Heroic Blog Tour (Cover Discussion)

As part of the Blog Tour for Phil Earle's new book, Heroic, I was asked to talk about the book cover designs (one of my favourite subjects!!!)

Here are all three of the books covers:

I really like the colours on these covers and the fonts used.  I love that the titles on Being Billy and Saving Daisy are big!  Plus they both have this kind of distressed look - with all these kind of scratches over the cover.  For some reason this really pleases me!  I have to admit I wasn't sure, at first, about the people on both of them but the more I looked the more I started to like it.  The boy on Being Billy creates energy - the idea that Billy doesn't like to stay still - whereas the girl on Saving Daisy looks sad and defensive - as if something bad has happened.  I think they help create a good sense of what the book is about.  Add in the brilliant tag line for each book and I really like both of the covers.

Heroic is my favourite of the three though.  It takes all the elements I liked from the other two (the big (ish) title font, a strong solid colour and an awesome tag line!) but amalgamates it better with the image. Like the previous covers I have a really good sense of what the story will be about and it definitely catches my eye!

I also like that all three covers tie in together.  Being Billy and Saving Daisy look very similar - which is good since they are set in the same world - and Heroic has a very similar feel as well, creating a nice theme across the covers.  Take the author's name off the cover and I would still think of Phil Earle which I can't help but think is a sign of a great cover!

What do you think? Do you agree?  Which is your favourite out of the three covers?  Let me know in the comments below!

Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

For Review: Penguin
Published: 5 January 2012

From Goodreads:
Losing love, fighting guilt, seeking hope.

Daisy’s mum is gone. Her dad refuses to talk about it and as far as Daisy’s concerned, it’s all her fault…

Saving Daisy is a powerful and moving story that follows the life of Daisy Houghton who first featured in Phil Earle’s critically acclaimed debut, Being Billy.

As Daisy struggles with misplaced guilt over her mother’s death, she turns to extreme and violent measures and soon her life starts spiralling out of control. This leads to tragedy and suddenly Daisy finds herself left all alone. But sometimes the kindness of a stranger can turn things around. A stranger who desperately wants to save Daisy – if she’ll only let herself be saved.

Since reading the fabulous Being Billy I have been looking forward to reading Daisy's story. Now that I have, Phil Earle has truly cemented himself as an author I will read simply because his name is on the cover. I absolutely loved it.

The events of Saving Daisy take place before Being Billy making this a prequel of sorts. I loved finding out all about Daisy and having the story told from her point of view - I adored her in Being Billy and loved her even more after reading this. One of the things I really liked about Being Billy was the authentic voice given to Billy and I have to say that he did it again with Daisy. She's so real you can't help but get swept up in her story and feel everything she felt.   I felt so bad for her and everything she goes through. She's so convinced that everything is her fault - that she deserves to be alone. Her reaction to her mother's death is understandable - it must be very hard to deal with - and I hated that someone used that to get close to her when he shouldn't. And, of course, the accident would be hard for anyone to deal with - add it all together and it's not surprising that she finds it hard to cope.

Again it's obvious that Phil Earle has experience working with kids - it shines through in his writing. He has such an understanding of what Daisy and kids like her are going through - the whole story is just spot on and feels completely realistic. Powerfully so. I so desperately wanted Daisy to stop blaming herself - to find a way to see that none of it was her fault.  And I loved Ade - her key worker - and how she manages to help Daisy see the truth.

I can't recommend this highly enough. I loved Being Billy but this managed to surpass all my expectations. An absolute must read!