Analyzing Great Covers

by Starla Kaye 

Okay, I’m prejudiced. I have had three books published with Decadent and I love every cover. All right I admit that there are a gazillion other good covers with the publisher. But this is an “all about ME” moment.

First, let’s look again (and again, and again) at the cover for my first book with 1 Night Stand, Maggie’s Secret Wish. Is it “hot” or what! There is my pretty Maggie, who has dreamed naughty things about getting spanked, hands bound and up nice and close with the man Madame Eve matched her with for a very special night. And what a match he is! Ian, is a Scottish hunk (note those great pecs and biceps), who happens to be a steamy erotica author…and a Dom. Be still my heart….

My second 1 Night Stand book, Starting Over, was my first try at writing a gay romance and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. Just look at that cover. Are those two men “yummily hot” or what?! And I don’t even care if they’re gay. What I cared about was sharing a special story about Corbin (the man in the background) who has finally decided to ease into the lifestyle he has only dreamed about. He needed to be matched with a man equally special…and Madame Eve found him. Matt (the dark-haired, devilish looking man) also has been dealing with a drastic change in his life. The man he’d thought he would be with forever died and he struggles to go on with his bruised heart.

And then there is my newest book, The CEOand the Cowboy, with yet another wonderful cover. The great chested man with a tie is Daniel, the CEO, an experienced gay man recently burned by a cheating lover. He is reluctant to get romantically involved anytime soon, but when he meets Calhoun (the “hot” T-shirted man in a hat)… well, he can’t help wanting to get to know the cowboy up close and personal. But Calhoun has never been with a man “that way.” Unnerved by his attraction to the CEO is putting it mildly. An unlikely match, but they’ll win your heart as you see them struggle to find something special.

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Maggie and Ian's Top 10...

1.     

Maggie shares some things about Ian…

He has the most gorgeous sky blue eyes, like looking at a summer sky and wanting to just sigh in happiness.

His shoulder-length dark brown hair is so thick, so soft and I can’t keep from running my fingers through it.

He always looks like he needs a shave. God, how I love that look!

His Scottish burr makes me hot all over. It’s like this crazy, sensual purr. Hot, hot, hottt!

He gets the cutest look when he’s irritated with me over something (which I don’t understand, because I’m so perfect all of the time). These pair of lines crease his forehead, another pair dance together between his thick, dark eyebrows, and his lips sort of purse in consternation.

Have I mentioned his lips? Kissable…oh, yeah, very kissable.

He has this amazing body, runner lean and mean and oh so touchable. A simple touch of my fingers and that six-pack goes all fluttery; his chest expands as he draws in a shuddery breath. And when I start trailing my tongue up from his oh-so-adorable navel (he wouldn’t like that description, macho man and all…), he groans and can’t be still at all.

He has this fascination with my bare butt, which is absolutely okay with me.

His hands…his fingers…all I can say is they’re Wonderful with a capital “W.”

He loves me, every quirk of mine and all. It doesn’t get better than that.

Ian shares some things about Maggie…

Those brown eyes of hers turn to molten dark chocolate when I… Well, when I touch her in just the right places.

There is nothing better than having that mass of long, pale blond hair draping down over me, tickling my chest, when she plays wild cowgirl and shows me her skills at riding.

Her skin is so soft, so creamy…so soft. I have to touch her every chance I get.

Her voice gets all breathy, all God-help-me sensuous, when we’re…uh, I’m sure you understand.

When she’s frustrated with me (which I don’t know why because I’m perfectly reasonable all of the time), her eyes flash with a spark of brown fire. Her pretty little bow mouth tightens and all I can think about is kissing the devil out of her.

She has this sassy way of swaying her hips sometimes, usually when she is trying to get my attention. She doesn’t understand that to get my attention all she needs to do is be anywhere near me. I want her with every fiber of my being…all the time.

Her body isn’t perfect, or so she tells me. She’s wrong. It’s absolutely perfect to me. I don’t see these imperfections she keeps talking about. I see a woman who makes me so damn hard I can hardly walk at times.

Have I mentioned her ass? Love it. Especially when it is deliciously bare and turned up over my knee. And I don’t have to spank it to enjoy the moment. Okay, a few light smacks are always good…for both of us.

