Lessons In French: The Kinsale Cover for 2010

Six months from right about now, Laura Kinsale’s new book, Lessons in French will be released. But Sourcebooks asked if we’d like to see the cover they’d been keeping under wraps inside a vault behind the sofa hidden under some weird tapestry.

I said, “Sure!”

So: here it is, the cover for Lessons in French.

image

Placing the couple off-center on the cover is interesting, and the colors pop in that illustration. I can’t help but think her leg is underlining the lessons, part. Lessons in French—avec leg!

What do you think? Are you looking forward to reading it? Or have you never tried a Kinsale novel?

Comments are Closed

  1. GrowlyCub says:

    I like the colors, but I’m really tired of all these women showing so much skin, particularly outdoors.  It’s just too darn anachronistic.  I’m all for fantasy, but can we get an itty tiny itty bitty bitty bit of realism, occasionally, pretty please?

    As for the book itself: I was really excited to hear there’s a new Kinsale coming, but once I saw her comments on it being a ‘light’ book, my interest plummeted to nothing.  I tried to read the one with the hedgehog and didn’t make it past page 5 or so.  I don’t do ‘funny’ a la slapstick or farce and knowing I didn’t like her other ‘light’ book, I’m not very hopeful for this one.  Hopefully, though, if it sells well, maybe she’ll get to write something meatier again!

    I’m having issues with Dare’s newest because of that, too.  All those ‘funny’ incidents aren’t funny at all, at least not to me.

  2. caligi says:

    I worry about it. MJP wrote some great, great, romances in the 90s and then her triumphant return to historicals was straight-up dreadful with that Lost Lord book.

    If it’s bad, it’s going to be so disappointing.

  3. I’ve never read one. But I am so down!

    I love this cover. I like how the colors pop. We shall see if those colors are true in print. I’ve noticed that sometimes colors are darker when they’ve finally printed vs. the computer monitor.

    also: the quote below that title is worth a million dollars!

  4. GrowlyCub says:

    caligi, I really liked the first half or so, until she poured on the sugar and I kept thinking, she didn’t just do that, did she?  and then again, I cannot believe she did that! and by the ending I wanted to throw up because it was so damn unrealisti c, I was waiting for the unicorn to show up and spit out rainbows out of its ass.  Talk about disappointment!

  5. If you’ve never read a Kinsale novel, you are missing one of the best that fiction has to offer. She’s fantastic. I recently read her book Seize the Fire and it takes a lot to make me cry in a book but she did it. Laura Kinsale was also sincerely cool enough to catch a tweet (thank you SB for passing along my tweet at Nationals by the way) of me asking for clarification if there were really LK arcs available. So Ms. Kinsale emailed me a copy of the sample chapter she was handing out at Nationals. She’s incredible and I cannot wait for Lessons in French to be released. And thank fully, I should be home from Iraq in time to get my copy in real time, rather than through mail delay!

  6. liz m says:

    @ Jessica Scott – yet ANOTHER reason to end the deployments, and thank you if you’re on one.

    Re Lessons In French – if there were a time machine I’d walk in it and read everything else as backlist.

  7. MamaNice says:

    Kinsale is my all time favorite romance author…I am excited to hear of a new novel from her, but I didn’t love ShadowHeart nearly as much as her earlier stuff…so we shall see.

    SB Sarah – my mind just must be naughty-naughty, your first thought was “How do you say leg in French”…mine was “How do you say lifting your skirt and opening your trousers so you can have sex while standing out in the countryside in French?”

    Sidenote – no clue why, but her dress makes me think of the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland.

    I do like the off center placement of the couple though. Sexy jawline!

  8. I guess I really should try her—I’ve been scarfing down Liz Carlyle, Loretta Chase and Elizabeth Hoyt by the boxful lately.  But I’m not liking the sound of “pouring on the sugar”—I do NOT have a sweet tooth when it comes to romance. Will I be gagging?

    As for the cover, they kept it under wraps…why?  I’m not really seeing anything spectacular there.

  9. GrowlyCub says:

    Robin, sorry, that was about the new Mary Jo Putney title, NOT the Kinsale!

  10. ocelott says:

    no clue why, but her dress makes me think of the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland.

    Actually, I was thinking Cinderella, with the blue, the short puffy sleeves, the black choker, and the updo.

    Disney Princess vibes aside, this cover is sexy!  Love the off-centre, and the fact the two of them are facing each other in a position that doesn’t require insane acrobatics.  Ok, perhaps a tad anachronistic to show that much skin, but at least what they’re doing is feasible.

  11. Madd says:

    New Kinsale? I may have to squee like a fan girl. You don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but that’s a damned pretty cover.

    What I want to know is when are they bringing the site back? The temp page is pretty, but can a girl get some new info?

    As for the cover, they kept it under wraps…why?  I’m not really seeing anything spectacular there.

    I think that because there hasn’t been a new Kinsale book in a while the publishers wanted to keep it mum until closer to the release date. Make it sort of like a teaser for the book.

