The cover is unarguably the single biggest draw to a reader in deciding whether or not to choose a book. A close second, though, is often the title. Just the other day, I read a comment online from a woman who couldn’t bring herself to read a friend’s book simply because the single-word title was off-putting. (Of course, my brain immediately pondered the likelihood of a novel titled Moist.)
It got me wondering, though, like poor lovesick Juliet—what’s in a name? Would a book by any other title be just as sweet?
From an author standpoint, titling is hard, especially if you’re an indie without the benefit of a marketing team of experts who understand both genre expectations and what sells. Sometimes a title will simply come naturally as we’re writing. Sometimes it takes as much brainstorming as the book itself. And realistically, without that panel of professionals, how do we know what single word or short string of words is going to lure in the reader while conveying everything it must?
After all, not every romance can follow that old formula of The _____’s _______ or Her/His ________ ________, right? They’d all start to feel a little Mad-Libs-like after awhile. I thought it would be fun for today if a few of our Inspy Romance authors shared one of their titles that at first glance might not make sense for contemporary Christian romance!
To kick things off, I’d like to share the title of my upcoming fairy tale twist on The Frog Prince, which will be releasing May 25th as part of the Once Upon a Summer collection. Writing this tale was a bit of a challenge for several reasons. To start, the original Grimm’s fairy tale is only about a page and a half long. There’s a spoiled princess, an enchanted frog who’s really a prince, a pond and a golden ball, a broken promise, a ridiculous hissy fit, and a loyal servant whose heart had been banded with iron so it wouldn’t break. Disney’s recent Princess and the Frog was no help since it isn’t based on that fairy tale at all, but is instead their loose twist of a different tale, The Frog Princess (E.D. Baker).
What struck me while writing was how very unlikable the princess was in the Grimm’s story. Why did the prince fall in love with her? Why would my frog prince want a kiss from such a snotty diva?
And why would I name my fairy tale—the very tale we get our pop-culture fascination with kissing frogs from—Unkissable?
Weird choice, I know, but the title came when I set out to give Charlotte a redemption story. I made her a Hollywood reality star with a reputation for throwing fits. Her prince is Jaime Reyes, the younger brother of Derek, the hero of A Splash of Love, my Little Mermaid retelling in 2019’s Once Upon a Christmas. I wanted to focus on retelling the story with as many elements of the original tale (sparse as they were) as possible, but as Christian fiction, bring her redemption and grace and restoration. The reader deserves to know why the frog prince wants to help her, befriend her, and ultimately be kissed by her.
Enough about my tale, let’s look at a few of my awesome Inspy Romance friends’ titles (don’t worry, I have their permission and it’s all in the spirit of camaraderie and fun). While they may not make sense for a romance at first, when we step back at examine the series they’re part of or read the story itself, the titles work.
First up, Laurie Larsen’s Pawleys Island Paradise book 5, Path to Discovery. At first glance, we might assume it’s a self help book. But in the scope of the series, we notice the other titles follow the same format of ___ to ____ (the way to a state of being). Clever, right?
Or how about Valerie Comer’s Dandelions for Dinner? The fourth installment in her Farm Fresh Romance series seems a little odd, but every book has a title with an edible (who knew dandelions were edible?!) fresh food. BTW, this series is really cute.
Janet W. Ferguson’s Going Up South doesn’t exactly scream romance either. However, when you realize the bad-boy hero has no where to go but up (while having to go South!), it totally makes sense.
I asked Tabitha Bouldin about her upcoming island romance, Stealing the First Mate. We laughed over it sounding like a historical pirate romance. In reality, it’s about unrequited love and a boat tour! It sounds super fun and I look forward to checking it out when it releases the end of the month.
My good friend Toni Shiloh’s short A Proxy Wedding made me scratch my head at first. What in the world did it mean? Turns out, two people agree to stand in as proxy so their two friends serving in the military could get married, and they discover feelings of their own along the way.
As you can see, in the end, these titles do make sense (and they’re some pretty fun stories, too). I’m sure we could talk unconventional titles for romances a good long while, so why don’t you share a few you’ve come across in the comments. What made you decide to read the book? Do you think Unkissable is an odd choice for a fairy tale retelling?
I can’t think of one at the moment.
No worries! Thanks for commenting!
I think I like unconventional titles because it makes me want to read them 🙂 And makes me ask the question “why did the author title the book that way?”….and then discover the answer to that question.
