2021 Covers: The Hot…and the Not
NOTE: Today DA commenter DiscoDollyDeb has a post for us on the sexy (and not-so-sexy) book covers of 2021. Enjoy! –Janine
Dear Readers,
When it comes to romance novel covers, I have opinions—mostly of the type that could be whittled down to “Bring on the shirtless cover models with the amazing abs and hairy chests and send the illustrated covers to the back of the room.” Unfortunately, when Janine asked me to write a post about which 2021 covers worked for me and which covers didn’t, she was anticipating something slightly more nuanced; so I trawled through some of the covers that caught my eye in 2021 and tried to distill what it was about each that made me either want to read the book or recoil from it. While I freely confess to liking covers with hot cover models—and I’m shallow enough to admit that I’ve read any number of books because the cover featured a member of my “alternate-universe reverse-harem” of cover models (Kindle Unlimited is a godsend)—covers that really call to me have to possess something beyond that. I like a cover that intrigues me, that has some element that makes me want to read the book and not just stare at the cover image.
So here are some covers that engaged me (or didn’t) in 2021 and a few notes about why I selected that particular cover. Because my romance reading is almost exclusively contemporary (and almost always of the angsty and/or dark variety), all of the covers I chose are from contemporary romance with no rom-coms, fantasy, paranormal, or historical romance represented.
SAINT by Sierra Simone
Photographer: Stevan Reyes
Designer: Hang Le
Model: Zachary Ledrew
An amazingly expressive cover that, with nothing but a face, shadows & light, and a crucifix on a chain, conveys the incredible levels of angst, spiritual conflict, and erotic anguish contained in the book. A less-is-more image that perfectly reflects the contents of the book. My favorite cover (and, coincidentally, my favorite book) of 2021.
WHAT WE MAY BE by Layla Reyne
Cover Design: Cate Ashwood Designs
Cover Photography: Wander Aguiar Photography
The moody and evocative cover for this MMF romance avoids the cliched “woman standing up and being squeezed between two guys” menage cover. The fact that the models are reclining is the first thing that makes the cover unusual. The composition of the shot communicates a dynamic between three people who are comfortable with each other and obviously share a history. I also like the little detail of each of the woman’s hands being caressed in different ways by each of the men.
WITH THIS RING by Natasha Knight
Cover: CoverLuv
Image: Wander Aguiar Photography
When I think of what constitutes a “smoking-hot cover,” an image like this one comes to mind. The cover model is the whole package (he’s not named in the book, but I think he’s Andrew Biernatt), but—beyond the abs, the hairy chest, and the beard—the pensive-look-down pose communicates a sense of vulnerability that we don’t usually see on dark romance covers where generally the gaze is direct and almost confrontational. Even if I was not a big Natasha Knight fan (which I am), this cover would make me want to at least download a sample to see what the book was about.
VOW OF DECEPTION by Rina Kent
(No cover information provided in the book)
What can I say? I obviously have a type. The cover of VOW OF DECEPTION is far more representative of what I think of as a “typical” dark romance cover than WITH THIS RING. The cover model stares directly into the camera (is it just me or is his arm in a position that suggests he’s taking a selfie?), with an unapologetic look that says, yes, he knows he’s hot and what are you going to do about it? That confident and direct stare is very much stock-in-trade for dark romance and it just grabs me.
FLOORED by Karla Sorensen
Cover Design: Najla Qamber Design
Sometimes a cover image captures my interest and then I start seeing it everywhere. Such was the case with this couple who appeared in similar poses on a number of covers in 2020 and 2021. I’ve chosen three of those covers. On the cover of FLOORED, the backlighting and the sense of tender chemistry between the two people really shines through.
THE KISS by M. Robinson
Photographer: Regina Wamba
Same couple, close to the same photograph, but this image is a little crisper and cropped closer to the models’ face than the one on FLOORED. With just those small adjustments, the image is sharpened. But with their foreheads touching, there’s still a sense of tenderness and intimacy.
NOT WHAT I EXPECTED by Jewel E. Ann
Cover Design: Letitia Hasser, RBA Designs
The same cover models, now smiling. Smiling cover models are rare on romance novels where frowns or smolders are the order of the day, so it’s nice to see a cover where the couple appear to be sharing a private joke, smiling and even laughing. Also, the heroine being in sharp focus and the hero being a little blurrier works perfectly for NOT WHAT I EXPECTED because the book straddles the line between women’s fiction and romance and is told entirely from the heroine’s point-of-view, so the hero does remain somewhat out-of-focus throughout the book.
