Making book covers is one of my absolute favorite things about self publishing my books. One of the things that I like about this current (ish) trend of illustrated covers being back (so many things to say there, but whatever) is my decision to work with local artists to illustrate these covers and bring the characters to life.

Enid Din (or ulsiart, as I knew her!) showed up on my Twitter feed when I started to get into BTS. I loved the maximalism of her art, the way she would add the tiniest of details to make the art sing. She uses colors in a way that remind me a lot of 90s manga so it’s nostalgic but fresh. I knew that when I was writing this book about a couple of millenials dealing with their fandom pasts, I wanted her work to be front and center again.

I’m so happy she agreed to work with me on this!

The Prompt

Me being extremely excited about this, I made a little deck of slides that explained the book ideas, my character pegs and the feelings I wanted the cover to evoke.

And does it matter that it took me an hour to find that specific arm pic? No, because that was really just for me. HAHAHA. But I like this part, and it helped that Enid was familiar with my pegs and immediately understood what I wanted!

I wanted to make sure that my deck would tell her everything she needed. Think of it as making your book’s elevator pitch to someone to translate into visuals. One of my favorite things I think, about working with her is that I feel we speak the same visual kilig language, and it shows in her art!

The Sketches

She sent back these sketches really quick! And honestly there is a world where I wanted them both (because we can!) but I knew that Study 02 had the potential for a more romantic pose, and I loved that you could see Namsan from inside the record store. I sent back my notes and Enid refined the sketches more. She also asked me if I had any Easter eggs I wanted to add to the cover, which I had fun with, too!

The Final Cover

After Enid finished the details and colored the whole thing, she sent the cover back to me to work on! Adding a personal touch to my covers with my hand lettering is something I’ve really enjoyed over the years, and I think it makes the covers a little more me, if that makes sense? Then there’s the blurb to write, and everything else that a cover needs.

Honestly at that point, I hadn’t even finished writing the book yet (ganyan tayo eh) so it’s lived in my inbox for a while, and I brought it out for friends to see because I was too excited. But suffice to say I’m more than happy with how it turned out!

Comeback to Me

Lia Mertola needs a break. Between losing her job and ending a friendship, she’s feeling a little lifeless. Her brother Teddy’s offer to be his saling kit on a work trip to Seoul is the perfect escape.

But what Teddy failed to mention was that he was working with CoBOLT—the band she used to love, led by the idol she used to live for.

Second generation KPop idol Cal Ahn can feel his grasp on the industry slipping away. With the loss of a bandmate and a contract renewal in danger, he’s not in the right headspace to work on a new mini album, not even with the producer he handpicked to fly in from Manila.

But there’s something about the way Teddy’s sister Lia looks at him, like she knows something he doesn’t. Like she knows the words to all the songs he can’t seem to write.

The more time Cal and Lia spend together, the more they find that there’s room to grow together—unless their lives mean they need to stay apart.

Available February 3, 2026