Ten Book Cover Trends We Dislike

This post is brought to you courtesy of Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week: Ten Book Cover Trends We Dislike.

Rachel’s Five

1. Gendered covers

This is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially in YA book covers. Books featuring female protagonists or written by women are frequently given “girly” covers—ones with lots of pink and pretty female models—no matter the content.  Unfortunately, this appears to be a solely women-oriented thing: you almost never see a male model grace the cover of a YA book featuring a male protagonist. Last year, author Maureen Johnson highlighted the issue by challenging readers to re-envision the covers of their favorite novels as if the book had been written by an author of the opposite gender. The results were pretty spectacular.

But in general, I hate any cover with a pretty white female on it (which you may notice is almost every cover on my list). They discourage boys from picking up a book they might otherwise enjoy. They don’t represent the diversity of society. They contribute to the impossible beauty standards young girls face. And they are lazy. It’s just a huge don’t for me.

2. The all-seeing eye

This trend has been around forever, but I think it saw a resurgence after The Host. I wish it wouldn’t have. I mean seriously: a giant eye? What exactly is the point? And why only one? Relatedly, I’m tired of the “special eyes” trope, so this cover is an immediate turn off for me. I don’t want to read about special or scary or knowing or beautiful eyes. Just, no.  

3. The beheading

This is a trend that spans genres, but it seems particularly popular in historical fiction. Goodreads even has several lists dedicated to the trend. I guess in the abstract it makes sense—the reader can imagine the protagonist however they like. But there are better ways to pull off that lofty goal than chopping off your model’s head. I’m just not into it.

4. Black backgrounds

Ah, Stephanie Meyers—the bringer of so many bad trends. I have to admit, the Twilight cover was pretty cool when it came out. But I’m over it. I’m tired of depressing, melodramatic black backgrounds. Give me a colorful illustration any day. 

On the plus side, I think this is the only trend on my list that doesn't also feature a pretty white female on the cover.

5. The Weeping Prom Queen 

If I have to endure this cover, I expect to read a scene in the book where the heroine is weeping in the forest wearing a monstrosity of a dress.

Bonus trend I do like: Minimal graphic/illustrated designs aka "The Rainbow Rowell”

As far as I’m concerned, Rainbow Rowell is the queen of amazing covers. The minimal and graphic nature are gender-neutral; they don’t create unattainable beauty standards; and they are pleasing to the eye. Win, win, win. 



Diana’s Five

Honestly, picking on romance covers seems like poor sport. They’re just SO awful. Even when they’re way ahead of the competition…they barely crack mediocre. A more worthy challenge might be to try to find five things that I like about romance novel covers—but there’s simply no way I could find all five. So here I am, sitting above my barrel of fish with my machine gun. 

1.   Ball gowns that absolutely refuse to stay up

A highly scientific study of my iBooks library informs me that approximately 95% of historical romance novel covers feature a heroine with a dress sliding precariously off of at least one shoulder. I guess…shoulders are super sexy? Maybe they need something like this bra strap converter to hold their dresses together. 

2. Invisible lover syndrome

Why does she look like that? What’s happening with her dress? Who is she even posing for? Who reads letters like that? Who do those hands belong to? 

No but for real guys what's going on with that letter?

3. The almost-kiss

These photo-shoots must be awkward. “Just a little closer! Nuzzle her neck! Eskimo kisses! Now nibble her chin! Yes! Just like that.” 

4. Men in white shirts

Negative points if the shirt is anywhere near plaid, or if it’s draped becomingly around the hero’s enormous biceps (I mean, is it really that hard just to remove the damn thing?). I’m pretty sure romance novel photographers have been using the same stupid billowy white shirt since the Fabio days.

5. The Africa Tree

Leaving romance for a moment, Africa’s Country ran a story a few weeks ago with a pretty upsetting picture attached: a whole bunch of totally disparate books all bearing covers featuring an acacia tree against an orange sky. What they had in common? They’re all novels “about Africa.” Nor is this problem limited to books set in Africa—the Africa Tree’s near cousin is the Veiled Woman. Just…lazy and gross.

Bonus trend I do like:

Like Rachel, I’m a fan of covers that don’t feature people or that don’t put them quite so up close and personal.  Doing interesting things with color is another sure way to my heart.