What’s up my darlins! I am wicked thrilled to be visiting here with all of you today. I hope this blog post finds you all happy and sassy as you go about your day. My name’s J.T. and I’m here as part of my blog tour for Collateral Damage. Thank you all for visiting with me and thank you for hosting me!

Okay, we’re all readers here. What’s the first thing you notice about a book? That’s a pretty easy answer, right? Some would say the title, or the author, but the cover is the very first thing to grab your attention and say, “hey you, keep looking right here!” Granted, when your favorite author has a new release, you see that name and go gaga; I do the same thing over the Warden.

In my opinion, a book cover can add sales to a book that you might have missed otherwise. I went through spells reading. If the book had a man in a kilt on the front of it, I bought it. Then, it was a man and a baby, or a Native American in a loincloth.

My first published work was a male/female read. I had some input into the cover. When it was sent to me, I was a bit hesitant. It just didn’t fit with what I had in my head. But, I didn’t rock the boat. We worked through edits and got closer to the publishing date. About a month before Ocean’s Kiss was released, I saw a new release on Amazon with the exact same couple on the cover. I know now it was a stock photo picture, but I was a newbie then. I contacted my publisher and asked if we could change the cover, but it was a no go. I have to say I was disappointed. I didn’t want to be a copycat. I wanted something original.

With all of that said, I want to do a shout out to one of the BEST in the business, Tracey Soxie Weston and Soxational Cover Art. Soxie has created every cover for my self published works and the stories written with V.L. Moon. She has never failed to provide us with exactly what we need.

Most of the time, we have wild ideas of what we want. We send her oodles and oodles of pictures, throw around backgrounds and totally confuse her with our chaos. Thankfully, she’s stuck with us and hasn’t called the people with the huggy jackets. She’s quick to tell us when something won’t work, but it’s because she truly cares about her work and she wants our books to look their best.

Grand Slam was the first cover she did for me. I remember having a pretty clear image of what I wanted and I scoured the stock photo sites for the perfect one. When she saw it, Soxie wasn’t sure what she could do other than add a title and my name. But, we found Brock and he had to be included. The outcome was exactly what I wanted and it is still one of my favorites.

I think the hardest cover to date was Broken Oaths. We wanted a priest on the cover, prayer beads and Thierry, who is mixed race with light green eyes. We searched for hours and hours to find the right models. We looked for steeples and cathedrals; we scrolled through hundreds of images of praying hands and prayer beads. It was at the point where we all wanted to pull our hair out by the roots. Finally, the original concept was totally scrapped. No models, and the search was on again. The cover turned out to be quite simple and yet dramatic at the same time. It is a beautiful image and captures the story in a single snapshot which is what the cover should do for any book.

My favorite Soxie cover is Crimson Reign. Lachi and Laz are a part of V.L. and me; they aren’t just characters in a book. When it was time to do their cover, we wanted something powerful and something deserving of our males. We had three different images we wanted to use and a general idea of what we wanted. We sent the pictures to Soxie and waited. I remember opening our joint page that day and staring at the beauty she had created. It fit the story so perfectly. It was everything we wanted and I actually got teary eyed.

When it was time to create a cover for Ansleigh’s Grotto, I sent Soxie the blurb and a brief description of the characters and the plot. I didn’t even look at stock photos. I trusted her to nail it; and boy did she blow me away.

With the cover for Collateral Damage, she sent me stock photos to choose from for the main characters. Other than the blurb, that’s all of the information I gave her. She not only seemed to know what image I had in my head, she far surpassed it. I was in awe of this cover as soon as I logged on and saw it. The author pack she sent me was like an early Christmas present. I was oohing and ahhhing like a little kid.

I recommend her to any author in need of a beautiful artistic cover. She will turn herself inside out to make sure you have exactly what you want. And, you get far more than a cover. Her author packs are promo ready; you literally have everything you need to hit the advertising market without any additional costs.

So, this is dedicated to you, Soxie Baby. You rock our socks and make V.L. and I look beautiful. We love you as a person, as a friend and as a part of our little writing team. MWAH Darlin!

Soxie links:

Website:     http://www.soxsationalcoverart.com/index.html

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/SoxsationalCoverArt/?fref=ts

BLURB:

Fleeing the questions and horrific memories in Miami-Dade, Trevor Garrett accepts a deputy position in the small town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Plagued by anxiety attacks and an abhorrence to being touched, Trevor rebuffs his best friend’s attempts to set him up. He has no desire for any type of relationship; until the local golden boy strolls into his line of sight at the neighborhood dive…

Logan Andrews just wants to take care of his mama. After years of serving his country in the Army Special Forces, Logan resigns when he learns his mother is suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. A night out with old friends turns heated when the newest deputy in town catches his attention…

When a sexually deviant killer sets his sights on the gay men in the area, Trevor is assigned the case. In a wicked twist, all evidence points to Logan. Can Trevor’s past be repeating itself? In a race against a killer, Trevor struggles to overcome his own insecurities and clear the man whose touch sets him on fire. Will he succeed or will their budding relationship become Collateral Damage?

Buy Links

Amazon US
Amazon UK

Amazon AU
Amazon DE

#1 Best Selling Author of Grand Slam, J.T. Cheyanne is a genre crosser who writes romance and paranormal in the m/m and m/f genres. J.T. Cheyanne resides in the beautiful state of Alabama. J.T. lives with her two sons and daughter. An avid reader since fourth grade, she has only just started writing her own stories. She also has several works published with her co-author, V.L. Moon.

Social Links:

Website: http://www.lazandlachi.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jtcheyannestories
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JTCheyanne
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6534660.J_T_Cheyanne

Prize: 5 ecopies of Collateral Damage by J.T. Cheyanne