Do you ever wonder about the models on book covers, and how the author managed to find the perfect person, in the perfect pose, wearing just the right clothes... did they hire someone? Have a stroke of luck and chance upon the perfect photograph? Or did they stand before the camera themselves?

K.A. Coleman explains...

""My granddaughter is on the front cover of a book."

If you talk to my grandmother, she will most likely tell you with pride that my picture is on the front cover of Holding On and Letting Go. At first, I chalked her assessment up to her age and increasing forgetfulness. As time passed though, other people told me that as well.

I get told frequently I look like other people. I don't see it most of the time. Unless it's Emily VanCamp. Whenever I get told I look like Emily VanCamp, I just pleasantly take the compliment. I'm a huge fan of of the television show, Revenge. Even then, I just don't see the resemblance. After more thought than I care to admit, I do look a little like whomever is actually on the cover of the book. Currently, I have my blonde hair in a bun which my hair desperately tries to escape. I only take earrings out to sleep, and I bury my face in clothes when I get cold.

Just because the title character looks like a little like me, it doesn't mean we share many similarities. To be blunt, the main reason the character is blonde with blue eyes is that I'm awful at describing clothes, so I just looked at my own closet when I needed inspiration. I've always been too much of a wimp to dye my hair. I got highlights for my brother's wedding, and they turned me into platinum Barbie which is not a good look on me. I then had to get low lights as to not look I just dumped bleach on my hair. After that, I decided to divorce hair dye due to irreconcilable differences. I wish I had a deeper meaning to making the main character's hair blonde, but it basically comes down to the fact that I've had over 20 years of experience realizing what colors do not work with my skin tone and hair color. For example, yellow is not a pale blonde girl's best friend. I say that with sadness because I live in the city that bleeds black and gold.

With all of that said, I was very specific in picking the cover in that I didn't want the model's face to be seen. I didn't want someone perfectly airbrushed and flawless. As a female and just a person, I refuse to contribute to anything that makes females feel defined by looks or prettiness. I really don't want to perpetuate an already unhealthy cycle.

Imagine whomever you want on the cover. Imagine someone perfectly imperfect.

And to my grandma, I will always be the girl on the front cover."

*

Two years after her little brother's death, sixteen-year-old Emerson Caulfield returns to a home that she spent the last two years missing. In theory, everything should be the same. Her best friend Matt, still lives next door. Her house is in the exact same condition as they left it. The scenery and hallways haven't changed, yet for Emerson, everything is completely different. The place may be the same, but Emerson is most certainly not. She returns home hurt, angry and miles away from the girl she once was.

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• eBook £3.99 || $6.99
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• Jul 25, 2014. 978-1-78279-576-6.
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• BUY | AMAZON US | AMAZON UK
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• Paperback £6.99 || $11.95
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• Jul 25, 2014. 978-1-78279-577-3.
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