Cover designers love this image. Kelly wrote about it back in 2011, and it’s popped up again this year on Kathleen Tessaro’s Rare Objects, this time with the cigarette left in. The woman is placed within a mirror or picture frame in Tessaro’s book, which looks a little odd to me – but that may be just because I’m so used to seeing her in a more 3-dimensional setting. Regardless, it does make the cover a little too busy for my taste, taking away from the woman’s face, which is the natural focal point and needs no framing. The lighting on the woman’s face also seems brighter; perhaps that’s a lens flare on the right-hand side of the cover.

I do wonder why this image seems so popular. The expression on the woman’s face is neutral, but still arresting, and it does evoke an instant historical feel. All three books are set around World War II: Cooper’s in the late 1930s, Cunningham’s in 1944, and Tessaro’s in 1933. The man just behind the woman and the couple dancing in the background set a scene that makes the reader want to know more – is the woman at a party? Is the man her brother, her fiance, a stranger? Why is she looking at the camera in such a way?

Even with a photo of this caliber (and I do think it’s a pretty great one for a cover image), overuse can cause weariness or unhelpful comparisons. I don’t think I’d be able to read Tessaro’s book without thinking of Cooper’s, even subconsciously. The two audiences are different – Cooper’s book is for teens and Tessaro’s for adults – so for most readers this won’t be a problem, but for the crossover ones like me, it can get distracting. What do you think of different cover designers using the same image over and over like this?