HEAVY PETTING by Erin Nicholas
Cover Photo: Wander Aguiar
Cover Design: Najla Qamber, Qamber Designs
Another cover with smiling cover models. I like the closeness of the two models and the sense of trust and intimacy their pose communicates. Also, although he’s not named in the book’s acknowledgements, the male model is Zack Salaun, whom I long-ago dubbed “king of the soulful-sexy-scruffy-hot look” and who is the capo di tutti capi of my reverse-harem of cover models (he’s also on the cover of Brenda Rothert’s ANTON, the sine qua non of hot covers, imho).
THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY by Kailee Reese Samuels
(No cover information provided in the book)
Yes, the torso caught my eye—I love the shadows and light, the twist of the cover model’s body, plus that hat!—but it was the rainbow colors on the word UNHAPPY that made me want to read the book. That one design choice takes this from a cover with a hot cover model to a cover that attracts readers beyond those looking for eye-candy.
THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Amelia Wilde
(No cover information provided in the book)
This cover model is on a ton of covers (usually intertwined/passionately kissing a dark-haired woman—that must have been some photo shoot!), but this is one of the best uses of his chain-jewelry and tatted-up look. The green-blue background and sea colors, along with the gold text work in a similar way to the word UNHAPPY on the cover of THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY: taking a sexy cover to an interesting one.
OUT OF BOUNDS by Khardine Gray
(No cover information provided in the book)
I would describe this as a “typical DiscoDollyDeb cover” because—beyond the hot cover model (he’s not named in the book’s acknowledgements, but his name is Christoph and appears frequently on covers that accentuate his fathomless aqua-blue eyes), who apparently missed his waxing appointment—there’s not much else to say about the cover.
HOT UNDER HIS COLLAR by Andie J. Christopher
(No cover info in front of book)
Even if, unlike me, you have no existential issue with illustrated covers, the cover for HOT UNDER HIS COLLAR is dreadful in every respect. First off, this is a priest romance and—possibly influenced by my youthful reading of THE THORN BIRDS—I’m there for a romance where, after an arduous fight against temptation, a priest betrays his vow of celibacy. But is there anything about this cover that says there’s spiritual and sexual angst ahead? Secondly, the image itself is unpleasant—the blocky colors, the huge smirking priest, the woman’s overly-short dress right in the priest’s eye-line, the unequal sizes of male and female characters—all contribute to a feeling that nothing between these two is going to be particularly sexy or consensual. 
By contrast, I only had to take one look at the cover of Sierra Simone’s PRIEST (the ne plus ultra of priest romances—and priest-romance covers) and I was like, “Come to mama!” I knew there was going to be so much spiritual agonizing and hot sexy-times ahead. Nothing about the cover for HOT UNDER HIS COLLAR communicates anything like that. There are some subjects that just don’t lend themselves to illustrated covers and a priest falling in love with parishioner is undoubtedly one of those.
LESSONS IN SIN by Pam Godwin
Cover design: Book Beautiful
Photographer: Michelle Lancaster
Contrast the cover of LESSONS IN SIN to the cover of HOT UNDER HIS COLLAR. Both are priest romances, but you know you’ll be getting exactly what’s on the tin with LESSONS IN SIN, which is both a priest romance and a dark one (there’s a D/s dynamic between the hero & heroine). We get the direct gaze of a dark romance cover along with praying hands and a church window in the background. While I didn’t have quite the same level of visceral reaction to the cover LESSONS IN SIN as I did to the cover of PRIEST, this is certainly a huge improvement over HOT UNDER HIS COLLAR.
TAGGART FAMILY VALUES Lexi Blake
(No cover info in the front of the book)
OK, here it is—the most what-the-fuck cover of 2021. (Does anyone else “of a certain age” think it looks like an old T.V. Guide cover?) This cutesy illustration might actually work on a collection of humorous vignettes about trying to keep the romance alive when you’re raising five kids—and I’m sure people unfamiliar with Lexi Blake’s long-running Masters & Mercenaries series would think that’s exactly what they’d be getting with this book. However, that is so not the case. Instead, TAGGART FAMILY VALUES is a collection of romantic-suspense short stories full of espionage, bad guys, fire-power, and—oh yeah—intense bdsm sex. In fact, if you take a peek inside the book (go ahead, I’ll wait), you’ll see the first story takes place in a bdsm club and starts with the dom hero considering spending the night with not one but two subs! I can just imagine the reaction of someone buying this book thinking it’s going to be an amusing take on modern family life and then reading a scene featuring handcuffs and floggers! Talk about false advertising.
Take care,
DiscoDollyDeb
When I first saw the title, my first thought was that @DDD would surely have something to say on this topic. Then I saw the author! Thanks for your entertaining and thoughtful piece, @DDD.
