Cover and blurb opinions sought
Opinions on which of these covers is best? Please no comments on how un-sci-fi it is. I’ve tried making it more so and it just ended up screaming “I was made by an amateur!” Besides, as far as I can tell the important thing for a sf romance cover to have is a male with nice muscles. Got that!
And I’m aware my name is crooked on the bottom one. I forgot to fix it on that one before quitting Photoshop.
And I suppose I could do one with both subseries’ names and no shuriken. So that’s an option too.
And now for the blurb:
I like the long one and will, at the very least, be using it for the back cover copy, but I’m wondering if maybe the shorter one wouldn’t be better for actually selling the book purposes? Suggestions about the blurbs are very much appreciated.
The short one:
All Bobby Kavaliro wanted was a vacation fling to help take his mind off life as a spy posing as an assassin. Instead he fell in love with Karen Thase, a woman from the homeworld he’d run away from years before as a naive teenager, lured by the Anerix High Chancellor’s promises of money and power. Now Bobby’s back on Sweytz, dealing with family and friends he hasn’t seen in a decade and a girlfriend who he’s not sure will still want to be with him when she finds out how badly he lied to her.
And some people in the Anerix government have decided he needs to die.
Bobby’s life has suddenly gotten far, far more interesting than he ever wanted!
The long one:
Years ago, Bobby Kavaliro ran away from Sweytz, from everything and everyone he’d ever known, lured by promises of money and power made by the smooth-talking dictator of Anerix.
A few years later Bobby came to realize how stupid he’d been and became a spy for the very world he left.
A spy posing as an assassin.
A spy whose best friend and mentor has just had his cover blown.
A spy who jilted someone who would now like to see him dead.
A spy, in other words, who needs a vacation. And a spy who is hoping to meet someone to share his bed while on that vacation.
Bobby finds more than that when he meets Karen. So much more, in fact, that before too long he’s moving back to Sweytz, looking for a job, and trying to quickly learn how to be a responsible adult for the first time in his life.
Meanwhile, Anerix’s High Command, now very much suspecting he was a spy, are sending assassins after him . . . and after Karen.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, Karen doesn’t believe half of what he’s told her about his past, nor is she sure she wants to be with him after she gets to know just how temperamental and immature he can be.
Bobby has to grow up fast to keep her love, deal with everything he’s missed while he was gone, try to avoid being killed, try to keep Karen safe, and try to rebuild his relationship with his family, all at the same time.