What does a title do for you? Apart from a hot or exciting cover, a good title of a book can draw a reader in immediately. My first published book, City of Secrets, was originally titled Love in the Ancient City. My original title tied in with the fact that the story takes place in Saint Augustine, the oldest European-settled city in the United States. However, thanks to a wonderful editor who pointed out that not everyone would know that, and it wasn't as catchy/suspenseful as it could be, it was eventually changed and City of Secrets was born.Sometimes if a book cover is only meh, but if the title is intriguing, I'll pick up the book anyway. I actually credit Linda Howard's All the Queen's Men with my love of romantic suspense. Thanks to my mom's not-so-hidden stash, I was reading category romance at the age of eleven or twelve. However, it wasn't until college that I somehow discovered All the Queen's Men (I think it was one of my roommate's books my freshman year). I found a hardcover without a book flap so the cover really was very boring (looking back, I think she was trying to hide her romance novels). But, I loved the title and once I started reading, I was hooked. I had no idea romantic suspense even existed up until this point. Ten years later, it's still one of my favorite books and John Medina will probably always be my favorite hero :)
Some of my favorite recent(ish) titles are:
Enemy Lover by Bonnie Vanak
Set the Dark on Fire by Jill Sorenson
Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas (this title just screams to be picked up)
Chain Reaction by Rebecca York
Have you ever picked up a book because the title intrigued you? What are your favorite titles in romance novel?
4 comments:
yes. I was so smitten with Johanna Lindsey's Silver Angel cover (the old one, not the reissued one) that I HAD to pick it up and find out what it was about. Thus begins my love of romance.
Titles are hell for me. I can't remember titles of books I've read; I'm normally an 'author' person. Or blurb, or recommendation.
I recently finished edits on a re-issue of a book with a new publisher, and we had to come up with a new title. Killer.
But we finally came up with Nowhere to Hide. Seemed to work on a variety of levels. Now, I'll just have to remember it!
All the Queen's Men is my favorite, too! Actually, it inspired me to write Cover of Darkness (what that title has to do with the book I still can't tell you). Titles are tough, but they can make all the difference in someone stopping to read the blurb and excerpts.
That's why we need awesome crit partners to stop us from naming a work Collective Strain or something equally as terrible :)
Lol Kaylea *g* (p.s. I can't believe ATQM is your favorite and I didn't know!)
Post a Comment