November 17, 2006...5:05 am

Under the Rose: What it’s about

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I’m now officially behind on my NaNoWriMo goals, but the good news is that I’ve turned the last corner on my line edits. Sixty-three pages left. I’m reminded of the character in Anne of the Island (which Robin has, shamefully, never read) who claims she can’t write a paper unless she throws each page to the ground as soon as she finishes it. Picture me doing that sixty-three times. And at the end, the reward of getting back to writing!

It occurred to me that I have not yet posted the cover copy for Under the Rose, being the second book in the Secret Society Girl Series. Which is, I might add, how I like to think of it, though no notation to that effect appears on the cover.

I wish I could show you guys the back. It’s so amazing. Actually, the backs of both paperbacks are things of beauty and joys forever. The back of SSG shows the rear view of the picture on the front, and all the text is written inside the sweater draped over her shoulders. The back of UTR shows her waist and the top of her blue jeans with a rosebud in her pocket. It’s gorgeous — all those blues and just a hint of red. The art department really outdid themselves there. But I digress.

Under the Rose:


The Washington Post called Diana Peterfreund’s first novel, Secret Society Girl, “Undeniably juicy — from steamy makeout sessions with campus hotties to cloak-and-dagger initiations.” Now Peterfreund returns with a new novel, a wickedly brilliant look at what goes on behind padlocked doors when initiation is over and life as a full-fledged society member begins…

Amy Haskel made it into elite Eli University. then she made it into the ultraselective Order of Rose & Grave. Now a senior, Amy is looking her future squarely in the eye — until someone starts selling society secrets. When a series of bizarre messages suggest conspiracy within the ranks and a female Knight mysteriously disappears, no member of Rose & Grave is safe… or above suspicion.

On her side, Amy has a few loyal Diggirls — her fellow female Rose & Grave Knights. Against her? Certainly it’s a group of Rose & Grave’s uberpowerful patriarchs who want their old boys’ club back. As new developments in her love life threaten to implode and the case of the vanished Diggirl gets weirder by the moment, Amy will need to use every society trick she’s ever learned in order to set things right. Even if it means turning to old adversaries for help — or discovering that the real foes are closer than she’d thought…

19 Comments

  • Wow! It sounds incredible!!! I don’t want to have to wait till summer! :P

  • YAY! How cool!

  • It’s fabulous, Diana! Can’t wait!
    Teri

  • Sounds Awesome!!! I can’t wait. Summer can’t get here soon enough.

  • Oooooh, I can’t wait to read it, Diana! Sounds wonderful!

  • Oh how fun.

    Now where’s my copy?

    *g*

  • Diana Peterfreund

    59 pages to go…

    There *aren’t* any copies yet. I’m still in the middle of line edits.

  • Got chills reading that…and I’ve READ the book! Let me tell you people…it’s phenomenal!!!

    Marley = )

  • Cool cover, Diana.

  • Diana, I like the cover. So different from the first too. But the blues are calming – though I suspect the text will be anything but.

  • I keep looking at that cover and wondering – Is the sweater ever worn for warmth and comfort or is it just a superhero cape?

  • Diana Peterfreund

    Patrick, darling, it’s a cape. She’s a superhero. Even has a secret identity.

    You know, that’s a much lovelier way of thinking of it than “preppy east coast schoolgirl” (especially since Amy isn’t even East Coast) hence I will now start thinking of it like that.

  • Aaah! Sounds great!! Will you be giving away ARCs as part of any contest? Pleeeeeze??

    And don’t be talking smack about my deprived childhood of not reading Anne of Green Gables. Can I help it that my parents only let me read Encyclopedia Brown and cereal boxes?

  • Diana Peterfreund

    Anne is awesome. I may give away copies of THOSE. The only ceral my mom let me eat was too boring to have interesting boxes.

    Robin, what happened to the hike?

  • What happened to the hike? Four hours of bushwacking through cacti and killer-thorn brush, hoping against hope there would be a trail, having to stop every feet minutes to pick spikes out of the dogs’ feet, dry creek beds where we were expecting water, the prospect of dying of thirst/piercing before the trip was over, etc. Three days in the wilderness would have been nice, but showers and flannel sheets are good, too.

    It was sweet of you to ask :)

  • sounds awesome! and I love the new covers. Gives me flashbacks to growing up in CT.

  • Great cover. If it’s even half as good as the first one, I know I’ll love it!

  • Hey, that looks and sounds great! Congratulations, Diana!

  • Alyssa Goodnight

    Sounds very exciting and suspenseful. And the covers make it look so hip and fun!

    I’m sure it’s a little bit of everything…


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