{"id":17645,"date":"2022-12-20T16:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T21:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/?p=17645"},"modified":"2022-12-22T15:28:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T20:28:30","slug":"the-books-of-2021-romance-covers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/archives\/17645","title":{"rendered":"The Books of 2022: Romance Covers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am positive I have a very different take on romance covers than most romance readers.<\/p>\n

I absolutely hate the clinch covers.<\/p>\n

HATE THEM.<\/p>\n

I hate the shirtless men, the utterly ridiculous muscles, the air-brushed perfection, I hate it all. If I was still reading primarily paper books I almost certainly would not pick up one of those books to even consider, I find those covers so off-putting. Luckily, I read primarily ebooks, so I don’t have to be bothered too much with covers I hate, since I don’t have to look at them unless I want to.<\/p>\n

Which leads me to another point: As someone who primarily reads ebooks, I don’t care for the super busy covers with lots of detail, because I don’t see most of the detail, and it mostly looks like clutter. So to get my attention a book needs to look good as a thumbnail, since that’s what I’m going to see.<\/p>\n

All these covers I particularly liked? Look good as thumbnails.<\/p>\n

However, I will note a major issues with these covers: several of these covers are for stories that had a great deal of darkness to them. The bright and colorful covers give you no clue as to what you are actually going to find inside,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Agents<\/a>Agents of Winter<\/em><\/a> (2022) Ada Maria Soto<\/a> (The Agency)
\nPublisher: Rookery Publishing
\nNo cover artist given, but have a suspicion the cover was created by the author.
\nLGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

As much as I adore the first book in this series, His Quiet Agent<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 I don\u2019t care for the cover. It\u2019s not offensive, there\u2019s nothing wrong with it, I just don\u2019t find it interesting. And really, considering she treated the whole thing as an exercise in self-publishing, that\u2019s totally fine.<\/p>\n

But this<\/em> cover is pretty.<\/p>\n

I love the deep blue, and even knowing Christmas lights make everything 100% prettier, it\u2019s still lovely.<\/p>\n

And if you read the first book, you know there is a significant amount of darkness is Martin’s life, but that Arthur manages to help keep some of that darkness at bay, which is something else the cover is showing you.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Always<\/a>Always Only You<\/em><\/a> (2020) Chloe Liese (Bergman Brothers)
\nself-published<\/em>
\nCover art by Jennie Rose Denton
\nSports<\/em> *<\/p>\n

Female romantic lead with a cane<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the cover.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>An Agreement with the Soldier<\/em><\/a> (2021) Sadie Bosque (Necessary Arrangements)
\nself-published<\/em>
\nCover art by Sadie Bosque
\nHistorical<\/em> *<\/p>\n

This is a nice cover that wouldn\u2019t garner much attention from me, except it\u2019s self-published and she did the art herself and it is better than some \u201cprofessionally\u201d created covers.<\/p>\n

Major kudos due here.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the room she is in front of \/ looking into, is dark, which gives you a hint about some of the darkness in the story: she loses a sibling in war, and he has severe PTSD from that same war. It’s pretty, but it’s not hiding the darkness.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Husband<\/a>Husband Material<\/em><\/a> (2022) Alexis Hall<\/a> (London Calling)
\nPublisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
\nCover design and illustration by Elizabeth Turner Stokes
\nLGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

I love Luc. He is such a mess.<\/p>\n

This is clearly a call back to the previous book, Boyfriend Material<\/em><\/a> and I love it just as much as the first. I think it’s the combination of all the straight lines and right angles and Luc slouching.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Delilah<\/a>Delilah Green Doesn\u2019t Care<\/em><\/a> (2022) Ashley Herring Blake (Bright Falls)
\nPublisher: Berkley
\nCover art by Leni Kauffman
\nLGBT<\/em> *<\/p>\n

The tattoos. The just barely holding hands.<\/p>\n

The purple<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Quibble: There are some dark currents in this book, including the repercussions of having lost one’s parents as a child, and completely and utterly toxic parental figures.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A Marriage of Equals<\/em><\/a> (2021) Elizabeth Rolls
\nPublisher: Mills & Boon
\nNo cover artist given, but this is<\/em> a Harlequin imprint
\nHistorical<\/em> *<\/p>\n

There is something about the way she is staring directly at the camera that I find incredibly compelling.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s less the design and layout here, and mostly and selecting an amazing picture.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Dearest<\/a>Dearest Milton James<\/em><\/a> (2021) N.R. Walker<\/a>
\nPublisher: BlueHeart Press
\nCover artist: N.R. Walker & Sam York
\nLGBT<\/em> *<\/p>\n

Very simple, but shows you the heart of the story\u2014the lost letters.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Lifes<\/a>Life\u2019s Too Short<\/em><\/a> (2021) Abby Jimenez<\/a> (The Friend Zone)
\nPublisher: Forever
\nCover design Sarah Congden
\n *<\/p>\n

I know a lot of people don\u2019t like illustrated \/ cartoon covers.<\/p>\n

Those people are wrong.<\/p>\n

The bright yellow background draws your eye and the distance between the two characters on the cover shows you precisely how far apart the world views of the two characters are.<\/p>\n

Quibble: there is a far amount of darkness in this book: grief, addiction, serious illness, which you don’t at all pick up from the cover.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"Paris<\/a>Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble<\/em><\/a> (2022) Alexis Hall<\/a> (Winner Bakes All)
\nPublisher: Forever
\nCover design and illustration by Elizabeth Turner Stokes
\nLGBT<\/em><\/p>\n

Major quibble: this cover is it is so very bright and cheerful, it really doesn\u2019t give you a hint as to how very dark and difficult parts of this book are: anxiety and a mental illness spiral, parental abandonment, racism. Although we get a happy ending, most of the book is not bright and cheerful. It makes this cover a bit of false advertising.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Love Hypothesis<\/em><\/a> (2021) Ali Hazelwood<\/a>
\nPublisher: Berkley
\nCover illustration by lilithsaur Book
\n *<\/p>\n

I love all the science about this cover, even if the awkward kiss is super awkward and I don\u2019t like looking at it.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

You’ll note there is an even split between independent \/ self published books and books from major publishers. <\/p>\n

Do I hold the former to a lower standard? Yeah. I do. But I think in a lot of cases those covers are just as good if not better than what I see from the big publishers.<\/p>\n