When you pick up a book called Romance with Leather, you expect something sultry, mysterious, maybe even a little dangerous. What you don’t expect is a couple’s candid photo from the family reunion slapped onto a navy background with WordArt.
The “romance” here comes courtesy of a washed-out snapshot of two people mid-snuggle. Instead of smoldering chemistry, we get a Facebook anniversary post energy — sweet in real life, but wildly out of place on a book cover. And the “with leather” part? Completely absent. No jackets, no boots, no belts — not even a suspicious-looking sofa. Unless one of them is secretly holding a handbag just off camera, the title feels like it was borrowed from another book entirely.
To make matters worse, the designer decided to add a heavy black vignette around the couple. The effect isn’t dramatic — it looks like the cover is being slowly eaten alive by a void of poor Photoshop skills. The couple doesn’t blend into the background so much as get swallowed by it.
And then comes the typography, which is a disaster all its own.
- The title floats across the top in curly red italics that wouldn’t look out of place on a Valentine’s Day clearance banner.
- “A novel by” is also italicized, smaller, and equally awkward.
- And the author’s name — lowercase, squished, and apologetically centered — is treated with all the gravitas of a grocery receipt.
The color palette seals the deal: navy background, red text, and a grainy photo. It’s not bold. It’s not romantic. It’s the design equivalent of a mismatched outfit pulled together five minutes before a family photo shoot.
The verdict? Romance with Leather might be heartfelt inside, but on the outside it’s family photo album meets Microsoft WordArt circa 1999. A book that promised leather but delivered only polyester.