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Contemporary Romance Color of the Year: Peach & Pink?


Contemporary Romance Color of the Year with six swatches in green, peach, fuchsia, lavender, blue and yellowI’m BACK!

My Dropbox runneth over with contemporary romance covers that feature a single color, and my brain dances like a kaleidoscope of candy.

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. 

In my last post, we talked about Green. 

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

A LOT of Contemporary Green Romance, and debates about whether something is green or blue – very fun.

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?

PINK & PEACH

A very obvious choice for Romance, right?

Get ready. It’s about to get very blushy in here.

The Other Bridget by Rachael JOhns - faceless illutrations of a woman in a tank and jeans with two men in the background behind her with their arms folded The Wedding Menu by Letizia Lorini A man in a grey sweatshirt with his arm around the shouleer of a woman with brown hair and a white blouse. behind them is a wedding cake

Not In My Book by Katie Holt two people facing off nose to nose over a table with a book between them. She has long brown hair and darker brown skin and he has short dark hair and lighter skin and a grey jacket A five letter word for love written in Wordle style against a peach pink background with two people embracing in the corner. She has light skin and long brown hair while he has darker tan skin and short dark hair

Book Boyfriend - a peach background with a stack of books in purple, pink, blue and green with two peopel standing alongside the books like the books are MASSIVE and they are TINY Crash Landing - peach and pink skies on a beach iwth a big peach sun and two people running along the tide

Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore - a peach background with a room with a green rug and two people sitting at a desk with a manequin and sizing dummy behind her. She has blonde hair in a ponytail and a pink dress and vest while he has short hair and a blue shirt Love Points to You by Alice Lin - Two women bumping into each other, one with a dark ponytail and a red overall dress and brown shirt, the other in a light pink pulover and jeans. The background is a wash of peach

Sophie Cousins - is she really going out with Him? A pinky peach background with little illustrations of people walking between and climbing up the words of the title The deepest end of love - a butterfly that is half flowers and half illustrated wings against a rose pink background

The Perfect Rom Com by Melissa Ferguson a mostly peach and pink illustration of two peopel sitting back to back in booths at a restaurant with a tour bus behind them out the window Love on Paper by Danielle Parker a pink background with a green typewriter illustrated with striped confetti coming out of the top? On the right is a brown hand with green nails lifting an insulated straw cup

The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean by Ann Rose - a big pink wedding cake with the title on each tier, with a pink background and fuchsia bottom. Along the sides of the cake are four people one standing on each side of the tiers Love Story by Lindsey Kelk - a pink background with an illustration of a girl in a green dress with auburn hair sitting at a cafe table and a guy with dark hair and a blue shirt over a white T looking over his shoulder at her

Better than Revenge by Kasie West, a pink background with two illustrated people. She is at a computer with dark brown hair and light skin and grey headphones on her head with a mic on a stand. He has darker brown skin and a blue and white football jersey and he's unplugged her computer? What a tool. The Launch Date - a diagonal stripe of orange with a pink background with two people on either side of the stripe like it's a work table, and the people are pictured from above. The guy is typing on his phone behind his laptop screen and the woman has red hair and a pink jacket and is holding her phone and typing on her laptop

You Belong With Me - Mhairi McFarlane - a pink background with a dark haired woman in blue shirt and orange shirt walking through te door facing a man holding flowers behind his back About last night by Laura Henry - a hot pink background with an illustration of two women on either side of a doorway. One has long hair, ripped jeans and long brown wavy hair. The other has short hair, a green shirt and a blouse

If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley - a dark pink rose background with illustrations of trees on either side and two silhouetted people in blue with a blue dog sitting on a yellow bench Second Chance Romance - a woman in a green bathing suit sips a drink against a hot pink sky with greek blue roofed domed buildings in the background. in the water is a guy facing away from her

And, an honorable mention for I think these are peach, pink and orange: 

I'll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow - two women embracing side by side seated at a bar with a pink background and pink brick with a winter scene of a city out the window The CO-Op by Tara Dewitt a orange, peach and pink sunset behind two people standing on either side of a door with a california-looking pier and the water behind them

One Year Ago in Spain by Evelyn Skye - an orange peach background with illustrated fans and two people pictured at the bottom Worst in Show - Anna E Collins - a peach orange background with two people with dog leashes wound around them. The guy has blue jeans and a white shirt with a white and brown dog while she has brown hair a blue skirt and top and a small brown dog on a red leash

Isn’t it interesting how the peach and pink flow into one another? I know the latter set are more on the orange side but this particular color family is really interesting.

So why pink & peach? What do pink or peach mean within color theory?

Pink has some meanings I guessed before I started looking: love, compassion, comfort, and in some contexts, calmness. Kendra Cherry writes that pink within color psychology usually means “love, romance…femininity, as well as with seasons, rituals, and holidays such as Valentine’s Day.”

Pink is also a very gendered color, especially pastel pink indicating a girl baby, or a stronger pink indicating that it is October and the Komen Foundation might have made more licensing money. (I will never get over the Pinktober Fracking Drill Bit. Not ever.)

Color associations for pink include sweetness, playfulness, peace, and friendship, with hot pink and my beloved fuchsia symbolizing bold excitement: while red often represents “heat and passion,” pink more often represents “romance and charm.” Hailey Van Braam writes that “too much pink can be overwhelming and may come across as overly sweet or naive. It’s important to balance pink with other colors to create a harmonious and appealing palette.”

Peach conveys a similar set of meanings: comfort, warmth, joy, and optimism. The color, according to every source I looked at, was named after the fruit, which originated in China and was cultivated in Persia, the source of the name “peach.” The color is also associated with encouragement and playfulness – both apt concepts for a contemporary romance cover, especially with the dominance of rom-coms! According to Adobe, “The energy that peach color delivers isn’t overbearing — it hangs in the balance of good fun.”

Peaches also symbolize fertility in many contexts, including in classical art. Isabella Meyer writes at Art in Context, “Peach is seen as a warm and inviting color, often associated with softness, comfort, and a welcoming atmosphere.”

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that all of these shades are very human, in that they appear on some of our bodies, especially on or around intimate parts.

So both peach and pink evoke romance, contentment, fulfillment and affection, and they look good together, too – hence the pairing on so many of these covers! They are associated with spring – rebirth, renewal, and growth – all logical elements for a romance, too.

What do you think peach and/or pink conveys for Contemporary Romance? What other similar covers have you spotted?

And which do you prefer so far, the pink/peach or the green ones?



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