Amaryllis | REVIEW SHOP [ CLOSED ]

《Sadie》Of Sun and Nightmares

Reviewer: Sadie twoshortnails
Book: Of Sun and Nightmares
Author: Stresshorse
Chapters read: All

Cover:
I like the face claims in your cover, as well the glitch effects, but I do feel like it could be executed a bit better.
For one, the images stand out starkly against the background, and it’s clear that the images have different backgrounds. To fix this, you can use a handy website called ‘bg remover’, that will remove the backgrounds of these images quickly. But after removing the background, there is still the problem of the ‘cropped’ state of the images. What I mean by this is that the t-shirt and some of the hair is cropped off, which means that it looks like they got their limbs chopped off… Not the look one likes.
If you have the full image, where their shoulders aren’t cropped off, then you don’t have to read what I’m about to write, but you probably should for other book covers you make in the future.
The first option to help the ‘cropped’ images is to disguise them. Dividing them with a line would be the easiest solution, but if you wanted to be more creative, you could try windows, or other elements of university life, or their apartment. The second solution would be to try and find a better image that isn’t cropped, or add the missing stuff by yourself (aka drawing it). Whatever you want to do depends on you, but I do believe that the book cover would look a lot better without the cut-offs.
[3 hours after writing ^^: I just realised it is your own art, so just add some shoulders and don’t be bothered with that weird stuff I said. I just can’t be bothered to edit it!]
Whilst I like your glitch, I have to question some things. I feel like glitchy text/images are commonly associated with sci-fi, and whilst your book has some element of sci-fi, the primary focus is comedy, or just university life in general. The glitch might not be suitable. Also, adjust the placement of the text, you never want to divide a word across several lines!!
If you change the colour of the text, make sure that it stands out, it’s very important. The author’s name should be the same or contrasting colour to the title. In this cover, I would suggest using the same colour, because there is no reason to complicate it by trying to find a suitable colour! And also try and find a better font — the font currently used for the author’s name doesn’t contrast well with the title font. Either stick with the same font, or search up some good font combinations.
Also remember that it tends to be the title in ‘cursive’ font, and the author’s name in a ‘serif’ font.
Overall, there’s a great idea emerging from your cover, but I feel it could be improved. Feel free to PM me if you want further explanation!

Title:
Your title, ‘Of Sun and Nightmares’, sounds cool and is cool. The format ‘Of ___ and ___’ is quite generic, but the two words you’ve used seem to be unique, after I googled the title. The only problem I have with it, is the way that it’s presented in the cover.
I don’t like the fact that you use that ‘&’ sign instead of the word ‘and’, it interrupts regularity, and doesn’t fit well as well. If you take my suggestion of reformatting the text and images, then you could definitely use the actual word ‘and’, and still fit everything in.
Other than that, I like your title, so well done.

Blurb/Description:
Your blurb is funny and cute, similar to the vibe your book gives. I wouldn’t change much about the content, which surprised me, because I usually hate it when authors point blank explain the main characters to the readers. But your funny writing style means that the blurb still works well.
The only thing I want to pick you up on, is the formatting. I’ll mention this several times throughout this review, but paragraphs are very, very important. Very important. Don’t underuse them, and please don’t overuse them. In your blurb, the irregularity of the paragraphs distracts my eye from focusing on the actual text, which is something you don’t want. I think you got a little confused with the dividers, so I would like you to remove them, and simply use a double paragraph to separate the three different sections.
(// is a paragraph) It will look something like this, ‘Nox was leaning close to Eris. From this angle, it almost looked like they were kissing. // But in reality- // “Goodnight you little shit,” Nox said, flipping off Eris. // // And also the situation between Nox and Eris, on any given day- // Eris: screaming in fear // Nox: screaming back at him angrily** // Ray and Chris: We’re just watching a couple fight. // // When Eris Lee, a 20-year-old ambivert studying at a Physics University meets his roommate, Nox, he doesn’t expect his past to be stripped raw as a chicken, while crushing on him. // Or rather, his past comes back from the depths of hell again. // // Nox Hayden, a 21-year-old student, was surprised to have an idiot like Eris as his roommate. While putting up with him, he knew this guy was going to turn his life upside down. He just didn’t know just how literally.’
If that didn’t make any sense, DM me and I’ll write it all out for you! If you haven’t noticed, I also made some small changes to phrasing, because I felt it would work better the way I phrased it. (‘flipping Eris off’, to ‘flipping off Eris’ and etc.)
Overall, good work on content, just double check paragraph use and how you format it!