Hearthomancy Vol. 2: A Men's Fantasy Adventure

I certainly don't begrudge authors choosing the style with the market being what it is. It's just sad that capitalism/western dominated marketing demands this. I know my aunties in the US were always very very insecure about reading romance even in the house because the men would tease them for the covers. And teasing was the light end. My more religious/conservative family members would turn it into a holier-than-thou lecture series about lust and encouraging out of wedlock relations. This is why Outlander was so so popular with them when the books began releasing. I remember in 2016 when my uncle after nearly 2 decades cracked open Outlander, an "ahistoric, sissy book filled with womanly histrionics". He nearly choked when he got to the first explicit scene. I doubt he had ever made my aunt feel how Jamie made Claire feel lmao. I am wildly impressed that you made these covers yourself! I am so glad tha at the very least, this trend is helping authors help themselves rather than how many RFM titles rely on AI to get the biggest tiddiest anime waifu on each cover. To be fair to you and every other author, I grew up on the old TOR/DAW fantasy full illustration MMPB covers like this and this which always inspired a kind of whimsy without ever having to crack open the books. My biggest problem with modern covers is I feel like they go against the spirit of free expression. SUPPOSEDLY (dripping sarcasm) capitalism inspires diversity and free choice. But these covers pigeonhole so many stories and make it very hard to divine the good from the bad. (this is true of the clinch covers as well, but at least those had some appreciation of the natural art that is the human body lmao. Sorry if my initial comment came off as rude. I am aware that despite it being a seemingly simple issue, it actually is extremely nuanced and multifaceted. I would be glad to see these types of covers if they weren't the ONLY ones I am starting to see for this type of romance, same as my issue for the boob centric covers like this compared to something that is sexy, yet visually distinct like this.