Hardcover vs Paperback 124

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

 

Hardcover

Paperback

Amazon.com:

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Wolfsbane Original Hardcover

Wolfsbane Final Hardcover

Amazon.com:

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended-Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer-one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack-and the man-she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive. 

While you can find me freaking out about the ever changing world of covers every Tuesday there is something about the change of the Nightshade paperback cover and Wolfsbane hardcover and has some people totally freaking out too. I'm not sure what exactly has people so upset but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents on the covers. I haven't read the books, I'm coming at this purely from my design background.

I will have to say that overall I agree that the first set of covers are better. If you look at the new set of covers you see that purple and green have been consistently used like in the first set but here they are being used almost exactly how you would see them on a color wheel, they are very bold and really exactly what you would think of when you think of purple and green. Those colors being using with a strong amount of black and some white give off a vibe of what I think of as Urban Adult Fantasy covers. It's really hard and honestly not something I enjoy in my color palettes and that Wolfsbane pose, just no.

In the first set of covers the colors are softer and are used with other colors to create a subtle more feminine look along with the more lifestyle type of photography which I think always wins out in my book. I will say though, in the paperback of Nightshade I appreciate how the idea of a wolf comes into play on the cover, I don't like exactly how it was done but it's better than nothing, that's always something that struck me odd about the Hardcover of Nightshade that it appeared to be about a pretty girl just by looking at it and that's all, I don't really pick up on the subtle hints of the eyes or the flowers, something was missing.

One final note, something that always bugs me when covers with models on them are changed, most of the time the main character looks completely different on the new cover, new hair color, length, face shape basically the total opposite of how they once looked so I'm glad in this case the models are so similar, i'd say it's even possible it's the same girl!

So to recap, I see these covers as going from very soft to very hard, and I pick soft. So those are my 2 cents, let's hear yours.

P.S. Can someone that has read the books tell me why her hair is purple on the Nightshade hardcover and blond in the rest? 

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