Top Ten Book Covers I'd Frame As Pieces of Art

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

TEN. SURE. RIGHT. Whatever.

Judging a Book by Its Cover

I'm a really visual person, and I'm also a really shallow person, which means sometimes I judge books entirely on their covers. It's hard not to. It's the first think you know about a book, meant to convey the tone or message or theme of the words inside. You're sort of meant to judge them, but sometimes that doesn't really work out.

I was putting together this post when I came across the same topic on my friend Rachel's blog (great minds, apparently). Rachel's post talked about how pretty covers don't always equal pretty books, and how much she hates being wrong. And I totally relate. You should definitely go check out her post to see the books she judged unfairly and which books DUPED her with their pretty promises.

Here's a sampling of books I picked up mostly for their covers, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Cover Reveal and ARC Giveaway!

Series Goodreads info

MORTAL HEART! MORTAL HEART IS COMING! I super adore Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin series, because it's about assassin nuns in medieval England doing all kinds of amazing things. And today I get to show you the cover to the third book in the series, Mortal Heart! You ready for it?

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No, seriously, are you ready for it?

Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of Books I've Read

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This is based entirely on cover and has nothing do with my feelings for what's inside the paged. And again, ten is not my most favorite number in the world. Ten is so... binding. Limited. When provided a choice between option A and option B, I will invariably choose C-- all of the above. Or D, which is something else entirely. So when I hear the word ten, I just think let's heap the pretty on the people and be done with it. So, without further ado: a smorgasbord of pretty!

 








ETA: Because it's so pretty and I meant to but I forgot and obviously the one thing this post needs is more covers

 

What are some of your favorite covers? Leave me your links if you have them, please! I'd love to come visit.

PierceFest: Alanna COVER BATTLES!

The first Song of the Lioness book came out in 1983, exactly thirty years ago. (For a review/refresher, head over here!). So obviously the covers have been updated about a million times-- sometimes for the better, other times for the worse. Let's take a look at all (well, all the ones on Goodreads, because I am just not that thorough of a person) the Alanna cover variations over the years and choose which ones are the best, shall we? By the way, I will always love the covers I grew up with the most, because I am biased.

Don't forget to vote in the poll at the bottom!

Alanna: The First Adventure

1.

Original cover, pub. date 1983

My biased opinion: I'm loving the Black City in the background, but Alanna isn't ginger enough, her eyes aren't purple, and I really, really don't like the way they've drawn Jonathan back there. He has a mullet. PRINCES DO NOT HAVE MULLETS. Also, Moonlight is the wrong color. She's not a white horse. She is distinctly described as sandy colored with a white mane and tail. FOOLS.

2.

Oxford University Press, 1984

My biased opinion: Alanna is way more bad ass than this wishy-washy cover indicates. I love the shining purple jewel in Lightning's hilt, and the gnarled trees, but this just doesn't convey the kick-butt lady warrior feel at all. This could be any generic fantasy cover. Nay, I say.

3.

Beaver, 1986

My biased opinion: Okay, the horses are the total wrong colors, but DUDE, those evil Ysandir swirling out of the Black City like that? And the Great Southern Desert and the oasis and ginger Alanna? I approve. This cover conveys the action and adventure in this book quite well, and it's very charmingly eighties. It reminds me of The Blue Sword cover.

More covers after the jump!

2013 YA Cover Trends: Part Three

Note: My cover compilations are by no means exhaustive, meaning I left out a whole lot of applicable covers, and while I tried to limit it to just 2013 releases, a couple 2012s or others may have sneaked in there.

Last time on Cover Trends, we descended into full insanity, but what else is new? Onward, friends!

It's the End of the World as We Know It

I couldn't exactly put my finger on why all these covers look the same to me (Particularly Not a Drop to Drink and Taken-- cover twins!), but I think it's the color schemes and the apocalyptic-dystopian landscapes. Also, a lot of figures looking from a distance at the world they live in, none too fondly, which understandable, because they all look rather hostile.

I See a Little Silhouette-o of a Man

ETA: I discovered even more!

 



Letting Their Lips Do the Talking

Hormones run amok. I think there are far fewer of these than in years past, which is interesting. At least among purely YA books-- they are ALL OVER THE PLACE in the New Adult cover world, and I think a couple in here are technically NA. NA could be great, but cover-wise it's all mouth-to-mouth and generic titles I can't keep straight like Be With the One You Love or Falling Hard or or Burning Up, all of which are titles I just made up right now but could very well be real. In YA, at least, I think we're slowly moving away from pretty dress covers and kissy face covers, though obviously they will never disappear completely.

To Dye For
Even fake redheads are getting in on the redhead craze! (thanks to Twitter followers Emma and Susan and the lovely Sarra Manning for helping me out!)

 
 

Only those few today, because my computer is (surprise!) malfunctioning and my eyes are starting to cross from staring at so many covers. As always, have you noticed any cover trends lately? What about other types of trends? See if you can guess what the next trends I'm highlighting will be! I'll give you a cookie if you do.*


*No, I won't. But I'll eat a cookie in your honor.

 

2013 YA Cover Trends: Part Two

Note: My cover compilations are by no means exhaustive, meaning I left out a whole lot of applicable covers, and while I tried to limit it to just 2013 releases, a couple 2012s or others may have sneaked in there.

Last time on Cover Trends, we just barely scratched the surface on some of the prevalent trends popping up in the world of young adult book covers. This week, the madness continues! And yes, it is still madness, considering my hard drive crashed, dumping all my previously-made cover composites, which means I had to do them all over again! It was exhausting, and took years off my life, so y'all better APPRECIATE WHAT I GO THROUGH FOR YOU. I'm just kidding. I do it because I love it. I'm obsessive like that.

Anyway, let's get cracking.

Redder is Better

When we last discussed title and subject matter trends, I mentioned redheads as a being a ridiculously common thing in YA. Here is visual proof that these days, redheads are all the rage.

Catch You on the Flip Aide, A Balanced Approach, Mirror Images, Even Handed-- pick a catchphrase

A Font of Information
This is for the covers where the font and title do all or most of the heavy lifting. Some of these are so similar it's kind of crazy. I defy you to tell those blue ones apart. Seriously, they are cover clones.

Mini trend: Don't Jump!
Seriously, PLEASE DON'T JUMP.

Stay tuned for part three! Have you noticed any cover trends lately?