Hey. You.
Yeah you. You with the back.
Turn around when I’m speaking to you, please. Tossing your hair does nothing for me.
No need for a quick pit-sniff. I’m not planning on nuzzling your underarm hair. If you have any.
There is no need to threaten me with your big gold sword. Come, now. I just want to ask a favor.
It’s raining. Can I take shelter ‘neath the shadow of your man titty? Thanks!
I love backs and chests. It’s a thing, I admit. What were you saying?
Well. Those covers are better then coffee for a Saturday morning.
You know, I’ve looked at that Sarah McCarty cover multiple times and this is the first time I noticed the wolf. hmmmmm.
But are we all completely over the tattoos done with magic marker & photoshop? Really? PLEASE?
Mornin’ Darlynne. (Sarah’s at a conference, we can chat, she’ll never know!)
I love a good back and chest myself. And a man with his arms raised makes me melt (my very favorite scene in “Rocky” was when he had Adrian at his house and stripped down to his undershirt, then grabbed that exercise bar or whatever over his head)! Just remembering it gets me all happy!
Don’t knock nuzzling a man’s underarm hair. His scent can be quite erotic!
Awesome. I’m an arm girl, myself. I nice arm can go a long way.
A nice arm! That should be “A nice arm”!
More coffee, please?
Oh yeah.
(That’s all I got. I know its always amusing when the covers are so cookie cutter and all but seriously, those covers are hot.)
Oh yeah.
I am guilty of having bought books just because they had covers like those… *sigh*
Um . . . the dude on Tempt me with Darkness appears to have Spina bifida, and I can’t be the only one who thinks the guy on The Darkest Passion has the girliest tattoo ever. I have a full back piece and it’s WAAAAAY more manly than his giant butterfly. What the heck was they thinking?
were. Were. WERE! Why the hell can’t I type . . . oh yeah, no coffee yet. :::blush::: I swear English is my first language.
I wonder what the image of a man’s back means to us in our reptile brains…that he can lead us capably? Shield us? Protect us? Or maybe it’s symbolic of trust or vulnerability on his part…?
It’s slightly odd that a man’s back would strike us ladies as erotic, when there’s no penetrative sex position I know of in which we get to watch a man’s back whilst he’s boinking us. Unless you’re smart and have incorporated a well-placed cheval mirror, of course.
See, now I don’t find any of these men attractive. But then again I’ve never went for the buff guys. I like them tall and scrawny.
During the Orange County Fair “Weird” Al Yankovic had a thing there about the human brain. (He claimed it was his brain but it was really the brain in general. Fabio was even in it asking if it’s true if we only use 10% of our brain.) There was this tall guy, scrawny, with thick glasses and a NASA shirt. I kept standing near him wishing he’d talk to me. (No wedding ring.) He didn’t even noticed I existed. *sigh*
I hear you, Jami. Backs like these just make me think the man has nothing else to do with his time but work out. Boring! I’m married to a tall, slender man with a big brain, just the way I like it. 😉
Also, don’t these places have art departments? Who staffs them, PR grads? Surely not actual artists… no creativity at all.
Well, to be fair, the wolf was a nice touch. Maybe they found a real, honest-to-goodness visual artist for that one…
I’m one of the few women that does not find the butt appealing. I just don’t get the fascination with buttocks and I blame Jennifer Lopez for peoples’ fascination.
I just don’t get the “cute butt” thing. I’m more of a “Get a tight-fitted suit on and have nice hair” type.
Meredith, I’ll admit I didn’t/don’t even think about working out or working anything. It’s all real estate, geography or topography, here, as Lemony Snicket would say, a word meaning detailed, precise description of a place or region.
Way, way back in the day when the Grass Roots sang,
“Pacing the floor, detest
Sweat pouring down my chest,
Still I can’t love you less”
I was hooked forever on chests, backs and arms. If I ever write a romance novel, I am somehow going to work that imagery into my story.
Hey, Joanne. What wolf? And, ah, no, not over the magic marker tattoos.
I loooove those bare backs. The best part about a shirtless man is that dip in the small of his back. Makes me all shivery to think about it.
Plus, when I see some guys shirtless, whether he’s skinny or built up or just regular Joe it seems to signify he’s about to tackle a piece of physical labor and there isn’t much sexier to me than watching a man hard at work.
Strength, symmetry, and therefore health? Good hygiene (no back acne)? Referrals to an excellent waxer (no back hair)? The fact that we can check him out without his catching us?
I dunno, I enjoy watching symmetrical, healthy bodies, male or female. The human body can be a work of art. I don’t have to marry a guy, or even speak to him, to enjoy him aesthetically.
military79? Hmm, is it all the PT maybe?
@Go!Shawdy – I agree. I mean, the butt is where feces is expelled from. Not sexy at all.
Though I did have an experience once where a male singer who normally did his butt shaking bit near his piano suddenly march to the front of the stage, turn around, and shake his butt right in my face. (I was front row so I was about 3 feet away.) That I found a turn on, but it might’ve been because he made eye contact just before and the fact he purposely broke with routine and make sure he was square in front of me that made it hot, not the butt itself.
