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The Top Ten Tuesday prompt this week is “ten covers that made me want to read the book.” I have a whole shelf of covers that I love on GoodReads so this was a relatively easy post. The only problem was trying to remember which ones I picked up based solely on the cover, rather than a happy collision of a favorite author and a great artist. Anyway, here are my ten random choices!
Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely–I love this badass young woman, the Western-style font, and the juxtaposition against the “girly” pinkish-purple background. The book was a 3-star, decent read for me but the cover is fantastic!
Geekerella by Ashley Poston–It’s hard to say whether the title or the cover of this book called to me more strongly but either way, I love everything about it. This fairy tale retelling set at a comic convention still makes me smile when I think of it.
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest–I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this cover in another post but it’s worth mentioning again. The proper Victorian woman holding a bloody ax assures me that the contents are going to be something different. That’s exactly what I got in this horror mashup of Lizzie Borden and Lovecraftian creatures.
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick–I don’t think you can tell from this small image, but the feathers at the top of the picture are blood red. I had to know what that was all about. Unfortunately, this was a case of misplaced cover love. I felt the bad boy abused the main character and that was presented as love. No thanks.
Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson–I love the mermaid in the diaphanous dress and tiara, beckoning the reader in to that teal water. I don’t remember much about this book but I rated it 4 stars.
The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme–I want to know about the woman in her hat and finery wandering through the sand dunes, don’t you?
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson–This cover is absolutely stunning in person. I have a hardcover edition. The jacket has a cutout around the heart, which is printed on the actual book cover. It lends depth to the image that I haven’t seen very often. The book was an easy 4.5 stars for me. It’s so exciting when both the cover and the story are amazing!
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger–I distinctly remember staring at this cover in the new book section of my library. Those shades of blue are my favorites so they really grabbed my attention. But the book sounded like a Western and that is not my favorite genre. The cover won out and I’m so glad it did. I’ve read and re-read this book countless times and it’s one of my favorites of all time.
The Child Thief by Brom–The synopsis makes it very clear that this book is based on Peter Pan. But you can tell by the artwork that this is a darker Peter than we’ve ever met before. The book veers into horror, which I enjoy but which might catch some readers by surprise. There are more color illustrations of other characters in the center of the book. I had to pore over all of them.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, read by Khristine Hvam–I don’t know how anyone resists this cover. Well, any of these covers because the whole series has a similar feel. I tore through these books almost as fast as the publisher released them.
That’s my list! Have you read any of these? Do you love the covers as much as I do? Which books did/would you choose? Link up every Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl!
21 Comments
Ooh, yes, Child Thief! The artwork was gorgeous. <3
I’ve only read one on your list, which is Peace Like a River. Like you, I loved it but I haven’t read it more than once. I may have to put it on my re-read list. Have you read Virgil Wander (also by Leif Enger)? I have an ARC of it, but haven’t read it yet.
What a great list of books!
When you get the chance, I hope you come over and check out my post: http://readbakecreate.com/15-book-covers-that-scream-summer/
Thanks!
I love the GUNSLINGER GIRL cover! Too bad the book itself wasn’t better or I would totally pick it up.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
It has decent ratings on GoodReads so you might enjoy it more than I did. I think that gorgeous cover may have set my expectations too high.
I love that cover for The gunslinger Girl, and Geekerella is fun too! 🙂
Geekerella is even better in person because the stars are a kind of foil so they actually twinkle. It’s so awesome!
I like cover with nature and trees like my post today for the audio of Alone in the Woods by Charly Cost. I have read and enjoyed Maplecroft.
Anne – Books of My Heart
I like nature and trees a lot too. I’m obviously okay with people but I’m generally not a fan of photos of real people on covers. There are lots of exceptions though.
A cover can make or break a book. As a school librarian I often tried to “sell” a book to students with bad covers, assuring them that what was inside was really good.
It’s so disappointing when a great book has a bad cover! I’m glad you took the time to “sell” them to your students.
Peace Like a River is a book I read a long time ago. It was recently recommended to me, and I’m very interested in reading it again soon.
I’ll be curious to see what you think about a re-read. It’s been a while since I re-read it myself but so far, I’ve loved it more every time.
Gunslinger Girl has a great cover! I love the look of it! (But I’m not a fan of Westerns, so I haven’t tried reading it yet.)
My TTT
My dad loves Western books and movies. He used to watch them every Sunday afternoon. We only had one TV in the house, so that turned me against them forever. (He let us watch whatever we wanted the rest of the week but that was his time.) I still haven’t read that many Westerns but I have to admit that some of them are fantastic (Lonesome Dove immediately comes to mind). But I classified Gunslinger Girl as a dystopia. It’s a Western but it’s also futuristic. Kind of like Firefly (which I adore).
I can see where that would turn you against Westerns! My sister’s birthday is near enough to the Superbowl that her family birthday parties growing up were always joint birthday/Superbowl parties, and so the Superbowl will forever be her enemy.
I do enjoy Firefly, so maybe I should give Gunslinger Girl a chance (when I’m ready for a dystopian…)
Your poor sister! That would be awful! I also feel bad for Christmas-y babies. My youngest cousin was born on December 23. My aunt always tried to do something completely separate from Christmas for her but it’s really hard when so many of us are busy with other festivities and last-minute shopping.
I suspected you might be a Firefly fan. I just discovered the graphic novels. I’ve read one and it felt so much like an episode of the show, it made my heart happy.
Agreed, I feel sorry for anyone who has to share a day like that!
I haven’t read the Firefly graphic novels. I’ll have to look for those, too!
Great list! I LOVED The Gargoyle, and I don’t think the author has released anything else since.
I just checked GoodReads and you’re right–he hasn’t published anything else. What a shame.