Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?
Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe) and discuss cover changes.
(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at The Simple Tales for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)
I always find portrait silhouettes interesting to look at. It’s such a classic.
I always think of the classic silhouettes you see in the mid-18th century. They can be boring when it’s just simply a black head, but sometimes, there are ones that make great use of the silhouette by adding details and backgrounds to modernize it. It no longer looks exactly like the silhouettes you usually see. And that’s what I love.
THEME: Portrait Silhouettes!
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What do I like about each cover?
- In In Darkness, I love the doodles and the lettering of the title inside the silhouette. It’s gorgeous and commands your attention.
- In The Body Electric, I love that bugs are flying out of the silhouette. It’s such a creepy, but awesome image. I love that the background uses the circuit board. Pretty.
- In A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea, I love that the silhouette is cut into the rock side, making a bridge for the girl. It’s a gorgeous way of giving the silhouette two different purposes on the cover.
- In Havisham, I love the double silhouettes, one inside the other; and knowing the synopsis, it’s an awesome image that tells you that Havisham used to be young and different. Also, I love the details of what each woman is wearing in their outline because it never usually is distinct enough.
- In The Story of Beautiful Girl, I like that it isn’t really a two-dimensional silhouette. It looks 3D like it’s actually a person’s head photographed in shadows. I love the wisps of hair falling from the woman’s bun.
- In Five Days Apart, I love how the silhouettes looks like a Venn diagram but in the shape of heads and how a young woman is in the middle. Who’d knew that would work wonderfully?
Best portrait silhouette cover? Havisham and In Darkness.
I love how everything for In Darkness is unique and the doodles represent what’s going on in possibly the story or the character’s mind and the use of colours too gah it really stands out. What stands out for The Body Electric for me isn’t just the colour but the infusion of the bugs with the silhouette so it becomes more than just a silhouette but represents something much more.
Oh man the blue in A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is so well done and I do love the implementation of both silhouettes. Clever! Havisham is very impressive too and I love how they were able to show the change from young to old. The Story of Beautiful Girl is kinda meh but yeah, I agree with you that it’s nice the silhouette isn’t 2D. Five Days Apart though AHHHHH I am seriously so in love with how they overlap and then there’s the girl in the middle. SO SMART.
THAT HAVISHAM COVER. Is that the queen? I swear, the darker silhouette really reminds me of Queen Victoria, I want to say. Is that weird? Ok I’ll stop.
I love the cover of the Body Electric. It’s those beautiful bees! Which turned out to be quite central to the story. And here I thought it was just because the bees looked pretty.
Wow, my comment just sounds like I haven’t been thinking today. I’m going to just stop and go away now haha
The cover of In Darkness is pretty unique and I love the doodles, as well. I like the cover of The Body Electric but the colors don’t work for me. I think the cover of A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is a bit weird.
Wow, I think my favorite are the double silhouettes on the cover of Havisham.
The cover of The Story of Beautiful Girl seems like a failed attempt at an amazing silhouette. The wisps of hair falling out of her bun are beautiful, though. Five Days Apart is a fantastic cover with three silhouettes. Very appreciable.
There’s The Sea of Tranquility and the UK cover for Lies We Tell Ourselves! As well as Falls the Shadow! Those covers are some of my absolute favorite portrait silhouette covers.
I love books with this theme on the cover. From your list I like The Body Electric most.
I’m overlook silhouette themed book covers. They don’t do anything to really pique my curiosity. That being said, the Venn Diagram on silhouettes on Five Days Apart is pretty clever.