So, I got the galleys and the cover art can be shown on the web.
And I finally let my wife and son read it. Well... I can't really say "let," because I never stopped her from reading it. She's just so superstitious and she wanted to wait until I had finished all the editing and it was in its final form. I tried to get her to read it a number of times, but I guess I'm glad she waited because it's as close to perfect now (except for a bizarre typo on page 72) as it ever will be.
She finished reading it before my son did, but then again, he has a very demanding school and rugby schedule.
I don't think it matters what they said about it. There can be no more biased and fluff-filled review than one given by an artists' loved ones. But I will say that they each had at least one comment I never would have expected.
My wife told me she was jealous of Luz, the girl Troy (the main character) falls in love with.
Hmm... okay.
And my son laughed out loud when he read a part in the book that I didn't think was funny. In fact, I thought it was a scary part, but to a thirteen-year-old boy, there were elements of what was happening that I now realize can be funny in a cathartic kind of boy-zen-release-I'm-glad-that-happened way. And he sat next to me when he read that part, and he turned the pages very quickly, which made me happy.
So all is good, I think, and I'll leave it at that.
