It’s probably now how you think.

Cross-posted from Substack.

Let’s start out with the world’s most giant disclaimer. I am not a graphic designer. I know nothing about cover design. I’m lucky when my Canva posts look halfway decent, and even then, it’s probably because I annoyed Lorissa to death with a million drafts.

But you know who is an amazing graphic designer? Well, Lorissa. But she hasn’t designed any covers for me (yet). Today, we’re talking about Jillian Liota at Blue Moon Creative Studio. She’s brilliant, in fact. She designs covers that are sometimes for stories that aren’t even written yet, and they’re gorgeous. In fact, that’s how I found two of mine, and they might be my two favorite yet. (Three, actually, but I haven’t written the third yet. The first is The Write Place, but that was written before I found the premade that fit it perfectly.)

That’s right. Two of my covers that are out in the world were designed without stories in mind. So let’s talk more about that behind-the-scenes info today, shall we? But first…

I… have a confession to make. I don’t really like lavender flavoring.

I know. I know.

And then I went and included it in Common Grounds as this sexy drink that Emery falls in love with.

I did all this research about all the coffee (and tea) drinks in the book. I bought flavor syrups and a Turkish coffee pot and actual coffee my Croatian friend said she uses when she makes her Turkish coffee. I purchased espresso cups, my friends. I had Megan make up recipes for Emery’s favorite drinks to include in the back of the book. I was committed.

But I did not buy lavender flavor syrup until recently. Because I don’t really like it.

Actually, that’s not technically true. I had a lavender honey latte in the Wisconsin Dells of all places, and I did enjoy it. It was unique, though it was a little sweet for my tastes. So I suppose it has to be made right, unlike the two pumps of mocha I toss into my cold brew and soy milk in the morning as I rush out the door. I’m pretty sure you can add mocha to anything and it’s going to taste just fine. Lavender, not so much.

But Trevor makes a lavender drink especially for Emery, and she falls in love with it (and him), and I was in my feelings this week, so I decided I deserved a little treat and bought myself yet another flavor syrup.

Listen. There are a lot of things I write about my characters that I don’t relate to. This is just one of them. I pumped that lavender in some hot coffee with a splash of soy milk. It was awful. It was so bad, I dumped it out, and I never dump out coffee. That sh*t is like gold to a tired mom-writer-teacher. I tried it in my cold brew + soy milk concoction, and it was even worse.

But then, friends, I had a lightbulb moment. What if I just needed it to be a little sweeter? So I added a pump of vanilla to the lavender-cold-brew thing.

And now I might be obsessed. So there you go. Straight lavender = soap. Lavender + something sweet = delicious. And yes, I am going to make Trevor’s (*ahem* Megan’s) honey cinnamon lavender latte at some point. Now, I’m actually excited to do it. You know I will report back.

I love the cover of Common Grounds. It’s perfect. It encapsulates the city background—even though Baker’s Grove feels more like a small town in that way of midsized Midwestern cities—as well as Emery and Trevor in a passionate embrace on the front. The colors evoke coffee and dusk and romance. The characters are perfectly representative of the couple in the book, down to Emery’s red heels and blue-black hair, and Trevor’s yellow slouchy hat and cuffed chinos.

I’ve never been happier with a cover, honestly.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I love love LOVE my Leade Park covers. And Jillian captured those characters perfectly, too. But this one is my favorite, if I’m allowed to play favorites.

And that’s probably because I wrote the story to fit the cover, not the other way around.

This is one of my favorite behind the scenes things about this book, actually. I was in the middle of writing The Write Choice and was just about ready to give up. If you don’t know a lot of authors, this is pretty typical, but TWC had me considering throwing in the towel in a much more serious way than normal. That book was heavy.

So I logged on to Facebook in one of my mindless scrolling breaks and saw this cover in the Blue Moon Facebook group. Even better, it was on sale. I took a screenshot, showed it to a few friends and started spitballing some ideas: His name is Trevor, for sure. There’s no other name for that man. He’s sunshiney, too, right? (It’s the yellow beanie.) And he looks like he owns a coffee shop. She’s a bit grumpy. Maybe her name is Ava? No. Too many Vs. Emery? Yes. Emery. What does she do? In a city, wearing heels… maybe she’s a journalist? Maybe his shop is failing, and she’s going to help him save it.

And, thus, Common Grounds was born. I bought the cover, and I started writing a couple of scenes that night. I made it wildly different from The Write Choice because I needed a break from it. The characters started off saying some really goofy things. I made one of the side characters—Emery’s sister—pregnant and married to Emery’s best friend. I made Trevor’s only employee a bumbling teenager who can’t make a latte to save his life, and his best friend is a perpetually single dudebro. Because, why not? I honestly never really expected this to see the light of day; it was an exercise in levity to take a break from the heavier marriage-in-crisis. And, even if I did publish it, I expected it to be just a fun and fluffy summer romance.

It is that, of course. Even my heavier books are still light at their core. They are romantic comedies, after all. But this one was like floating on a trampoline after running in the rain. (I love running, so that explains that metaphor.)

It wasn’t until later, when I released TWC and got really serious about drafting CG that I added certain plot points that really drove the story. Trevor’s Croatian background, for example, and the history of the shop. Emery’s divorce. Waffles and whipped cream.

But it will forever remain true that this cover came before the book. It came before the book was even a concept in my head or a glimmer in my eye. It was the inspiration.

And now, it might be the book I’m most proud of with the cover I love the most. There’s something about this one that hits me differently than my others, every time I re-read it. It truly is like a good cup of coffee—bitter and sweet. The perfect blend, if you will. I never get tired of it, no matter how many sips I take. When I’m done, I want more.

Hopefully you feel that way, too.

Common Grounds ARCs are in the world! And, holy cow, y’all. The response has already been AMAZING. Thank you for loving Emery and Trevor. I’m blown away.

If you got an email from me that you were getting an ARC and then never received a link from BookFunnel, please reach out. I can send your link individually if necessary. If you signed up and didn’t get an email from either me or Brooke, please let us know! Everyone should have gotten an email whether or not they were accepted.

If you didn’t get an ARC or didn’t sign up, you can always pre-order! Get your Kindle copy here, or get a paperback here.

In other news, I’m not sure if I announced this officially yet, but I’ll be attending Romance Con in Milwaukee on September 6-7, 2024! You can pre-order books from here and pick them up at my table. STAY TUNED, too, because there might just be a special edition of one of my books coming.

I finished Fangirl Down last week but wasn’t able to post about it because of the Feature Friday. But… y’all. Oh my GOD, this book. I started the audio in my car for my commute audiobook, and then I downloaded the ebook over the weekend because I could not stop. And I haven’t read a book since I finished it. This one is living rent-free in my head. The banter. The grumpy man. The sunshine woman. The STAKES! I don’t know if I’ve rooted for a couple like this since Bromance Book Club. 11/10 would recommend.

That’s all for now! We are one week closer to the release of Common Grounds, and with ARCs out in the world, I absolutely cannot wait to hear what you all think.

I’ll see you next week! Until then, happy reading!