What Does the Title Tell You?

Now here’s a cover I actually like. It’s sweet, simple, and there isn’t a damn baby or cowboy on it. The guy doesn’t even look like a sheriff, a Navy SEAL, a firefighter, or anything that would require a uniform sported by the Village People on stage. The girl is very pretty and looks vaguely Asian. I covet her pretty, pretty hair. I covet her sexy blouse. Sure, she looks like she’s secretly thinking, “Damn it, is this thing over yet ’cause I’m really jonesing for a Jamba Juice right now and this fucker has a heavy-ass head.” Everything’s all nice and hazy and there’s orchids and shit in the background and it makes you kind of want to say “awww” if your heart isn’t cold, dead, and shriveled.

What bothers me about this cover is the stupid title. I know I’m always harping about Harlequin titles, but this one… “Meant-to-be Mother”. What does that even mean? Does that mean that’s her one and only destiny? To be the broodmare for the douchebag whose head is on her lap? Like maybe she’ll forget all about med school and shit ’cause she’s met Mr. Perfect and she’s gonna go pop out babies for him? How romantic is that? I don’t understand how getting pregnant and stuff can be equated with romance. Stupid title!

Oh, what am I moaning about? I’m not very good at coming up with titles, either. In fact, my buddy Shuzluva had to talk me out of calling a short story I wrote “Hot Swimming Pool of Love”. I don’t know what I’d do without that bitch. Oh, hey… let’s play a game. Take a look at this cover and see if you can come up with a better title and BLURB based on the couple looking happily at each other. Maybe I’ll even put up a prize for the best one or something. Who knows.

Thanks to Amber for the cover.

P.S. I have decided I will put up a prize for the one to come up with a better title. Nay, not just a title. IF YOU CAN COME UP WITH A TITLE AND A BLURB (think back of the book stuff) to describe what’s going on here and it tickles me to pieces, I will award you WITH A BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE. ANY BOOK (no, not textbooks. I’m broke). I will send it to your house via Amazon. I’m serious. Now get going, my little daisies. Let’s do this!

P.P.S. DON’T forget the BLURB. I’ll post the best three on Sunday and we’ll vote on it, Ok?

P.P.P.S. Man, I gotta get better at setting up the rules and shit.

22 Responses to “What Does the Title Tell You?”

  1. Kathleen
    1

    How about “This asshole just fainted on me” or “I really wanted a dog”?

  2. shuzluva
    2

    Kathleen, THAT IS FUCKING HILARIOUS!

  3. Meljean
    3

    I think the title fits. He’s kind of lying there like a baby, almost Pieta-like, looking up at her white-covered (milky!) tits and probably thinking: aw, this was just like Mommy.

    So I think the Meant-To-Be-Mother reflects the wish fulfillment of the guy, not a statement about the chick’s reproductive status.

  4. Annie Dean
    4

    How about “I should have gone to dental school” or “I can totally see up his nose”?

  5. December Quinn
    5

    THE HAIR CLUB FOR MEN

    Brinkley Watts knows no woman will ever fall for him while he’s bald as a coot. Rita Silva, a hair-phobic, is looking for that perfect bald man to leave her drains and pillows hair-free.

    Brinkley takes the first step into a larger, more macho world and gets the best rug he can afford, convinced the bald truth is one he must never, ever reveal…but Rita can’t allow the hairy hunk into her life or her immaculate home.

    Will these two find a way to look beyond the bangs, and into each other’s hearts?

  6. Karen Scott
    6

    That requires far too much brain power Bam.

  7. Candy
    7

    Sort of inspired by Meljean’s comment:

    LACTATION AND THE LADYBOY

    Love In the Most Unexpected Places
    When Dirk went on his sex tour of Thailand, he fully expected to have his mind (and other parts of his body) blown. What he didn’t expect was the utterly bewitching Orrada and the explosive passion they shared in the hot Bangkok nights. But even more explosive than the love they found was Dirk’s secret: his lactation fetish. Could he ever let Orrada know?

