On a whim, I decided to reaquaint myself with the genre and it's many, many subgenres (and there are a gazillion subgenres: vampires, gothic, mystery, fantasy, historic, futuristic, time travel, ghosts, western, gay, etc, etc). Since I'm on a budget, I thought instead of buying some books, maybe I'd just do a little surfing to see what romance authors, fans, and publishers have to say for themselves.
Everything was going rather smoothly until I spotted this (WARNING: Probably not suitable for work. Definitely not suitable for kids):
Um, WTF?! Now before you accuse me of seeking out and posting soft-core porn on my innocent blog I do want to point out that a) this book was found on a reputable romance novel review website and b) it is on sale at Amazon.com (although Amazon has, rightly so IMHO, categorized it as "erotica").
Anyway, this got me to thinking about book covers and wondering if authors get any say in the layout/design. I mean, did the author(s) of BSA above have any opp to veto the cover before it went on the market? Then again, given the title and back cover description, I suspect this cover art was exactly what they were aiming for.
So then I started wondering what other hidden gems I might discover in the way of cheesy romance covers. Allow me to share (and I promise nothing will be quite as, er, eye opening as the previous item):
It probably goes without saying that if I saw this man and his lustrous mullet beckoning me, I would run screaming in the other direction. Oh, and given a viking's penchant for mostly northerly climes, why does this fellow look like he just stepped out of a tanning bed?
Do you think this poor chap realizes his pants are made of kryptonite? I suspect that explains his rather stiff stance. Hell, at least he's wearing pants...
Which is more than I can say for this guy. Christ almighty. Get a room you two!
"My dearest! What dost thou think of my man-girdle? Sexy, no?" If this is how Scottish border lords typically dress (Philip?), I can't say I blame the gal down there in the world's smallest hot tub for having a drink. Bottoms up sister, looks like you'll need it.
PS Be sure to take a peek at one artist's tongue-in-cheek look at romance novel covers. Very, very funny.
PPS Good lord. Do you think Michelle has this on the wall of her office at the White House?
The dress code is not too authentic, but the cheesy smile, the hands on hips and the "balls out front" stance is how my people do it. Give it a go, it is very liberating.
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