I've had some time this week to lie around and ponder some really important stuff (the Angel of Influenza passed over this house a few days ago. You know the eleventh plague, if the Pharaoh hadn't caved, would have been phlegm?), so I started looking at all the PNR/UF books I had lying around.

Looking at the covers, more specifically. It got me wondering if I'm ever influenced by the outside of the book--whether I carry the first impression along with me as I read.

See this:

, I think is gorgeous. Beautiful photography, flawless pose, lovely lighting. I ended up not liking the book, but I realised I went into it a lot more positive than if it had been chesty guy clasping bosomy woman.

Which way do you go? Do you ignore the cover completely? Or does it influence you in tiny, subtle ways?

Here are some of my personal favourites, just so I can keep talking:



Yummy, yummier, yummiest. Those eyes. That mouth. Phoarr.

And this one:

Deceptively cartoonish on first glance, but if you look closer, her nails are almost talons, and the way he's buried in her neck makes you shiver.

And then there's the ones that don't give you even a smattering of insight into the book. Like:

. Can't think of a book less matched to a cover.

I agree on the first. I think you would like Faith Hunter's covers too.

I do, I loved the cover art for Bloodring. Haven't seen the other two but they look gorgeous from here. Again, deceptive. I couldn't for the life of me get into the first book. But like I said, I saw the cover and was smitten, and carried the smitten with me till about halfway through the book.

I do love covers I think Lara Adrian are great especially because you can almost miss the couple.




Then I also like the look of Kim Harrison's books


To answer your question titles and book covers help me with my purchase especially when I am buying something on a whim at the bookstore.

Moss, I'd wondered where you'd disappeard to. I hope the plague has completely passed, never to revisit.

For me, a lovely cover may make me read a blurb, but I'm far more affected by the covers I don't like. Since getting more into UF and PNR, I cringe at the sight of a scantily clad chica, complete with tramp stamp. The use of obvious stock photos also tends to make me reluctant. I resisted reading A Rush of Wings, and almost missed out on a book I loved, because the cover was so cheesy! And the trend doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.

I was quite upset at the new covers for MJD's Undead series. The cartoonish covers, though some didn't like them, were fun and VERY identifiable. Obvious branding. Now the new ones just have some trashy looking girl with dark sunglasses.

They changed it in response to market trends, but I preferred the originality of the old ones. Why do publishers want their books to blend into the crowd?

I think Jeaniene Frost's covers do a good job of mixing sexy woman with eerie elements, reflecting the tone of the series.

I agree on the Lara Adrian covers, and was a bit disappointed when they changed with the last book. I prefer the two-tone versions.

I'm currently reading this almost purely for the gorgeousness of the cover. Almost half way in now, and the book still hasn't completely grabbed me, but boy is the cover pretty to look at!

Other favorites are Melissa Marr's:


Jennifer Rardin's Jaz Parks series:


I also love the cover for Red-Headed Stepchild. Very striking:


And I think the Twilight series has beautifully simple covers:

I love all the white space on Rardin's. Certainly draws the eye.

I third the liking of the Lara Adrian covers. Kiss of Midnight is particularly striking and yep Dawn, it's nice that the couple are just barely visible.

Michelle, how interesting re the MJD covers--I have to confess they're mostly the reason I haven't bothered with the series yet. I don't much dig the cartoon art (also the reason I didn't explore the Sookie series for a long time). Mm...I think the prejudice comes from associating a cartoon cover with a very basic storyline (which, of course, is piffle. Sookie is terrific). I hear what you're saying about the point of diff though, the genre is crawling with vinyl-babe cover art.

DH:
The Ghostland cover is just gorgeous. And I LOVE the font, and the typeset of the title. And oh yes, the Melissa Marr books are ten different kinds of beautiful. I love their elegance. The Jaz Parks books are good too--they actually dovetail pretty well with my mental picture of her.

I liked the art that went with the Mortal Instruments books too:



How jailbait hottie is Jace in the first one?

And the other interesting thing is the better the cover art, the higher my expectations of the book. And the bigger the thud as they fall to the ground if it doesn't deliver. Go figure.

And it's not PNR, but the change-over of cover art I mourn the most is when all Terry Pratchett books stopped having Josh Kirby covers. Kind of understandable of course, seeing as how he passed away, but Pratchett books have never really felt quite the same to me since.

Moss wrote: "And it's not PNR, but the change-over of cover art I mourn the most is when all Terry Pratchett books stopped having Josh Kirby covers. Kind of understandable of course, seeing as how he passed aw..."

LOL, I debate this with my husband, as we both love Pratchett. I fully admit that had he not forced The Colour Of Magic on me, I would have skipped right over it due to the covers. However, as I fell in love with the books, I fell in love with the covers. He, however, likes the new "grown-up" covers as he thinks they appeal to a wider audience, which I suppose is true. I still like the old ones though.

Oh, and I've just ordered the first Mortal Instruments book, partly because of the good reviews and partly because of the awesome covers!

