Book Covers: Archangel's Kiss, Flirt, and First Drop of Crimson

I started looking at upcoming covers yesterday, and I'll continue that today.

First today is Archangel's Kiss, the next Guild Hunter book by Nalini Singh - due to be released February second. Here's the blurb:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...

I love this cover. You can see her wings, and you can see her on a rooftop in China, probably in The Forbidden City or The Summer Palace - but there are numerous other places in Beijing with rooftops that look like that as well. But then we look at the rooftops in the distance and it looks more like The Forbidden City, except with the mountains in the distance instead of a cityscape, it's most likely outside of town somewhere. I am really excited that this will be taking place in and around Beijing.

You can read the first chapter of Archange's Kiss here.

I do not like the new covers for the Anita Blake series. Some think they are artistic, but I think they are boring and not very creative at all. I also think that they do not tell us anything about what is in the book. It's a good thing we aren't supposed to judge a book by the cover, because these covers just don't fit the books, in my opinion. I like the books, don't like the covers.

What do we know about Flirt? We know that Flirt is a novella, and that LKH has compared it to Micah, saying it's not really a part of the series. Since Micah is the only book in the Anita Blake series that I disliked, I'm finding it hard to get excited about Flirt.

And now to First Drop of Crimson, an offshoot of my favorite series: the Night Huntress Series, and I have high hopes for this offshoot series. I love Jeaniene Frost's writing, and I'm really excited about reading Spade's story (though I'm actually even more excited about Mencheres' story). Here is the blurb for this one:

The night is not safe for mortals. Denise MacGregor knows all too well what lurks in the shadows—her best friend is half-vampire Cat Crawfield—and she has already lost more than the average human could bear. But her family's past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness—and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who lusts for a taste of her.

He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human—even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the nightmare together . . .

Because once the first crimson drop falls, they will both be lost.

What does the cover tell us? It tells us that Spade's face is a bit scary, and it's easy to understand why Cat thought he was a bad guy when she first met him. It also tells us the rest of him is, ummm, hot. We also see him about to have dinner on the lady in red, and that she's moving her hair out of the way, so she's obviously okay with that. But, according to the blurb, he apparently isn't supposed to do that? So, is the lady in red Denise?

Questions questions questions. And since this book doesn't come out until February 9th, it looks like we've got two months until we find out the answers. Until then, there is a teaser, and (even better) the first chapter up at Jeanine Frost's site.

Oh, and another picture that is on the author's site: