Contemporary Romance Color of the Year: Are Those Flags?

By / / Books & Literature / 3 minutes of reading


Ok, I have two or three more colors for this series, but I need to take a little side trip this week.

I noticed something that I just had to share with you while gathering covers over the past few months.

Now, if you’re just arriving here at the mayhem, welcome!

I’m taking really good look at the Contemporary Romance Colors that are most prevalent on covers this year and attempt to identify what is the CR-COTY, the Contemporary Romance Color of the Year. 

We talked about Pink & Peach.

A set of six covers, each with a pink or peach background, with Pink and Peach at the top

We talked about Green. 

A collection of green contemporary covers on a background of green grass and trees

And as I mentioned in the first post about my color obsession, there are color schemes that are so closely tied to one genre, like Suspense is Blue and Gold.

An array of six thrillers all with covers featuring blue photographs of night skies with yellow windows and yellow text for the title and /or author. at the top it says Suspense is blue and yellow

 

This month?

FLAGS.

Flags?

Yup. Flags! This isn’t officially an entry into the Contemporary Romance Color of the Year because these covers are all more than one dominant color. But I noticed something as I was collecting covers (so many covers, Dropbox is nagging me to upgrade).

A lot of these covers incorporate the colors of some specific pride flags.

No, really – I swear I’m not making this up.

To be very clear: I am not saying these books are queer because the color scheme resembles a pride flag.

I AM saying that the covers incorporate the colors of pride flags and I couldn’t stop noticing it.

Let’s start with the lesbian flag.

Show Spoiler

a dude says LET'S GO LESBIANS while running down the street

So here’s the Lesbian Pride Flag:

Lesbian Pride Flag - red orange at the top making a gradient to white in the middle and purple on the bottom

Ready?

A Forty Year Kiss - Nicholas Butler - an orange, blue purple and yellow sunset with clouds Making It by Laura Kay - an illustration of three people in athletic clothing against a skyline rendered in pink yellow and in almost the same gradient

Love simulation by Etta Easton. An illustration of two black astronuts in some sort of geodesic dome with a MARS Rover next to them. The background is purple to red in a reverse of the lesbian flag This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan - a Black woman with a lot of curly hair looks over her shoulder. The gradient behind and on the illustrated butterflies is orage to pink

Something Cheeky by Thien Kim Lam - an illustration of two people dancing on a stage. The lights hitting them are the lesbian flag gradient Only for the week by Natasha Bishop. An illlustration of two black people embracing in the water with the lesbian flag gradient in the title and the flowers

See what I mean? The gradient of orange to purple?

Again, I’m not saying these books feature lesbian couples; I’m saying that the colors are very reminiscent of the lesbian pride flag.

Ready for more? Bisexuals, it’s your turn!

Here’s the bisexual pride flag, in all it’s fuchsia glory:

a striped flag with a fuchsia stripe across the top, lavender in the middle, and blue at the bottom, mixing pink and blue

Bisexuals get a gif, too!

Look at that cute little ghost.

And here are all the covers in my, ‘Hang on, is that the Bi flag?’ folder:

Confidence Games by Tess Amy - a stylized image of two women back to back in front of some arches and a car. The predominant colors are pink blue and a bit of lavendar Kiss and Make Love by Luna Day - an illustration of a woman dancing in a purple gown with a sheer skirt with a pink and blue background

Till Heist do us Part by Sara Desai - an angled illustration of a couple embracing with cutouts behind them like a 60s tv show. The colors are.. blue pink and purple Queen of Dreams by Kit Rocha - a burning ring against a blue and pink sky

 

For One Night Only by Jessica James - an illutration of a woman with pink hair close to a man with dark hair. She looks a lot like Jem, the cartoon character, and the colors are pink, blue, and lavender Illicit Temptation by Katee Robert. Flowers with a wash of pink, blue, and lavender over them

The pink haired person on the cover of For One Night Only resembles Jem from Jem and the Holograms, too.

She’s truly outrageous! Truly, truly truly outrageous!

Animation from the opening of Jem and the Holograms where she winks from the cover of a magazine. Jem has pink hair, bangs, and stars on her ears, with pink makeup like kiss over her eyes

I’ve got one more collection: Transgender and bigender pride!

Here is the trans pride flag:

A flag alternating between blue stripes, pink stripes, and white in the middle

And this is the bigender alternate flag:

A flag with light and darker blue stripes fading to white, then a purple in the middle, followed by white and then light and dark pink

trans ghost? Trans ghost!

And here are the covers – again, the story likely is not about trans people, but the covers are giving me all the flag vibes.

Between Friends and Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi An illustration of three people looking over a city skyline with pink blue and light blue and white in the background. Unexpectedly Yours by C Chilove - an illustration of two people in a canoe with a sky and reflection in the water that's pink, light blue and white

Swept Away by Beth O'Leary two people standing on the roof of a narrowboat out to sea. The sky and background are pink, light blue and white Sarah Ready - Wished - half the cover is purple and half is ice blue and in the middle is a man in a purple shirt holding a woman in a blue shirt in his arms and their foreheads are together

Lori Wilde - the summer that Shaped us - a sky above a lavender flowered tree stand by the water. The sky is purple blue and pink Better Than Friends - Jill Shalvis. A mountain scene in the snow with a sky that's pink, light blue and white

Here’s an overview that really shows the palette:

A view of my finder window with the covers lined up under the pride flags

Thanks for indulging me on this side trip of “Covers That Look Like Pride Flags,” a cumbersomely-titled subfield of study in my Contemporary Romance Color of the Year pursuit.

What do you think? Have you noticed any other covers that resembled flags? 

 



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About The Author

Avatar of Madeline Nielsen
Madeline Nielsen has been a journalist for 10 years, and she's been writing about home and garden news for the last five. She loves her job because it gives her an opportunity to share tips with other people who are trying to improve their homes, and she finds that the best part of writing home and garden news is getting to meet the people who read it.

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