Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Typical of Showalter which means I have read every one and will buy the next. An entertaining escape and good for a late night read.
I do have a huge complaint, but it is not with either the author or the book. It’s with the publisher who has control over the cover. The protagonist in this book is a BRONZE SKINNED, BALD GUY WITH A BEADED BEARD. Every time I opened the book I had to re-experience the irritation of looking at a white guy with smooth face and a full head of hair.
Perhaps a personal quirk, but I can’t stand it when covers lie! Did the publisher determine that they would sell more books with the clean shaved, white guy with hair? In that case they should have insisted that the author make her hero conform to the cover image. The incongruency bugged me big time. (Visual here.)
P.S. One more thing. The couple on the cover suggests more eroticism than is presented in the story. Is this whole thing a simple case of follow the money, Mr/Ms Publisher? Or is it a simple matter of the graphics department not giving a frack?
I have to comment here – I am a visual artist, I make my living taking the things in my head – drawing, painting, cutting and pasting all of those things from my imagination onto paper, board canvas, etc…. I am sure you get the picture.
But I DON’T get the picture when the Publisher puts a petite and perky brunette on the cover of a book where the heroine’s base personality has been affected her whole life because she is an amazon blonde with an attitude. Hello publisher! We are intelligent enough to read, why is it that you do not think we are intelligent enough to see that you are not honoring your author. Mr. Publisher you are doing your authors a huge disservice by assuming you need to put hotties on the cover (male and/or female) that you feel fits a marketing need. Let your authors vision stand – honor that – DO NOT take away from it… shame on you Mr. Publisher .
OK I am putting my soap box away now.
And that’s why I LOVE being an Indie. Final say over what’s in my books and what’s on the covers… PRICELESS!!!