Cover Reveal: 'The Illusionists' by Laure Eve

Last year, I read 'Fearsome Dreamer' by Laure Eve and it soon became one of my favourite Fantasy/Dystopia novels of 2013. The world was hugely ambitious and imaginative, and the characters were interesting and intriguing; it wasn't short of excitement, and the concept of Life was something I could completely relate to our world - and what it could be like in the future with our addiction to social-media. You can find my review of the book, on the Guardian, here.

As a huge fan of Laure Eve's writing, I'm really excited to reveal the gorgeous cover for 'The Illusionists' the second book in the series!

A shocking new world.

A dangerous choice.

Two futures preparing to collide...

Having left White behind her in Angle Tar, Rue is trying to make sense of her new and unfamiliar life in World. Its culture is as baffling as is it thrilling to her, and Rue quickly realises World's fascination with technology can have intoxicating and deadly consequences.

She is also desperately lonely. And so is White. Somehow, their longing for each other is crossing into their dreams, dreams that begin to take increasingly strange turns as they appear to give Rue echoes of the future. Then the dreams reveal the advent of something truly monstrous, and with it the realisation that Rue and White will be instrumental in bringing about the most incredible and devastating change in both World and Angle Tar.

But in a world where Life is a virtual reality, where friends can become enemies overnight and where dreams, the future, and the past are somehow merging together, their greatest challenge of all may be to survive.

 

Synopsis from Goodreads

 

I absolutely adored exploring Angle Tar in the first novel, but, just from the synopsis you can see we are going to be seeing more of World in the sequel; something I am immensely looking forward too. The cover depicts the brighter, more colourful place that World is - well, when jacked into Life, the 'virtual reality' that the people live in; as it's better for the environment. The pink colour is eye-catching and I already want to see more of the setting behind the girl on the cover - Vela Rue, who is one of our main protagonists throughout the series. She, though, seems to be opening a door - to get out of the world, or to invite people in? Why? These are all things I'm quite excited to find out about when the book's released in the summer.

 

While in the first cover Vela-Rue is clutching the Angle-Tar flag around her, and she looks really unsure of herself, with bare-feet and a dark-background, in this she is ready and taking control. This difference means more confidence, maybe that she is becoming even more fierce than she was in book one. Wait - is that even possible? Laure Eve, we need answers! Rue is also wearing high-heels, a more demanding, grown-up choice of footwear, and much more stylish clothing. I think this change shows, simply, a lot of character-growth, especially from the Hedgewitch we were first introduced to and  the person who wanted to know more about her talents.

 

A pet-peeve for all booklovers is when the covers don't match or cease to have a similar design from one book to another. We've all seen what happens when the cover suddenly changes half-way through a series, and how unorganised it looks on a book shelf. So, I really do feel like applauding the cover-designers right now for keeping the same theme when planning this cover, as 'The Illusionists' can now sit happily beside 'Fearsome Dreamer.' The moon in the background is also still present; which I think is a really nice touch!

 

You can find out more about all things Laure Eve over at: Twitter | Facebook | Her Website

 

What do you think of this cover?

 

You can pick up 'The Illusionists' when it's out on July 3rd 2014.

I think I should thank Hot Key Books for releasing it once my exams are over!

Also, thank you to Laure Eve for letting me reveal the cover on my blog!

Geek Girl: Model Misfit by Holly Smale(Cover Reveal)

Today, I woke up and logged onto my laptop to have my day made by the fact the cover for Geek Girl: Model Misfit would be revealed later that day! After a really busy day yesterday, this made me forget about how tired I was and the fact all I wanted to do was go back to bed! As I waited for the cover to be revealed(By Holly on twitter by a countdown that reminded me of New Years) I was chatting to Lucy, Sunny and Amber about our love for the first book. I'm so excited to get back to Harriet's life and find out what is happening. Also, I loved all of the other characters and can't wait to see the likes of Nick and Wilbur again!

 

When the cover was revealed - at long last - my Twitter Feed was flooded with hype for Model Misfit. Let's just say there were a lot of capital letters and exclamation marks used by yours truly! So, for anyone who hasn't yet seen it(or read the synopsis because I'm throwing that in too!) here it is:

"My name is Harriet Manners, and I am still a geek.”

 

Harriet knows that modelling won’t transform you. She knows that being as uniquely odd as a polar bear isn’t necessarily a bad thing (even in a rainforest). And that the average person eats a ton of food a year, though her pregnant stepmother is doing her best to beat this.

What Harriet doesn’t know is where she’s going to fit in once the new baby arrives.

With summer plans ruined, modelling in Japan seems the perfect chance to get as far away from home as possible. But nothing can prepare Harriet for the craziness of Tokyo, her competitive model flatmates and her errant grandmother’s ‘chaperoning’. Or seeing gorgeous Nick everywhere she goes. Because, this time, Harriet knows what a broken heart feels like.

Can geek girl find her place on the other side of the world or is Harriet lost for good?

 

 To begin with, isn't it gorgeous! The first thing I tweeted after seeing this cover was how it resembles Harriet's personality perfectly. It's fun and fresh, and with the slanting font it makes you think of how out-of-place Harriet feels sometimes. Her tongue is poking out and it makes me want to laugh already - this is definitely the perfect cover to follow. Models are supposed to take things seriously, and it seems like she's having so much fun here and is too busy to think about that. So, it does make her seem like a misfit of sorts!  I also love the colours on the cover just look at the yellow! It's so vibrant! It also matches the first book, Geek Girl. It's definitely a pet-peeve of mine when the covers don't match, but these definitely do! I'm really looking forward to admiring Model Misfit on my shelf next to GG1.

 

Here are the tweets:

My first reaction to the cover!

Me and Amber discussing how good it will look
on our shelves!

 

I'm just so excited to have this on my shelf and finally get to read it! I've already been assured there is more Nick in this book(Thank you so much, Holly) and now I have a cover to admire until it's released on September 26th! This has come around so quickly compared to other books, I cannot express how happy I am that it isn't a year wait like most novels.

So, what do you think of the cover? Tell me in the comments!