After all the bad news I’ve been getting lately, I needed something to make me smile. What better way to brighten my mood than sexy, male eye candy. I found these new photos of German model, Lucas Buchwald. He’s the young man whose face graces the cover of A Rose to the Fallen. There are only a few people in this world that I think have perfect faces and Lucas is definitely one of them. His body is pretty flawless too!
I don’t know if some of you are aware, but the guy on both the old and new covers of A Rose to the Fallen is a professional model from Germany named Lucas Buchwald. Two years ago, I mailed him a signed copy of my book and he sent me photos of himself with it. I spoke to him through email and he really is a sweetheart. He’s funny too! Anyway, I found a new photo of him still looking as gorgeous and “Tristan-y” as ever!
Last week I mailed Lucas Buchwald a copy of A Rose to the Fallen. He emailed me today and said he received it, and he sent me some pictures of himself with the book. He was very excited to finally get the book, and I have to admit the feeling is mutual. Seeing his pics has been one of the best things to come from my book publishing experience. It’s almost unreal to see him holding my book with his face on the cover. I never thought I’d meet Lucas online, but I’m so happy I did. He’s a real sweetheart and has a great sense of humor. He told me he can’t wait to read the book and he’s curious about Tristan’s character. I told him I hope he’s able to relate to Tristan in some way, and judging by his pics, he already has Tristan’s style. I was surprised when he told me he likes motorcycles just like Tristan, but he prefers a black Ducati over Tristan’s green Kawasaki. I can’t disagree with him on that. Ducati’s are hot! I’m so glad I chose Lucas to represent my British bad-boy.
I’m happy to announce that the newly designed cover for ‘A Rose to the Fallen’ is finished and has been sent to my publisher. I’m very happy with the final result. Once again, I want to thank Lily Seidel and Monique Zoellner for their collaboration on the redesign. They both did a wonderful job! I’ll post another update when the new book is available for purchase. It will only be available in paperback because the hardcover will be discontinued once the book is re-released with the new cover. The reason is because the hardcover isn’t selling as well as the paperback, so I don’t see a need to keep it in production. There are two reasons I decided to have the cover changed. The first reason is when I saw Monique’s photograph of Lucas Buchwald, I thought it would look better on my cover. I liked her photo more than Annett Vauteck’s stock photo of Lucas that was used for my old design. The second reason is Melissa Petersen designed my old cover and we’re no longer friends. Last year, she abruptly and cowardly ended our friendship with no explanation or reason. Her behavior turned me off, so I decided for the remaining time ‘A Rose to the Fallen’ is in print, I don’t want my first book to have her design. I wanted to keep the cover relatively the same so people can still recognize it. I definitely think it’s an improvement from what it looks like now and I can’t wait until it’s released.
I’m still in the process of having the cover for A Rose to the Fallen redesigned. As I mentioned in a previous post, the front cover is finished. It was designed by the amazing photographer/graphic designer Monique Zoellner from Germany. She used her photo of the beautiful and “perfect-as-Tristan” model Lucas Buchwald, who is also from Germany. I’ve hired another talented photographer/graphic designer named Lily Seidel to redesign the back cover. And guess what? She’s from Germany too! My entire book cover is going to be German-made! If Tristan was German instead of British, this would be really ironic, don’t you think? 
But seriously, it wasn’t intentional. I admired Lily’s work and contacted her about the commission. It wasn’t until after I sent her a message and checked her profile, that I saw where she was from and laughed at the coincidence. Anyway, she does magical things with roses (check out her gallery and see for yourself), and I wanted Bridget’s symbol—a red rose—on the back cover. If anyone could create a unique rose design for Bridget… it’s Lily. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. As you can see, the new cover is coming along. Stay tuned!
I finally finished redesigning my website. I wanted a change from my old theme. I’m using WordPress now and I think it makes my site look cleaner and more professional. I have a new contact form and I removed the deleted chapter from A Rose to the Fallen. I still have the link to The Howling Heart, but it’s under Novels. All my social networking sites are under Blogroll in the sidebar. I hope you like the new layout.
I just found out the guy on the cover of A Rose to the Fallen is a professional model from Germany named Lucas Buchwald. He’s absolutely beautiful! When I bought stock photos of him two years ago, I had no idea he was a professional model. I just thought he had the perfect look for my character. I’m so glad I chose him to represent Tristan on my cover.
