Malinda Lo

Every month I run down the most recent books released by my 2009 Debutantes compatriots, and last month was a rich harvest indeed. Look at all these books:

My Big Nose & Other Natural Disasters (Harcourt) by Sydney Salter

For a girl who plans to get rid of her “Super Schnozz” and snag herself a boyfriend before senior year, one summer changes everything. In her hilarious and heartbreaking debut novel, Sydney Salter delivers a story about broadening your horizons, accepting yourself, and finding love right under your nose.

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Q: Did you have any specific hopes about what your book cover would look like?

A: I leave artistic pursuits to artists. I don’t even trust myself to pick out paint colors in my house.

Q: What’s your favorite part of your final book cover?

A: I love all of my cover, but especially how the nose is kind of hidden : ) A big thank you to Carol Chu who designed my cover!

Fortune’s Folly (Henry Holt) by Deva Fagan

Ever since her mother died and her father lost his shoemaking skills, Fortunata has survived by telling fake fortunes. But when she’s tricked into telling a grand fortune for a prince, she is faced with the impossible task of fulfilling her wild prophecy–or her father will be put to death.

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I was hoping [the cover] would capture something of the fairy-tale feel of my book and the pseudo-renaissance Italy setting. [My favorite part is] the fact that it’s blue! Blue is my favorite color but I was totally not expecting it in the cover. It turned out the cover artist was inspired by a certain scene (one of my favorites, actually!) that takes place at night. I love the end result, especially the stars, since they also serve as a nice reference to the main character’s star-spangled fortune-teller’s costume. — Deva Fagan

Breathing (Viking) by Cheryl Renee Herbsman

Savannah would be happy to spend the summer in her coastal Carolina town working at the library and lying in a hammock reading her beloved romance novels. But then she meets Jackson. Once they lock eyes, she’s convinced he’s the one—her true love, her soul mate, a boy different from all the rest. And at first it looks like Savannah is right. Jackson abides by her mama’s strict rules, and stays by her side during a hospitalization for severe asthma, which Savannah becomes convinced is only improving because Jackson is there. But when he’s called away to help his family—and seems uncertain about returning—Savannah has to learn to breathe on her own, both literally and figuratively.

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Q: Did you have any specific hopes about what your book cover would look like?

A: I wanted the beach to be on the cover. And I didn’t want faces of the characters portrayed. So I got both of the things I cared about the most.

Q: What’s your favorite part of your final book cover?

A: The whole feel of it — dreamy

TMI (Dutton) by Sarah Quigley

Fifteen-year-old Becca has the habit of revealing too much personal information about herself and her friends, but when her boyfriend breaks up with her and she vows to stop “oversharing,” she does not realize that her blog postings are not nearly as anonymous as she thought.

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“I was nine months pregnant when my editor asked me if I had any ideas/preferences about the cover design of TMI. I gave her some lame answer like, ‘Uh…maybe a girl…sitting in front of a computer…red is a good color.’ I was suffering from what I like to call placenta brain, but I’m better now.

“I adore the fact that the images swirling above Becca’s head are all important objects in the story, like the unicorn, laptop, peanut, and cupcake. The bright colors and white background make the book stand out, too. TMI looks fun and girly, which it is.” — Sarah Quigley

One Wish (Westside) by Leigh Brescia

Overweight Wrenn Scott desperately wants to be popular and snag a hot boyfriend. Living with her single mom and younger sister, Karly, she lands a lead role in the high school musical, her voice for once overshadowing her weight. Pushing to get thinner by opening night, Wrenn’s waistline shrinks as she learns all the wrong ways to lose weight from a new “it-girl” friend in the show.

Meanwhile, her mom is falling for Phil, “a balding Channel 8 News-nerd”; her sister is wrapped up in her own share of middle school drama, and Wrenn’s best friend has fallen for a guy she met online-but hasn’t even seen yet! Topping it off, geeky stage manager Steven has a crush on her. But Wrenn doesn’t want to be seen with him — she’s holding out for a trophy boyfriend whom everyone will envy. By opening night, the old Wrenn has almost disappeared. After a crisis reveals her weight-loss tricks, Wrenn realizes there are much more important things than being thin, popular, or even dating a hunk.

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“I had an idea in mind concerning what I wanted my cover to look like, but the final product was nothing like I imagined. This is a good thing, though, because the cover itself is so intriguing and unique; I have a feeling a lot of people may pick up the book out of sheer curiosity.

