For an author, seeing your cover for the first time is a lot like going on a blind date. Sometimes there’s that first wild thrill–love at first sight. Other times, there’s no attraction at all and you wonder how you’re going to make it through this publishing dinner all the way to the dessert of reviews. Other times, somewhere between the salad and the main course, a cover grows on you. You have concerns about what you see, but then you start noticing all the cover’s good qualities. This is a cover you can bring home to your mother!

I’ve experienced all these reactions to my covers. For example, when I first saw the cover for Wild Tethered Bound, I actually got goosebumps just like the ones on my heroine’s arm. I loved the way it captured my heroine’s connection to the forest as a Dryad. I was thrilled to see how easily a mystical tendril of red mist could both seem like a garment and a magic spell. I loved the colors, the posture, the sensuality–everything. It was absolutely love at first sight.

I wasn’t as happy about the cover for Midnight Medusa. It wasn’t that the artist hadn’t done a bang-up job, but it was so jarringly different from the image that I had in my head that I brooded for a day or two, obsessing on every possible flaw. I kept staring at the overhead beams that should have portrayed a Swiss Chalet but instead made me think that my characters were getting it on in a basement. I didn’t like my hero’s sideburns or my heroine’s freckles, and ignored the delicious pose of my heroine’s hands, one pushing him away, one pulling him near.

When it came to Poisoned Kisses, it took me only a moment or two to adjust. The heroine wasn’t what I expected, but I was positively enraptured by the Tomb Raider feel of it. The fact that the artist had paid such careful attention to details like Kyra’s peridot choker and her assassin’s knife made me all warm and tingly inside. It may not have been love at very first sight, but only a few more glances had me certain to invite this cover back to my house for a metaphorical nightcap.

While I’m not sure that my passionate relationship with my cover for Poisoned Kisses is at an end, I’m faced with the delicious flirtation of my newest cover. Following up my success with Poisoned Kisses is another installment of the HQN Nocturne mythica series, this one about a sexy siren and her Naval Academy prey. More details about this novella will be forthcoming, but for now I want to share the latest cover. I think this cover promises a very engaging little fling!

As we all know, Dear Author can be a tough cookie so I held my breath while reading this review of Poisoned Kisses only to end up with a big grin on my face. The summary?

Part of the love relationship that develops between Marco and Kyra occurs during periods of deception. At one point, Kyra impersonates an old girlfriend of Marco’s. The fact that I didn’t have a huge problem with this is a testament to your skill as a writer. I didn’t believe that Marco still held a torch for the old girlfriend but rather he was hungry for acceptance and love. Kyra’s true identity is revealed to Marco about half way through and together they search for a solution that would not require Kyra to kill Marco.

Kyra is truly kick ass. She does what she thinks she has to do to achieve her end goals. I ended up caring quite a bit for Marco despite the fact that he was an arms dealer. For me, his path from UN peacekeeper to hardened war criminal made sense and I sympathized with him (within the safe confines of the book of course). Kyra and Marco were a good match. Neither of them wanted war but both used violence to try to tamp it down, not realizing that their own actions were contributing to the furtherance of war.

The plotting was very tight in this book. The sex scenes meaningful and hot. And the writing voice was strong.

The 2010 RT Bookreviewer’s Award Nominees have been posted and guess who is on the list in the Best First Series Category? Me! It seems that folks like Poisoned Kisses. They really like it!

Here’s the 4 star review from RT:

POISONED KISSES (4) by Stephanie Draven: Kyra, a nymph of the underworld, is desperate to stop her father Ares from obtaining a man forged into a hydra with poisonous blood. Kyra must find weapons dealer Marcos Kaisaris, who wants to save the world by providing weapons to the downtrodden. Kyra will either kill him or keep him locked away so her father can never find him. During their first confrontation, though, Kyra loses her immortality after Marcos’ blood burns her; during their second confrontation, she falls in love and is determined to save him. Draven uses mythology to come up with a gripping paranormal tale. The ancient gods provide perfect, fatally flawed characters to act as foils for this hero and heroine.

A day will come when my books will be panned. I am ready for it. But this is not that day. Today a very thoughtful review of POISONED KISSES was published at Long & Short Reviews. It delighted me. My favorite part:

Poisoned Kisses isn’t a light and fluffy read. It’s hard edged, gritty, and serious. It even delves into the possibility of why war is so prevalent and dare I say, popular. Ms. Draven has provided this reader with a clever and intelligent story with an out of the ordinary romance that hooked me as soon as Kyra drew her knife. There is just something special about a tough woman who needs saving and a man who stays true to the course of honor and justice even when dark forces want to seduce him to their side. This is a book that made me think. I enjoyed how the author took a page out of real life and injected Greek mythology in a most entertaining way. Poisoned Kisses is a must read for anyone with a yen for a supernatural romantic suspense that is not only unusual but has a romance that survives extraordinary odds culminating in a terrific happily ever after. I am simply in awe of Ms. Draven’s talent and can’t wait to read more written by her soon.