With my July book only 11 days from the shelf, I thought I’d play a fun game with you all today.
Let me preface this by saying I really love my July cover. I do. For one thing, the hero Seth is exactly as I pictured him in my mind, and that very rarely happens at Harlequin, since we don’t have a lot of input into our covers other than the basics.
I love Seth’s handsome face, the perfect body to do parkour (swinging on trees, running up walls.) Little Caden is absolutely adorable.
That said, Seth and Caden were NOT the first things I noticed. And while readers unfamiliar with the Western way of life may see absolutely nothing off with the cover, I squeaked in dismay.
There are three things in particular that get the fail buzzer, in my opinion. I could just tell you what they were, but I thought it would be a lot more fun to play a game.
So the first commentor who finds any one of the three mistakes will get an autographed copy of The Cowboy’s Baby Blessing. One per person, first come, first served, and once a detail has been claimed and identified, it’s out of the running.
Three right answers to what’s wrong with this cover. Three autographed books.
And….GO!
~~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.
HI Deb, great cover and fun game. I am totally unfamiliar with the ‘Western way of life’…but here goes:) Should the horse have a rope thingy around its mouth/head? I thought they only needed the leather (bridle? bit?) thing-a-ma-jig!!
Blessings:)
PS, I don’t live in the US, so don’t worry about including me in the giveaway- but I wanted to guess anyway:)
Great guess, Wemble. Actually, Western riders often leave the halter on, especially if they want to tie off their horse while trail riding. Good try, though!
The horse is wearing an English saddle instead of a Western one. The cover is awesome though!
After thinking about this on the way to work, (thanks!), the title is The Cowboy’s Baby Blessing, but it seems he’s going out on a “Sunday ride”. Where’s his cowboy outfit? There’s no rope, and no saddle horn to put it on. Something about those hats. I love the color of the horse. After a quarter horse, that was my next wish for a horse.
Sally. you win the first autographed book! My hero Seth has just inherited a cattle ranch. An English saddle would be completely unworkable As you said, no saddle horn, and the stirrups wouldn’t hold up for the work a cowboy does. Gack!
Thank you so much!
Hi Deb! Inspiring cover and fun idea. Even though I live in Michigan. Many residents have horses. I consider myself a city girl, who has never been around horses much. Only see horses at the county fair. My guess is the leather harness is wrong. Not sure if all three things are incorrect with the harness or if that is just one. The harness does not have a nose strap, bit, and rein. Unless the rope is being used instead. Thanks for the challenge to us city folks not familiar with horses. Best wishes and happy writing.
Western bridles often don’t have the strap over the muzzle (nose.) English bridles usually do. Good guess, though!
The man wearing a T-shirt.
A t-shirt, especially one that is obviously an undershirt, wouldn’t have been my choice, but I didn’t consider it to be “wrong” for the cover. Thanks for your guess!
The fence should be barbed wire! I caught the wrong bridle but that’s been said. How about the shadow? Should be longer and off the the left if the sun is coming up on the right.
Interesting cover note–they generally shoot in a studio rather than on-location, so the background (fence, shadow, etc.) won’t match the scenery.
What a fun idea for a blog post! I’m not even going to guess – the only thing I could even make a stab at has already been said!
This sounds fun, but I have no idea. I like some of the other comments. I would never be able to tell the things they did mention (can´t even imagine a Western life, but love reading about it). Please let us know at some point what the issues were.
I will, Priscila!
Even though I live in the west (California), I’ve never been that close to horses either, so haven’t a clue!
I’ll give everyone a hint…the other two errors have to do with the horse–one with the tack, and one with the horse itself.
The photo of the horse up top is a hint.
English tack instead of western tack?
That one has already been mentioned, Gail, but there is something specific that is not only way wrong, but makes riding the horse impossible.
Cute cover!
I have no idea about horses and riding, so this is a guess, could be it’s not a Western style saddle, and normally wouldn’t a rider take the headstall off when they bridle up? The headstall was the main thing I noticed.
Looks like maybe a “rope” under his neck. Wouldn’t that choke him?
