cover reveal – Shelley Gee

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Jess Cee actually finished the cover a while back, but I waited until now to announce, because, well, it’s officially official. The Jessica Series is an actual series. I finished the first draft of Jessica Naturally today.

Not to say that the book is finished. No, it’s still got a ways to go, actually. I need to edit and edit again and proofread. But the story is done, and that’s a huge step. I now feel fairly certain I can finish in time for a December 1 release.

But what’s the book about? In a nutshell, so to speak:

Eight-year-old Jessica has just survived her first hurricane. As she and her family work to help friends and neighbors recover from the lasting effects of the storm, Jessica makes a mysterious discovery in the gardens of Tryon Palace. Black tulips begin to bloom. They’re out of season, and many believe they’re a bad omen. Can Jessica solve the mystery of the black tulips in time to save Tryon Palace’s annual Candlelight Tour?

Jess Cee actually helped me a lot with the plot of this one. In the early spring, we went to Tryon Palace to take photos of the beautiful spring flowers there. I knew at the time that I wanted the next book to take place in at Tryon Palace, and I even figured it would be outside because I already had the title, Jessica Naturally—and the Tryon Palace gardens are perfect for such a title.

Jess Cee and I had a great time that day cooking up ideas for the book. And we came up with our basic plot before we even left the gardens. Not to mention several pictures that Jess will be using to model her illustrations on.

So stay tuned! Jessica Naturally is on track and will be released December 1, 2019. In the meantime, if you haven’t picked up your copy of Jessica Entirely, it’s not too late! Find it at your favorite online book retailer in all ebook formats (yay!) and paperback. Or visit The Next Chapter Books & Art or Snapdragon Toys in New Bern, N.C.

Finally, come find me at New Bern’s Mumfest this weekend! I’ll have Jessica Entirely for sale and some Jessica bookmarks available for free! And even Jess Cee is planning to be there for a while. Can’t wait to meet you!

I’ve been hard at work on the book, and my illustrator, Jess Cee, has been hard at work on the illustrations, so we haven’t been keeping up on the blog recently. But I just had to share Jess Cee’s first illustrations for Jessica Entirely.

First, she sent me the illustration for the book cover a little while ago, so I whipped up a sort of preview for the cover and here that is:

Parts of this may change, but the illustration itself should stay the same. It’s perfect for the mysterious theater setting of the book, so well done Jess Cee!

Jess Cee also provided me with the first illustration for the book, so I’m going to pair it up with an itty bitty excerpt from the first chapter. Maybe it’ll give you an idea what we’re doing.

For a while, the teenagers milled around in the lobby, but eventually Martina and Jeff herded them into the house—theater speak for auditorium—leaving Jessica alone in the lobby. Just the way she liked it.

Until the front door scraped quietly open.

Jessica looked up from her math book when she felt the little whoosh of cool air from the autumn afternoon. At first she thought it might be a teenager arriving late. But the shoes didn’t look like a teenager’s shoes. Expensive, brown leather, and pretty big. The shoes came into the lobby and paused, then went behind the counter into the box office. Jessica frowned. Nobody was allowed behind the counter except board members. And board members weren’t usually here during the day. Board members came to meetings in the evenings or attended the yearly fundraising events.

Maybe she should check it out.

Tag: cover reveal

Announcing Jessica Naturally!

News from the Jessica Entirely team!