You may remember recently I wrote a post about typefaces on covers, and how I think they are important. Well, today, we get to take a closer look at one of the covers I featured in a series I have decided to call CLOSE COVER CLOSEUP! How fabulous! Tempting Fate came out yesterday and look how snazzy it looks! If you’re feeling particularly excited there’s also a giveaway over here for the novella’s companion book! Ahh! Before we dive into this IN-DEPTH closeup let’s read the blurb and whet our appetites, view the stats, shine our apples, fold up our hats, and generally prepare ourselves for the cover:

Mia’s lived in her sister’s shadow long enough. Now that Abby is getting married to a Frenchman, Mia scents freedom. In fact, Jean DeLeon, the groom’s too-charming cousin, seems like the perfect place to start. But the House of Lions is full of secrets, and what started out as an exciting fling is quickly becoming more frustration than fun. Mia wants answers, or she wants out, and it isn’t like she doesn’t have other options. Ethan Hastings, for example. Tall, handsome, and gray eyes like nothing she’s ever seen before.  The fact that Jean seems to hate him is just a bonus.

You can investigate Tempting Fate here in more detail because why not? But! Now! For the thing we all came here for. Here is the cover of said novella. Take a moment to really look at the cover because there will totally be a test at the end of this post.

clicksy the amazon link here!
The first thing you might notice about this cover, is the heavy influence of the colour red.  In common keeping with the Forged by Fate trilogy, the book has a kind of scandinavian feel with the white of the background. The dress, however, tell us that there is a kind of va-va-voom to this book, there is a certain kapow to it! Presumably Mia is the kapow. I’d love to say I totally influenced the forming of this character but, alas! I did not. I’m still in that stage of my life in which I drop toast on the floor and claim the whatever-seconds rule, and drop underwear in the toaster by mistake and paint glue on pies on accident. Anyway, moving on, let’s see what Amalia Dillin (the fabulous author with whom I had a chat) has to say on the matter of Mia:

 

“Mia definitely likes to talk. It was a cakewalk to write the first scene for the prompt, and after that, I didn’t see any reason to stop! Tempting Fate takes place during Forged by Fate, and tells Mia’s side of the story, from Eve’s wedding onwards, including a lot of events which happened off-page!”

So it’s clear Mia has a lot of sass and while, by my own ruling on the matter, the novella may be seen as a romantic mythological jaunt through modern day Europe it also has a New Adult feel. Perhaps this is reflected in the crisp focus of the cover, and the clear cut lines. Perhaps, also, I am beginning to feel like an art curator and it is going to my head and I really want a hat to suit such a profession and I know nothing of art I totally flunked in analysis of paintings because I couldn’t really see anything except emotion and omg quickly let’s bring it back Amalia what genre is the novella?

“Mia’s story is a lot more New Adult-ish than Forged by Fate. It’s also a lot more Contemporary than it is Fantasy. Mia is in her first or second year at University, and really struggling to find her footing in her sister’s world, and also on her own. She bumps up against the mythical and fantastic elements of the Fate of the Gods series, but she’s kind of left out of the loop, so nothing is making a lot of sense — and she hates not knowing what’s going on.”

Still, I was basically correct about the typeface because swirly means fantasy and also some smooch. Fabulous! Other things I divine not from the cover but from my own head is that some of this is written from the perspective of a guy — Adam.  In Forged by Fate he was kind of a jerk but in this book I liked him a lot more, this is probably because of things like character development, agency, and fabulous plot-lines meaning I began to forgive those I deemed lost. Amalia! What did you think about this?

“I really love the pieces of this novella that are written from Adam’s perspective. Getting inside his head is always a lot of fun and I’m excited to see what Fate of the Gods readers think! That said, I do *really* love Jean DeLeon as a character, too, and I keep thinking that maybe he has more story to tell. We’ll see! “

Another thing we don’t see in this cover (and why would we covers are not supposed to be crystal balls but only glimpses into a world of awesome) is that the characters all have relevant names and fabulous histories. I bet right now you are sat there next to your houseplant, adjusting your fez and wondering what Amalia has to say on this subject. Well, I shall tell you!
“Obviously there is Mia (of whom I make note in the acknowledgments). And Eve’s historically-named selves are significant, most of the time — her DeLeon life being an exception, since the House of Lions was a family I created. Adam is the same. Choosing his name for the present was really fun (and I believe you helped me in finding the right one!) and he’s loosely attached to a family which according to legend is often associated with Robin Hood. It just seemed strangely fitting.  
The House of Lions itself is definitely significant for Eve and plays a huge role in Tempting Fate. There’s a spot in Forged by Fate where Reu says to Eve and one of the other women, who has just given birth and is thinking about names for her son: “If only it were so easy. That we could name ourselves lions and become them.” I think the House of Lions is Eve’s direct response to that mentioned-in-passing desire of Reu’s. Her living monument to him and everything he did for her at Creation. To me, it makes Tempting Fate just that much more fun, because we get to see MORE of the House of Lions, and finally, from a perspective outside of Eve’s and Thor’s. “

Fascinating! So the cover reveals some things (like how incredibly lady sassy Mia is; honestly I wish I was as fabulous as her and didn’t walk into doorframes all the time) but not all things! I have to say, I kind of like a cover that only reveals some things. It keeps the mystery alive and, also, allows for a clean cover. I think busy covers disturb the OCD personality in me waiting to get out and, in the mean time, making me straighten everything on my desk.
 
So what do you think? Like the cover? If you like the sound of the book you can grab one here and join me in wishing to be a little more va-va-voom sometimes. In case you are on the edge of your seat needing more below are some stats I made up…. ahem…. I mean found. I found them.
    Pages: 85                                                                                  Mia’s star rating: ALL OF THEM
Publisher: Word Weaver Press                                           Typefaces used: Trajan & Scriptina
Publication Date: 13th August 2013                                       Have you noticed the MC is: Mia
You can buy it: here, here & here                                           Amalia lives: here, here & here
Have I run out of grown up things to say: Yes                  When did that ever stop us: Exactly

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