Sunday 18 October 2009

Which cover would you go for? ‘Frostbitten’ (Kelley Armstrong)

Sometimes I get the same book from two different publishers and I thought that a cool way to give both books exposure (I’m only going to read one of them) would be to post pictures of both covers and see what people had to say about them. I used to be one of those people who thought that UK covers were automatically better than their US counterparts but since doing this feature I’ve found that it can just as easily go the opposite way…

Until now…

Here’s the UK cover for Kelley Armstrong’s latest novel,



And here’s the US cover,



One of them is an evocative piece full of blizzards and snow. Look, there’s a wolf looking quite mysterious. It’s a cover that at the very least would make you think about picking it up and looking at the blurb on the back.

The other one is the American cover. An attractive lady and a wolf against a yellow background that doesn’t suggest frostbite at all! There’s no sense of what the story might entail other than an attractive blonde lady; nothing that makes me want to pick the book up and give it a go (which is a shame, if Armstrong’s earlier work is anything to go by then this book really deserves a better cover…)

Lazy cover art never wins around these parts! This round goes to the UK cover…
What do you think though? Which cover would you go for if ‘Frostbitten’ was going to go on your bookcase…?

Comments please!

22 comments:

dangermouse6969 said...

It'd have to be the UK cover I'd not look at the blurb on the US cover either.

Renai LeMay said...

I agree the UK cover is better, but the US cover does have a certain crass sex appeal for the mass market.

Kendall said...

Neither cover's stunning, but yeah, the U.K. one's better here I don't like the woman's unnaturally turned head on the U.S. cover. I mean it's perfectly to the side, almost as if it had turned from her back (the front of the cover). Creepy. ;-)

shaneo52 said...

Yeah UK wins again.

kay - Infinite Shelf said...

UK cover all the way! Even though I'm not in love with it, I prefer it to the US one completely.

Anonymous said...

Uh the first one would entice me more than the sex appeal of the second one. Why is she wearing her talisman/medallion backwards? That might get me to read the blurb of the second one...

--Sharry

Memory said...

To be honest, I'm not crazy about either cover, but I do prefer the UK one as the lesser of two evils. The Canadian cover isn't so great either, but it'd still get my vote. It's creepy, at the very least.

Abigail said...

I seem to be the lone vote for the US version. I love it; it is very urban fantasy. It would certainly catch my eye even if I didn't see Kelley's name.

Craig said...

The U.K. cover wins out hands down.

Valashain said...

Definitely the UK cover but neither are exceptional in my opinion.

Kendall said...

Thanks for the Canadian cover link, Memory. Um. That spine looks very weird but otherwise the cover's very vague (doesn't really say anything about the book except maybe SEX INSIDE or possibly SERIAL KILLER NOVEL). ;-)

Blodeuedd said...

I like the US cover, but I don't get the whole necklace back weird neck pic..she looks weird

DesLily said...

at first glance I'd choose the UK cover, but given time looking at them both, the us cover has a lot going on.. beautiful girl, obviously, the wolf (in both covers) and a pendant.. makes me wonder what the book is all about.

Brenda Hyde said...

I hate to be the one to say it, but I love the second cover. I love werewolves, and I see that it's snowing lightly. Wolf, girl, mystical necklace. Yeah, it works for me.

logankstewart said...

Definitely the UK cover. I'd pass over the US one completely.

Adele said...

I think the UK covers for the whole series have been gorgeous and they don't scream paranormal romance either like some urban fantasy covers do. :)

The Fantasizer said...

I don't like either one o these covers. Frankly if a book had any one of these covers i'd probably not even pick up the book to check what the book's about.
Unless i knew about the book earlier ofcourse!

Marjorie said...

I don't find either cover very inspiring, but of the 2 I prefer the UK one. It suggests more supernatural/mystery story. I find the 'let's put a scanitily clad woman on the cover regardless of relevance' approach offputting.

Marjorie said...

Although having read others in the series I would pick it up, but if I were coming to it fresh I'd be put offby the US cover.

Ole A. Imsen said...

I would definately go for the UK cover.
The US cover just screams "romance with paranormal elements" to me, and that's not my thing.

Teresa said...

UK cover looks like a "The Call of the Wild" with the typo error on author-title place, so I doubt I would pick it.
US cover is quite clear about the genre.

Cara said...

Definitely the UK cover... I like Kelley Armstrong and will buy the book when it comes out in paperback, but if I didn't already know and rate the author I would ignore the US version, assuming it was just another trashy paranormal romance.