  12. katiebabs says:

    Aw shucks, no vintage mantitty cover model ala Flowers From the Storm?

    I like it. Shows the woman being forceful by straddling the hero.

  13. Tina C. says:

    I like the change up on the clinch cover—it’s a clinch, but the woman is in the dominate position and looks like she’s taking charge.  The yellow font of the author’s name really pops against all of those blues.  With that and the way that the couple is off-center, it makes this clinch more of a backdrop than is usual.

    That said, it does look like her knee is digging into his thigh and he’s trying to push her back some to relieve the pressure.

  14. Lorelie says:

    Huh. I find the progression of type faces that Sourcebooks has done with the Kinsale books very interesting and savy. When they did the reprints, they kept basically the same fonts as the Avon books for both name and title. Now it’s the same distinctive font for the name, but that different scripty one for the title. I like.

  15. MamaNice says:

    ocelott – yes! It is Cinderalla I was thinking of…I’m adapting Carroll’s work for my drama co. right now, so I must have Alice on the brain.

    (And secretly, I adore the old skool Kinsale ManTitty covers…esp Prince of Midnight and Flowers From the Storm, yum.)

  16. Love the cover, but I really love that the book is listed at 480 pages.

  17. Kiersten says:

    Can’t. Wait. Uncertain Magic and Shadow and the Star are deserted island books for me. UM was one of the first books with which I ever totally fell in love. Very excited for a new Kinsale!!

  18. Kiersten says:

    Oh – and I love the cover – I love how the color pops. Plus! No extra appendages! Score!

  19. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    I like the fact that the guy has his shirt buttoned and tucked in for once (guess they had to compensate by showing the girl’s anachronistically waxed leg, but it’s cool that she seems to be the one taking charge of the situation.)
    I’ll be looking forward to this one—even the weakest Kinsale I’ve read is still miles ahead of most everything else stylistically.

  20. seton says:

    This is gonna be mass-market and not trade like her re-issues, right?

  21. Lorelie says:

    Her re-issues are mass market. Maybe you’re thinking of the trade size Georgette Heyers from Sourcebooks?

  22. I have been waiting for this book for soooo long!
    I love Kinsale, the writer and her books. I have a copy of the demented Fabio cover for “Flowers From The Storm.” I got that book in a box of books from the States and I left it till last because of the stupid cover, but wow, what a book!
    So I don’t give a crap what cover they give her. I want it now!
    When I was a new writer, with one Regency to my name, I went to a chat room where Kinsale was promoting her latest book. She asked what I did, and I said I was a new writer starting out. She got me to promo my book in that room, before all those people, though I only went to celebrate her new release. I’ll never forget that kindness and generosity.
    But that isn’t why I’m waiting for her new book. I just want it like now. I can see a re-read session coming up.

  23. RStewie says:

    I’m so full of squee about another Kinsale coming out, and although I LOVE her darker books, I’ll take any Kinsale I can get.

    SOOO glad, too, that the Shortened Length Plague isn’t a threat.  Thank you for throwing that out there, Meljean—I didn’t even know I was worried about that until I saw your post and was relieved.

  24. SandyO says:

    I don’t care what the cover looks like.  Only one thing matters the name LAURA FREAKING KINSALE.  Can’t we get the book NOW.  I don’t think I can wait six more months.

  25. SonomaLass says:

    I’m excited for this book! Even the bare leg excites me (hur!); I’ve had a run of excellent luck with bare-legged lady books. The half-heads are a little annoying, but I like the color saturation, the off-center placement, and the girl on top position (um, on this cover, I mean <.

    < >

    .>).

    Candy got me reading Kinsale (better late than never school), and I figure this new one should be out right around the time I finish her backlist…if I take my time.

  26. MaryK says:

    It’s a nice cover – not that it matters to me.  If it were going to have a hideous cover, I’d preorder right now if I could.

  27. MaryK says:

    Just followed the link and realized I can preorder now!  Off to build a free shipping Amazon order.

  28. mingqi says:

    wow the colors really do pop! Even though they’re in a pseudo-clinch position, I like how though she’s showing her leg, the dress isn’t untied or falling off her.  All she has to do is stand back up and then she’d be looking like a modest debutante again.  I really like how the dress flowed instead of being all scrunched up like in other books.  And the guy looks like he just took off his coat- shirt and waistcoat are still on.  None of that bare-chest business that made me feel inadequate about my A-cup boobs.  Like others have said- her take charge position is also really refreshing! 

    can’t wait till this comes out!

  29. Marianne McA says:

    I’ll buy the book. Don’t like the cover, but I don’t like a lot of romance covers, so that’s okay.
    The herbaceous border seems a bit odd, in that that style of garden doesn’t seem to match the period the dress suggests – and if those are hostas and montbretia (hard to tell), I think they’re both Victorian introductions. It looks, to be honest, like someone’s taken a photograph of a current garden of an older house and just assumed that the original gardens would have looked the same. (That’s extreme nit-picking, isn’t it?)

