Archives for December 2022

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.)

US vs. UK: A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

A Certain Hunger is deserving of a gorgeous cover, and the question is—does either the US or UK live up to the great expectation of this book?

The US cover perfectly conveys the vibe of A Certain Hunger—dark, sexy, and unsettling. I love books that uses paintings for their covers, especially for this book because a painting gives off a cultured kind of vibe. This cover is a cropped version of Francesco Bacchiacca’s painting Ghismonda with the Heart of Guiscardo. It features a woman squeezing a heart in her hands, blood dripping down her fingers while she looks over her shoulder. It’s perfect depiction of A Certain Hunger, especially with the cannibal aspect. I love seeing the texture in the cover—scratches, dots, and such; it gives the covers so much depth. I love the typography used for the title and the author, and also that you can see the strokes and lines of each letter.

My only gripe of this cover is that it’s hard to distinguish what the bottom right blob is (if you don’t know that it’s a cropped version of a Bacchiacca painting)—like is it an arm or a shoulder? What is it?

The UK cover is a…disappointment. It goes the simple route—a bright neon green background with a butcher knife in a bloody pineapple (which is most likely human blood splattered on the side of the knife). It does give off the vibe that the book will be satirical—like there’s a tongue-in-cheek kind of joke with the use of the pineapple. From what I’ve read about pineapples, it’s 1. Good for the blood and 2. it contains an enzyme called bromelain that can break down protein, which can make meat more tender when you’re cooking it, so those can be the reasons why the pineapple is used in the cover.

For a book that delves into food culture and sex and cannibalism, the UK cover does not convey it well. It’s unremarkable. A Certain Hunger deserves to be remembered.

Final Verdict: What cover do I like better? Without a doubt, the US cover is top tier. Why would anybody pick anything else?

Which cover design do you prefer? Would you buy the the US or UK cover?