Another cover double that snuck up on me. Now this one may or may not be the same photo, depending on what you believe could be done with a little image editing. Chances are it could have been the same photo shoot (again, depending on what you believe about image editing). But it’s a striking image, and I think both covers work it quite well.

Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly (Holt, May 2010): I love this cover. It’s dark, but it’s also got a feeling of hope to it. The girl is reaching out, and there’s something in her stance and body language that feels promising to me. Like she knows she can achieve something. It fits so well with the book, too.

Then there’s this one:

Stick by Andrew Smith (Feiwel and Friends, October 2011): I haven’t read this one, but the cover again gives such a good vibe. The book deals with a physical deformity and sexuality and the cover again gives a bit of that hopeful vibe within the dark.

In both covers, the composition is similar — the person is in the lower right-hand part of the book, reaching in the same spot for the sky. I think the title and author font and placement works a little bit better on Smith’s book, simply because I think the font stands out a little more against the image.

Does one do it better than the other? Know of any other similar covers floating around? Share your thoughts!

It’s probably a good idea when you market a book for teens that the cover image not feature things that teens can’t do — so, having someone drinking on the cover isn’t usually a good idea. Neither is smoking.

When I first saw the cover for Michelle Cooper’s The FitzOsbornes in Exile, I knew something funny was going on. You can see the puff of smoke, but if you look closely, the male’s clearly had something photoshopped out of his fingers. Why the cloud of smoke remains, I’m not sure. It looks sort of silly to be there, since it’s obvious why it’s there, even if the cigarette is not.

I’ve read this book, and I’m not sure I care for the cover. The girl on it looks way older than teen age, and this book is set in the late 1930s. Although the feeling sort of fits that era, the cover models look too old. I like the feel of the black and white with a pop of red, and I think that the title and author’s name are well placed. The other thing I like about this cover is that there is no blurb on it; I’m not a fan of them on the front covers of books, and so not seeing one is kind of a welcomed sight.

Then I saw its double:

There’s the cigarette! There’s also another guy in this cover, as well as the statue, since the image used for Cooper’s book is zoomed in tightly. What’s strange to me in this use of the image is that everything is still in black and white (with the pop of red) but the guy kneeling is not. He’s still got his natural peach toned skin. It feels sort of strange. I’m also not feeling the strange font use for the title — why are consequences and heart bigger than of and the, as well as italicized? — but I get why it couldn’t be placed higher on the image, since the statue is in the way. I’m not a fan of the blurb on the top. It feels as though the title, author’s name, and the blurb are competing with the image on the front, rather than working with it.

Cunningham’s cover isn’t for a new book, either: this is a paperback rerelease of a title published in 2000. It’s marketed for the adult reading audience. I think that, despite the strange photoshop effort and the fact it doesn’t really “fit” the story, Cooper’s cover does the image more justice.

What do you think? Have you read either one and have a thought of whether it fits?

Here’s a cover double — but this one, they’ve mirrored the model’s position.

The Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt was published by FaithWords in September 2008. It’s a pretty distinctive cover, though it comes off a bit blindingly white.

Then I saw this last week and knew immediately it was a cover double:

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis will be published by Delacorte in September 2011. Notice the girl’s leg and arm are reversed from what they are in the first cover? The title’s in the same position, but instead of feeling blindingly white, the designer chose to add a city building to the outside of the window. I think that really anchors the cover better, as does the fact the girl is cropped a little bit closer than in the first cover. The colors are also a little more bold in the clothes in this cover, which also adds to giving this cover a less blinding quality.

Is it me or does it appear the first cover has air brushed the girl’s leg, as well? It’s a little hard to tell because of the angles and the way the light filters through, but it appears to me that the first cover has taken a few liberties with thinning out the standing leg. It could simply be the fact the second cover is more closely cropped as well.

I think the second cover does it just a little better, given the background in the window, but what do you think? Do you prefer one over the other?

This pair of books sharing a cover image aren’t even out yet, but they’ll come out within a month of one another. . .across the pond from one another. It’s an image I really like, as I think the feeling it gives is spot on for both stories.

First up:

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell, which comes out March 7 by Harcourt. I really love the coloring in this one, as it reminds me of an old sepia photograph. The image itself looks like a modern Cinderella, with a girl in a pretty dress running. But unlike the horrible trend of sullen girls in pretty dresses, this one reminds me a lot more of a scared girl caught in a moment. She’s not weak or broken. The story itself is a historical fantasy, so the cover is spot on. The thin font done in gold adds to the historical feeling. And this cover is much, much better than the original one I saw for this months ago, which is this:

This one doesn’t work as well for me. Not only that, but it reminds me of this one:

Ahem. Back to the double take at hand. The Vespertine cover which I really like is replicated by Eden Maguire’s (of the “Beautiful Dead” series) forthcoming Dark Angel:

This one will release in the UK by Hodder Books in April (and from the looks of it may be available in the US sometime in August). I really dig the red on this — it pops. But what I think I like more is that despite how it’s the same image as The Vespertine, the coloring gives it a completely different feel. This book gives no hint of being historical — and it’s not — but rather a sort of dark romance with hints of the paranormal — which it is. The superimposed woods behind the girl in the red dress really adds to the creepy feeling. The font on this one for the title is perfect too, thick and loopy in the style many other paranormal type books have.

I don’t think either one of these covers does it better; I like both capture the feeling of the book perfectly.

Do you prefer one to the other?