  30. DS says:

    I’m a big Kinsale fan from way back, but I wasn’t too fond of her last book—Shadowheart?  In fact it was a DNF for me because I thought she had wimped out on the characters and the plot.  I also do not get BDSM, just plain can’t feel it.

    However, for the love of all her other books I’ll try this one.

    To be blunt:  no, don’t like the cover.  It’s retro and the position looks strained.  The title also strikes me as less interesting than her other titles. 

    There now, I sound really grumpy—I think I have a migraine coming on today.

  31. mrshankly says:

    So SOOO excited for new Kinsale – one of my favorite authors regardless of genre.  I do like the cover, and I’ve been looking forward to this since you guys announced the Feb release date.  I can’t wait!

  32. Anonymous says:

    As somebody who is colorblind, this cover is REALLY difficult to understand.  Light text against a very busy background seems to work fine for most people, but I find it almost impossible to see all of the letters on the first glance.  The combination of some kind of forest background with parts of people’s bodies is difficult to tease apart (I mean that I thought they were all part of the same thing at first).  I know that most publishers don’t take colorblind people into account when putting together books, but if you’re an author who has any kind of say at all in the design, layout, or color scheme of your book cover, please try to keep people like me in mind.

  33. HelenK says:

    Gorgeous. I love it.

    Oh, and my SIL has super baby fine hair and unless you’re up close, you can’t tell if she’s shaved or not, so I don’t consider this leg to be weirdly bare (as suggested above)

  34. molly_rose says:

    I’m surprised nobody else thought of the inside-flap of Mine Till Midnight.
    These two covers are REALLY similar!

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0312949804/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

    Hopefully you can see the pic I’m referring to there… (I’m not good at that linking biznatch, and rather technologically inept in general)

  35. Caitlin says:

    I love the off-center position. It’s as if the heroine has just leapt upon her delicious man-bit with so much enthusiasm that he’s staggered backwards and off-center.

    Not that I would have any experience bowling over my man-bit with enthusiasm . . . noooooooooo . . .

  36. I’m always excited about the prospect of a new Kinsale.  The cover is classic Historical Romance, which might attract the new generation of readers who do not yet know of Ms. Kinsale’s wonderfulness.

  37. Laura Kinsale says:

    Thanks for posting the cover, SB’s!  I just saw it myself a week or so ago.  Sourcebooks has been working very diligently to get this book on the shelves as early as possible and so their schedule has been tight. 

    Hey, GrowlyCub, I hear you about the concern of “is this going to be a silly farcical book?”  I’ve called it “light,” and truly it is—as opposed to “dark.”  So it may not be the book for you.  Everyone has their individual tastes and lord knows my books always get strong reactions both positive and negative. 😉

    I didn’t write LESSONS IN FRENCH because I was told (or even encouraged) to write or not to write anything—long or short, dark or light, meaty or frivolous.  I wanted to write it.  But typecasting is a force in publishing just as it is in Hollywood.  After I’d finished it, the reaction from the first one or two publishers who saw it seemed to be, we’d like to buy it while we’re waiting for a big dark book from you.  I’ll be honest, I did not want it to be a “hold my place for me” book.  I thought it deserved better. Also I felt at the time that there were some technical weaknesses in the structure.  So I told my agent to take it off the table. I fixed the technical issues and I put it away. 

    It took Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks (thank you Deb!) to remind me to get this book back out and read it again.  Because I hadn’t worked with it for so long, and I have a memory like a sieve, I could read it cold, the way a reader would.  And ya know what?  It’s not just a nice book.  It’s a great book.  It’s got great characters, as good as any I’ve written.  And that is what I promise to my readers.  Every book I write will not appeal to every reader.  But I will always give it the best that I have. I will always put my heart into it.  And it won’t go into print unless the characters are living, breathing people with their own unique story.  That’s why I write, and that’s definitely what you can expect from LESSONS IN FRENCH. 🙂

    As to the cover, it’s fairly traditional but I think the colors are lovely and the title font is pretty cute.  The characters fit the book—as someone said, “Nice jawline!”

    LK

  38. Cathy says:

    What I want to know is, does the cover image accurately represent a moment in the story? It’s one of my (probably totally unreasonable) quirks that I get annoyed when I look at the cover after finishing the book and say “nothing like that ever happened in this story!”

    If there is only one outdoor clinch in this book, then I do not want to read that it occurred in the rain or that the heroine was wearing green that day. I just like it when the cover makes sense in context. It feels like the people who worked on the book cared about it.

  39. Beth R says:

    I like to cover but I have to wonder what kinda of French lessons are we talking about here.
    Never read any of her books.

  40. Robin says:

    My first response was positive (although I wish they had chosen a different author quote – *not necessarily* a different author, but definitely a different quote), and I’ve come back several times to double check that reaction, but it’s still positive. It says pastoral to me, it says sensual, it says fun and a little daring. I especially like that the female figure is above the male figure, that she’s not stick-thin, and I like the pastoral look to the background. I think it fits and I think it’s appealing. I even think the bit of leg is sexy.

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