When I think of odd titles, I go to cozy mysteries because they always have play-on-word ones…..like my favorite one I read years ago “Death by Darjeeling” (a Tea shop Mystery). I don’t read cozies often , but I always get a kick out of the titles!
Excellent points! I also get a kick out cozy titles.
Jen,
This title is a perfect title! It really goes well with the story and I truly love it and I loved the story!
Yay! Thank you, Marylin!
No. I do not think Unkissable is an odd title for a book. My mind is not coming up with any titles that seem a bit different at this moment.
That’s okay! Thanks for stopping by!
Unkissable is an eye catching title! I love quirky titles. I never go by a title alone, however, as the blurb, and particularly the author, are important too. Some of the best stories I’ve read have had a nondescript title or a dreary cover, especially in my childhood. Look at the classics!! I mean, Jane Eyre. What is there in that title to draw you in?? And the covers back then were really plain!!
LOL you are spot on with every point! Love it! Thanks for commenting.
I really like these titles , they make me want to read the books. Thank you for sharing them. Have a great weekend and stay safe.
Yay! I’m glad to hear that.😊
Love the title! Catchy!
I’m listening to the Sweet, Small Town Romantic Comedies in Good Grief, Idaho right now and the titles are funny:
Me and the Cute Catastrophe
Me and the Tidy Tornado
Me and the Helpful Hurricane
I just binged all those books! I love the titles and the alliteration!
I like Unkissable for a title. I don’t pick books for their titles, though, for me it’s totally about the author and the blurb on the back! I don’t even pick by the cover!
Nice! You are the rare unicorn reader! Most pick off the cover first, which I think is a bit sad because I’ve read some treasures who had meh covers but the descriptions pulled me in. (And wow, blurbs are even harder than titling!)
I liked Unkissable for a title. It really makes you wonder! I read this collection and it is al kinds of fun! Great job ladies!
Aw, thank you so much, Paula!
I do like Unkissable. It still says that there will be kissing somewhere. 😉
I don’t really care too much about titles. Titles are super hard! And very forgettable. I can give 5 stars to a book I really loved and forget the title just a couple of weeks later. But I usually remember the author.
(FYI, I did base my series — retitled — on that temple: “Her Heart’s Disappointment,” etc.! Ha, ha. The first titles sounded too much like nonfiction, i.e., “Love is Not Arrogant or Rude.” )
As a reader, I definitely look at the cover, but I try to remind myself not to automatically assume I can guess the genre or the steaminess just from the cover. I absolutely must read the blurb/description to take a chance on it.
Me too. I have several reader friends who don’t read the description and I just don’t understand that. I want to know what it’s about first!! Haha!
And no shame in following the template. Just maybe not *everybody* should. 😉
I agree titling can be hard! But I love Unkissable!
So hard. And I can’t wait fir everyone to get their hands on Gwen’s tale too!
I love these titles!
Me too!
Unmkissable, yes perfect title for kissing a frog. Ugh just the thought of kissing a frog is awful to me, but definitely a catchy title.
LOL right?! I do t understand it. Even symbolically, who wants to kiss a frog?! Give me my nice guy any day.
I think that UNKISSABLE is a great title. It begs to be explored further.
Yay! That’s what I’ve been hoping to hear. LOL!
One that drew me in was South African author Diane J. Wilson’s “The Cake List”. Shopping for flour, butter, sugar and eggs? No, indeed! Rather than having a bucket list, the heroine, who is fast approaching her 30th birthday, has set herself a list of things she wants to do before getting her birthday cake.
While her list does not include something so direct as “Fall in love”, her goals take her places and through experiences that lead her to her own HEA. It really is a delightful story full of humor and struggle and joyful love of all kinds!
Oooh, thanks for the recommendation, Lincoln! I’ll have to check that one out.
Right now I can’t think of any but Stealing the first mate does sound historical but would depend on what the cover looked like. For me the cover often is the first thing I notice even before the title sometimes. Its amazing how often I have seen a cover and guessed the genre and got it wrong.
It was fun reading who the titles came to being. Oh and on Unmissable it makes sense.
Thanks, Jenny! You’re so right about the covers.
I was really out of it yesterday my spelling was really bad. (I had the first covid jab and it left me exhausted and last night I was struggling to think straight.