The price of pretty covers.

This is gorgeous:

I ripped it from the Little Black Dress website.

This one is from Jennifer Cruise's blog, and it speaks about the process (the very scary and horrible process for a designer IMO) of designing the cover for this book. And wow, those in the art department are really, really saints. Give them a million dollars.

Actually, I was kinda traumatised when I read that post. I remember when I was still in design school, there were a few times when a lecturer will want me to change a certain design of mine for my assignment because he/she didn't approve of it. All I could think of during those times is ripping somebody's head off. Preferbly the certain lecturer.

Anyway, I've changed (snort). Seriously, I'm more patient now that I'm in the working world and understood that it's better to always listen to the client and give them what they want because they're the ones who gave me the means to own a treasure trove of books.

I've been thinking about jobs related to books: an author, editor, publisher-- well, not very feasible jobs in Singapore. I had been told by my friends that I could try being a designer for book covers, but like I said, not feasible in Singapore. It's not that anyone will want me as an author, editor, publisher or art director anyway. But it'd be really cool though. Being a bookshop keeper or librarian is great too, but the working hours wouldn't allow me to read as much books I can with a normal office-hours job.

Why can't there be a professional reader job? Being paid to read? Please?

Josh.

I just finished reading Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy by HelenKay Dimon. Love it.

Unless I miss something, the heroine, Annie seems to be the only active woman in the book. By active I mean, talking, doing something and being in action blah blah blah, and not just being mentioned in conversations.

If not for the strong character that Annie is, I think I'd be, to borrow her words, suffering from an overload of testosterone. There're just so many male characters, but then I'm not really complaining.

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I love it whenever Kane and Annie start their interrogation of each other, it's just so healthy for them. And very fun for me.

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And now to the guy who made my headline today: Josh.

I've always been intrigued by secondary characters. And for most secondary characters to have their own story coming out later is no surprise. But still, it's nice to be reassured at Helenkay Dimon's blog, that my baby Josh will have his own story. Yes, my baby Josh. I've appropriated him since his entry in the book:

One, blond and light, with the scruffy start of a beard along his jawline...

Sounds like the start of something promising.

... and bright blue eyes ...

I like blue eyes. Kinda reminds me of the heroine Sophia in Jill Barnett's Wicked, the way she stares into the hero's blue eyes and sliently concludes that it's her favorite colour even though she hates the hero like shit. Well, they did of course admit that they love each other in the end, but I digress.

... close in color to his aqua tie.

Tie? Oh, I love men in suits + tie. All men look good in them. It just bursts the hot meter of already good-looking men. And plus, it'd be fun to loosen the tie and unbutton that shirt.

... this one had a rough-hewn look about him.

Wait till 2009? I'd expire.

Amended book covers...

Saw the cover for the mass market of Jill Shalvis' Get a Clue at her website:

I liked it~ I've yet read the book, so maybe I just might get the mass market version...

But then after a search at Amazon...

The bottom part is blurred out, that's kinda disappointing. Which reminds me of the cover for P.J. Mellor's Pleasure Beach:

The more censored version on the right in the above pic is what I got. Maybe the cover on the left (ripped from Amazon) is the initial cover design... I definately didn't see it at any bookstore. I would have like to have the cover that shows more bod though. It does make the book feel more sexy.

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And here's something I've been dying to post:

Come As You Are by Amy J. Fetzer, coming this November. Seeing the mass market for Get a Clue reminds me of this. Love it!

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Back on the topic of cover changes....

This cover for Vivi Anna's Inferno is what I see everywhere on the web before the book was released. I was so excited, and also after reading the excerpts at the author's website, I couldn't wait for it to be released.

But to my extreme disppointment, the cover changed:

I don't reeeeally like the new cover one bit.

I have already decided to get this book a long time ago, but with the cover change, it just kinda lessen my enthusiasm to buy it so quickly. Yea I'm shallow like that... So, maybe later... when I get a pay raise or something...

Anyway, I'm just lucky to have saved a copy of bigger image file of the cartoon cover, (I think I got it from Amazon, a 590 x 390 pixel image heh) Yay! It's for a keepsake, I really liked that cartoon cover. Hades had a nice package and I love Kat's hair~

The Slightest Provocation.

I finshed reading it and I loved it.

Sorry Politics, you guys are just not for me. As the story touches on you, I always have to re-read paragraphs a couple of times to understand you. I could skip all parts about you, but then I really want to understand the story to it fullest. Seriously, we just don't get along well. It's horrible.

But luckily, you guys did not one bit ruin my enjoyment of the romance going on.

Kudos to Pam Rosenthal.

