Cover Reveal for Head Over Wheels

It’s just three months and one day until Head Over Wheels!! I’m calling it the ‘Grand Départ’ like the Tour de France haha.

So here is the beautiful cover! For some more background on the cover development, read on.

I am utterly thrilled with the cover for Head Over Wheels. My publisher engaged the extremely talented digital artist Shaniya Carrington to produce the artwork and then I was allowed to work closely with the designer on the typography too and the result is a creative piece of work made collaboratively that I’m incredibly proud of.

So how did the process start? My editor and I brainstormed ideas for the scene to be represented in the artwork and provided covers of similar books (sports romcom) for comparison, setting out what we liked about these covers. Then Shaniya came back with three sketches. YES, I am going to show them to you!

Each sketch had plus points, but we all (my editor, my agent and I) agreed there was a clear winner:

Can you guess which one? From the sketch stage, we moved on to the coloured artwork and made several rounds of changes to capture the dynamic between the characters and how they progress from online training partners to team mates (although the men’s and women’s team aren’t always together) to a whole lot more.

I just ADORE his little sign. Anyone who follows road cycling will know these cardboard signs are an institution amongst fans (and have caused accidents in the past!) and I loved this little nod to the sport and also the clear invocation of the ‘he falls first’ trope, which is very much an aspect of this book. So, then we had this absolutely stunning digital artwork:

Just look at them! It’s Lori and Seb! Her plait! His floppy hair! And ‘insert European town’ in the background! I was very much in love with this artwork (some variety of this has been the lock screen on my phone for months).

With the artwork complete, we continued on to the designer, who had the difficult job of creating a cover that would send a clear message to readers that this is a spicy sports romance. We went through several iterations, innumerable fonts and again, through lots of collaboration, the designer came up with this really striking typeface. The pink for the word ‘Wheels’ was also his input and I adore it! I love the combination of the swoony artwork and the bright pink word. Let me know what you think!

Love is an endurance sport…

Recovering from a bad crash and a broken heart, Australian road cycling star Lori Gallagher gets back into training with the help of a coaching app and an anonymous training partner she knows only by his avatar and his voice. But with her career dependent on regaining her fighting spirit, she ditches her online friend to focus on the road. Then she hears his voice – on her team training camp.

Sébastien Franck is stunned to discover his goofy training partner is ‘Top Gun’ Gallagher, the most ruthless rider in the women’s peloton. She’s already ghosted him online and, with his career on its last legs, he’s sure she won’t want anything to do with him. But Seb and Lori’s online chemistry transfers seamlessly into real life and they sleep together – a no-strings opportunity to get it out of their systems before the start of the season.

Yet Lori’s year begins with disaster, while Seb finds the best form of his career. As the Tour de France approaches, Seb expects himself to crack and let his team down. Lori is torn between family loyalty to her brother and her feelings for Seb – not to mention the complex dynamics of a sport where teamwork and individual achievement are sometimes at odds.

Now, she faces the mental fight of her life: how much is she willing to sacrifice for love – or to win?