Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

She looks eerily like Victoria Beckham from where I’m sitting.

I haven’t been able to track it down but this looks to me like a photograph that was on a 60’s Ellery Queen paperback novel.  I’ll keep looking.

Thanks a lot, Sarah. Now all I can think about is donuts. Dooonuuuts… </Homer Simpson>

Well, that & the fact that apparently I’m luckier than I knew. The idea of being able to fit a donut around my partner’s “IT” made me laugh & laugh.

I still like my cover best.

The funniest thing is...if you go to my marisela.info website, you’ll see that I used another stock photo from THIS SAME SHOOT for my website image!  I had no idea the same chica would end up on my cover.  At the time, I thought it was kismet.  Now, I’m thinking there are simply not enough stock images of girls with guns.

“Well, that & the fact that apparently I’m luckier than I knew. The idea of being able to fit a donut around my partner’s “IT” made me laugh & laugh.”

Danielle, I’m with you on this one--where is this woman buying her donuts?? (Or finding her men??)

::snicker:: my spam word is efforts93. That’s probably how many efforts it would take to try to get a donut to fit properly without it crumbling to pieces. (The donut, not IT)…

Interesting to finally see the whole pic. She looks like a black woman to me and thus the full pic could inadvertenly niche a book as African American.

I have to say I generally prefer headless cover model shots because it’s jarring to read of a heroine that looks nothing like the cover model.

Actually Julie, there are millions of stock photos of women with guns, but most of them are terrible.

I was actually recently surfing stock photo sites for ideas, so that when I send in a cover request I at least know what’s possible.  And you know what?  There’s a load of crap out there, and very few usable images.  I was looking for ideas for a fantasy cover, which was damn hard since most of the photos are very modern.  So, I’m not surprised they get re-used.

However, at least these covers look appropriate for the books (with the possible question mark over the fire extinguisher).  I’d rather have a duplicate cover than a misleading one.  My book Almost Human is actually a fantasy erotic romance...but with the new paperback photo cover, I fear it looks more like a story of robot luurve.  I actually prefer the e-book Poser cover.

I’m sure the reason for the trend of not having women’s heads on the covers of romances is so it’s a little less obvious that they’re using the same woman over and over.

My first thought was also that she looked like VIctoria “Posh Spice” Beckham!

And...donuts? I always heard it was pineapple rings. (Which also don’t really have big enough holes. Plus I hate pineapple.)

We know that it is NOT Posh, however, because Posh would never appear on the cover of a book that mentioned donuts. No matter what was done with them.

Setting aside the issue of size, my question is - what kind of donuts?  As my hubby just reminded me, wouldn’t the glaze melt before you were done?  Talk about a cleanup nightmare.

I will never look at donuts the same way again.  Probably better for my hips.  *sigh*

Not for anything, but a local bakery used to make really big donuts with really big holes.  Now I’m starting to wonder…

Cat, I definitely like your print cover better.  It says, “Sexy.” Isn’t that all it needs to say?

Actually I remember when Undercover Mistress came out because I knew the author. A few weeks after the book’s debut she was in a music store and found a cheap album of movie music (I think it was from the James Bond films) with exactly that same cover.

That’s when we found out about stock photos.

As always, remember, the AUTHOR is not responsible for the cover art. The book is a nice fun read.

I’m wondering either where the hell they get those monster donuts, or else they’re sleeping with guys far smaller than mine.

A local bakery around here sells “star” donuts.

You get no points for guessing what the star in the middle looks JUST LIKE.  Or that they come in chocolate.

The sad part?  They’re pretty tasty donuts.

Janet/Cricket...no one said it wasn’t!  I’d like to think my book is a fun read too, no matter how many times this cover art is used on other books!

Like I said on a previous thread...my new book has art that has been on another cover, too.  The author and I share the same agent and even though she’d seen both covers many times, she didn’t make the connection, I did!  It manages to look very different in this one case, but when it’s your baby, you tend to know what it looks like, lOL!

This post was super hard to read without laughing loudly and spooking my cube-mate. I’m pretty sure my “almost-silent” snorking was weird enough.

That fire extinguisher is hilarious! In no way does it actually look like she’s holding it. And the tension in her arms from holding the gun in “suspense pose” makes it look like she’s about to hit him with the fire extinguisher like a golf club.

And then the doughnuts… *snork*

>>How did she know I think about donuts during sex all the time???<<

I thought that was Candy.  Isn’t she the one who got married in the funky donut shop? The one that makes the salaciously shaped donuts?

Maybe you need to put the donuts on “it” before “it” gets excited But then I’m imagine a limp “it” with a donut around it and it’s not turning me on, it’s making me laugh hysterically.  Somehow, I don’t think she actually considered whether her suggestions were workable or not...either that or we all need to feel really sorry for her.

I think this woman is going to shoot someone for a donut.

I can’t help but think that the prevalence of stock photos like this one and the “flippy pink skirt woman” can be partly contributed to society’s current framework for ideal female beauty: long, lean and limber (aka toned). Not that there’s anything wrong with being long and lean (and I don’t think these women look anorexic like most models, thank God) but I am so bored with this image. Why are there not more curvy women, dammit? Or at least some who don’t have gazelle legs that make me want to snap them like twigs because dammit if *my* calves weren’t so rounded I could wear tall boots, too!

/rant

I’m not really bitter. But beauty is plural. And I’ve been overexposed to this “shape” of beauty and my eyes tend to glaze over images like this these days. =p

This woman has pink feet and orange legs. WHY? WHY do people who do Mystic Tan never get their feet done? It looks SO tacky otherwise!

I’m sorry, but that woman’s boob job is egregious!!! Those bad boys, when combined with the mad photoshop fire hydrant skillz (the horror!!), kill my faith in humanity.

I think this is rather common when publishers use stock art. My cover for TABOO by Samhain has a couple that I’ve seen now several times.  Hey, it’s a great shot, why not use it! LOL!

http://lesliedicken.com/taboo/