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Some covers seduce you. Others intrigue you. Property of Blade walks in shirtless, dripping in chains, and growls “SUBTLETY IS FOR COWARDS” before flexing directly into your soul — and your corneas. This isn’t a cover. It’s a visual testosterone overdose that feels...
Romance covers are supposed to stir your heart, set the tone, and maybe make you blush a little. The Power of Will attempts all of that — and ends up looking like the ghost of romance novels past, phasing in from the astral plane to whisper, “We ran out of budget, but...
When you hear the word Limerence, you might expect a sweeping psychological romance, a dark obsession, maybe a melancholic spiral into the heart of infatuation. What you probably don’t expect is a radioactive cupcake having an identity crisis in the middle of a gothic...
Every now and then, a book cover comes along that makes you stop and ask, “What exactly am I looking at — and why is it glowing?” Welcome to Basil by K. Rose, a green-saturated graphic disaster that looks less like a book cover and more like an accidental screenshot...
Let’s take a stroll down to Larchdown Valley, where the air is crisp, the cabins are rustic, and the book covers are built entirely out of stock images, poor lighting choices, and title fonts that scream, “I made this on my lunch break in Canva.” Behold: Carving Out a...
If a cover could speak, 3000 Miles would whisper, “I’m sexy, mysterious, and possibly about corporate espionage... or maybe just a woman who travels in high heels with a suspiciously warm laptop.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t speak so much as slur its way through a...
Some book covers whisper “intimate memoir.” Others scream “I just figured out how to use WordArt.” Before I Was Mom falls firmly into the latter camp, wrapped in a visual aesthetic so minimal it loops back around into full-blown design oblivion. Let’s begin with the...
“The accident took his voice, but she heard him anyway.”Well, here’s a thought — maybe someone should’ve taken this cover designer’s mouse. Because what we have here isn't a book cover; it’s a slow-motion graphic design disaster dressed up like a heartfelt drama....
Some covers reveal their crimes instantly. Others lurk in the digital shadows, looking deceptively competent until you zoom in, look longer, or—heaven forbid—turn on your designer brain. Silent Intruder is the latter: a cover that sits quietly in the corner pretending...
Let’s take a long, meandering stroll down Love’s Perilous Road, where danger isn’t in the plot—it’s in the design decisions. This cover promises historical romance with drama, passion, and possibly horseback chases. What it delivers instead is a stiff embrace, ghost...
Sometimes a book cover says too much and still manages to say nothing at all. Macsen: Wisely Dicey is one such paradox—a grayscale monument to the lost art of subtlety, where flexed abs meet vector clip art in a high-speed collision on the road to “What were they...
Behold: One Bed for the Bluestocking, a romance novel cover so aggressively whimsical it should come with a sugar crash warning. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a Regency ballroom collided with a Lisa Frank trapper keeper and a discount wildlife calendar,...
A Note to Authors Featured Here
The purpose of Horrible Covers is not only to critique but also to highlight how much cover design matters to a book’s success. Many authors set out with the best intentions but end up with covers that don’t reflect the quality of their writing — sometimes because they tried to do it themselves, sometimes because they relied on someone who wasn’t a professional cover designer.
We understand how frustrating that can be.
Our aim is simple: to help writers put their best work forward with cover art that does justice to the story inside. If you’ve been featured here and are ready to level up your presentation, reach out through our contact form and mention “Horrible Covers Author.”