Saturday, June 13, 2015

Shelf Candy Saturday #152: To Ride A White Horse, by Pamela Ford



Welcome to Shelf Candy Saturday!


This is my weekly feature
showcasing beautiful covers!
It also provides information, if available,
on their very talented creators!

For more information
about Shelf Candy Saturday,
simply go HERE.


Here's my choice for this week!



To Ride A White Horse
Pamela Ford
Trade Paperback, 363 pages
Pamela Ford, Publisher
January 3, 2015
Historical Fiction, Romance



https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25600179-to-ride-a-white-horse




My Thoughts About This Cover

This is certainly a very striking cover! What I love about it is the juxtaposition of the horse, which is composed entirely of sea water, with the faces floating above it in the stormy sky. This juxtaposition gives the cover a very haunting, eerie feeling which is very much in keeping with the background of Irish fairy lore in the book. While this is not a supernatural story, there are references to such things as the banshee, which is a female spirit in Irish mythology that begins to wail when someone is about to die. Other magical Irish creatures are also mentioned.

I love the dynamism in the horse's action of rearing up out of the raging ocean, which is a nice counterpoint to the two unmoving faces in the upper background of the cover. I think of this horse as a ghostly stallion.

As for the font, it very definitely stands out with the bluish white foam as background, but I would have preferred another one. This one is just too classical-looking (even though the lower part of the letter "R" is extended, thus breaking the classical mold). I think a more ornate, or perhaps stylized, font would have been better, especially since the story does have some magical overtones. This is still a stunning cover, however!

When I checked the credits page in the Amazon reader, I discovered that the cover design and digital formatting were done by damonza.com. This is a cover design company founded by Damon Freeman, who is also the Creative Director. The rest of the main staff is made up of two other people -- Benjamin Carrancho, who is the Formatting and Book Trailer Expert, and Alisha Moore, who is the Client Service Manager. Working with these three is a team of highly talented designers. Since its founding in 2012, Damonza has created well over 2,000 book covers!



For Further Information





What do you think of this 
week's cover?
Please leave a comment 
and let me know!






6 comments:

  1. This is a great cover. The image of the horse is striking.

    Using human faces in the background here seems like it might have been a tricky decision. I think that images of people, which can look so trivial in a picture like this, could have ruined the affect. Not so here as there seems nothing trivial about the two in he background. They look serious which I think is right for this picture. I think that the shade of blue also helps to convey this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Brian,

    I agree -- there's nothing trivial about the placement of the two faces in the background. Without them, the cover would lose much of its impact.

    To be honest, I don't particularly like this shade of blue, but it does convey the feeling of a stormy sky, and gives the cover much of its haunting, eerie mood.

    Thanks for the great comment!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a great cover pick! It's stunning, especially with that unique horse made of water. I also really like the faces in the background! A very nice touch of supernatural and looks quite interesting. <3 Have a great weekend (what's left of it)!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Analee!

    Yes, this is a really stunning cover! I'm glad you like it!! One of the tour companies I host for sent me this book for review, and I thought of using this beautiful cover in one of my SCS posts. The only thing I don't quite like, as I stated in the post is the font. I really would have preferred a different one.

    Hope you have a great Sunday (not much weekend left now.... :( Thanks so much for the nice comment!! <3 :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Maria!
    :) I definitely like the cover, and I have also read the plot on Goodreads; it's quite intriguing! Just added it to my TBR pile.

    I agree, the cover would've been much more striking with a different font. But as a cover overall, it looks great!

    Have a great Sunday as well, and no problem, it was a great post. Thank you in return for taking the time to reply to my comment and also comment on my blog. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, again, Analee!

    I'm glad you agree about the font. A more ornate, or more stylized one would have been SO much better.

    You're very welcome for my return comments here, as well as on your blog! I always try to do my best to post on my blog, as well as on the commenters' blogs!!

    Thanks for commenting again!! <3 :)

    ReplyDelete

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