Loving Old School Harlequin Covers
In present days, Harlequin has taken more and more to using real life models for their covers, especially regarding the new and altered lines in 2012. I got into a debate about this very thing on the Harlequin forums in Goodreads, where most are preferring the newer, modern covers. Not me, though - I like my imagination to fill in what the drop-dead hero is supposed to look like. Many times the people on the cover fill me with a preconception before I even start reading, and not always to my liking!
With the older covers, it was more than that. You instantly recognized these books for what they were as soon as you saw the white background with the circle smack dab in the middle, with which was filled with anything from pencil-like artwork to full fledged color painting techniques.
Some examples of the Circle Harlequins, Old School
Circle Harlequin Vintage:
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When the the circles were removed, I still dug the artistic covers that stood out with the Harlequin Presents logo at the top, especially the older style with the large block of color and text separating itself from the picture.
Full Cover Vintage Harlequins:
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All styles of Harlequin covers pretty much excel anyway, but there will always be a special plate in my heart for the vintage, retro stuff. My heart still gets excited when browsing in used bookstores and finding some of these, they are almost always instant buys.
