Shelf Candy Saturday #38: Dark Storm, by Christine Feehan

 

 

 

Welcome to

Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,

features beautiful book covers!

It was originally hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews,

a blog I really miss...

 

 

If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post. Just be sure to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer in your post, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!

Here's my pick for this week!

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Storm

(Dark #23)

Christine Feehan

Hardcover, 384 pages

Berkley Hardcover

October 2, 2012

Genres: Paranormal Romance,

Urban Fantasy

 

 

Why do I love this cover?

 

This is an intricately-designed, jewel of a cover... I am in awe of the creativity displayed by the designers.  The entire effect is nothing short of magical!

 

This is, of course, a composite image.  The abstract, leafy pattern that frames the central area is just exquisite; even though there's no depth to the image, the patterns look three-dimensional.  You expect the ridges and lines to be raised, even though they're not.

 

 The photo of the man at the top lends realism to this cover.  I love that he's looking down pensively at the single flower he's holding in his hand.   The contrast between his muscled upper torso and the fact that he's holding a flower is so sweet...I can already tell that this is a good guy!

 

The play of colors -- including blue, my very favorite -- in the middle and toward the bottom of the cover, is just absolutely beautiful, and creates more magic.  There seems to be a larger flower to the left, underneath the author's last name, and there's also a small, frightening image -- a piranha opening its mouth to show its lethal teeth.  Lightning forks down from the deep blue, stormy sky.   Right underneath the title, bright red flames shoot up into the murky air.  In the midst of the magic, there's also danger...

 

The lettering used for the author's name, as well as the title, is nothing short of gorgeous, as well.  The letters are classical, yet also have a medieval flavor, and look very sculptural.  They're the only elements of this cover that are indeed raised, so one can run one's fingers over them.

 

Altlhough I adore this cover, I do have to point out that I think the author's name is much too big.  I think the title should have gotten more emphasis.  After all, the title of the book is Dark Storm, not "Christine Feehan".

 

In spite of the above objection, I firmly believe this is one of the most beautiful book covers I've ever seen, and I am proud to say that this book is now a part of my collection!  I got it just two days ago, courtesy of Amazon!   

 

 

 

 

 

  What a combination of talents

are showcased in

this amazing cover!!

 

The entire cover design is the work of

George Long.

He has combined images from

two stock photo sites:

Thinkstock and Shutterstock.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find

any information about him.

 

The lettering was done by

Ron Zinn.

I was unable to find any information

about him, either.

 

When I did a Google search

for both of them,

lots of people with the same names

came up.

None of them were designers

or calligraphers, though.

The only thing I came up with is

that both of them

have done work for the Berkley

Publishing Company.

 

 

 

 

What do you think of this

amazing cover?

What beautiful covers are you all

featuring this week?