Books that are pretty

Nani · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 35

This wonderful story is being offered as a free serialized novella by the author, Bettie Sharpe on her website:

http://www.bettiesharpe.com/reads/index.htm

and on Dionne Galace's blog:

http://www.dionnegalace.com/wordpress/

So far there are two chapters up and boy are they good.
I've added the blurb.
After reading it (the blurb) I was rather meh about the whole thing, but it took about three sentences of the story to suck me in and it just keeps getting better from there. Sharpe's writing is incredibly compelling and her take on the Cinderella story is among the best I've had the pleasure of reading.
Go read it!
Or maybe wait until the whole thing is up, this weekly chapter thing is killing me.

Ember

Everyone loves Prince Charming. They have to—he’s cursed. Every man must respect him. Every woman must desire him. One look, and all is lost.

Ember would rather carve out a piece of her soul than be enslaved by passions not her own. She turns to the dark arts to save her heart and becomes the one woman in the kingdom able to resist the Prince’s Charm.

Poor girl. If Ember had spent less time studying magic and more time studying human nature, she might have guessed that a man who gets everything and everyone he wants will come to want the one woman he cannot have.

Charm is a curse. Love is a fire. This story is no fairytale.

btw, I'm aware of sounding like an insane fangirl, and I still can't take anythig back. :-$

MrsFairfax · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1065

We haven't played with this thread for a while, but I saw this cover and had to share:

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

I walked through a bookstore today and noticed cover art that has been used a lot. The latest is on The Seduction Of The Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig. It is also on Push Not The River by James Conroyd Martin and Taking Liberties by Diana Norman.
Why is this face chosen so much? Pretty covers...all three, but this girl gets around!
Sorry...I can't post pictures right now....

MrsFairfax · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1065

Here you go -

You didn't mention this one, but she looks familiar

Susan/DC · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1598

Isn't the portrait on all these books an early one of Emma Hamilton? That could explain why it appears on so many romance and other novels containing love affairs.

mamaofthree1963 · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 139

wow---the lady in the post by mrs. fairfax above looks just like a Victorian-esque drew barrymore! how lovely...
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...He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep...

PatW · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 614 Location: Central Maryland

xina · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 6628 Location: minneapolis

Thank-you very much Mrs. Fairfax! Someone mentioned the Kate Hamilton book (England's Mistress) and the same girl is on the orginal hardcover of that book too. I first noticed her on Push Not The River which is a 2004 publication. I wonder why she is used so often and if she was a real person or just from an artist's imagination. (???) She certainly represents many heroines.

edited to add....Spoke too soon. I just clicked on PatW's link. So...She really is Emma. So lovely.

Gail K. · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 1292

The lush and autumnal colors in these images struck my fancy, mired as I am in the dog days of er, September. I've not consciously noticed before but it does seem like publishers abide by some kind of seasonal color palette!

Gail K. · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 1292

I seem to drawn toward jewel tones lately...

ladynaava · Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 938 Location: California

I'm a freak, but a cover has to have people on it for me to enjoy it. I know I'm in the minority on this one. But this cover struck me as pretty, mostly because of the colors which I thought were rather cool.

The only thing I don't care for is the angel. It seems awkwardly placed. And given that's the name of the book.... I guess they had to paint it in somwhere:

willaful · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 1468

My husband would approve of the Price of Desire cover - one of his pet peeves is the half-naked man/fully clothed woman cover. At least on that one, they're both half-naked. Very Happy

Of course, since he is not the demographic aimed for, his opinion is completely irrelevant to publishers.

I think Private Arrangements has the prettiest cover I've seen recently. I was also taken with the cover for A Lady's Pleasure (much more so than with the actual book.)
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"I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own." -- Rudolf Flesch, _How to Make Sense_

Gail K. · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 1292

Gail K. · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 1292

Let's just face it. I live in the desert. It's been 90 deg. out so I'm not going to see Fall temps unless I fly towards them Laughing

Anyway, I received these two "summery" covers thru Paperbackswap recently. Hopefully they're light & charming reads.