    But Orrada has a big secret of her own up her sleeve. As Dirk begins unraveling her deepest mysteries, he begins to realize that realizing his dreams may be even more difficult than he’d imagined. Maybe even impossible. Will love conquer all this time–even biology? Find out in…Lactation and the Ladyboy.

  8. Charlene
    8

    TO SERVE MAN

    He knew her by the name of Katie Crabtree. Sweet, all-American, a former high school cheerleader. And as he lay on her porch swing, his head in her lap, he envisioned a life with her full of love, laughter, and children.

    But Mal Rg’nark was tired of playing the game. Six months of impersonating a human female was difficult enough, but to have to put up with this fatuous, grinning idiot…he looked down, just failing to hide his sharp teeth as his gaze rested upon on the man’s neck…

    …his thick, meaty neck.

    His time would come. His time would come.

  9. Kimber
    9

    HER BEDSIDE MAN-NER

    Jada Mello is a woman with a secret. She’s been charging top dollar doing craniosacral therapy for the rich and gullible, even though it’s pure hogwash.

    Brett Davis was on his way to the Superbowl when a dirty tackle ruined his career. Jada’s his last hope for a pain-free existence and she’s got a nice rack, to boot.

    The funny thing is, Brett’s actually getting better. Could the miracle of true love have given Jada’s hands the power to make a happy ending?

  10. Kimber
    10

    Actually, I concede victory to Charlene. Fucking genius!

  11. Meljean
    11

    Charlene — ROFL!!

  12. Jackie
    12

    BROTHERLY LOVE

    Derrik Winter is a lucky man. Good job, loving parents…and a new fiancee. He’d always been enamored of Jillian, even when they were kids. And from the moment they first started dating, he’d known she was the only woman for him. And now they’d be getting married. Life couldn’t get any better.

    Jillian White had always wanted to be more than just neighbors with Derrik, and definitely more than just friends. Once they had grown up, their affection turned to love…and last night, Derrik had proposed. Tonight’s the night they tell their parents about their wedding plans. She’s never been so happy.

    But their parents won’t toast the upcoming nuptials. Because they know the true reason why Derrik and Jillian always felt such a connection…why one could always finish the other’s sentences…why they could seem to read each other’s minds…why Jillian’s and Derrik’s bodies fit so very well together, like two sides of the same coin.

    Will the truth come out before the wedding day–the truth that what Derrik and Jillian share is really a…brotherly love?

  13. Kathleen
    13

    Dammit! Now you made me look like I’ve got some sort of premature ejaculation problem….okay, my blurb:

    An innocent beauty-
    Fear had been Wilhemina’s constant companion since a childhood doctor had diagnosed her double-virginity. Forced to endure a life with two hymens, this still-innocent widow longed for a home, a family, and children of her own. Instead she was forced to endure while her adult step-children schemed to take away the orchid farm left to her by her much older, impotent, filthy rich husband.

    A forceful alpha male-
    Storm had never let fear stop him before. A former Navy Seal turned Army Ranger, he laughed in the face of danger…even when he spent 3 years with his own harem trying to deal with his mommy issues. Or when he developed a drinking and gambling problem that he assumes can be fixed easily by a fiesty woman…give or take ten pages. But now his greatest enemy is after the secret he holds, and he’s forced to flee to an out-of-the-way Orchid Farm.

    Love brings them together-
    Fate brought them together amongst flowers and twinkly lights. Was he the one to rid her of her virginity and give her an orgasm at the same time? Was she the one to heal his heart and banish the childhood spectre of his mother? Only time can tell as the heat and labor of orchid farming take their toil on her hero in “This Asshole Just Fainted On Me.”

