For fun, she's asked her friends to announce and (ahem, honestly) critique them. So, to refresh your memory, here's the hardback cover for Elana's book Possession.
Here's another series I love which as a white theme & funky captured image on the front cover.
Then there's the facial close ups . . . When done well, they aren't nearly as freaky as this one is.
An everyday object to break up the stark white.
The white, washed out cover where the model wears clothes that blend into the background. You know what I see here - weeds.
And pictures of headless people - some of which just involve the lower portion of the body, other covers actually show shoulders down, and make me think of poor Marie Antoinette.
For as many white covers out there, there are just as many black, dark themed books too. It's like a clash of good and evil on the shelves. And in between those light and dark cover are super bright "happy teenage girl" color covers. And generally an eye-popping pink color.
Now, Elana has new covers. First, an updated cover for Possession's upcoming paperback release.
And the cover for the release of Surrender . . .
So, Elana wanted honesty. (No take backs, Elana. You're not allowed to hunt me down at the next writers conference and harass me.)
I have a love-hate reaction to the covers. Personally, I love the colors, but they are so NOT Vi and the society in my opinion. Although they really are excellent complementary choices for the images on the front cover.
I liked the original font better. This one seems too YA romancy to me. I really like the graduated background coloring, but the layout reminds me a lot of Allie Condie's Matched series. I'm not so hip about that. I like being able to tell my friends' books apart at first glance. I admit to occasionally seeing either Elana's or Allie's covers and accidentally saying, "Oh that's Allie's book. Wait, no Elana's. Oops." and vice verse. But that has more to do with the captured image on the front than the background. Although Allie's series had more color with the graduated tints, while Elana's was stark white.
My overall opinion - I like the covers. I think they'll stand out on the shelves between all the white and black covers. But I think they went from looking distinctly dystopian YA to romance YA.
And now, I believe I'll send a bacon themed e-card to Elana so she'll forgive me. =)
What do you think of Elana's new covers? Or the trend of YA covers in general?
