Meet the Model Who's On 600+ Romance Book Covers — And Loves Reading Them, Too (Exclusive)

Jason Braca got discovered on the set of 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and spent decades flexing on the books he also loves to read

We've all seen 'em: Those sexy, sultry romance novel covers featuring a man with a chiseled jawline and boulder biceps, often with a drop-dead gorgeous leading lady in his arms. For generations, those blush-worthy covers have enticed readers to rescue them from bookstore shelves and grocery store aisles, and may have even gotten a few young readers grounded for their spicy content.

Romance readers may not know Jason Baca by name, but as the man who's modeled for more than 600 covers across all styles and genres of romance, they definitely know his face — and he's had the fan encounters to prove it.

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Five years after retiring from the gig, Baca chatted with PEOPLE about how he got started, what he learned during his decades in the industry and why he hopes AI doesn't take over the business he loved for so long.

Answers below have been edited and condensed for clarity.

First, can you tell me how you got started? Did you always want to be a model?

I actually got started back in 1997 by being discovered on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer, where I was a double, when a photographer from the set asked if he could take photos of me. He would later refer me to other photographers that were in need of a model. After those first few shoots, everything felt quite natural for me.

For 10 years, I did clothing, advertisements and artistic modeling, which was fun and all but not me. One night I was at a Barnes & Noble book store when I happened to walk through the romance section. I saw a guy on a book cover who had all the same features as me and I knew at that moment I wanted to be a romance cover model.

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I remember coming home and looking up all the different publishers, authors and anything related to romance novels. I started emailing many authors from their websites asking what I could do to become one of their cover models for their next big book. After hitting lots of dead ends, I finally heard back from an author that connected me with the creative director for the next book she had coming out. She explained I needed to get more muscle on me and that a few days before the shoot to stop shaving my face. As luck would have it, the shoot location was only about 70 miles from where I lived. That first one got my foot in the door.

Tell me what a typical shoot was like. 

For romance novels, shoots tended to be pretty straight forward. They put you in several different outfits that they need and pose the model in all kinds of various poses and angles until they are satisfied they have enough. There's a lot of in-between time at these shoots where they are going over concept ideas and poses that would work so usually during that time, I would do some sort of exercise in the studio like pushups or use a stretch cord to keep the blood flowing and give the body a nice toned look for the camera. It makes a difference in the shots and was a secret I used back in the day that they liked.

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How does it feel, looking back on your career?

I believe modeling for the romance novels was something that I was meant to do. Looking back, I remember when the movie Ghost came out and walking out of the movie theatre in tears. I was so moved over the whole romantic but tragic movie. I'm a sucker for 80's love songs. You have that combo going for you and yeah, you're meant to do romance novel covers.

I wanted to be on covers of every genre of the romance world: paranormal, contemporary, cowboy, military, highlander, suspense. I'd gotten on all those. Then I had envisioned getting on 100 covers, then 200, then 500. Then after the 600th one eight or nine years into this, I kinda lost my mojo for it all. I got tired! The feeling I got in the beginning of it all was very ecstatic, a high I got from landing on a cover of a well-known author. At the end, I didn't have that same feeling. 

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Do readers ever recognize you in public? What’s that like?

Oh sure all the time, back in the day. They'd say, "Hey aren't you that romance novel guy?" Or sometimes they'd say that I looked familiar to them. Most of the time I would just get that strange look. I could tell their wheels were turning, trying to figure it out.

It changed once I stopped doing shoots and then the years went by. I have salt and pepper hair now too instead of brown hair like it was during the shoots. Most of the time, I just get the double take look. I just give whoever it is a smile back in appreciation. It's very gratifying to me still, to this day [to get recognized]. I still get chills.

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How has the industry changed over the years? 

It has changed in the fact that AI-generated covers I can see are slowly starting to take over. Artists are switching over from the traditional way of having a studio, photographer, art director, make-up artist and model on hand at shoots. Now, they go straight to the software for a lot of these book covers and create their own covers without the use of those key industry people that I made so many friends with. My hope is that publishers will continue to go the old-fashioned route so models and photographers of today don't lose their careers.

Are you a romance reader yourself? Any favorite books? 

Yes I am a passionate reader — including romance books! In fact, I was recently sent a paperback re-release in honor of Harlequin's 75th Anniversary called No Turning Back by Lindsay McKenna where they used me on their cover. It's one of the wonderful things about doing these shoots too, is they often dig up your old book cover shoots and reuse the photos for covers. What a thrill it was to be on this one!

There is something about picking up a paperback book, sitting with it and reading it. There's no disturbance; it's just you and that book which I've grown to love. I feel the more I read, the more creative a thinker I become, so I try to read as often as possible.

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What made you decide to retire?

Well, I grew out of it all. I did what I intended to do and had a lot of fun doing it. It brought me a lot of joy in life but also required a ton of dedication and hard work. I felt it was the right time to finish it and have no regrets.

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