Several years ago, I realized that certain covers that caught my eye were all by the same artist--I believe his name was Thomas Canty. He did the fantasy book covers that looked like the paper ribbon that untwists that is used in a lot of wreath making and craft stuff. That was when I really started paying attention to how covers affect me. Now, there is more photography used in covers than paintings and there are some truly stunning covers out there. But I do think they make a differences in what catches your eye, at least.

I agree about the Betsy and Sookie books -- the cartoonish art doesn't appeal to me much, but the books are worth getting past that. Charlaine Harris said, in a book signing I attended, that the woman who did the Sookie covers, and is now doing the rereleased Aurora Teagarden covers, has gotten a lot of publicity from them and has been touring and speaking in her own right. Go figure. :)

And while I'm still undecided on the US Mercy Thompson covers in general (I prefer the UK ones), I loved the cover for Bone Crossed - gorgeous!

Ok, I too admit to mourning the loss of the old covers that did not all look alike. I am especially drawn to the old SciFi covers. The 1930's, 40's, 50's and early 60's ones. Going back and looking at some of those covers you can see where they were predicting the way many of today's more scientific items look. Take the old covers for rockets--look at one of them, then go and look at the boosters for the Shuttle. They are identical.
And I have a friend who is an "old time" cover artist for scifi/fantasy art. Ron Miller. He's even done some of the art work for several scifi movies (Dune--the original one, and Total Recall, some art work for Willow.) Plus of course all the covers he did. I even have one of his original paintings--he used Oz as one of his models--that's when she BECAME Ozma. That was who he painted her as. So I have the original of that painting. The picture that Oz uses as her avatar is the painting that Ron did of her.

That is too cool!

DarkHeart, the Red-Headed Stepchild cover, caught my eye in your challenge books (it's in my Amazon basket). I agree, the Melissa Marr covers are beautiful.

I love the US Versions of the Mercy Thompson series. :)



This is another favourite.

Jennifer: did he do some early Tanith Lee books? Because he reminds me of her. It's nice to put a face to the art...he's pretty prolific I think, from first impression--you see his work in a lot of places. Some of it is mesmerizing. I wonder what medium he works in.

Ann: Oh my God, Ron Miller's art! I remember it from Dune--it was like he went into my head and drew Arrakis. His space art is amazing. Oh and I LOVED the art design in Willow. Gush gush gush. Lucky you having an original!

Mmm yes, the Mercy Thompson books are lovely. Haven't actually read them, but how can I not now, with that kind of representation on the front?

Yes, I miss the times when covers didn't all look the same, LOL. :(

This one's got me curious:


Is the book anything at all like the cover? She looks a little feral, in an interesting way. I keep hearing differing opinions about the series--it's a love-hate tie at the moment, at least from what I've read.

Moss wrote: "This one's got me curious:


Is the book anything at..."

LOL, I have a friend who refuses to read this series based solely on the covers. I wouldn't say I love them, but I certainly didn't loathe them like some others did. I found them enjoyable enough to read the first two and buy the third.

My fixation with YA books at the moment has resulted in a few recent purchases with gorgeous covers:


And although my opinion on the series is a bit mixed, I bought the House of Night books initially almost entirely for the covers. The detail is hard to see in the small pics, but they are gorgeous:

new_user, those are amazing covers. I may have to add that series to my list just for the covers. I never chose a book by it's cover. I only read what my fabulous friends here have recommended. I do find some covers very annoying though and hate it when they don't reflect the content of the book.

I love the Mortal Instruments books and the covers are gorgeous. Jace is definitely a jail bait hottie Moss. I bought the hard backs just because they were so beautiful.

Loving the good reviews on the Mortal Instruments books. I just ordered the first one the other day.

The Mortal Instruments covers caught my eye in the library, i've got my little sister and my niece, hooked on the series. I'm impatiently waiting to read City of Glass, it isn't released in the UK, until July.

Ok, here is a very, very, VERY old one--now out of print. Its not strictly speaking a PNR--actually, strictly speaking I'm not sure WHAT it is. It has some paranormal elements, some scifi elements, humour, seriousness, curses, gods, robots, and a lot of self introspection on the parts of the characters, as well as some flirting and a married couple. I bought the first book because of the cover--I LOVED that giant bird. The author has made the 4 books in this series available for free download--info here http://www.mayerbrenner.com/

DarkHeart wrote: "My fixation with YA books at the moment has resulted in a few recent purchases with gorgeous covers:
[bc:Tithe A Modern Faerie Tale|46777|Tithe A Modern Faerie Tale (Book 1)|Holly Black|http://ph..."

The Holly Black book reminds me of the Naked in death edition I have. Beautiful. And there's something about butterflies that works really well with YA books, all that fragility and colour.

LOVE the Mortal Instruments books. Can't wait for the prequels she's writing.

The Brenner books sound interesting, Ann!

I feel the pull of whimsical covers more than pretty ones. Especially those that make me laugh. These covers made me chuckle...the actual stories made me laugh out loud. They were just as fun and quirky as the cover seemed to claim.

