Passion Post: Cover Art

In my recent post about my "passions" I included art. I didn't say specifically cover art, but that is definitely part of my passion.

I am as guilty as anyone of "judging a book by its cover." But I have realized over the past few years that books with beautiful covers are not necessarily brilliant on the inside, and vice versa. Today, I want to give some examples of book covers I have loved and hated, that illustrate that lack of correspondence. You may or may not agree with me. I get that. It's all personal taste.

Well, mostly :P. Some art just simply sucks.

Anyway....

I'm going to start with the book that was the subject of my post on Monday. Harry Potter.

Yep, as much as I adore these books, I have never liked the covers. I don't like the style of painting, the nearly monochromatic color schemes, the lack of contrast in the images. I find them un-eye-catching. If I had not been told about these books with such enthusiasm by my next door neighbor, I may not have ever opened one.

Next, The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson:

I. Love. This. Book.

I discovered it after reading another book by her, Dragon's Egg. It's cover was much cooler, but I honestly picked it up because of the title (hello, dragon!). I went back to the library to see what other books she'd written, and found The Secret of the Rose. Inside is a beautifully written story. Outside is, well, a very plain, ugly painting and a rose that is pasted in. Bleh.

But please, follow in my footsteps and bypass the cover art!

And the most recent offender--the one which prompted this whole post. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. 

I just finished reading this. The prose in this book is gorgeous. It's what I'd call a paranormal romance/urban fantasy. But the romance didn't get too squishy (except a couple spots) and the author's descriptive ability blew my mind. The story is very deep, with a unique and imaginative story world.

But I bypassed this book many times. The cover, to me, screams "Mardi Gras" and the mask looks pasted in. And once I got into the book, I just got angrier and angrier about the cover. The main character is a tattoo covered chick with peacock blue hair. She is raised by chimeara (creatures composed essentially of human and animal combined--think head of tiger, human torso, reptilian legs--you get the picture). Oh, and she's an artist, who draws these creatures all the time. My mind goes to a million places where this cover could use all of that, yet it is about as un-artistic and un-other-worldly as can be. Not the least bit representative of what is inside. There is actually a mask worn by the MC about three-fourths of the way through the book, but it is not just blue feathers, it is a bird face complete with beak.

Ugh. Seriously.

In preparation for this post, I did some searching to find other posts about the cover of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and did discover that there is a German version that is quite lovely and closer to what I'd imagine for this story. Although, I still would love to see something--even if just an element of the cover--drawn, because, hello, the MC is a freaking artist (as referenced about a bazillion times in the book).

Hm...okay...this post is getting longer than I expected. So, I'm gonna cut it here, for now, and pick it up next time. Tell me--shall I continue with more books I love with covers I hate, or go on to the other side of the coin and post some books I hate with covers I love?

In the Mean Time

So, if you aren't following me on Facebook, and haven't peeked over at my other site www.findingangel.com, you may not know that the Kindle version of Finding Angel came out a couple of days ago. The print version was scheduled to release today, but the dates are not guaranteed. Sigh....

I will, of course, post on here when the print version is appears--probably in really, BIG, happy letters!

In the mean time, I wanted to share some Middle Grade / Young Adult books I've read and loved, just to get ya in the mood.

The most recent, while not fantasy, is a book called Dani Noir, by Nova Ren Suma. The author's name was enough to intrigue me, the title is just cool, and the cover cinched it. But what totally sold me on this book is the author's voice. It's first person present, which some people claim is overdone. But the truth is, what is overdone is authors using first person present poorly. Nova Ren Suma knows how to do it right, though.

The plot is straightforward--13 yr old Dani's parents have just divorced because her dad left her mom for another woman. Dani escapes her reality by watching old movies--Rita Hayworth movies, femme fatale movies--in the one, tiny theater in her tiny town.

But she soon begins to suspect something is wrong--her dad doesn't seem to be the only one betraying loved ones. There is definitely some seriousness in this book, but the humorous voice of the character Dani keeps it in balance--a balance that I think works really well. I truly enjoyed this book.

Another I really loved is The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell. I've reviewed this book before, I believe, but it is one of my favorites. Makenna is a hedgewitch who flees her village when her mother is murdered for practicing magic. She soon finds herself in an alliance with the goblins of the woods she hides in.


The Goblin Wood is simply a well-written and interesting story with believable characters that kept me captive the entire time and made me wish there was more when I got to the end. Oh, and guess what! There is. The series continues with The Goblin Gate.

And a third, also not fantasy, is The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson. (No, that is not misspelled--there is no "p" in her last name.) This book is set in London in the 1590s, which makes it a very odd choice for me. I'm not into historical novels at all, but I picked this book up on a whim at the library one day. The main character, Rosalind, is forced to disguise herself as a boy and take a job as a scribe for a playwright to protect herself and her younger brother while they try to get their father out of jail. Their crime--being Catholic. I really felt the time period while reading this book, without being overwhelmed by too much detail.

That's enough, I suppose. Don't want to get you too busy reading before *my* book comes out!