So, this isn’t the first time I’ve talked about covers here on the Inspy blog. A few years ago (which feels like forever) I talked about The Cowboy’s Twins and how they had to mirror image the hero Jax so his scar wasn’t showing, which in turn made the babies he was holding look odd as they were then looking the wrong way and not at the hero. They had to Photoshop the babies out with others and the cover turned out adorable.
I have other unique stories about my covers. In Yuletide Cowboys, which I wrote with Arlene James, the saddle looked wonky, but the art department was able to add a saddle blanket for a nice quick fix.
I honestly bawled in dismay when I saw The Nanny’s Twin Blessings. I’d given the art department such an adorable pair of white-blond twins for suggested models, and I got…some kind of watercolor disaster with twins that weren’t blond OR adorable.
And then there was the fiasco with one of Irene Brand’s and my covers. Joe and I were at the Harlequin Party that year and were sitting with Irene and her husband when she commented that she didn’t understand her upcoming cover. The characters didn’t look anything like the characters in her book and they’d put a dog on her cover. But there was no dog in her book. There was, however, a dog in MY book and my heroine had white-blonde hair, so we reached out to our editors to find out if a mistake had been made, because the characters Irene described certainly sounded a lot like the characters in my book. Sure enough, they’d mixed up the covers, though it was too late to do anything about it.
Today I am excited to share a cover reveal for my January release, Their Unbreakable Bond. It is the fourth book in my Rocky Mountain Family series featuring service dog training and rescue and a Christmas tree farm. It is also the premier book for Love Inspired’s K9 Companion spotlight.
My first glimpse of this cover brought me to tears—the happy kind this time. What makes this cover so special to me? Okay, first, and I’m just being totally honest here, my hero Stone is a ginger, which in my mind can go either way. I mean, who doesn’t love Prince Harry? Yet redheads can also slide the other direction in a hurry and into a hero I definitely wouldn’t want on my cover. I used actor Max Martini** as my hero model because that guy rocks ginger in a major way.
I cheered to discover both my hero and heroine along with the lovely black Lab Dandy on the cover. And my hero? An accurate portrayal of Stone! My favorite part is this guy looks as if he’s lived a little. The heroes on my covers usually have baby faces–you know, the kind where you want to pinch their cheeks? Yet I generally write alpha heroes. So a few laugh lines? Yes, please! And my heroine could definitely be the sister of the heroine on the cover of Opening Her Heart, don’t you think?
Their Unbreakable Bond is now available for preorder and will be on the shelves December 28th.
His life has skidded off the tracks…
Can she help him start over?
Training avalanche rescue dogs with his best friend’s sister, Felicity Winslow, was never in Stone Keller’s plans. But after a reckless motorcycle accident ends his rodeo career, he has nowhere to go but home to Colorado. Working with the dogs—and Felicity—could be exactly what he needs to put the pieces of his life back together.
From Love Inspired: Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.
Rocky Mountain Family
Book 1: The Black Sheep’s Salvation
Book 2: Opening Her Heart
Book 3: The Marine’s Mission
Book 4: Their Unbreakable Bond
**Photo of Max Martini purchased from Deposit Photos for Editorial Use only.
~~Love Courageously~~ Publisher's Weekly Bestselling, award-winning author of 30 novels, Deb Kastner enjoys writing contemporary inspirational western stories set in small communities. She feels especially blessed to be able to include faith as a natural and genuine part of her characters' lives. Deb lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband and a pack of miscreant mutts. She is blessed with three adult daughters and two grandchildren. Her favorite hobby is spoiling her grandchildren, but she also enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music (The Texas Tenors are her fav), singing in the church choir, and exploring the Rocky Mountains on horseback.
I do judge books by their covers. Some covers just draw me in.
I do, as well, even though I know the behind-the-scenes process often doesn’t have anything to do with the author OR author knowledge. I’ve been reamed over not knowing horse tack because of a cover.
Do you like people covers or landscapes, Mary?
I know we are told to not judge a book by its cover, but I do! It’s a first quick glimpse of the story!
Agreed! I’m drawn to people and animals on the cover.
Love the covers! That’s crazy about the mix up between the two books a while back though!
