Revamped by Ada Adams‏ - Blog Tour - Guest Post & Giveaway

ReVamped

By Ada Adams

Paranormal YA

Blurb:

Nineteen-year-old vampire Dawn has led a sheltered life within the confines of her father’s presidential headquarters. Upon being sent on a mission to revamp four goofy misfits into guardians of a peaceful little town of Angel Creek, Dawn believes that all her dreams have finally come true. What starts off as a simple task, turns into something unexpected, changing Dawn’s life forever and leading the action-loving, thrill-seeking vampire teen on a path of mystery, danger and intrigue.

When a human girl is kidnapped by a group of rogue vamps, Dawn discovers that there is more going on in Angel Creek than meets the eye. And it all connects to Ethan, the cute newcomer who seems too perfect to be true, Sebastian, the mysterious vampire with a turbulent past, and even Dawn herself. Dawn must not only succeed in revamping the troubled recruits, but must also prevent the vampire race from being overtaken by a malevolent villain who has a strange and obsessive fascination with her. As threat escalates, romance blooms, and ghosts from her past begin to surface, Dawn is sure of only one thing: her life will never be the same.

Excerpt One: 

PROLOGUE 

A sharp, searing pain pierced through my chest as I watched the guy I liked—the guy I was falling in love with—kiss another girl. With every fiber of my being, I willed myself to look away, my vision blurring in a desperate attempt to escape the agonizing scene before me. My body failed to obey; my gaze remained firmly glued to the couple.

Powerless, I surrendered to the nightmare, for a brief moment allowing myself to imagine that his muscular arms were, in fact, embracing me. After all, the girl’s face, with its pale complexion, high cheekbones, straight nose and cupid-bow lips, was identical to mine. Her glossy brown hair cascaded down her back, each loose wave perfectly matching my own. Even her slender body curved in precisely the same places. Looking at her was like gazing into the smooth, reflective surface of a moving, breathing mirror.

She was me.

Or was I her?

She fluttered open her long, dark lashes, and pulling me out of the fantasy, revealed the one perceptible difference between us: her emerald green eyes. While hauntingly beautiful, they looked nothing at all like my pale violet ones. She stared directly at me, tightening her grip on the only person in the world I had ever wanted to be with—mocking me for being too late.

“Aurora,” he whispered in her ear.

In that instant, I knew with certainty that he was not thinking about me.

About the Author:

"Many people sing in the shower. I, on the other hand, write scenes in my head and act them out."

At age five, Ada read her first chapter book - Pippi Longstocking. Ever since that moment, she developed an intense passion for the stories and characters found within the pages of literature.

In her career as an actress and a writer, Ada currently spends most of her days immersed in imaginary worlds. Much like the characters she enjoys playing and writing about, Ada is a martial artist with a Black Belt in Shotokan Karate. She is also a big proponent of lifelong learning, and has attained Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (it aids in creating characters with unique quirks!) as well as a Master's of Science in Education.

Ada strives to bring a fresh voice and perspective to fiction. She has been writing creatively for many years. "ReVamped" is her debut novel.

She lives in Toronto, Canada, and enjoys adventurous nature hikes with her adorable puppies Cara and Oreo.

www.revampedbook.com

www.facebook.com/revampedbook

www.twitter.com/Ada_Adams

www.goodreads.com/book/show/13495198-revamped

Guest Post

Many readers have had some very nice things to say about ReVamped’s cover, so I thought that I would share its story and highlight the photographer/digital artist who was responsible for its creation.

Her name is Olga Barkhatova, and we first met on a fun photoshoot for a hair salon, where she proceeded to turn me into a mermaid with a really cool updo!

Here are some unique images that she has created:

You can view more of Olga’s work at www.olgabarkhatova.ca

I’ve greatly admired Olga’s skill as both a photographer and a digital artist, so when it came time to create a cover for ReVamped, I approached her about a collaboration.

I had always wanted the cover to be true to the story—that was one of the most important things for me. I wished to find the perfect balance between an eye-catching cover and the content of book. I adore pretty covers, but since Dawn is such a strong, independent character who kicks a lot of butt, I didn’t want the cover to be “too girly”.

