Magnolia Parks: New Book Covers Spark Controversy Among Fans

If you’ve spent any time on BookTok, you’ve likely come across the Magnolia Parks series by Jessa Hastings. And if you’ve looked any deeper at the series there, you’ve almost certainly seen videos talking about the change in book covers when Hastings signed with a traditional publisher after self publishing the first four books.

As so often happens when an indie author signs with a traditional publisher, Dutton (part of Penguin Group) decided that the original book covers just wouldn’t cut it on bookstore shelves. So they did a complete redesign, likely to be more in line with reader expectations for the genre (romance).

Opinions are split over the new cover designs, with some influencers at least tentatively accepting of the new designs, while others are vehemently opposed to them and have sworn allegiance to the original cover designs (and a small subset, Magnolia Parks super fans, have committed to buying both versions).

The Original Magnolia Parks Covers

The original covers for Magnolia Parks and Daisy Haites (the first two books in the series) had collage-style, artistic covers (they were designed by Emmy Lawless). Did they scream romance? Not even a little bit. But they became iconic and part of the author’s brand. People on TikTok are still trying to track down the original covers (they’re available through the author’s website) and it’s been reported that the rest of the books in the series will also be available with the original-style cover art (it seems to be a special order option).

Here’s what the original Magnolia Parks series covers looked like for those two books:

They’re chaotic collages of imagery, and the more you stare at them the wilder they get. While I haven’t read the books, based on the reader reviews I’ve seen, the covers fit the stories.

Here are the covers for the second two books in the Magnolia Parks series, which follow the same theme:

The thing I love about these covers is that they’re each unique while also sharing a similar style. They remind me a bit of high-end versions of zine covers from the 90s (if you ever want some truly funky book cover design inspiration, go check out vintage zines).

Each cover uses a bunch of different images within a collage to hint at the book’s content. I think the biggest thing about these covers is that your average reader isn’t going to be afraid to read these books on the subway or in a bar. They don’t scream “romance.” And while the romance genre is just as valid as any other book genre (and just as challenging to write), it is, unfortunately, still looked down upon by certain segments of society (and so many readers avoid reading print versions of romance novels in public).

Readers loved these covers so much that they associated them with Hastings’ brand. In fact, some BookTok influencers have gone so far as to say the new book covers have ruined that brand. Let’s take a look at the new Magnolia Parks covers to compare.

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My Contribution:

As the domain manager for The Book Designer, I researched, wrote, and edited this article based on current BookTok trends. As of March 2024, it was in our top 10 articles on the site in terms of traffic.