This week, I am delighted to welcome back Jessica Redland to my blog to take part in the Cover Love series in which an author selects her favourite front cover and tells us why it is special.
Jessica lives in Scarborough, which is the inspiration behind her fictional town of Whitsborough Bay, where many of her books are set, although she also set stories in the Yorkshire Wolds. After a career working mainly in HR, Jessica took the plunge this year and became a full-time writer.
Reviewers say: "adorable characters and wonderful writing... fun, drama-filled romance... Jessica's books always comfort me and transport me away from reality."
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A huge thank you to Susanna for inviting me to take part in this fabulous series.
Choose your favourite cover. Eek! Not an easy task. I’ve been blessed with a stunning set of covers and I love every single one of them. During the past year my publisher, Boldwood Books, has released two brand new books but has also re-edited and re-released six books from my back catalogue and I’ve been delighted with their make-overs.
I’ve selected my most recent release – Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow – which is my tenth novel and one of the brand new ones. This is a very special book for me because it signals the start of a new series but also a move from Whitsborough Bay – the fictional North Yorkshire seaside town where all my other books are set – into the Yorkshire Wolds.
With Whitsborough Bay being coastal, the sea features on many of my other covers so this is my first countryside setting and we wanted that to be strongly conveyed. The sea and sky mean blue has been a predominant colour on all but one cover (New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms is yellow) so we were keen to go for pink and peach hues depicting a sunset for this one. I absolutely adore the colours. They’re so soothing and perfect for this story because the heroine, Samantha, describes Hedgehog Hollow as a tranquil place where she feels really relaxed.
With a name like Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow, you’d imagine a connection to hedgehogs and you’d be right. Hedgehog Hollow is the name of the farm and the vision of the owners, Thomas and Gwendoline, when they bought it was to set up a hedgehog rescue centre. For reasons you’ll discover in the book, that didn’t happen and the farm has fallen into disrepair.
The hedgehogs pictured on the cover are just adorable and, as they come out at dusk, it is perfect that we have a sunset setting for them.
The farmhouse is a very important feature of the story. An early version appeared to be half-barn/half-house and, although the rescue centre does eventually get set up in a barn, I was keen for it to be the house and not the barn that featured on the cover. My editor showed me an image of a three-storey house that had originally been rejected for being too grand but I absolutely loved it. It was different to what I’d described but we were still at the editing stage on the manuscript so I had the luxury of being able to change my description of the farmhouse to match the image on the front cover.
Behind the farmhouse is a wildflower meadow which is also an important element of the story. I love how the cover designer has included several wildflowers in the foreground and particularly adore the blue ones on the right. No idea what they are but they’re very pretty! The swifts, butterflies and falling leaves beautifully tie together the themes of countryside and nature.
I wish Hedgehog Hollow was a real place and that I could live there. I love this cover so much and am very excited to see what book 2 will look like. I’m sure it will be just as enticing.
Jessica xx
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Blurb:
Can love really be found when you stop looking for it...? As Samantha Wishaw watches the love of her life marry another woman, she’s ready to give up hope of finding her happy ever after.
But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas - a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow - her life is about to change forever.
Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfil Thomas and his wife, Gwendoline's, dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory, and to open a hedgehog rescue centre.
Throwing herself into the task at hand, little does Sam realise that the keys to love and happiness may also be found at Hedgehog Hollow, when she least expects it...
Escape to Hedgehog Hollow this summer with top 10 bestseller Jessica Redland for the perfect uplifting, feel-good read.
You can buy Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow by clicking here.
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