Maybe not unexpectedly, considering the huge success of the books themselves, my little video about the Cynster Novels by Stephanie Laurens is also a success (by my humble standards). See previous post:
Romance novel cover:and endangered species
Well dear ladies, the romance cover as we know it is alive and kicking. Judging by the amount of viewers from all over the world (I can see a neat map highlighting the countries were my viewers are). Thus inspired to do more to please her followers, I continued digging into Stefanie's book covers. I decided to honour the "Bastion Club Novels". This books precede the Cynster Novels, and the Bastion Club members have a tendency to mingle with the Cynsters.
Here is the result of my work:
Surprisingly, I found a rapid cover evolution from the first edition of the first book in 1997 to the current editions from 2013. It seems that the publishers also thought the old covers were obsolete and went to the trouble to make new ones: Fresh faced girls, as innocent as they come, no hero in tow.
Here is an example from the novel "Captain Jack's Women" Showing the heroine Katherine "Kit" Cranmer in the 1997 stepback cover.
and in the new edition that you can find in Amazon:
While only around 10 years ago, the sensual heroine was depicted in the middle of the divine rapture caused by the hero's passionate embrace, now the girls show almost no emotion, let alone passion and ecstasy!. They are also so young...or am I showing my own age here? See for yourself in my video:
The change in the graphics of the covers must reflect the taste of the new readers and I wonder what it tells us about the change in our dreams and aspirations as women. The content is still the same though: Domineering male characters and headstrong females.
Although Stepahie's heroines just get some botox and more studio light, the heroines have changed in content as-well, as you can so clearly witness in the book
"Dangerous women" (see previous post)
Dangerous Women
enjoy!!
Miranda
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