Book Lovers Inc.
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The Good, the Bad and the Are-You-Kidding-Me?
Filed in Book Covers , The Geeky Lover , The HEA Lover Posted on May 23, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
22 comments
Herzlich willkommen to our next German cover post. After last times French sneak attack we decided to take a look at what the German publishing industry has to show.
We have a vast variety of covers this time- some good, some bad and yes we have the third kind too.
Caroline: I will admit that I don’t know Michelle Raven’s books but I’m really not attracted by this cover. I’m not even sure what makes me dislike it. o_O
The Faith Hunter cover is pretty, I love the color and the font. BUT it’s not really Jane. That girl is pretty but I’m just too used to the model on the original covers, a model who looked very Indian. So yeah…pretty but not really fitting the story.
When I first glanced at the Mary Jaice Davidson my first thought was O_O <==yes that’s a thought lol. I didn’t like it, but the more I look at it, the more I see its mertis. Susi will probably say ‘It’s BLUE’ as a comment though *g* I think it’s not that bad in the end. The only thing annoying me is the foot of the glass that look like it’s badly photoshopped *shrug*
Susi: I don’t know Ms Raven’s books either but this cover is weird. The guy is way too much photoshopped. He looks so unreal. And why are the mountains so shiny? What is hidden in that valley which is also his crotch? The eternal light? The source of eternal use? Who knows.
The Faith Hunter cover is sooo pretty but not at all Jane. I agree completely with Caro on this one. I’m sure the cover would fit a different novel bit Jane is not such a beauty-queen and I would never picture her like that.
And yes Caro I say it: this cover is awfully blue and even worse for me is the title. Let me translate for you:
“Weiblich, ledig, untot – süß wie Blut und teuflisch gut” means as much as “Female, single, undead – sweet as Blood and devilishly good” I swear it doesn’t make anymore sense in German. And look at the blood that runs down the glass? Where does it come from? Is it mysteriously colorchanging liquid in the glass? Confusing cover.
Caroline: I hadn’t seen the blood driping from the glass until you pointed it out. lol Alright so it makes no sense I’ll admit lol.
Caroline: Puh-lease!!! The Meljean Brook cover has been butchered! *sob* It was so pretty, why make it a comic style cover?! I do like the Speampunk clock-like background. But that guy is NOT the Iron Duke. I just don’t see him like that…not remotely! *sigh*. To be honest, when Susi first showed me that cover I thought it was Archimedes Fox and that it was the cover for book 2/
Hey, why is Reese Witherspoon on this cover? LOL Admit it, that model looks like her. That’s one very MEH cover we have here. It’s..blue (ah take that Susi, I stole your comment once again LOL). And that background is just ugly. *shudders*
Why is that guy on the cover of Across the Universe so caucasian?! That book already suffered from a whitewashing ‘scandal’ and now they are whitewashing it even more for the German audience? MEH! I do like the cover though, it’s pretty and it’s close to the original cover. I haven’t read it so I don’t know if the ethnicity is a big deal or not in it.
Susi: I so agree about the poor Iron Duke. Why oh why do they ruin that wonderful hunky and strong guy we met in the book. Did anyone ever picture him like that? He looks so young and like a casanova and just nothing like the real deal. But the background steampunk thing is nice.
This Carly Phillips cover looks just so plain cheap. In Germany they tend to give most every book these German chick lit covers with a happy sappy girl on it and some stupid title. They all look plainly the same and this one is a wonderful example. Would never buy one of those cuz for me it says “hey I’m exactly like the 50 other books standing in this shelf”. I really wish they would show a bit more creativity with these.
So yes we Germans don’t seem to learn from others’ mistakes. So yes they did it- they whitewashed the whitewashed cover and it’s even worse than before. But even when we ignore that fact this cover is just not my cup of tea. The only thing I can see are his eyebrows. LOL I wouldn’t buy this book cuz actually it just looks boring.
Caroline:I LOVE the cover of the Thea Harrison book. It’s gorgeous and WAY better than the original in my opinon. I love the colors, the city by night, the model, the tattoo…NOM I even love the font! I just wish the original book had this cover so I could pet it all the time. NOM NOM NOM
I don’t know the Leslie Parrish book and I’m not sure what this cover is trying to tell me. o_O It’s a weird cover. Is that a UF ? I’m a bit speechless about it. Only that I wouldn’t be attracted by that cover.
What…the F*ck is this cover??? Susan Mallery’s cover is…O_o…well for once it’s ugly, and it took me 10 minutes to figure out the ugly blue square was supposed to be a pillow. The colors don’t go together, the background is fugly…again speechless by all this fugliness. Blehhh.
My favorite is the Thea Harrison cover <3 and the worst is the Susan Mallery cover.
Susi: I completely agree- Thea Harrison cover is just wonderful. I usually don’t like these tattoo covers but this one just works. The arrangement is so balanced and still attracts the eye. I love the colors too- very mysterious and intriguing.
So I read this Leslie Parrish book and I chose the cover because seriously WTF. Would anyone think that this is romantic suspense about a psychotic serial killer who’s auctioning off life murders through the internet? What does the flower tell us about that? This book was really gritty and dark and unsurprisingly with this topic it has some rather not so nice gruesome scenes. This cover doesn’t tell me anything about being a FBI-mass-murder romantic suspense. Big fail for me.
And just OMG poor Susann Mallery. What did they do to her German Hot on her Heels cover? Get awfully drunk cuz cover artist #1 is preggers and the rest celebrated like crazy and then they realized damn we need to make a cover for this Susann Mallery book? So the drunkies and the pregnant woman put together what they thought would be great? Only explanation I can come up with. And does anyone know if there are any fugly stuffed toys in this book?
And I agree about the favorites with you- this time.
