Here’s a bit of a mixed bag of covers from Tyndale House!
I love the sound of each of the stories and particularly can’t wait to read Chris Fabry’s (ADORE his stories!), Rene’s (cover to come) and Jessica Dotta’s debut novel.
Unfortunately, I’m not quite as enthusaistic about the covers. Here’s what I like….the flowing hair on Jan’s cover, the style of Jessica’s, and the authenticity in Allison’s (the cigarette holder, without showing the cigarette, made me smile!). Lisa’s cover intrigues me.
Not so keen on the gender uncertainty of Janice’s cover – I was confused over whether it was the heroine or hero until I caught sight of the pearl earrings, and then the model reminded my a bit of Angelina Jolie – LOL! I’ve always loved Chris’ covers but this one is just too plain for to grab me and while my friend Amber (and purple devotee) might disagree with me, I don’t like the washed look of Jessica’s cover and would have preferred full colour.
Now, enough moaning by me, I’m keen to read all these stories as Tyndale rarely lets you down in that department! So, over to you ~ your thoughts?
~~~~~~~~
Tattler’s Branch by Jan Watson
Lilly Corbett Still has grown to love her life as the small-town doctor of Skip Rock, a tiny coal community in the Kentucky mountains. Though her husband, Tern, is away for a few months at a mining job, Lilly keeps busy with her patients and her younger sister visiting for the summer.
Her hands full, Lilly turns to her good friend and neighbor, Armina, to help keep things in order. But when a mysterious chain of events leaves Armina bedridden and an orphaned baby on her doorstep, Lilly must trust in God and her resilient country neighbors to help her uncover the truth.
While working late one night, Lilly cares for a patient whose odd behavior sets her on edge, but she’s unaware of what a mess she’s found herself in until a break-in at her office puts her on high alert. Struggling between what is right and what is safe, Lilly discovers the strength of her neighbors, her God, and herself.
September, 2013
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Lola’s rambling Victorian house.
Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola’s walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola’s youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper–the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything for Tandi.
September, 2013
Old Fashioned by Rene Gutteridge
Former frat boy Clay Walsh has given up his reckless lifestyle and settled down to run an antique shop in a small Midwestern college town. Determined to put his partying ways behind him, Clay has become notorious for his lofty and outdated theories on love and romance. But when Amber Hewson, a free-spirited woman with a gypsy soul, rents the apartment above his shop, Clay cannot resist being attracted to her spontaneous and passionate embrace of life.
New to the area, Amber finds herself surprisingly drawn to Clay and his noble ideas, but her own fears and deep wounds are difficult to overcome. Can they move beyond their differences and their pasts to attempt an “old-fashioned” courtship?
September, 2013
Every Waking Moment by Chris Fabry
Treha Langsam is a mysterious young woman who has fallen through the cracks, much like many of the elderly people she works with at Desert Gardens Retirement Home. But Miriam Howard, director of the facility, sees her extraordinary gift and untapped potential. Treha is a whisperer of sorts, calling those who have slipped into dementia back to a life of vibrant, if only temporary, clarity.
When Treha’s and Miriam’s stories intertwine with a documentary team looking for stories of the elderly, Treha’s gift is uncovered, and the search begins for answers to the mysteries of her past. As their paths converge, each person is forced to face the same difficult question: What if this is as good as my life gets?
An uplifting, human tale of an ordinary woman with an extraordinary gift.
September, 2013
Critical Pursuit by Janice Cantore
Officer Brinna Caruso has built a reputation at the precinct as the cop to call when a child goes missing. For Brinna, it’s personal because she was once one of them. Brinna and her K-9 search and rescue dog, Hero, will stop at nothing to find a missing child, no matter the stakes.
Detective Jack O’Reilly isn’t ready to return to his homicide duties, after losing his wife to a drunk driver. He’s on the downside of his career, and bent on revenge, when he’s assigned as Brinna’s partner. While on patrol, Jack struggles between his quest for personal justice and his responsibility to those around him, especially his partner.
Skeptical of Jack’s motives, Brinna isn’t sure she can rely on her new partner, whose reckless abandon endangers the safety of those around him. But when a man surfaces with an MO similar to the criminal who abducted Brinna twenty years earlier, Brinna and Jack must cast aside previous judgments and combine efforts to catch the kidnapper, and finally allow Brinna the peace stolen from her as a child.
