Sunday 22 January 2012

A tale of two covers

As you must all be sick of hearing, We’ll Always Have Paris is out this month in the UK.  For reasons I don’t quite understand, it’s not out in North America until April, so I haven’t had any author copies of that edition yet.  However, I stumbled upon the cover on Amazon the other day, and very pleased I am with it too.  My usual reaction to a cover is a ‘hhhmmmnnn’ at best, but I like this one. 

The Paris background is just the bluey-grey colour I always associate with Paris, and the heroine looks pretty much like I imagined Clara. Simon Valentine is a buttoned-up economist, so the suit and tie work well for him. And they’re absorbed in each other, unlike the couple on the front of the RIVA edition, where she looks downright sulky, I think, and he looks as if he should really be at school. 

The Simon on the front of the NA edition does at least look as if he might have a degree in economics.  He reminds me of Ben Affleck in Armageddon (Remember that film?  I’m a big fan of disaster movies, as we all seem to call them now, and Armageddon was one of my faves. Now that was plotting and pace.)  Here’s a picture of Ben in the film: am I right or am I right? 

The background is also disquietingly similar to the famous shot in the film when Paris is wiped out by an asteroid – when they didn’t always have Paris, in fact.  Now every time I look at the cover, I want to shout, ‘Hurry up and kiss!  There’s an asteroid heading your way!’

I suppose the NA edition is a little more old-fashioned, while the RIVA cover (right) is sharper and more contemporary, as befits the story (or so I think). 

I’ve always had a shameful tendency to judge a book by its cover, so covers are really important to me when it comes to whether I’ll pick up a book or not and I suspect they also influence how I read it too.  What about you?

5 comments:

  1. Know what you mean, Jessica. When I'm faced with a shelf of new Harlequin books, my hand always reaches for the cover that appeals first! That applies to titles too. I'm so glad Harlequin is leaning toward titles that sound more like single titles-if you know what I mean. 'Well Always Have Paris' is a fabulous title! ms

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  2. Glad you like the title, Margie. Of course, Clara and Simon don't just have Paris, they have the Indian Ocean and the Scottish Highlands too, lucky things.

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  3. Yep, on balance I'd vote for the NA cover, too. But I don't mind the Riva. The purple and the tower and fireworks work nicely together. But yes, they look like they're on a final year school excursion.

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  4. I'm digging the US cover as I think it will stand the test of time longer - it ha a classier feel and from your description, is far more appropriate to the story.

    I can't say I'm a fan of the UK 'split the page in half by a diagonal line' front covers at all though.

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  5. I often prefer the RIVA covers to the Romance or Presents covers in the US. But this NA cover is gorgeous. It’s good to see the comparison because I’m in Australia and always buy the international version I like the best!

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