1.   She has small hands, but what she can do with them…. When she takes my cock in those hands… Even better, when she puts those sexy lips around…

2.   She loves me with all of her heart. I’m so damn lucky.

Adding Depth to a Character by Starla Kaye

In Maggie’s Secret Wish, I wanted to create a female character that many women could identify with. Maggie’s life had lost its spark after a bad relationship and she’d buried herself in her work. Her best friend is worried about her. “I bet you haven’t left this apartment in days, maybe weeks. I bet you’ve even been wearing those same clothes all that time. As lovely as those cow-printed lounge pants and KU T-shirt are…not!”

Maggie’s friend wanted to do an intervention, force her out of the seclusion of her comfort zone and into the dating world again. Like many women who have gone through a depressing end to a romantic relationship, she is reluctant. Her self-esteem is at a low level, other than with her work. She’s out of practice at looking her dating best, especially in comparison to her “perfect” friend. Nail polish? What was that? Maggie hadn’t been to a beauty salon in… okay, it had been a while. Her almost waist-length pale blonde hair had a mind of its own, so usually ended up in a braid in an attempt to control it. Maggie felt she always looked like she didn’t have a clue about what to do with her hair, how to apply more than just eye shadow and mascara, or what was the latest fashion trend..

These are the kinds of specifics to turn the computer geek who lost her last lover into a character that a reader could identify with. Most of us have had a depressing time now and then. We’ve worn our comfy clothes and hidden away for a short time to watch TV or read a book or whatever. We’ve given in to the need to baby ourselves and let our bruised heart/ego heal. We don’t look our best at those times.

Taking that character depth and growth a step farther, Maggie now faced stepping back into the world, getting out of her apartment, and possibly trying out the unique matching 1 Night Stand service of Madame Evangeline that her friend recommended. Still, like most of us would, she balked. Am I really that desperate? Well, there was that no-sex-with-an-actual-man-in-almost-forever thing. And she’d been having these dreams lately, these fantasies about…

I also wanted to create a male character worthy of my heart-bruised, yet secretly curious, woman about to try dating again. I wanted someone unique, a man facing his own issues, and a man who needed a woman like Maggie. Ian is Scottish and far from any kind of man Maggie had known. When he’d turned forty the previous month, he’d finally started questioning what he was doing and what he really wanted to do. It wasn’t that he felt old but rather ready to step into a new phase in his life. Not that he didn’t like both his full-time career as an erotica writer and his part-time career as a professional Dom, because he did. But lately all of it had just felt…well, same-old, same-old.

Ian is a confident man in many aspects of his life and work, but he, like Maggie, doubts he can ever find real love, true happiness. His quirks alone would make many women want nothing to do with him. Oh, he could please a woman better than a lot of men, but that was a sideline of his work as a Dom. And his experiences as a skillful lover helped him add credible depth to his erotica novels. But he was not suitable husband material and he knew it. He’d done quite a bit of thinking about that lately. The fact saddened him. Once upon a time he’d been like the majority of people, certain he would mature into adulthood, establish his life’s work, find a woman to settle down with, and then have a family. Now because of what he did, because of what he’d done, because of…no, he’d never have that kind of normalcy in his life.

These are some of the little ways to fluff out a basic character into someone who seems real to the reader. To find out how Maggie and Ian continue to reveal themselves, continue to grow and heal, and see the specialness of their unique relationship, you will have to read their story, Maggie’s Secret Wish.

***

Maggie’s boring workaholic life and focus on her obnoxious ex is grinding her down. A friend’s advice sends her to Madame Evangeline’s high-end dating service 1 Night Stand. She hopes to find some fun, a date, and va-va-voom sex…not necessarily in that order. At least she will get out of her apartment for one hot night! Because, yes, she is just that desperate for a change, and there is that secret fantasy she’s been wanting to try out….

As Ian turns forty, his day job as writer of steamy erotica and night job as part-time Dom has him worried he will never have a “normal” relationship. With his particular kinky quirks, what woman would consider him husband material? Madame Eve is pretty good at her own job, are these two a match in a million or just a one night flash in the pan?

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