It’s a big week in the run up to the release of Tawna Fenske’s interactive romantic comedy The Great Panty Caper. First up, the cover reveal!

I got all hung up on the question, “What does a cover reveal even mean when you’re talking about an e-book?” and forgot to pay attention to the rest. So that you don’t get as confused as I did, here’s what’s happening:

1. Cover reveal
2. Photo contest
3. Free books!

Cover Art

Does an e-book even have a cover? I follow the work of some CD cover artists, and I often buy wine based on how much I like the label, but I never really thought about book-cover art until I read a New Yorker article about the topic this summer (of course I can’t find the link). Since then I’ve found several other interesting articles about the history and importance of cover art, and how a particular image ends up on the cover. But I was still surprised that there would be a cover reveal for an e-book. E-books don’t even have covers. I was spiraling into existential territory when my ARC of the Panty Caper landed in my inbox. I plugged my Kindle into my laptop, and the cover art to the last mobi file I had copied (Getting Dumped 2) popped up. Then I realized –duh – that people use cover art to browse books online the same way they used to flip through the CD sale bin.

If you’re in the mood for something punk, you know you don’t have to walk all the way to the listening station to check out that album with the lady in a white dress standing next to a stream. If you bought the CD with the lady in the white dress on the cover, you don’t have to know anything about Iron Maiden to know you’re going to pass on the album with Eddie on the cover.

I got a kick out of the Getting Dumped cover, with its clear Charlie’s Angels reference. I loved that show when I was a kid, and I like the Drew Barrymore reboot even better. The pink hardhat references the book’s setting at the landfill. I work in the solid waste industry and I actually know women who own a pink hardhat, so that was fun. (In fact, when I finished the first book, I immediately got online to research the name Tawna Fenske. I was sure it was a pseudonym for one of my coworkers. I love that Fenske actually did research for a book in a genre that is not known for realism.)

Cover Reveal

Okay, so without further gilding the lily (when you’re talking about romance novels, that sounds kind of dirty, doesn’t it?) here is the cover to The Great Panty Caper.

So, you know it’s going to be cute, and silly, and there will be pussies wearing thongs.

I can’t believe I just made such a groanworthy (and not in a good way) joke. I hate that word more than I hate the word panty.

Come back tomorrow to find out about the photo contest. I’ll try not to make any more jokes.