September, 2103
Born of Persuasion by Jessica Dotta
The year is 1838, and seventeen-year-old Julia Elliston’s position has never been more fragile. Orphaned and unmarried in a time when women are legal property of their fathers, husbands, and guardians, she finds herself at the mercy of an anonymous guardian who plans to establish her as a servant in far-off Scotland.
With two months to devise a better plan, Julia’s first choice to marry her childhood sweetheart is denied. But when a titled dowager offers to introduce Julia into society, a realm of possibilities opens. However, treachery and deception are as much a part of Victorian society as titles and decorum, and Julia quickly discovers her present is deeply entangled with her mother’s mysterious past. Before she knows what’s happening, Julia finds herself a pawn in a deadly game between two of the country’s most powerful men. With no laws to protect her, she must unravel the secrets on her own. But sometimes truth is elusive and knowledge is deadly.
September, 2013
All for a Story by Allison Pittman
Monica Brisbane loves being a modern girl in the Roaring Twenties. Her job writing a gossip column allows her access to all the local speakeasys in Washington, D.C., where she can dance the night away—and find fodder for her next article. But when the owner of the Capitol Chatter newspaper passes away, Monica wonders what will happen to her job, and the lifestyle she loves.
Max Moore may hold the title of editor-in-chief for evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson’s paper, The Bridal Call, but Aimee calls all the shots. So when Max learns that his uncle has passed away, leaving him all his earthly possessions, Max resigns and heads to D.C. Determined to take over the Capitol Chatter, infuse it with his values, and turn it into a respectable paper, Max is soon bumping up against the equally determined Monica Brisbane.
Under Max’s direction, Monica embarks on her most challenging assignment yet: infiltrating and reporting on the Anti-Flirt Society. Though reluctant at first, as Monica meets and mingles with the young women of the club, she begins to question the innocence of her flirtatious lifestyle. And when romance begins to blossom between Max and Monica, she must choose where her loyalties lie: with the young women of the society or the alluring pull of the speakeasy and its inhabitants.
October, 2013
March 29, 2013 at 2:53 pm
So excited for “All For a Story” by Pittman! Love the cover, and the first book was so good. Can’t wait!
March 30, 2013 at 5:56 pm
Charity U » Great to hear, Charity.
March 29, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Oh, the stories sound great!
I’m a huge Lisa Wingate fan, so that’s probably the one I’m looking forward to most although I want to read them all!
March 30, 2013 at 5:54 pm
Laura Jackson » Lisa’s great, isn’t she? Do you have a favourite book of hers?
March 29, 2013 at 5:17 pm
Interesting covers! Tyndale has some neat stuff. 🙂
I really like a lot about the Tattler’s Branch cover, but I just don’t care much for the model’s expression… I think it leans a bit more toward haughty vs. confident/courageous, you know? But the colors (purple dress!!) and the spacious, mysterious background are great. 🙂
You are right about me liking the Born of Persuasion cover, haha! (Thanks for the S/O, by the way – makes me feel special!) I get what you’re saying about the “washed” look, though. It does lend a certain feel to it, and I like it for the old-fashioned, haunted quality. And that’s such an interesting shade!
Unfortunately, I am not a fan of the All for a Story cover. 🙁 Her face looks so pale and “painted,” and again, the expression just doesn’t quite work for me. She looks closer to angry and spiteful than determined…
As for the stories, I’m curious about Old Fashioned and Born of Persuasion! 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Rel!
~Amber
March 30, 2013 at 5:53 pm
Amber S. » Well, you are special so glad you felt that way!! I like All for a Song because of its authenticity and I think she might just be “angry” from the back cover copy- LOL! As always, enjoyed all your thoughts on these covers
April 18, 2013 at 4:52 am
I agree on the cover for All for a Story, the model SCREAMS model to me. Like she’s totally playing dress up for this cover shoot.
March 29, 2013 at 11:10 pm
Mind if I pipe in?
TATLER’S BRANCH :
Nice blue in the background. Outfit that the model is wearing could look better… Unless, is it to show that she doesn’t have financial means? And another color for it might have been better. The cover has a lot of potential, is this the final one?
THE PRAYER BOX :
Really like the door on the back. Adds an interesting and very nice touch to the scene. And I just looked closer… the door opens up to reveal letters? Hmm.. could be symbolic of what the letters represent in the story. Then look at the expression on her face… it conveys a lot and seems fitting to the synopsis presented. Overall, this looks nice. Nice color combo. I like it!
