A New Look for Year of the Dog (and a Behind-the-Scenes Oops!)
What do a dog trainer, a security expert, and a nearly-naked book cover have in common? Let me explain. 😅
Year of the Dog is the first book in my Christian romantic suspense series, Mahina Security, set in beautiful (and sometimes dangerous) Hawaii. It features quirky humor, family tensions, sweet romance, and a mystery involving a missing person—and it’s now available to read in the Christian suspense anthology, Danger in the Shadows, on Kindle Unlimited!
But before that happened, I had a bit of a cover mishap…
While creating the ebook cover, I realized that the original stock photo made my heroine look, well, completely nekkid. 😳 She’s actually wearing a tube top in the image, but when I cropped it for the ebook, the top disappeared—leaving her looking very PG-13.
To fix it, I did some Canva magic on a strappy top from another image and stuck it onto the model (so she’s decent now).
But when I resized the image for the paperback, a bit of that strappy top peeked out behind her shoulder like a rogue piece of laundry flapping in the wind. So I had to adjust the front paperback cover, which altered the original ebook cover a little, too.
Most people probably won't notice, but the model looks a little bigger on the paperback cover than on the original ebook cover.
I also gave the back cover copy a makeover. The original was a bit too long for the layout, so I streamlined it. Here’s a peek at both versions:
🐾 Old Version (Longer)
Mari Mutou, a professional dog trainer, is having a bad year.
While renovating her new dog kenneling and training facility, she needs to move in with her disapproving family, who have always made her feel inadequate—according to them, a job requiring her to be covered in dog hair and slobber is an embarrassment to the family. She convinces her ex-boyfriend to take her dog for a few months … but discovers that his brother is the irate security expert whose car she accidentally rear-ended a few weeks earlier.
Ashwin Keitou has enough problems. His aunt has just shown up on his doorstep, expecting to move in with him, and he can’t say no because he owes her everything—after his mother walked out on them, Aunt Nell took in Ashwin and his brother and raised them in a loving Christian home. What’s more, his brother Dusty also needs a place to stay after being kicked out of his apartment—with a dog in tow. And guess who the dog’s owner is?
But then Ashwin gets a request from an old friend, Edytha Guerrero, a private investigator who also runs a day spa on O’ahu’s north shore. A strange bit of “vandalism” at Mari's facility had led her to find a purse belonging to Edytha’s sister—who had disappeared three years ago. Worried that Mari might be in danger, and finding out that security expert Ashwin already knows her, Edytha asks him to covertly keep an eye on the busy young woman.
Ashwin is reluctantly attracted to the lively, easy-going dog trainer. She reminds him too much of his happy-go-lucky mother, whose betrayal had caused him to keep people at a distance. Mari sees past Ashwin’s cold exterior to a man who is loyal to his family, unlike her own mother and sister, who only criticize her career choice.
In the midst of Mari’s disjointed family and Ashwin’s disruptive home, danger begins to circle around them from people who want the past to remain there. Can they shed light on the secrets moving in the shadows?
🐾 New Version (Shorter, Punchier)
They both have baggage. Only one has a leash.
Mari Mutou, a professional dog trainer, is having a bad year.
While renovating her new kenneling and training facility, she’s forced to move back in with her critical family, who treat her career like an embarrassment. To avoid more conflict, she convinces her ex-boyfriend to watch her dog for a few months … only to discover that the dog’s temporary caretaker is his older brother, Ashwin Keitou—the grumpy security expert whose car she accidentally rear-ended weeks ago.
Ashwin’s life is already overloaded. His beloved but demanding aunt has unexpectedly moved in, his freeloading brother brought along a dog, and now Mari—quirky, kind-hearted, and far too cheerful—keeps showing up in his life. When a private investigator friend asks Ashwin to keep an eye on her after a suspicious break-in at her facility links to a cold missing person case, he reluctantly agrees.
But as they navigate complicated pasts, strained family expectations, and an unexpected attraction, they challenge each other in ways neither anticipated. Mari finds herself deeply touched by Ashwin’s loyalty and faith, seeing a man whose trust in God has carried him through betrayal and loss. And Ashwin sees how Mari’s joyful spirit masks the wounds on her heart and might help him finally face his own scars.
Mari and Ashwin must quickly learn to trust each other when danger begins creeping too close. Some secrets don’t want to be found—and someone will do anything to keep the past buried.
(I totally love the new hook line at the beginning!)
📚 If you’re in the mood for suspense, family drama, and romance wrapped in Hawaiian sunshine and danger, check out Year of the Dog—available in the Danger in the Shadows Christian suspense anthology, on Kindle Unlimited.
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