Stepbacks. Those beautiful, slightly extravagant illustrations on the inside of romance novel covers. I love them so much. Idyllic nature settings, half-clothed people, awkward-looking animals, uncomfortable sexual positions. *chef’s kiss*
Today is Stepback Appreciation Day here at Romantic Parvenu! Scroll below to find just a few of my favorites.
(Notice: last time I made one of these posts, people came to the comments to make fun of stepbacks. Please don’t do that. This is an APPRECIATION POST for beautiful ART. K?)
I love that this looks like a John William Waterhouse painting, honestly. Very “Ophelia” lying in the grass and suchlike.
YES! Swooning in a field of flowers right as a tornado is about to touch down. The blue jeans, the black stallion in the background, the colors. Yeeeeeees.
First of all, I actually used to own this, but I donated it and never even LOOKED at the stepback. Travesty. Otherwise, I just really love her lacy dress—definitely something I’d wear to the office. 10/10
This one is great because the front cover and the stepback have nothing to do with each other? What’s happening here? No idea, don’t ask questions!! But the waterlilies are an excellent touch, truly.
Amanda Quick’s stepbacks are great because there’s like 40 people + an ark on all of them. Here we have Eyepatch Dude, Creepy Orphan Triplets, a Duel, and a Ship on Fire. Wow!
Somebody PLEASE read this and tell me what’s happening here. Is this like a Cast Away situation? Why does she look like a comatose version of Jane from Tarzan? Answers! I need them.
Aww, this looks like he’s romantically drowning her off the coast of Cornwall. Very Daphne du Maurier! The fish in this one are great, honestly.
As we all know, NOBODY can resist singing Katy Perry’s “Firework.” (Especially before going to a secret sex cult meeting!) This stepack is just the cover version of this universal truth. Really wanna know what the celebration here is? Did the hero’s cold heart melt at the sight of the heroine’s luscious breasts?
Classic stepback material right here. Riding on a horse together, under the moonlight, barely dressed. Perfection.
I’m really a sucker for stepbacks featuring water, sorry not sorry. This one has some Scandalous Sideboob as a reward for intrepid readers willing to deal with… *waves hand* all of that racism.
LOOK AT THIS. Honestly, this is just a true masterpiece. I love how her dress is literal SCRAPS, but is so artfully arranged. Also the mule wagon??? And the blue jeans! Get it, Shirl Henke.
I think stepbacks are cool. 🙂
My post .
This is pure awesomeness!
I just read another similar post. I had no idea what stepbacks were. I actually really love them. These ones are beautiful. (I wouldn’t ever make fun of them!)
These are some great examples. Is that Fabio pretending to be a sort of blondish Native American on the Comanche Moon cover? And the last one, notice she’s wearing the same dress on the front cover and the stepback? But apparently her dress got torn up when she fell in the water. But I can’t even snark about the Medeiros cover, it’s simply lovely.
This is the second list I’ve seen highlighting stepbacks, which I had never heard of before. I avoid covers with half-naked people on them as a general rule, but even I have to admit that some of these are really beautiful!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I looove these! I never knew what they were called, but they’re always so fun to look at. Even though most of the time, they really do have nothing to do with the story, but the stepback itself tells an interesting story…
This was thoroughly entertaining. Good ol’ romance novels.
A, I love stepbacks and did not previously know that’s what they were called, so that’s great. Secondly, I need to return to that last one. Because of the lil polka dots on her dress, I’m 90% that the dress on the cover is the same dress that’s shredded to rags on the stepback, so one of two things is true: These are two unrelated incidents, and she only has one dress and wears it all the time and now is going to be in a pickle because her dress is ruint; OR, her blue-jeanned beau is the one who tore it off her in the throes of the very passion we have seen in its early stages on the cover, in which case, good LORD, sir, can you not get a dress off without literally tearing it to pieces with your bare hands?
I think these are fun! Some of the poses do look a bit uncomfortable, especially the one on the horse.