Um, to do with the horse, as well. LOL, I didn’t realise there are TWO things. The gait?
Reins?
I assume Seth is holding them in his left hand behind the horses head but they appear to disappear (LOL) under the saddle to me.
Just curious too. Where is Jaden’s left boot? Shouldn’t we be able to see at least the heel or something on the other side of the horse? Or is my perspective off? :)
Darn. Didn’t look low enough on the horse. Just saw a serious “attachment” issue but think I disqualified myself by answering too quickly. Wow. Would not have seen that had I not been looking.
Ding, Ding, Ding! Winner!! It totally looks like the reins are going underneath the saddle!!! These models have rarely even sat on a horse, so I think “Seth” was holding “Caden” with both hands.
Yay! Oops. I said Jaden instead of Caden. Sorry. Jaden is my boss’ son, whose husband is also Seth but that’s another story. Definite not ‘country folk’, either them. Thanks!
I really couldn’t see anything except what’s already been named and I was raised on a farm. so I am going to guess it doesn’t look like the horse has shoes on.
The nose piece is under his chin?
Great contest, Deb. You don’t have to include me in the contest if I happen to guess correctly. I just thought it would be fun to guess. The horse has both feet on the same side of his body off the ground. A good balancing act.
I totally didn’t notice that, Merrillee, but you’re right! If you compare it to the picture on top, you can see that the horse walks with opposite legs.
The last error has to do with the horse itself. Compare it to the picture of the horse on top. (This was actually the first thing i saw when I got my cover. Not the cute cowboy. Not the adorable baby. Not even the wacky tack issues.) Just the horse. Anyone?
No tail?
Ha ha! Hopefully the poor horse has a tail. You can’t see it, though, can you?
I am clueless…lol…but anxious to read your book!!
The horse looks like it has a big cancerous tumor on the front and side of its head.
I guess this last one is a lot harder than I anticipated. It has to do with body language. What the poor horse is thinking. Again, check out the very happy horse on top.
Maybe because you don’t see his tail up, he’s sad and tired.
And his head is not held up proud and happy.
He’s not trotting along. Instead he’s clodding.
Seems like this is difficult and I did answer above, but one thing that struck me odd was the mane on the horse and looking closer are the ears backwards (compared to the top picture). The mane to me looks like a comb over. Just a thought! Don’t see to many horses up and personally. Usually driving by on road trips.
Woo hoo! I’m going to give it to you, Renate. When I first saw the cover, my first thought was, “Gack!” The poor horse’s expression–his ears are pinned back and you can see the whites of his eyes. Horses are extremely intelligent and this gelding no doubt knows the model has no clue what he’s doing. Not to mention the cameras flashing at him. You can practically read his mind.
“What are this? Get me out of here!!!” (My family will get the “What are this,” reference.)
Thanks for the win! Romance readers enjoy happy people and animals on the cover! As our 3 year old granddaughter would say “Poor horsiea!” She like to add vowels to animals.
This has been fantastically fun!!! I hope everyone will look out for The Cowboy’s Baby Blessing when it comes out in ten days.
For a non-western expert, I still think the cover is great! I guess to someone who works with horses, around horses or just knows all things western, you’d spot the “wrong” about it :-) And they’d become glaringly obvious! I can’t even really see the saddle from that angle so I’d not notice what kind it is…like I don’t know saddles anyway…lol! So you see, I’d be clueless and useless…haha!
Anyway, congrats on the new book Deb!
Great blog! I enjoyed reading through the comments as much as the blog today. Congratulations on the new book.
What fun Deb. That poor horse is not happy. I have had this problem on my cover and freaked out – NOONE said anything. Other than a few family members wanting to know how I could have done that – I explained the photo shot is out of our hands. It’s interesting that for the most part people didn’t even know after you asked them to look for problems. The story inside has it all correct – that is what matters. Thank you for sharing and making a game out of it.
The eye of the horse looks kind of freaky
His ears are not pinned back mad to me but they’re just turned like he’s listening to the guy and kid riding him. The front of the horses face looks all lumpy for sure.