(You clearly have better vision than me because I can’t spot ‘that hat’ on the THE OTHER SIDE OF UNHAPPY.)
Generally speaking, I don’t pay that much attention to specific covers – but in terms of what’s currently popular, there’s a lot I don’t care for.
There are the ones where the guy is supposed to look hot, but often looks more like he’s busy admiring himself in the mirror or, on the flip side, like he’s being tortured by existence in general. I’ll pass on that. Then there are the interchangeable naked chests. I really don’t see why I should care about this naked chest and how it differs from all the previous naked chests in the series, and yes I am looking at you Pamela Clare.
I would consign most illustrated covers to one of the circles of hell and not the back of the room, but good ones can capture the spirit of the book in a way the interchangeable naked chests never will. A wonderful example is the covers of the Will Darling books by KJ Charles. The cover for the newly released Weather Girl also looks delightful.
@DiscoDollyDeb — My husband happened to be looking over my shoulder for a minute as I was previewing this post in the DA back end. It took only one look at the cover of Hot Under His Collar for him to ask “How old is she?” Combined with that leer in the hero’s eyes and the priest’s collar around his neck, the heroine’s youthful appearance proclaimed “molesting priest!” to him. Not the association you want readers to have to a book with sexytimes.
I can definitely see the TV Guide comparison with the cover of Taggart Family Values but my first association was even worse—I thought of the Family Circus comic strip. LOL. All those blond kids running around and getting into trouble by tearing their overalls climbing up a tree or what have you isn’t really the image you want in readers’ heads when they are browsing for a book with intense BDSM.
Lastly, I must say, you are waaaay more fond of body hair than I am.
@Kareni: I couldn’t spot the hat either. Maybe its the level of contrasts on our screens vs. on DiscoDollyDeb’s?
@Rose: As a general rule, naked chests on book covers don’t usually grab me. But in my case, occasionally a really spectacular upper body will do the trick. The upper body of the model on the cover of Priest really is very attractive, though the vein in his upper arm has a lot to do with that too. I agree with DDD, though, that the covers that get more of my attention have some other element that keeps them from being interchangeable. With the cover of Priest it’s the contradiction in the vulnerability of the model’s posture when contrasted with his muscular strength. Another of DDD’s picks, the cover photo on With this Ring, also has some of that going for it, though I’m not a fan of gold look of “Ring” in the title.
It’s funny, neither of the illustrated covers you mention stand out to me and in the case of the Will Darling one, while the idea of an art deco style to the illustration is nice in theory, the execution is disappointing. On the other hand I’m fond of the cover of Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient—the colors, font style and the hero and heroine’s pose all say fun to me; the way her arms are looped around his neck suggests not only attraction but budding feelings and possibly even difficulty parting (as in airports, not in an angsty way), the contrast between their outfits (hers professional, his casual) indicates that this could be the rare class-difference romance where the heroine has more means than the hero, and the equations on the teal blackboard behind them bring in the mathematical theme and tie nicely to the title. With that said, I wish Michael was less rumpled—since he’s an aspiring fashion designer I always pictured him having a better look even with his jeans and other casual clothes.
@Kareni: @Janine Ballard: If you look at the hero’s left arm, you can see the curve of the edge of the brim that then the flat line of the edge as it straightens out. And no, I wouldn’t have initially seen it either if it hadn’t been mentioned. ☺
Everything about “Hot Under His Collar” is ghastly. And the cover of “Taggart Family Values” in no way says “intense bdsm sex” to me.
@Kareni: Your mind to my mind. Both of your observations are exactly what I thought.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Thank you for mentioning ANTON. If there is ever a cover to surpass that, I will probably keel right over. I’ll be fine.
And this is such a great post. Much respect for how you describe (and notice) the details, what works, what doesn’t and why. More, please!
@Janine Ballard: Helen Hoang’s covers are wonderful!
I agree about the cover of Priest – it’s eye-catching and now I’m curious about the book.
The Taggart Family Values one reminded me of emoji.
@Rose: PRIEST is one of my all-time favorite romances. However, I wouldn’t advise reading it if you’re a devout/practicing Catholic because there are undoubtedly some scenes that would be considered sacrilegious or blasphemous. However, I agree with Sarah MacLean who said of PRIEST, “As close to inspirational romance as erotic romance can get.”
@DiscoDollyDeb: No worries there, I’m Jewish and secular :) I’ll probably wait for it to be on sale, though.
What a wonderful essay, DDD! Great to see you contributing, I hope to read more from you! I like romance covers without any people on them at all, or where they’re not the attention-grabbing element. Say, for example, Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light, or Alex de Campi’s The Scottish Boy.
@Jayne: Thanks!
@Jayne: I know, right? The title doesn’t either.