“My favorite part of the cover is the metaphorical value it has. The illustrator (Michael Morgenstern) did a fantastic job capturing the story in his design: from the roses (in that what is beautiful can also be dangerous) to the blue eye (that truth will eventually prevail). I really want to put one of those red streaks in my hair, too.” — Leigh Brescia

Sliding on the Edge (Westside) by C. Lee McKenzie

Shawna Stone, sixteen, can handle anything from a Las Vegas hustle to skipping out on the rent. Scarred inside and out, she’s survived with a tough, hardened attitude. Yet she’s thrown when her mother abandons her in Vegas with only a bus ticket and the name and number of a stranger to call.

Now this troubled, desperate teen finds herself on a Northern California horse ranch with Kay Stone, her steely, youngish, disillusioned grandmother,who overwhelms Shawna with rules and daily barn chores. Shawna will baffle Kay with her foul mouthed anger and shrugging indifference to everything—except the maltreated horse on the ranch next door. But it’s worse than even Kay suspects: Shawna’s driven to cut herself by that strange voice inside her head,which at times has been her only steady companion.

Kay, brittle from the loss of her marriage and her only son, struggles to keep the ranch going with only Kenny, the broken down drifter she hired, to lean on. Wondering what secrets hide behind Shawna’s barricade, Kay fears that unless she somehow helps this troubled girl, she could lose her last living family member. And Kay’s own secret is the very one that’s kept Shawna and her mother away for all these years. As this unlikely pair struggles to co-exist, will they overcome their inner suffering to build a bridge to each other, and together find the strength to transcend the past?

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Q: Did you have any specific hopes about what your book cover would look like?

A: I didn’t. All I hoped was the illustrator would capture the essence of my MC. He did. And I loved that it was mostly blue—my favorite color.

Q: What’s your favorite part of your final book cover?

A: The bus window is awesome because it has the subtle Las Vegas reflection that even I didn’t catch at first.

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter (HarperCollins) by R.J. Anderson

Deep inside the great Oak lies a dying faery realm, bursting with secrets instead of magic. Long ago the faeries mysteriously lost their magic. Robbed of their powers, they have become selfish and dull-witted. Now their numbers are dwindling and their very survival is at stake.

Only one young faery—Knife—is determined to find out where her people’s magic has gone and try to get it back. Unlike her sisters, Knife is fierce and independent. She’s not afraid of anything—not the vicious crows, the strict Faery Queen, or the fascinating humans living nearby. But when Knife disobeys the Faery Queen and befriends a human named Paul, her quest becomes more dangerous than she realizes. Can Knife trust Paul to help, or has she brought the faeries even closer to the brink of destruction?

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“I tried to keep my ideas and my expectations [for the cover] as vague as possible, knowing that the final cover would surely be different from anything I’d imagined! Still, I thought the cover would probably feature my heroine Knife on the cover (right) in some kind of dynamic action pose, probably in flight (wrong).

“My favorite thing about the final book cover is that they chose Melanie Delon to do the artwork — I think she is fantastically talented, and I love the subtle otherworldly air that she gives to her rendition of Knife.” — R. J. Anderson

Silver Phoenix (Greenwillow) by Cindy Pon

No one wanted Ai Ling. And deep down she is relieved—despite the dishonor she has brought upon her family—to be unbetrothed and free, not some stranger’s subservient bride banished to the inner quarters.

But now, something is after her. Something terrifying—a force she cannot comprehend. And as pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, Ai Ling begins to understand that her journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams isn’t only a quest to find her beloved father but a venture with stakes larger than she could have imagined.

Bravery, intelligence, the will to fight and fight hard . . . she will need all of these things. Just as she will need the new and mysterious power growing within her. She will also need help.

It is Chen Yong who finds her partly submerged and barely breathing at the edge of a deep lake. There is something of unspeakable evil trying to drag her under. On a quest of his own, Chen Yong offers that help . . . and perhaps more.

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Q: Did you have any specific hopes about what your book cover would look like?

A: i actually did not. i thought that maybe i could have a drawing of my heroine riding on the back of the dragon. and my brilliant editor said they’d do a shoot with a model instead. at the time, i was a noob i didn’t understand what an honor that was!

Q: What’s your favorite part of your final book cover?

A: i love the model we chose! she’s fierce, like my heroine.