  14. Richelle Mead
    14

    RETURN OF THE DISEMBODIED FLOATING HEART

    Alix Monroe has spent the last year on the run, desperate to escape her past and the bloody events that haunt her. When she gets a job at a tropical “massage parlor” and adopts a new identity as Kiki Lovejoy, it seems as though her problems are over–especially when she meets Jean-Armand, a client with a penchant for laps and generous tips. Wealthy and panty-dropping sexy, Jean-Armand offers Alix the love and security she never thought she’d have again.

    But someone doesn’t want Alix to be happy. The Disembodied Floating Heart–the same Heart that killed her parents and finace–is back. Back for blood. And it isn’t going to rest until it’s destroyed every shred of joy in Alix’s life. With death and danger literally hanging over their heads, Alix and Jean-Armand must look within their own hearts to have any chance of escaping with both their love and their lives…

  15. Mrs G
    15

    I’m buying the books of everyone who posted on this thread. Too funny!

  16. Charlene
    16

    LOL Kathleen! AND Richelle! Well, and everyone!

  17. shuzluva
    17

    Damn it, I’m never drinking coffee while reading this blog again. These are fucking hilarious, every single one. Brava ladies!

  18. Shiloh Walker
    18

    I don’t visit this blog enough. This was too funny. Charlene, I am in awe. plain and simple.

    I suck at humor, but this is too fun to pass up.

    Thor’s Love Child

    Desdemona, the Chosen, has less than a month to find her mate. She must give birth to the next Chosen before her 25th birthday, or the fate of the world looks grim. Finding the mate is the hard part. He has to be good looking, intelligent-preferably decent in bed, and nice. She may have to suffer for her duty, but she didn’t want to suffer an asshole. It would be nice if he didn’t have a god complex, either. Fortunately, she thinks she has finally found him… meek, mild Daniel Dirkson. He has that Clark Kent appeal, with just a little bit of Superman occassionally slipping through.

    Meek and mild Daniel Dirkson is truly Thor, fallen god reborn in man form. Being a mortal man sucks. He can’t carry his trusty hammer, he no longer has his blond hair or his really cool belt. To get them back, he must reclaim in his godhood. And he can only do that if he finds his one, true queen and fill her belly with his seed before the next full moon. But instead of the buxom blonde he dreams of, the woman he finds is a diminutive, dark haired miss that he aches to possess, for all eternity.

  19. Annie Dean
    19

    Dang, I shot too soon, just like Kathleen.

    I Should Have Gone to Dental School

    Leilani Miranda never thought she’d wind up having a stranger’s baby. When she answered the ad, it seemed straight-forward: a little cooking, a little cleaning. If her boss sometimes liked to lay his head in her lap and ogle her titties, well, at least it was better than her last job, where they made her wear a chicken suit and cluck while she cleaned. Plus it was such a beautiful house and Jefferson Alder, a renowned botanist, seemed so harmless. He just needed someone to look after him while he cross-polinated a new strain of blossom he called the Labius Deflora.

    How was Leilani supposed to know that the white, creamy substance in the squeeze-tube wasn’t Miracle Whip? She knew she shouldn’t have listened to Cosmo when it told her to rub mayonaise on her clitoris for a really tremendous orgasm. Innocent vaguely Polynesian looking girls who dropped out of college just couldn’t expect anything better, she supposed. As she looked down at the stranger whose secret baby she was carrying, even though she’d never actually seen a penis, she thought, I wonder if he’ll dress up like a duck…

  20. Candy
    20

    Props to everyone, but Kathleen has the best title, and Charlene and Richelle have the best blurbs. (I mean, LOOK at that heart! It’s clearly going for her jugular.)

  21. Wylie
    21

    Great contest, Bam! What a laugh!!
    *wiping spray of Diet Coke off screen*
    Annie & Kathleen have my vote, but truly, they are all plain genius!

  22. danette
    22

    I vote for Charlene’s blurb,too.
    I’m glad I wasn’t drinking and reading today.

    Is that sand in the background, shouldn’t they
    be down on the beach staring lovingly at each,
    maybe then I’d believe she was a ” Meant-to-Be Mother”



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