Check out the news, reviews, whatever, on the author's website, especially the excerpt. It's one of my favorite part of the story. It's sweet, Mary and Kit, the way they think of each other, the way they still love each other. It just shows in all their thoughts, in everything they do. Yes I love their thoughts, love reading about their past. I love how the story flows. It's so differrent from other novels I read. You either love this book or hate it. And I love it. It's so hard to explain. It's so special! , everything! I love their carriage ride scene at the end, especially Mary and Kit's enticipation to it. It's so sexy, it's kinda romantic in a way.

Note: Post subject to edits. I trying hard to put my love for this book into words.

Why can't there be more historial romances like this?

Cute Art.

About two years ago, I rented Kasey Michaels' Too Good To Be True from a second-hand book store because I fell in love with the cover:

It's raining hearts! ♥ Sooo cute. Love the umbrella. Love this cover. I even scanned a high resolution of the image for my own keep sake. I love it.

After going through Kasey Michaels' website, I found the cover of Bowled Over similar to Dianne Castell's I'll be Seeing U:

Of course this is not the first case of different book covers using similar art. But if I'm an author (yea dream on), it's a sucky feeling knowing that your book cover isn't that unique.

But I love the cartoon. The couple looked so comfy together. ♥

Great writing is important. Who cares about the theme/genre?

I just finished Sinead Moriarty's A Perfect Match & From Here to Maternity. I suddenly remember an incident a day a couple of years ago:

I was telling one of my friends that I cried throughout reading the whole of the last chapter of Inconceivable by Ben Elton. I added that the book is about a couple trying for a baby, and that it's worth reading.

But my dear friend said something along the lines of, "I'm not married. I don't want a baby anytime soon, so I don't think this books is suitable for me."

Oh.

A little introduction of myself: I'm turning 23 in December, still young, single, and happy with life (well, of course there're occasional discontentment with my hair, my dress, and not earning enough money etc).

So why I'm reading a book about a couple trying for a baby?

The answer?

The really good writing. Duh.

Book description for Inconceivable:

Lucy desperately wants a baby. Sam is determined to write a hit movie. The problem is that both their efforts seem to be unfruitful. And given that the average IVF cycle has about a one in five chance of going into full production, Lucy's chances of getting what she wants are considerably better than Sam's.

What Sam and Lucy are about to go through is absolutely inconceivable. The question is, can their love survive?

It says nothing about the great writing though. It's just about a couple trying for the baby.

Dont' ask me why I even pick up this book. There's no answer why I pick up certain books.

But what the heck, I'm glad I read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like I said, I cried throughout the whole of the last chapter. Which is a good sign, really.

So, no matter the theme/genre, if I can start reading a book and never put it down till the end, that means I'm damn well like it. And also because of the abit of romance in them anyway.

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Recipes for a Perfect Marriage by Kate Kerrigan (Morag Prunty) is another great book I've read and love, AND which, according to my dear friend, I should have no reason reading:

New York food writer Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome new husband Dan out of late-thirties panic instead of love.

There's a prologue excerpt here.

Try it. This kind of book can either bore you to death or make you love it. For me, it's love.

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A Perfect Match & From Here to Maternity was fun to read; the husband in the story keeps telling bad jokes, and the wife is great at sacarsm, as are most of the characters. It's the hilarious elements in these kinds of stories that kept me reading.

Another example of "unsuitable" books for me (again, according to my dear friend) that I've read are Risa Green's Notes from the Underbelly & Tales from the Crib (about being pregnant and being a mother), which I did a short rant about here. Yes, these books makes me laugh too.

Currently there are no books in my TBR about marriage or baby woes, but I'd be looking. No reason not to read them just because I'm not pregnant.

Sunday Night.

I finished reading Karen Kelly's Temperature's Rising. Read it in one day! My favourite line is, "No wife of mine is going to put her life in jeopardy. I'm not going to sit at home and worry about where the hell you are." Sounds cheesy, and common in most romances maybe, but it still sweet. I love reading these lines. ♥

I love you.

I just finished reading John Updike's Marry Me.

The not good: The ending confused me.

The good: The number of times that I get to read the phrase "I love you".

I do understand why this phrase is rare in most of the romances I've read; once it's uttered, it calls for the hero and heroine to get married and so it's basically the end of the story already.

Marry Me is a story about married couples and "I love you" is directed at the third party, so it's the cause of problems.

But I still like reading that phrase.

Lisa Plumley

I found Lisa Plumley:

I lingered on her website all because of all those pretty covers:

A great website too, full of lenghty excerpts here, here & there, everywhere. Enough for me to deduce that I may enjoy her books if I ever get my hands on it. And she seems to write romantic comedies.