We were stunned at first, but we laughed and made the best of it and now it’s a great story. Just one of those things, I guess!
A cover can really make me want to read a book because that is what I first see. I like Their Unbreakable Bond cover too.
I totally admit I judge a book by its cover. Usually a cover will make me pick up the book and then I’ll read the back and some of the first chapter. I’m glad you like my cover!
I love a cover that gives me a glimpse of what’s inside. It makes a difference if it is well done.
Their Unbreakable Bond gives a great glimpse into the book, as they are training for avalanche rescue.
Your new cover looks great and I’m glad you’re so happy with it.
Thanks, Jessica. When the cover break comes I literally hold my breath and close my eyes as I open the email.
Love the covers, especially the new one! I don’t go by covers, I go by title and author, and the blurb on the back! If I went by covers, I’d have never read Frank Perreti’s This Present Darkness, though that cover did draw me in, and I kept talking myself out of it!
I totally remember reading Frank Peretti’s early books. My oldest daughter had just gotten her tonsils out. It’s weird how those two things go together in my mind. LOL!
Love your new cover (for all the reasons you mentioned)! And it’s always interesting to hear what authors think of their covers when they’ve been made by trad publishers. Thanks for sharing :)
It’s something my author friends and I talk a lot about. And It’s interesting that what will make one author wail will make another punch her fist in the air.
The cover looks really cute!
Thank you!
Hi, your book cover is Stunning, I love your book covers! When I see a book cover , I do kind of judge it, I also like to see if it tells me something about the book, I then read the back cover . I do appreciate beautiful covers. Have a great week and stay safe. God Bless you and your family.
Thanks! I’m thrilled with the direction the Harlequin Art Department has gone with the covers recently. I will say I totally cheat. I’m supposed to offer two “people covers” and one “landscape,” but I very strongly lean toward people covers so I always give them three. So far they haven’t complained!
It’s amazing how a book cover can make you want to read a book or almost turn you off from wanting to read it. I do pick up books based off the covers quite a bit.
Amazing and scary when you have no control over it. :)
I love it! I think I like ALL LI covers – they are doing a great job!
I agree. The Harlequin Art Department is amazing!
Hi, Deb!
I really do like the cover for “Their Unbreakable Bond”, for all the reasons you mentioned. Nailed the ginger. The women could definitely be sisters. The snow-capped mountains fit the story.
I admit to struggling with some of the LI covers because the Photoshopping can be a little obvious. I have experience with photography and graphics so I may be being a little picky. It’s just that some of them have been rather poor.
Congratulations on the new cover and the upcoming release!
I agree on the Photoshopping and I am not even close to a photographer. Sometimes it’s really obvious. There’s also the deformed horses that have made their way onto some of my books. Or the riders who are sitting on horses who’ve been pegged to the ground. Ah, well.
I look for favorite genres and authors more than picking a book based on the cover. Of course, there are many great book covers!
Thankfully I haven’t ran into too many stories that don’t match the covers or vice versa! It would be odd to see a dog on the cover but no mention of one in the book, or twins with brown hair on the cover and blond in the story. I do love a good cover though! What makes me want to read the book more than anything is the back blurb and/or a known author :-)
I love all your stories Deb & can’t wait until “Their Unbreakable Bond”! And I agree, the heroine could be a sister to the one on “Opening Her Heart”.
I love all the covers. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
#coversbuybooks is a hashtag for a reason.
I look at the cover but also read the description to see if it’s interesting.
I go by what’s on the cover the most.
I am late I love the new cover. Thanks for the info on the others. Wow having yours and Irene’s mixed up would be interesting wonder how many readers made comments about it.
LI do good covers (even with a mix up).
I pretty much pick a book by my favorite authors. But when it’s a new to me author, the cover weighs in. My cowboy’s belt buckle was upside down on one of my covers. I never noticed until a reader pointed it out.
Covers are what draws me to read a book. If I like the cover I read the blurb on the back. If I like the blurb…sold! This is certainly true of author’s that are new to me and not so much for my favorite author’s. If it’s a favorite author I don’t care if the covers not up to snuff but I do like a cover that at least com’s close to looking like the character in the story. It just helps my imagination a bit. 😆