OLD FASHIONED : I was really close to asking if the author is the Renee (steelergirl) that we know? But then I clicked on the name. It looks familiar.
EVERY WAKING MOMENT: Sounds like an emotional read. She calls those who slip into dementia back to life? So interesting. I’ve not heard of that before. As for the cover… hmm. Maybe if they added more colors it would have looked better. It’s nice. But could be better. I like a cover with a diversity of colors that seem to blend together (not too many though!)
CRITICAL PURSUIT : FINALLY… romance!! (Right?) Cover: is she holding handcuffs? It would have been interesting if they did something with the sunglasses. You know.. show something important to the story reflecting in there.. or is that too cliché? Also, I don’t know why, but I’m thinking it would be nice if they show the guy too. Cover could be better.
BORN OF PERSUASION : I just squealed after reading the blurb. Sounds good…Once again… a touch of color either on the girl’s dress or on the wall behind her would have added more ‘life’ to it. Matching is good sometimes but adding other colors to enhancing the pic wouldn’t hurt.
ALL FOR A STORY : Okay. The colors definitely convey luxury. But there other colors that do to and it would have been interesting to add to cover. More red, perhaps. A bit of bronze? I don’t know…
MY COVER PICK : The Prayer Box.
Wow. I think this is the longest comment I’ve left on your blog, Rel. While writing, I just kept hoping it wouldn’t suddenly disappear.. that would have been no fun. Thanks for sharing these covers as always.
Good day everyone!
March 30, 2013 at 5:38 pm
Ganise » LOVE your long comment, Ganise, my friend – thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Rene is a great writer, Ganise – well worthy checking out her previous novels, but no she isn’t our Renee (waving to you, R!).
I’ll be interested to see how much romance there is in Critical Pursuit. Her first series didn’t have a lot of romance in so I assume this might be the same although she’s not dealing with an established couple here.
Chris’ books are always amazing and the issues in Every Waking Moment are fascinating and I know he will make it sing!
Looking forward to talking with you about Born of Persuasion when we get the chance to read it 🙂
Happy Easter to you!
March 30, 2013 at 1:20 am
I’m really excited about Allison and Jessica’s books, and I think Rene’s sounds super cute!
March 30, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Ruth » Ditto to you, Ruth!
March 30, 2013 at 1:29 am
Rel, I completely agree with you. Every Waking Moment is a blah cover which is sad.:( And Critical Pursuit does confuse you at first.
But I love The Prayer Box and All For a Story.
If you get past a few covers, there are a lot of intriguing stories here.
March 30, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Sally Bradley » We seem to all be in agreement over the quality storylines, if not the covers – LOL!
March 30, 2013 at 5:53 am
As seems to happen a lot of the time, we agree so much about the covers, Rel. My favorites are Allison’s and Jan Watson’s, especially Allison’s. It is so authentic to the era! As you know, historical is my genre pick, and “Born of Persuasion” sounds great and I plan to read it, but the cover is pretty bad to me. I agree with you about the colors, or lack thereof, but you know my main problem with this one…why oh why must they cut off the head just to cut off the head. This one is one of worst offenders in that department to me. There really is no reason for it other than to just do since some other covers do it. Oh well… I like Lisa’s cover pretty well. I wish they had not sliced off so much of her. I am not a fan of Chris Fabry’s cover either. This is one time when cutting off part of the head might have helped. 🙂 Can you believe I said that? Anyway, the cover does nothing to showcase the story to me, to reveal something it is about. It does not draw me in. As for Janice’s, I like the concept pretty well as it is different for the genre. I had to laugh as I thought she looked like Angelina Jolie just as you did, and since I do not really like her acting I am put off a bit. A bit of a strange reason, I know, but there it is. To end on a positive note…I am THRILLED to see Tyndale doing more historical releases now as they do tend to choose great stories!
March 30, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Aaron McCarver » You make me smile, Aaron – to chop off, or not to chop off!!! I’m so with you on Chris’ cover – the lack of insight it gives to the story is what bothers me, too. He is such a fabulous writer, I’d buy his books regardless, though. Story wins, everytime, doesn’t it?!
March 30, 2013 at 7:17 am
Yay! More pretty book art – you are too wonderful to us, Rel. As always, thank you for putting these together. 🙂
Rene’s sounds perfectly unique and captivating – a rom-com that is maybe different than the norm…? Agree with you about Janice. The concept is cool (always like the “cut off” look) and colors yet something is “off” about it. But then, I am not a fan of hers so…
March 30, 2013 at 11:20 am
These days I seem to like the roaring twenties so perhaps Alison’s novel will be good…? I’ve not read hers: Can anyone share an author she resembles?
