This edition of Cover Awe is inspired by a comment that Elyse made when looking at one of the gorgeous covers below. In our Slack, we’ve shared quite a few covers that have some sort of pink/purple color palette and I think Elyse has cracked the code as to why.
Redheadedgirl: Ooooooooo!
Elyse: I feel like as a group we’re drawn to fuchsia, purple and teal.
My Lisa Frank childhood is showing.
Amanda: I also love how dang happy she is on this cover. But then again, Lisa Frank nostalgia is bound to make anyone smile.
Sarah: This is giving me My So-Called Life nostalgia more than Lisa Frank, but I love how the two references are tied together. Whoever designed this cover did an incredible job. I love it.
CarrieS: Such striking colors and I agree with Amanda that I love the joy on the face of the cover person.
Amanda: I love the colors so much! The upside down hero is throwing me off a little bit, but this is certainly a cover that catches my eye when I’m so used to more natural color schemes when there’s a physical cover model.
Sarah: If the goal is to potentially identify the genre at a glance and definitely invite me to take a closer look by clicking, goal achieved, 2000%.
CarrieS: Alas, this one just makes me dizzy.
Amanda: Tell me more about this “color alchemist” business.
Elyse: Ooooooo!
Redheadedgirl: Oh!
Sarah: I’m listening.
CarrieS: Unusual and exciting and I give no fucks face on the heroine! Love it!
Elyse: I love the solo badass woman in a Game of Thrones coat.
Amanda: Another Lisa Frank cover!
Elyse: She might be looking for romance. She might be conquering a nation. We don’t know
Amanda: Why not both?!
Sarah: Again, ma’am, I am listening. (Seriously, the ability of these designs to make me sit up and wait for more information or go find that information is incredible. Well done, art folks. Well done.)
CarrieS: Interesting that the cover for Prism worked because it was busy and this cover works because it is simple. Excellent resolve face. Would pick up and investigate.
On Small Change, I’m 99% sure that’s not the hero, that’s Ginger, the female MC, who is a tattoo artist.
@Skye – agreed. I don’t remember the hero as having tattoos, plus it’s obviously Ginger – she’s the one who’s life was turned upside down. It’s really rare to see a woman with short hair on a romance cover, let alone a queer woman in an undercut. I love this cover at the same time wishing it was a little clearer that it’s the heroine not hero.
Omg I know Nisha! What a great cover. Lisa Frank indeed. I miss those.
@Skye & Cleo: I’m really embarrassed that I didn’t identify the heroine, though I’m not familiar with this series. Thank you for the correction.
Seconding Skye’s comment on Ginger being the person on the cover. (FTR, it’s such a striking cover art that it gave me that last gentle push to snag this book. Even though Ginger is not my fave character by a good mile.)
Loved the bubbliness of My So Called Bollywood Life as well as the badassery vibes from Whatever It Takes.
Prism is a total miss for me, tho. It looks like a kitchen sink-type of cover. Like, the designer was over-caffeinated when they sent it to the publishers. #DNW
I missed the Lisa Frank years so I suppose that’s why I didn’t like any of these covers! (Bah, humbug.)
I dig the fuschia/purple/teal too. Great covers.
I recently got suchandsuch romance novel from the library. The checkout person glanced at the cover and said “Ooh, nice dress”. My library unfortunately doesn’t have a Do Not Cover Up Content rule about where to put the bar code, so the gorgeous dress could have been worn by a three-headed troll* … but yeah. There are worse ways to get noticed.
Looking up and down the ads in the right sidebar, I make it about 2 parts Snark to 1 part Awe. Well, it’s a start.
* It wasn’t. I looked up the book’s review on this site to see the rest of the picture.
Maybe I’m showing my grouchy coming of age here, but I didn’t really like those covers. Or, frankly, neither was I a big fan of Lisa Frank.
To celebrate this palette and the season, I give you a goodreads link to literally the cutest romance cover ever: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36808565-love-happens-anyway
Ginger is bisexual, so I thought the cover’s color scheme might have been a nod to the bi flag.
Small Change is a wonderful book. Ginger and the hero are both small business owners, and there’s a great scene where she has to explain to the hero how they’re being treated differently by vendors.
(Her BFF in that book has his own m/m novel, Middle of Somewhere, which is a lovely cozy winter read.)