@Darlynne: DiscoDollyDeb did a great job, I agree!
@Rose: I am curious about Priest too.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Claudia Dain used to write fairly high heat (for the late 1990s/early 2000s) romances that were very close to inspies. One really pissed me off because it felt proselytizing. Most of her books didn’t, though, and although they were rough around the edges, they were fresh and different too. A few were medieval, one was a western, one was a Puritan-era Colonial, and the one I hated was Roman era.
@Eliza: Is The Scottish Boy as good as it sounds? I just read the blurb and it captured my imagination immediately.
Re. The Scottish Boy–ignore my earlier question. I took a closer look at it and realized that it’s a graphic novel. I’m not a fan of those.
@Janine: No, The Scottish Boy is a novel – maybe there’s a different book with the same title. Glancing at my Kindle I see that I’m 62% of the way in – and haven’t touched it in months. I recall really enjoying what I did read of the book, I’m not sure why I set it aside.
@Eliza: Maybe I’ll take a look at it then. The blurb is so good.
Haha, I missed the note at the top at who the guest was and the minute I starting reading this I thought, “wait is this DiscoDollyDeb? It has to be her, right?” :-) Glad to see you here and love the choices you made.
DDD, thank you for the artful covers and your comments. I can objectively appreciate that your choices are beautifully photographed and the models are gorgeous. No doubt I am in a very small minority, and I am in no way saying my viewpoint is correct, it is just mine, but seeing photographs of real people on the covers of novels does not appeal to me. To me, the models are supposed to be depicting one or more main characters, giving our imaginations something to grab onto and making us want to read more about that particular man or woman and imagine them in every scene in the book. Perhaps imagining ourselves making love with the model as the MC. I do not want that input. I like to construct the character using the author’s words and my own imagination. In fact, I did not care for the old-fashioned painted covers of lovers in a clinch, women with bosoms heaving and men with their shirts half open. Generally speaking, I prefer more abstract covers, but since I mostly read e-books, covers aren’t that meaningful to me any more, and I mostly ignore them.
@Becky: I have the same preference as you, to have my imagination engage. It does that anyhow, though, no matter what’s on the cover, so in that way I’m better off. What really bugs me though is when an author describes the character as looking like [insert famous actor’s name]. By then I already have my own picture of the character and it is really jarring.
Thank you, @DiscoDollyDeb—great selection and thoughts! Really appreciated hearing what worked for you and didn’t. I generally agree that I prefer real people on the covers, as most of the illustrated ones are misleading or just awful. Amusingly, Erin Nicholas’s series also has alternate illustrated versions of the covers, based on the original photos. They are actually also fantastic (at least in my opinion) and work well with the vibe of her series and stories. Not sure how to link to them :)
I am absolutely dating myself but Taggert Family Values made me instantly think of the opening scenes of the old Brady Bunch TV show. Not a good look.
Ooh, what thought provoking covers. Thank you DDD!
I tend to prefer illustrated covers over photos and I really am not a fan of the shirtless cover models. So here are a couple of my favorite illustrated covers of 2021.
Sweethand (Island Bites #1) by N.G. Peltier
Archangel’s Light (Guild Hunter #14) by Nalini Singh
@cleo: Posted too soon.
Other faves include One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (ff timetravel) and Pumpkin (Dumplin’ #3) by Julie Murphy (ya mm). Pumpkin is probably my favorite example of how to do the cut out silhouette look well.
The design nerd in me loves the cover of Peter Cabot Gets Lost (The Cabots #2) by Cat Sebastian (mm historical set in 1960) because it uses mid-20th C design motifs so well.
My least faves are not nearly as bad as the giant priest head or weird tv guide / Brady Bunch covers, but I was disappointed in the covers for The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian and The Larks Still Bravely Singing by Aster Glenn Gray.
Covers with shirtless models tend to go bad in a limited number of ways (looking at you bad photoshopping) but badly illustrated covers have so many more possibilities of badness.
@Carrie G: LOL!
@cleo: The cover of Archangel’s Light is a thing of beauty. Collider did a whole piece about how it was designed and shot:
https://collider.com/archangels-light-book-cover-nalini-singh-guild-hunter/
@cleo: The cover of Peter Cabot Gets Lost was actually actively unattractive to me until I clicked to enlarge the image and got a better look at it. Then it was okay and I could see why someone might find it charming. But nothing about it says romance or even genre fiction, and a cursory glance at the thumbnail makes it look like someone did a poor job of picking out the font.
I agree on the cover of The Larks Still Bravely Singing. Everything about it said “depressing and melancholy.” Which is not something I want to associate with romance, and especially queer romance in the first half of the twentieth century.
Well said.