(Bear with me if the html below goes wonky - I'm typing from my mob.)


A Dirty Job




Gil's All Fright Diner

Oh! It worked!

On A Dirty Job, the color is truly hot pink on black, and the pin-striped clad leg image follows through on the back of the book. I think Martinez's cover has a wrapped image too. I like the thought involved and the fact that they really reflect the content.

I've always thought the covers to the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris were cute



Now for some covers that are fun to stare at, Elizabeth Amber's books do nicely

well, if we want males to drool over Sarah, how about some of Sandra Hill's books?

Moss, I love that cover of Naked in Death, it's so pretty.

I like the UK book covers of the Dark Hunter series, especially Sins of the Night.

Shazzy wrote: "I like the UK book covers of the Dark Hunter series, especially Sins of the Night..."

I agree. My DH set is the UK one as is my BDB, because I prefer the covers. Very yummy.

DarkHeart, I also prefer the UK BDB covers. They're definitely yummy.

Michelle, the Christopher Moore cover is cute! I love whimsy on covers too, although it seems to be a dying practice. I always like Donna Tartt covers, although they hardly count as whimsy. This one gives me the kind of chills I love:

I love the covers of the Lords of the Underworld books by Gena Showalter... they're yummy and pretty at the same time, and they actually relate to the book inside them. (Crazy, right?)

Nichole wrote: "I love the covers of the Lords of the Underworld books by Gena Showalter... they're yummy and pretty at the same time, and they actually relate to the book inside them. (Crazy, right?)

[bc:The D..."

Mm yes I forgot about these. They are definitely yum. I've got the first one--don't like the book but am keeping it for the pretty cover picture.

Yes IA I think I fell in love with Lucian just from the cover. that guy is delicious!

He is indeed hot, Jael, but not representative, since Lucien's scars are a big part of the character. I get why, but it still irks me!

Some I've Read :


Some on my wish list:

Those certainly are nice covers. It's too bad what's between the pages isn't always as good, but they do accomplish their purpose.

Michelle M. wrote: "He is indeed hot, Jael, but not representative, since Lucien's scars are a big part of the character. I get why, but it still irks me!"

Yeah, I agree, though it does have his mismatched eyes which I didn't notice right away.

Moss, you didn't like the Darkest Night? I'll admit it wasn't my favorite, but I liked it well enough. Just finished number 2 last night, and again, not one of my favorites, but I liked it a lot.

Moss wrote: "Jennifer: did he do some early Tanith Lee books? Because he reminds me of her. It's nice to put a face to the art...he's pretty prolific I think, from first impression--you see his work in a lot ..."

Yep, I think he did. Here's an example...



Here's another artist that always catches my eye. Haven't got a name for the artist, though...

Nichole, I didn't notice the mismatched eyes. Good call!

I didn't love the three books either, though Lucien and Anya's was the best. They were the most developed. The other two couples seemed somehow flat to me. I noticed you commenting on Paris' dilemma on another thread. I may keep reading just to find out what happens to him!

Nichole wrote: "Moss, you didn't like the Darkest Night? I'll admit it wasn't my favorite, but I liked it well enough. Just finished number 2 last night, and again, not one of my favorites, but I liked it a lot. ."


Nope, didn't care for it at all. The toothbrush scene just pushed me over the edge.

Jennifer: The Kushiel books always have beautiful covers. I must try reading one sometime, although the size of them always scares me off.

Moss wrote: "Nope, didn't care for it at all. The toothbrush scene just pushed me over the edge. "

Hmm. I don't remember a toothbrush scene... you'll have to jog my memory.
Overall I've been satisfied with the two books I've read so far, but there were a lot of little things that really got on my nerves, so I can't say I blame you for not liking it.
But I still maintain that the covers are pretty pretty!

Nichole wrote: "Moss wrote: "Nope, didn't care for it at all. The toothbrush scene just pushed me over the edge. "

Hmm. I don't remember a toothbrush scene... you'll have to jog my memory.
Overall I've been sa..."


Chapter 12:

"Ashlyn moaned. She threw back her head and arched toward him, a plea for more. He let his tongue dabble, flicking back and forth [over her nipple:], then sampled the other one, giving it the same treatment.

His blood burned for more, but he set her back on her feet and pushed her toward the sink. Soon. Without a word, he handed her the toothbrush he'd acquired for her earlier and claimed his own. He wanted to be perfect for her."


The mind boggles. It truly does.

With all due credit to Michelle M (I think), who first pointed this out.

LOL.
Well, oral hygiene is important. :)

O.M.G i'm not saying anything other than::how gross::what a turn off::perhapes they were for something else other than teeth:} ::there thats it Ha Ha::

Adrienne wrote: "O.M.G i'm not saying anything other than::how gross::what a turn off::perhapes they were for something else other than teeth:} ::there thats it Ha Ha::"

Ooh, I think that's worse...