There’s a lot to be said for a man who’s intentionally showing his rear end to a lady, I guess.
That first cover? Really, REALLY caught my eye…
I’m fond of a pair of broad shoulders, myself. Something I can just wrap myself up in while we’re canoodling. Don’t care if there are muscles to go with, as long as the shoulders are wide.
Date a man with a concave hinney and you’ll suddenly develop a whole new appreciation for the callipygian members of the opposite sex. Trust me.
I gotta say, I love a good back myself, BUT I’m very disappointed by the lack of sweat. Muscle tone is augmented so well by a glaze of sweat.
I love male backs and chests and butts. My 4-year-old nephew once yelled at me to stop swatting his butt (not my fault – he was running around naked and showing off his cute little behind). And I’ll admit that sometimes my boyfriend would ask me to stop grabbing his butt. There, my dirty little secret is out. *sigh*
I think the attraction of a nice male back is that it affords the viewer/ogler the chance of ogling without being found out about it – sort of gives the watcher a bit more power, the “I can see you but you can’t see me” kind of thing. Or perhaps it’s less threatening – he can’t do anything to anyone behind him (without turning around anyway). In any case, it’s fun to look at.
I love nice, broad shoulders over a strong back
! I’m definitely a chest/arms/back girl. Butts & abs? Meh!
I like the back pics because there is no issue as far as smooth vs furry chest. Whenever I see the pics of a supposedly manly man with a smooth chest, the first thing that crosses my mind is that it’s waxed. No matter how beautiful it might look, and how much easier it is to show off his awesome muscle definition, I just couldn’t warm up to a main vain enough to wax his chest. Shag him silly? You betcha! Want to know him? Nah! Plus, there’s nothing better than cuddling up to a nicely hairy chest on a cold night.
consider24? I might even consider more than that.
I LOVE it when I learn new words here. This right here is my new favourite. I shall be sure to use it at least thrice daily. Thanks, Kalen!
Oh, yeah, cover number one. Rowr! A good rear view, buff but not overly developed, is sexy as hell – strong shoulders, smooth lats, and a tight ass in well-fitting jeans. Bring it.
I’d take brain over brawn also but it’s even better when you don’t have to choose, LOL. My engineer geek husband runs marathons and lifts weights three times a week. For the health benefits, you know, but there are fringe benefits as well. 😉 He’ll never be a cover model, but his biceps are looking pretty fierce these days. Mmmm…
I’m loving these covers, especially the first one. Strong, broad muscular backs are really doing it for me.
That the man trusts us to be at his back? As a metaphor for emotional trust, of course. You know, the big strong alpha male who only opens up to his heroine.
I like the back, I wanna lick the back tatoo. But the guy showing us a profile of his happy trail? RROWRR! Yummy.
You’re very welcome. Learned it in high school from a friend’s mom who’s on the board for the National Spelling Bee. She was great for building up that SAT vocab, LOL!
One of the hottest areas of a man are his back/shoulders/arms IMO. I could do without the pecs and the six pack. I don’t care if he’s a little scrawny (though not too skinny) or chubby or in shape. If he has a good upper back, he’s got me hooked. So these covers are extremely drool-worthy to me!
I guess it’s because they’re so – built – that it really turns me off. IRL every guy I’ve known who’s built like that was either dumber then a bag of rocks, gay, or both.
Oh, I’m sure there’s straight, smart guys who look like this. I just haven’t met them.
callipygian = awesome. Thanks, Kalen!
I got a chest and a back for my first two Immortal Brotherhood covers. LOVE the back, and readers say they loved it, too, but they grabbed the chest one faster. I’m waiting right now to see what treatment Gunnar gets on the next one.
I remember watching the seduction scene in Dirty Dancing, and rewinding over and over again, just to watch the muscles in Patrick Swayze’s back move so fluidly.
YUM.
Jason Statham has, IMHO, some of the most rockin’ guns among malekind. Not to thew-y, not too veiny…just right and tight!
Erin – OMG!!! Yes on Jason Statham!!! I just pause his movies and drool and sigh. 🙂
My husband has a man crush on Jason Statham. It bothers me quite a lot because I can’t see the appeal.
Now Jake Gyllanhaal in the new Prince Of Persia trailer …
http://prince-of-persia-trailer.blogspot.com/
now that’s RROWWRRRR.
Spamword: list47. Oh, I can list a lot more than 47 things I’d like to do to Jake Gyllenhaal.
Ahhhhhh 8:55am on Monday and this was just what I needed. Wonder if there is a desktop wallpaper with all that muscular man titty and backs. Yum.
I LOVE all the covers on the Immortal Brotherhood Books! The great thing about Romance covers is you can fill in the extra parts with your mind. So if you like brains here is a great pic of a body and you add the brains. Or if it is a pic of a gerat chest you mentally ad a great butt! What a fun game!
I really need the sexy cover art because sometimes I am too tired to put much effort into visualizing a hero. I like to read to de-stress at the end of the day, and I will read until my eyes cross. So it helps to have a nice kickstart withthe cover art!
This is quite drool worthy. Bring on the strong sexy backs!