Caroline:ROFL your explanation sounds likely LOL And you’re right that monkey is the elephant in the room, it’s fugly and kinda creepy too. O_O If you look more closely it’s actually made of dildos lol
Susi: LMAO Bwahahahha. And why does the pillow look like it’s cut out of paper? What does this tell us? I don’t get.
Which cover is your favorite? Which do you think is the worst?
What do you think about the whitewashing of an already whitewashed cover? <==it’s a mouthful to say
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I agree, the Thea Harrison cover looks great and better than the original 🙂
And I do like the Meljean Brook cover..BUT if it was a middle grade book. Not as an adult cover
@blodeuedd No one would suspect smut with that cover. O_o Crazy!
@Blodeuedd Honestly I'm thinking of getting the German cover, cutting the cover and sticking in of the US book. LOL It's just too damn delicious!
LOL yeah that doesn't say SEXY to me!
Mary Jaice Davidson's cover is nice – I like blue so it works for me.Thea Harrison book's cover is very very interesting. Susan Mallery – bad choice of colours and really insignificant graphic design.
sock monkeys are a deal breaker with me. I.Do.Not.Like.Them. enough said.
I like the smexy man back with the dragon tattoo 😉 yum.
I was about to say "oh, these covers are kinda cool" when I spied the Meljean Brook cover. That's just wrong, man! It's not that it's in cartoon style…it's that it's in a bright, tidy, festive style that runs so absolutely contrary to the war-torn, desperate, deadly world that Ms. Brook created.
Bad artist, no cookie for you!
@pattepoilue Good plan! LOL
@anachronist I have a huge problem with blue- so I actually can't stand it. And it looks so simple. Meh. Yes insignificant graphic design LOL
@Sharon LOL indeed enough said.
@Alisha LOL yes it is wrong. Imagine a ten year old grabbing it. O_O And yes more cookies for us please. Bwahahah
I kind of liked the Mary Jaice Davidson cover until Susi pointed out the blood. That's definitely a negative. I really like Thea Harrison's cover and totally dislike Susan Mallory's cover. It looks like a page in one of my kids seek and find books.
Congratulations. You two outdid yourselves with weird this week! These are just so…odd. I can't figure which Carly Phillips book is being insulted. Poor Susan Mallery–a sock monkey? Really? The Meljean Brook cover is criminally wrong. Susi–would the original Iron Duke cover not sell in Germany? I mean, is that the one place in the world it wouldn't sell?
Agh! My brain literally refused to process The Iron Duke cover. Even seeing MelJean's name wasn't enough for me to make that horrid connection
@LSUReader The Carly Phillips bóok is Love me If you dare. Would have never guessed that either. LOL And I think the original would have sold BUT the Germans (not including myself) seem to not like mantitties. We are the prudes concerning books. We show boobs all day in tv but man chest on a cover freaks us out? So sad,. =(
@draconismoi LOL yes, it seems she'S writing kids' books now.
*needs more coffee to see all comments*
@ChrisS The blood is so misplaced on that one. And when I find something like that I can't focus on anything else on a cover. And yes, like one of those book- poor Susan Mallory. This one really is so bad.
@Anachronist See I knew I wasn't the only one thinking the Mary Kanice Davidson cover wasn't THAT bad! =)
@Sharon Sock monkey = scary and not sexy I agree!
@Alisha I can't even imagine how many German will pick up the Iron Duke book thinking it's for YA with such a cover *sigh*
@Chris the blood really ruins a nice cover. :/
@LSUReader You know, I'm pretty sure they would change the cover of the Iron Duke in France too! lol *sigh* I guess some countries are not ready for half naked men! :/ When you go in French Bookstore you don't see chests and mantitties…the only ones are the Harlequin Nocturne and they are hidden in a corner ….as if it was shameful! meh
@Draconimoi Believe me, I had the same reaction. I thought it was for book 2…not Iron duke! meh
Gotta admit, some of those covers make no sense. I think that Leslie Parrish one is a romantic suspense? Maybe. Very strange covers indeed. But some are very pretty. Thanks for showing these.
Oh, those aren't the best or the worst covers, really!
I know why I don't buy German books anymore xD
Like the post! 🙂
@Julianna Yes it is romantic suspense. Really gruesome at some points. Good series- so sad she stopped writing them.
@Patricia Me too hon! And yes there are really bad ones on our market. 😉
What? No mantitties for German readers? The poor, poor suffering darlings!
Thea's is the best and the others are just WTH to downright ew.
As for whitewashing, since at no point did the male model on "Across the Universe" look remotely Asian, I don't care one way or the other. I just don't like that "non-Caucasian" is automatically African-American, considering that the majority of the people in the world are Asian.
@Sheree Yes poor Germans indeed. *sad Susi* I have not the slightest idea about that book, just know there was a prob with the cover. I don't get why pubs do this but probably it's all about the money they can make- one way or the other.
Oooweee, my favorite post! LOL..
I love talk about cover, and drooling for them , or criticize them 😛
For this German edition, sadly just Thea Harrison's Dragon Bound cover that look great to me! The others, meh! Esp for Carly Phillips cover. Is the book for adult or YA? Duh! And The Iron Duke cover more suitable if it's for graphic novel. I must said this is epic fail! 😛
Oh, don't worry Susi, folks in Indonesia never have man-chest titty and man-abs at translated cover, unless the publisher use the original cover (it happen at Lords of The Underworlds series, squeee!) So I know your feeling 😉
Hummmmm
I don´t like the "Ghost walker", the guy is irreal, much photoshopped.
But the cover of the Thea Harrion book is fantastic.
The cover of Susan Mallery , eh?
@Ren Yes you are right. I think Carly Phillps writes ChicLit(I'm so bad with genres) but definitely no YA.
@Welzen Exactly…looks like a bad PS job.