My first step in designing the cover was to do some research. What book covers stood out? What colors worked well? What content drew in the viewer’s eye, and then kept their attention? In today’s electronic age, many people are finding out about books by seeing tiny thumbnails of the cover pages on their computer screens. Therefore, it’s important for a cover to not only look great in print form on someone’s shelf, but to also be able to catch the viewer’s attention in its digital form.

Choosing the color of the cover was simple. Dawn’s unique amethyst eye-color is very important to the story. Therefore, it was essential show it off. Without a doubt, the cover had to be in hues of amethyst/purple/violet. Plus, it’s a bold color that stands out and also happens to be one of my favorites, so it was an easy decision! I also incorporated some white and black into the mix, thus keeping the color scheme elegant, yet powerful.

The content was a little harder to come by. I had noticed a popular trend in recent 2011/2012 covers—it’s all about beautiful, long gowns and high-fashion poses. While I adore each and every one of these covers, I also had to take into consideration ReVamped and Dawn. Putting Dawn into a high-fashion gown just didn’t fit with her personality or the plot. This is a girl who keeps her combat boots on under a sundress and groans at the thought of having to attend the Scarlett House ball! I didn’t want to create too much of a divergence between Dawn’s character and the cover. Still, I knew that I wanted to cover to be eye-catching—with or without the gown!

I went through a few prototypes, most notably focusing on Dawn’s eyes and the gazebo (since it plays such an important part in the story). There was a point in time when I considered displaying it all! Dawn’s face, the gazebo, and perhaps even the boys (Ethan and Sebastian). Thankfully, I had a moment of clarity (or perhaps sanity?) and scrapped that idea. More is not always better. You can’t overcrowd a book cover, because then the viewer’s focus will be scattered all over the place. Simplicity is often the key. We pulled the gazebo and the guys, and were left with Dawn’s face.

I also always knew that I didn’t want to display “all of Dawn”. When I read, I prefer to form my own images and thoughts about the characters’ appearances. Of course, the author dictates most of that with the character descriptions, but when you’re served an image of a character on a platter, then as a reader you can sometimes find yourself unable to stray away from that image. Therefore, I selected to show the readers a little peek of Dawn, but not so much that you cannot form “your own Dawn” in your mind.

I told Olga what my vision for the title was, and she provided me with some script samples to choose from. We had a few really girly ones, but we ended up settling on the one you see now, because it was unique, while at the same time it hinted at the action and adventure that occurs in the book. I also decided to switch around the “RE” so that it was facing backwards. It’s a little homage to the misfits, who are kind of “backwards vampires”!

I’m currently in the development stages of the sequel’s cover, and things are getting interesting. Plotting covers for a series is not a simple task. They all have to connect and be completely in-sync, while at the same time they must be different enough so that readers can immediately recognize which book the cover belongs to. Originally, I knew exactly what I wanted for ReAwakened’s cover, but after laying out the story and adjusting the plot slightly, I’ve decided to go in a different direction. I guess you’ll have to wait until the cover reveal to find out what that is! :)

Fun Fact:   Did you know that the necklace Dawn is wearing on the cover is made out of forks? Prongs of an actual fork are keeping the stone in place! When I first saw it, it reminded me of an ancient piece of jewelry, which worked very well with the plot. Even though Dawn is only nineteen-years-old, her past, as we find out, spans over a very long period of time. Therefore, the necklace is a very fitting way to tie Dawn to the historical aspect of her life. The stone of the necklace was actually emerald in color. We decided to change it to suit the cover and Dawn’s eyes, but isn’t that interesting? Out of all possible colors, it happened to match Aurora’s eyes perfectly!

I hope you enjoyed getting a little behind-the-scenes peek into ReVamped’s cover! Feel free to stop by Olga’s website and let her know what a fantastic job she has done!

Happy Reading!

Ada Adams

I am thrilled to have Ada Adams here guest blogging today & I am so pleased she decided to talk about her lush cover. I have some serious cover love for ReVamped & I think Olga's work is fantastic. I am dying to read ReVamped but unfortunately I cannot read e-books. Oh & I loved Pippi Longstocking too -Carly :)

Giveaway

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