Cover Awe: Bright Colors and Spookiness

by Amanda · Aug 5, 2024 at 3:00 am · View all 2 comments

Welcome back to Cover Awe!

Every Duke Has His Day by Suzanne Enoch. An illustrated cover with a bubblegum pink background. On the right is a blonde woman in a blue dress and gloves. She's toasting a bubbly glass of something while a dark pink poodle jumps in the air. On the left is a brown haired man in a blue waistcoat and breeches. He's sitting in a chair and has an open notebook. Black pages are swirling around and a blue poodle stands at his feet.

Cover design by Farjana Yasmin

Amanda: I love the Lisa Frank of it all.

Sarah: I remain fascinated by the specific color palette of romance covers, and the upper corner/lower corner placement of characters and things relevant to the plot, but in this case, I LOVE THE DOGS SO MUCH MY GOSH. Poodles all day!

Cupid's Revenge by Wibke Brueggemann. An illustrated cover with two figures who appear to have fallen onto the floor. One has red hair and is wearing a burnt orange dress. The other figure has black wavy hair, a tan button down shirt, dark shorts, and black boots. Arrows are protruding out of their backs and chest. they are gazing into each other's eyes and have a deep blush on their cheeks.

Cover art by Alex M.

Amanda: I love the colors and blushing and chaos.

Sarah: This is so chaotic and full of movement I love it, particularly the expressions on their faces.

Projections by S.E. Porter. A portrait of a woman from the nose down to her chest. She has wavy auburn hair and pink lips. She's wearing a high necked black brocade dress, buttoned up to her chin. Skeletal hands wrap around her throat and grip her shoulder. A spiral shell on a pendant hangs around her neck.

Cover art by Elena Masci

Lara: That gets ten out of ten for creepiness.

Amanda: Yes! Love this one!

Sarah: Wait, a broken crown AND skeleton hands as a collar AND an ammonite cameo; this is luscious!

Valley Verified by Kyla Zhao. An illustration of an Asian woman walking across the cover. Her hair is pulled pack into a messy bun and she has on a headband and dangly earrings. Her top is a white blouse with gray polka dots. She is wearing a flowy knee length skirt that is a grey blue with splotches of red and orange. She has a small burgundy handbag and red strappy heels on. She's walking away from a silhouette in red of a city and clothes on a rack. In front of her, as if she's walking toward it, is a blue silhouette of a man standing in front of a screen with a bunch of people in rolling office chairs.

Cover art by Natalie Shaw

Amanda: I really like these colors, especially to signify two industries (fashion and tech).

Sarah: That’s a gorgeous cover, and I love how her clothing is a specific style and aesthetic that also bridges between the two industries – this is brilliant.

 

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  1. chacha1 says:
    August 5, 2024 at 11:44 am

    “Valley Verified” is a beautiful cover and intrigued me enough to go look for a book description. According to Booklist: “Brimming with necessary discussion on sexism and gender bias in the tech industry, and with a character that many readers will relate to, Zhao’s latest is a contemporary novel that will appeal to STEM and fashion girlies alike. Add in the cute office love story and romance readers will be satisfied too.”

    Just…when is it ever okay to call women “girlies?” is this a Booklist bias and/or tone-deafness I’ve never noticed before? F.U. Booklist.

    Anyway, it sounds as though this is potentially a fresh career-change personal-evolution novel with romantic elements. I am inclined to dismiss Booklist’s “cute office love story” in view of their craptastic choice of “girlies” and assume that it’s actually an adult love story directly related to a character’s huge life change.

  2. Amanda says:
    August 5, 2024 at 11:51 am

    @chacha1: My guess is that it’s used to appeal to BookTok/Gen Z readers, as girlies is popular slang/terminology right now. But if you’re not in that demographic or on specific forms of social media, I can see why it wouldn’t land.

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