The cover seems to capture the era really well – it has an “air” about it plus the model is picture perfect. 🙂
March 30, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Rissi » Mmmm…Allison’s books probably read a bit like Cathy Gohlke’s. She has a number of series out, including one where baseball is a feature 🙂
March 30, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Rissi » You are are very welcome, Rissi! I love Rene’s books – have you read My Life as a Doormat? One of my all time favourites. She writes great rom-coms.
April 5, 2013 at 11:13 am
I haven’t read that one by Rene, Rel. Is it good? From memory, I am sure I’ve seen it advertised various places.
Hey, thanks for the tip about Alison’s writing. Appreciate it! 🙂
March 30, 2013 at 7:24 am
Jessica’s, Janice’s, and Allison’s — yes, the others not so much. The covers definitely have a different look than say Revell, Bethany House and others which is great but they are a little plain. 🙁 The good news is that they all sound really good!
March 30, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Renee C. » Yes, I agree with all you say, Renee!! Thanks for sharing xo
March 30, 2013 at 11:18 am
The Prayer Box sounds wonderful… like the cover too.
March 30, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Ian » I agree – looks and sound great!
March 30, 2013 at 11:30 am
I don’t tend to pay attention to covers. My library shelves books all with the spines facing out. I first look for the little Christian Fiction sticker at the bottom of the spine (my library has stickers for mysteries, westerns, etc.), then I look at title and author. If those sound decent I pull out the book and immediately look at the back cover for a description. If it sounds appealing, I go for it.
Dotta’s Born of Persuasion and Pittman’s All For a Story are the ones that interest me most here. Although I’m not sure about Pittman’s title. It doesn’t ‘grab’ me as well as All For a Song did. But since it’s another book about Aimee Semple McPherson, I guess the decision was made to go with similar titles.
March 30, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Sally » Wow, that’s interesting Sally – thanks for sharing your book selection process 🙂 I choose books by author and story so I suppose we are similar but I do love having a great cover to go with the story.
March 31, 2013 at 1:33 am
YAY!! LUV to see these in my inbox:-) thanks so much for always sharing these with us….we LUV them!! I agree and immediately thought the model on Jan’s cover looks like Angelina (which is cool with me) I really like this cover! There are soooo many good ones mentioned here of course Lisa Wingate, Chris Fabry (I actually like this cover more than some of his previous) hadn’t heard of Jan or Jessica before, but these are def making me wanna get to know their writings!!!
March 31, 2013 at 8:05 pm
Jojo » The stories sound terrific, don’t they? Jessica is a debut novelist so it is not surprise you haven’t heard of her. Thanks for sharing your appreciation!
March 31, 2013 at 7:12 pm
I like Allison’s cover EXCEPT for the heroine’s expression. She just looks mean!!! And Tattler’s Branch had me a little confused – from the summary and clothes I think it’s a historical, but all that hair flying around when that wasn’t appropriate back in the day left me a little uncertain.
Lisa’s cover was definitely my favourite 🙂
March 31, 2013 at 8:03 pm
Kara I » Hey Kara ~ I know what you mean about the flying hair but I took it to show that the heroine is out of the box. Given that she is a doctor in that era she is obviously not afraid to turn heads! Thanks for sharing – Lisa’s is a favourite of mine, too.
April 3, 2013 at 11:59 am
Thank you SO much for featuring the cover and blurb for Born of Persuasion! I did a Google image search under my name curious to see if I would be connected to the cover yet–and I was here!
It’s been fun to read the comments the about the cover. Amber got it right with the wash being for an “old-fashioned, haunted quality.”
Loving Historicals myself, I intrigued by Allison Pittman’s and Jan Watson’s cover.
April 4, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Jessica » Delighted to feature your debut novel, Jessica 🙂 Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. Really can’t wait to read your story!
April 10, 2013 at 1:56 am
I am most excited about Janice Cantore’s new book… her last series modeled such a good relationship between Nick and Carly. I am excited about this new series!!!
April 10, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Faith » I’m looking forward to it, as well, Faith – it will be interesting to see how she plays the dynamics between a couple who aren’t in a relationship to begin with.
April 11, 2013 at 1:39 am
Exactly! 🙂 I have a feeling it will be good…. 🙂