Cover reveal: 'Charming' by Elliott James
Today at HEA we get the first look at the cover of Charming, a debut novel by Elliott James that comes out in September. First up, the book blurb about Charming to get you oriented, and then Elliott joins us to provide a little background. (P.S. The cover was designed by Wendy Chan at Hachette Book Group.)
The blurb (courtesy of publisher Orbit, an imprint of Hachette):
John Charming isn't your average Prince ...
He comes from a line of Charmings — a illustrious family of dragon slayers, witch-finders and killers dating back to before the fall of Rome. Trained by a modern day version of the Knights Templar, monster hunters who have updated their methods from chainmail and crossbows to shotguns and kevlar, he was one of the best. That is-- until he became the abomination the Knights were sworn to hunt.
That was a lifetime ago. Now, he tends bar under an assumed name in rural Virginia and leads a peaceful, quiet life. One that shouldn't change just because a vampire and a blonde walked into his bar ... Right?
And now we get to hear from Elliott:
Elliott: Prince Charming is simultaneously one of the most overexposed and under-developed characters of all time. He's probably been in more fairy tales and folk tales than any other figure — with the possible exception of Jack — but he's never the star. Sometimes Prince Charming seems like the medieval version of Chuck Norris, and sometimes he comes across as an ineffective pretty boy. Often the character seems annoyingly noble and smugly one-dimensional.
In Charming, a Prince Charming finally gets top billing. The story is about a kind of shadow war going on between creatures of myth and modern-day knights, and John Charming comes from a long line of monster slayers. He has hunted everything that has scales, tails, claws, fangs, horns, tentacles and normal limbs in abundance. Now, John is under a curse, and the same knights he used to fight beside are trying to make sure that his story doesn't end happily ever after. Making matters worse, an evil new vampire queen is using the Internet more effectively than any magic mirror. Worst of all, John Charming might just be falling in love.