And now…the cover of Tap & Gown

Given that people have been alerting me to the fact that this baby is up on Amazon for a few days now (where the colors are ALL OFF), I guess I can show it here as well…

Top secret societies…bizarre initiation rites…campus love triangles…political shenanigans…Diana Peterfreund has dazzled readers and critics alike with her Ivy league novels, hailed as “impossible to put down”* and “witty and endearing”** In this final installment, Eli University senior Amy “Bugaboo” Haskel and her fellow Diggers are preparing to face real life in worlds far beyond the hallowed halls of Eli.

For Amy the countdown to graduation has begun, and suddenly the perfect ending to a perfectly iconoclastic Eli career is slipping from her grasp. Her new boyfriend’s been made an offer he just can’t refuse. Her fellowship applications haven’t even been filed. And the student she’s chosen to take her place in Rose & Grave – the country’s more powerful and notorious secret society – seems to come complete with a secret life already intact.

Lunging toward the finish line, Amy finds trouble around every corner, from society intrigues nad unlikely stalkers to former flames and mandatory science credits. Surely it couldn’t get worse…until Initiation Night explodes into a terrifying scene and into a last test of wits for a young woman just trying to make it out of the Ivy League in one piece.

* Publisher’s Weekly

** New York Observer

Things I Love about this Cover:

• The Ampersand. I admit I wasn’t truly sold on the title until I saw the ampersand in the brand new title treatment!
• The pin! It’s back! (I designed these pins myself, so I’m glad they keep incorporating them into the covers.)
• The color scheme. (Someone has been visiting my website!)
• How confident and adult Amy looks in this one.

Secret Trivia About the Cover:

• The model’s hair was originally more blonde, and was darkened in Photoshop.
• The model was originally wearing a huge honking diamond engagement ring, but my editor very wisely realized that might cause some undue speculation (especially given who Amy is dating, their relationship status, and his monetary situation).
• I wrote Amy’s graduation outfit in the book to match the cover.

In related Secret Society Girl news, I caught this guest blog by Angie of Angieville over at the Booksmugglers, in which she presents a Bard Award to Poe in Rites of Spring (Break) for “Best Performance of an Antihero in a Leading Role.” Of said performance, she writes:

“He’s just so snippy and awkward and fun to hate. I love him so very, very much.”

Hee hee.

Angie then put Tap & Gown on her list of “2009 Must Be Mine” books. Woo hoo! (Angie, there shall be much more Poe.)