The Smart Bitches poke fun at romance covers quite often…and with good reason. A few years back, Jennifer McKnight-Trontz wrote a book called The Look of Love: The Art of the Romance Novel. Salon talked about it. I somehow missed it, but I now own it. Don’t you just love housewarming gifts.

The publisher described it as:

Dashing doctors, naughty nurses, and sexy stewardesses…caught in webs of love, passion, betrayal, and intrigue: these are the raw materials of the romance novel - and the lusty covers that advertise them. The Look of Love presents the captivating art and stories of this ever-popular genre, from the sugary tales of the 1940s to the bodice-rippers of the 1980s. This delightful compendium of popular illustration and purple prose is aimed at the hearts of romance lovers everywhere.

Salon says:

With sections devoted to historical romance, career girls, exotic settings and the romance’s peculiar fascination with the medical profession (my favorite: “Hootenanny Nurse”), “The Look of Love” also has a precious assortment of cover art from the long lost genre of drugstore gothic. There used to be dozens of these books in every cheap rack, each cover featuring a maiden in a nightgown or some other filmy garment fleeing the environs of a vast and gloomy house. They’ve vanished entirely, and seeing their covers here is like stumbling on a favorite old eight-track tape.

Yeah, it’s as cool as it sounds. And, here’s the Hootenanny Nurse cover. Come on, you know you wanted to see it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 11:35 am and is filed under About Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.