Out With The Old, In With The New: Book Covers

So the saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover”. But the reality is that we do notice a book by its cover and may even judge it (at least at first, whether to pick it up and check it out) by what we see at first glance.

Whether they are by Indie Authors or by major publishing houses, the cover is a big part of the selling point. Many established authors are now ‘revamping’ some of their older and/or backlisted books covers and not just the cover art but the titles as well.


One of my favorite authors is J.R. Ward. I devoured the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series and followed up that hunger with the Fallen Angels  Series. To hold me off until her next book was published I did some research and found out that she originally wrote as Jessica Bird. SCORE!!! Whoo hoo!!! I would be getting my fix!! I like all genres and was extremely interested in reading her contemporary books. I started with the Moorehouse Legacy Series. Got the books from the library (2 were in paperback and 2 were in e-book) and fell in love with the series. So much so, that I ended up purchasing the books. However, that wasn't easy as they are no longer published and yippee I found them on Ebay! The series includes four books and interesting enough…. I shouldn't tell you…. Okay I will since you've come to the party (thanks for that by the way!)! Let’s say, she wove in a bit of BDB in there… that’s it. Not saying anything else! Back to the conversation at hand. Below are the names and book covers of the Moorehouse Legacy Series.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

A few months went by and wanted another J.R. Ward fix. I was giddy to find out that “The Rebel” was out and so was “The Player” and my library had both of them! I love her writing style and haven’t read anything I didn't like so I just requested it. Imagine my surprise when I started reading the first book and had that déjà vu moment. I kept reading dismissing the feeling and my inner voices which were saying “Dude, you've read this before!” So I finally listened and looked the book up and come to find out its “Beauty and the Black Sheep” book 1 of the Moorehouse Legacy Series. Not only did it have a brand new cover, but it also had a new title!! This was the first time I ran across this. So of course I did some more research and found out it was a re-release and books 1 and 2 had new covers and new titles. Haven’t heard anything yet about books 3 and 4.

Originally "Beauty and the Black Sheep" & "For His Comfort and Joy"

Personally I don’t like the new books covers. I don’t think they convey the story correctly. The new titles? I’m on the fence. I think they went “too obvious” with the titles. The hero in book 1 is rebellious and the hero in book 2 may be considered a “player” because he hasn’t settled down. Perhaps the publisher thought that the new titles would intrigue the reader into wanting to know why he was “The Rebel” and the other guy why he was “The Player”. Who knows? Personally, I know they are trying to capitalize on the “J.R. Ward” name as its nice, big and centered. I get it. Marketing! And truth be told, that’s why I picked it up, it had her name on it! So that did work.

Here’s another example: Linda Jones’s series Shades Trilogy Series. Again, an author I love and found out she had written as Linda Fallon. Found the Shades Trilogy Series on Ebay as they were no longer in print. Here are the book titles and book covers

New Covers

Available at Amazon & Barnes & Noble

I haven’t read the Shades Trilogy Series yet. My TBR list is as tall as Mt. Everest, but I will admit, the new book covers did make me move them up a bit. Does that make me judgmental? Nah!! Truth is, a picture does speak volumes. Come on, admit it! The new covers for the Shades Trilogy are hot!!!

Regardless of what the covers look like, what’s important is what’s in between the front and back flaps. The Moorehouse Legacy Series is a great contemporary series.

Do you judge a book by its cover? What do you think of the updated/revamped covers from the two series?

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