The first book I REMEMBER reading was probably read long after I'd learned to read. I don't remember which title, but I do remember that it was a Cherry Ames book. The cover was a typical nurse/doctor cover, but I can't describe it beyond that. I don't remember noticing covers much when I was young. Only years later did I start noticing covers.

2. Have you ever purchased a book because of the cover alone? If yes, which one and why?

Never. However, when I got hooked on Barbara Cartland in high school, I could pick out her books by the covers. I got such a thrill every time I saw one that years later, when they reissued her books with the original covers at Wal-mart, I had an immediate visceral reaction to seeing them. I had to remind myself that I didn't even read her books anymore! They always had very old-fashioned, dark and dangerous-looking heroes on them. I ate up those books like candy.

My first published book was under my Deborah Martin pseudonym. I hated it. It was a wrap-around cover and the front part didn't fit the book at all (the book was set in 19th century Siam). The clothes bore no resemblance to what the characters might wear and the hero's hair color was wrong. Later, I found out why. Leisure had a nasty habit of putting "third rights" art on their covers--i.e., the cover had already appeared on another author's book. Hers was a Western. They'd painted over the back part with the horses and had added Siamese temples, but the front was virtually identical to hers. Except that they'd painted out the moon. The title of my book? Moonlight Enchantment. I laugh about the irony of it these days, but I was not so sanguine when it happened. When I found the other author's book in a used bookstore, I was furious.

My favorite front cover is probably still the one for Dangerous Lord. It's just so evocative--a coach driving up a road on a moonlit night. It doesn't fit the book that much, but I still love it. My favorite inside art is a toss-up between the art for Beware a Scot's Revenge (half-naked guy wrapped in a tartan with the heroine straddling his lap, scantily clad) or my upcoming Wed Him before You Bed Him, where the hero has the heroine up against a bookshelf. They both occur in their respective books fairly closely to how they're depicted (except that in the second one the man isn't half-naked *G*), and I think they're both pretty hot.

Avon, 2000

7. What has been your least favorite cover from all of your releases and why? The cover I absolutely despised was Dell's cover for Night Vision (written under my Deborah Nicholas pseudonym). The hero looks like he's dying and it was painted from an odd angle, so they both look weird. Plus, I'd used a kind of macabre effect in the book involving a Barbie doll, so they put a CLOWN doll on the cover. Huh? Dell, 1993   8. Do you believe a cover can increase or decrease the sales of a book? Have any covers affected the sales of your books? I wish I knew the answer to this. Dangerous Lord's cover was gorgeous, and the book sold really, really well. Only a Duke's cover was insipid ... and the book sold really, really well. Dance of Seduction's cover won y'all's award ... and didn't sell nearly as well as my others. Some booksellers said the cover was too dark (color-wise), but Dangerous Lord's cover was quite dark. So how do you make sense of all that? I honestly think it's a factor, but there are so many other factors, that you can't possibly sort out which one influenced sales--the cover art, the title, the back copy, the marketing ... Avon, 2003   9. What trends do you see in book covers currently and in the future? It seems that lately people are back on the covers of even historical romance novelists at the highest level. I haven't seen as many landscape-only covers. Don't know if that's a trend or not. I do wish someone would come up with a really unique cover treatment for romance, but since I have no idea what that would be, I'm not much help. *G*   10. Do you have a current or upcoming release to share with Cover Cafe? Please give us the details and a peek at the cover, too! I have TWO upcoming releases: Don't Bargain with the Devil and Wed Him before You Bed Him. They're both gorgeous, woman-only covers, but my favorite thing about them is the special effects. Both have sparkly letters. I haven't seen that before, so I really like it, although it won't come across in the jpgs, I'm afraid. Pocket, May 26,2009 Pocket, June 23, 2009   Sabrina Jeffries' website   Linnae Crady () - April, 2009   Author image, and covers are displayed with permission from author.   Back to the Features summary page.