Wednesday, January 11. 2012
New Year ~ Brand New 2012 Romance Covers!
2012 is here and time marches on with new romance covers released daily. Every year, my eternal optimism insists on searching for covers that buck the trends. Publishers, please show us something new, something fresh.
The current trend is covers featuring muscular men without shirts, often minus their gorgeous faces, their pecs splashed across the cover design. Sometimes, all that is left of the poor hero is his well defined chest. And the tough heroine dressed in leather, carrying a weapon, and glowering at us from the cover is so yesterday. There are readers who adore both styles but for me, they join the standard half-dressed clinch in the overused trend column. This year, the manly chest and the tough chick covers still rule but I did find a few early covers that caught my eye while book shopping.
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The first cover, Seduction by Brenda Joyce, reminds me of a Monet painting and it was instant love, plus the couple is completely dressed!
The second cover for Glamorous Illusions by Lisa T. Bergren, has the Eiffel Tower, a gorgeous stormy sky, and that vintage lace dress! One trend I'll always love is when the heroine is wearing a gorgeous gown and of course, I'll always love covers with shoes. The perspective of this illustration is unusual and the worried heroine looking over her shoulder adds a bit of mystery. Great cover!
The third cover, Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey, caught my eye because I love any cover featuring water and floating heroines charm me to no end. It is a simple cover with the focus on the heroine rising from the water's depth in a beautiful white dress. It has a very light romantic element because it is a YA release but the cover rocks and makes up for the light romance.
The fourth cover, One Hot Cowboy Wedding by Carolyn Brown, made me smile when I first saw it...such a fun couple and a happy change from the usual western covers. I love the "cowboy hat with veil" combo and her white boots mean there's a FUN read inside!
The fifth cover, An Affair with Mr. Kennedy by Jillian Stone, is what I like to call my sophisticated cover. I love heroes who are in wearing suits and men in vests are a particular favorite of mine. He looks so sexy and he has all of his clothing on...imagine that. They are in an unusual embrace, it's almost an anti-embrace. He's protecting rather than ravishing the heroine but from what?
The last cover is my "I'm not sure cover". I think I like, The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, but I'm not sure. It immediately captured my attention because it was such an unusual setting. This is a modern Gothic ghost story and Harper Collins produced a striking new cover for the trade paperback. The field of Lavender is mesmerizing. Even though the house is enveloped by the rows of flowers, the purple color is so rich that you have to look again and again. The synopsis likened this Gothic romance to a Daphne Du Mauier so it's very tempting to buy this book.
What new covers have you seen this year that capture your interest, either good or bad?
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