But this is the picture I started from. At the front door where it all begins, where the roses dropped pink petals on Sean’s head and shoulders and Elle’s life was changed forever.
Tempted by Trouble is now available at the Mills and Boon website in Australia and has a truly lovely cover – this time it’s Sean’s meadow that provides the backdrop. Unfortunately I haven't got a copy to scan yet, and I can't download it from the Mills and Boon website to share with you but you can take a look here
4 comments:
Hi Liz:
Love the Aussie cover! It just screams ‘newly in love’. I think it will sell the most books per capita. But…was that scene even in the book?
BTW: Only the NA marketing people understand that the most important type on a book cover is the author’s name. People buy authors first, not titles.
I now have all three covers up on my site where Tempted by Trouble is reviewed.
Vince
The new Australian covers have been uniformly gorgeous and I just love that one.
The scenes on the covers are supposed to represent the "feel" of the book (according to marketing) and Sean and Elle did walk through his meadow so it's near enough. :)
As for the author name - it's only recently that Harlequin US have finally given the "Romance" authors their name above the title. Why the UK and Australia still refuse to do that for their authors on some series just beats me.
btw, I don't know how you managed to download the cover from the Oz, site - they've done something different with the way they upload it and it just won't work for me now. Happily, I was able to take it from yours, so thank you for that!
Gorgeous picture of Elle's door. I'm looking forward to reading it, Liz.
I love that picture and the sound of Longbourne.
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