CHARACTER SKETCHES -- HOW YOUR READERS SEE YOU MC

I love fan art. The little doodles  ARC readers leave in the margins and the tiny messages about what scenes they connected with most are what us authors live for. But getting an actual painting of my mc ... well, that I never expected. 

The talented and sweet Diana Pinguicha did a character sketch of Ella Lawton -- the main character in my YA Contemporary, THE SECRETSWE KEEP.  Then she took it one step further and actually painted it for me! As a person whose can barely draw a stick figure with a crayon, you can imagine how awed I was to see this hit my inbox:

But wait ... it get's even better.  

THE SECRETS WE KEEP
coming April 28th, 2015 from FSG/ Macmillan

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Seventeen-year-old Ella Lawton spent her entire life living in the shadows of her identical twin sister's popularity, but she never dreamed of having Maddy’s life; never wanted it. In fact, she’s spent the last three years trying to separate herself from the group at school Maddy has chosen, preferring the quiet, safe confines of her sketchbook and the company of her best friend, Josh, to the constant battle for attention and popularity that has defined her sister’s life.

When a heated argument and a tragic accident leaves her sister dead, Ella wakes up in the hospital surrounded by friends and loved ones who believe she is Maddy. She is overwhelmed by their joy when they realize she will live - a joy Ella is sure she would not see if they knew the truth, that it is Ella who survived, not her lovable, popular sister. After what she has done, she cannot bring herself to cause even more heartache and in that moment she makes the gut-wrenching decision to assume her sister’s life. Navigating her sister’s popularity and boyfriend are hard enough, but Ella soon realizes that Maddy’s life is full of secrets that have kept her popularity intact while slowly destroying her from the inside out. Caught in a web of lies and with no escape in sight, Ella is faced with two options - confess her deception and risk the hatred and betrayal of those around her, or give up all of her own dreams and continue down the destructive path her sister's life has mapped out for her.