Cover Reveal + Contest- Everything Breaks by Vicki Grove

Hey everyone! I'm stoked to be helping unveil the cover of this great-sounding book coming out later this year. Read a bit about it, then scroll down for the cover:

Snippet from book:

There was a lot more that I wanted to tell her, like that everything in this beautiful treasure house of a world breaks, and sometimes things break so bad, all you can do is hope to get your heart to stop bleeding long enough for you to sift through the ashes so you can try to gain some slight understanding. But some things that break real bad can be mended if you’re lucky enough to have someone on your side with a ton of glue who won’t give up.

Synopsis:

Tucker was supposed to be the designated driver. But there was something about the beauty of that last true summer night, that made him want to feel out-of-control just once. He drank so much and so quickly that he was instantly sick. That left Trey to drive. "I'll catch up to you later," were the last words Tucker would ever say to his friends as he heaved by the side of the road. It was the last time Tucker would ever see them alive.

Tucker’s grief and guilt are just about unbearable and he wonders how he can continue living himself. When he meets the Ferryman who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers that divide the world of the living from the world of the dead, Tucker gets a chance to decide: live or die. The temptation to join his three best friends on the other side may be too much for Tucker to overcome. A gripping, haunting and emotional read.



Isn't it an interesting cover? I'm intrigued by all the elements of it and can't wait to get it in my hands. You all have a chance to get it in your hands too. Penguin is offering one advance copy for me to give away here on the blog! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Monday, April 22 at 9pm EST and you're entered! Leave your email address in your comment if it can't be easily found (i.e. on your Blogger profile or on your blog, if you have one). To gain additional entries, leave a substantial comment (basically not "Commenting for contest!") on either of these posts- Shadow Girl blog tour and 17&Gone blog tour

Here's an interview with the author:

1) How did you get the idea for Everything Breaks?

I'd have to say it came as just about all the ideas for my stories and books come, from a memory. I mean, I've always filed away the strange and somewhat unexplainable events of my life in hopes of detailing them out through my writing at some point, excavating them. When I was in high school three boys in my class drank some beers then missed a curve on a high bluff road and drove right into oblivion. They were in my fantasy car, even to this day~ a 1967 cherry red Mustang convertible. There was a triple closed casket funeral for them, but halfway through the service one of their mothers insisted on having her son's casket opened. I believe we juniors were getting into the drama of the thing a bit much for her taste, and I'll certainly never forget how George looked after going down a limestone bluff headfirst. I used all of this almost unchanged in the first chapters of the book, only adding a survivor, my protagonist, Tucker.

Things get very weird for Tucker thereafter. This is my first attempt at long supernatural fiction, though I've written a few short stories in the genre. The dog on the cover is Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld.


2) Are you currently working on something? Can you tell us anything about it?

Thanks for asking about my current project. I'm finishing up a historical novel set in 11th century England, and stirring around a Romeo and Juliet love story between a Missouri farm boy and a migrant girl whose family is settling out in his community after finding employment at the new, and controversial, corporate chicken farm.


3) What's your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, a favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

I like those buttered popcorn Jelly Bellys. Or is it Jelly Bellies? Almighty spellcheck says it's the latter.


4) What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start?

Let me go check. Okay, here are the books I've got opened or bookmarked around the house. Margaret Drabbles' The Sea Lady (English author, adult). A biography of Chopin (I just started taking piano lessons last year!). Veda Boyd Jones' excellent e-book Joe's Ghost (adult or YA). Okay, let me admit something that I just now realized. I love to read character-based YA fiction but I'm not reading any at the moment and I think that's because when I'm finishing one of my own projects, it's too intimidating!