I started reading J. T. Geissinger’s Edge of Oblivion a few days ago – the second installment in her Night Prowler saga (after Shadow's Edge) – and, initially, I had trouble immersing myself in the read: I was too mesmerized by the cover art and kept closing the book to look at the haunting image of a blindfolded woman on the cover!
The image of a blindfolded woman is certainly nothing new – comparable imagery is on the covers of dozens (if not hundreds) of paranormal romance, romance, and erotica releases. For example, the cover art for Laurell K. Hamilton’s Incubus Dreams is simply stunning as is the cover of her 2006 short story collection Strange Candy.
The blindfold is an object rich in symbolism – on the cover of mysteries or legal thrillers, it can represent the Lady Justice or impartiality. In the Tarot, it can mean resistance to clarity or denial. In erotica, the first steps towards a decidedly kinky literary experience!
But why is the blindfold such a universally compelling motif?
I did a little research and found an insightful blog from Tess Gerritsen, who as we all know writes internationally bestselling medical thrillers and romantic suspense novels.
When the paperback version of Vanish – her fifth Rizzoli and Isles novel – was released back in 2006, she wanted something dramatically different from the hardcover artwork. Here was what she had to say about wanting the change:
“My reason had to do with how I perceive the difference between the hardcover and the paperback markets. When I look at the respective bestseller lists, I’m struck by how much romance and women’s fiction shows up on the paperback lists. It’s much less snooty and literary. There’s far more popular entertainment.
I haven’t seen any actual research to back me up, but I suspect the paperback lists are driven, more so than the hardcover lists, by women readers.
When I took a good hard look at my Vanish hardcover design [to the right], and imagined it shrunk down as a paperback, I got this uneasy feeling that the image might ‘disappear’ among all the other paperbacks. It’s too subtle. It’s also too ‘quiet’. I began to study the covers of bestselling paperbacks, trying to identify what it was about them that grabbed my attention. Some of them were just plain lurid, but… they sure got my attention. Many of them had women’s faces or views of women’s bodies. Many of them had immediate emotional cues: a look of terror, for instance. Some of them were pretty sexy.
And some of them were both scared and sexy. If you can imagine the combination.
I began to suffer paperback cover envy. I wanted scary and sexy, too. I’d already had my subtle, literary hardcover. I didn’t want abstract art; I wanted a touch of lurid…”
A touch of lurid. That sums it up pretty well. The image of the blindfold is a little scary and a lot sexy – who wouldn’t want to read a novel that contains those elements?
After a little digging, I found a virtual treasure trove of romance covers that feature blindfolds (especially self-published ebooks, for some reason) – so many that I couldn’t possibly feature all of the covers here. Here are just a few of my favorites…
he image of a blindfold – or blindfolded woman – on book cover affect you negatively or positively? Does it compel you to pick it up, pass it by, or doesn't it really matter to you? 
Caprice Damani is a work-from-home mom with extensive experience in the publishing industry, as a bookseller, editor, and romance reviewer. Keep up with all of her blogs – as well as all of Barnes & Noble’s exclusive reviews, authors interviews, videos, promotions, and more – by following @BNBuzz on Twitter!
