Judging Books by Their Covers -- Fantasy Books!

In this feature, we do exactly what we shouldn't do but can't help: judge books by their covers!  

This post, we're judging fantasy book covers!

I really, really love this cover.  It's gorgeous.  Everything from the colors, to the font of the title, and even the font of the author's name; everything about it draws my eye.  I love that the dark blue of the background looks like the night sky with stars twinkling in it. 

Rating: Can't take my eyes off it!

Okay, I totally feel like I'm one of few people who dislike these covers.  I generally hear really positive things about the covers of the Throne of Glass series but I just . . . don't . . . like them.  That's not how I imagine Celeana and I'm not a fan of the posing.  

Rating: Love the story, not the cover.  

I'm making heart eyes at this cover right now.  I love it so much.  I want to hold it up for the whole world to see.  I'm actually kind of surprised I like it so much, too; I generally wouldn't expect orange and purple to look so lovely together but they do.  And, of course, I love of Phoenix.  It's so beautiful and really captures the essence of the story.  

Rating: Give me more covers like this, please and thank you.

No, I'm not a huge fan of this one.  I don't like that it all looks sort of fuzzy and seems to have a filter over it.  While I do like the font of the title, it doesn't stand out as much as I would like.  Maybe if it was near the top?  I don't know.  It wouldn't draw my eyes if it was sitting on the shelf.  

Rating: Doesn't hold my interest. 

What do you think of these covers?  Any you especially like or dislike?  What is the most important aspect on a cover for you?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Judging Books By Their Covers -- Contemporary Reads!

Everyone says you shouldn't judge books by their covers, but -- admit it -- we all do it!  In these posts, I do exactly that. 

This judging session, we're judging contemporary YA covers! 

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 

Ohhh, I LOVE THIS.  The contrast between the clean white of the top of the cover and the chaotic, colorful bottom is so relevant to the novel but also so subtle.  I think this fits perfectly with the arch and themes in the novel. 

Rating: Relevant and Beautiful.  Love.  

Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes 

This book was great and I really like the cover.  It's relevant to the story with the girl laying on the tennis court, too!  And while I don't totally understand the choice of the orange color, I'm not complaining because it'll be perfect if I ever try to do a rainbow bookshelf.  

Rating: Semi-relevant and bright. Will look great in a rainbow bookshelf.

Magnolia by Kristi Cook 

I'm not a fan of this cover.  Mostly because of the two supremely awkward looking people on it.  It just looks so . . . posed.  But I'm not a huge fan of having models on covers anyways.  I do really like the background though -- the stormy skies against the green trees!  I'd love to be there. 

Rating: Background is nice but awkward poses ruin it. 

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson 

Okay, so this cover is totally an exception to my no-models-on-the-cover rule.  It doesn't look awkward at all.  I can totally see something like this in the real world.  Plus, it gives me major summer vibes and makes me desperate for the sun and lemonade and ice cream.

Rating: Give me summer now, please.  

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han 

ANOTHER example of a cover with a model on it that I actually like.  I'm really disproving my no models rule this post.  This book cover makes me want to redo my whole room and make everything look amazing and establish a beautiful aesthetic.  Plus, it totally feels like Lara Jean -- and I love that she's writing a letter (totally relevant). 

Rating: Whoever designed this cover, please come and redo my room.

What do you guys think of these covers?  I think my favorite out of all of them is The Unexpected Everything.  I just can't help it.  Maybe it's because we're so close to summer and I'm craving it so badly! Either way, that is the winner of this post!  Let me know what you guys think!

Judging Books By Their Covers

We're always told not to judge books by their covers but, really, it's hard to help it.  There's a lot of aspects that make a cover good or not and everyone sees them a little differently.  So, in these posts I'm doing what we all do when we pick up a book - judging their covers.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

I adore this book.  This cover . . . well, it's okay.  I like the colors and the font and I definitely like the side eyes the man and woman are giving each other.  But when I first saw it, it kind of turned me off from the story.  While there's not necessarily anything wrong with it, it just doesn't capture my attention. 

Rating: Okay, but not as absolutely spectacular as the actual story!

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

Mmm . . . no, I'm not a fan of this one.  In general, I don't like it was real people are pictured on covers.  Plus, this is a young adult book, and a magical realism one at that.  When I first saw this book, I thought it was an adult novel based on the cover.  It's a bit misleading.  I do like the little wand though.

Rating:  Generic and kind of flat.  Gimme some color.

Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall

LOOOOOOOVE.  I love this cover.  It's so creepy and cool looking.  It is a bit misleading though.  At first glance, you'd think this was a book about werewolves or something.  Nope, it's a Robin Hood retelling. 

Rating: Misleading but gorgeous enough that I don't care

The Hit List by Nikki Urang

This is one of those cases there I don't mind the fact that there's a real person pictured on the cover.  The fact that's she's behind the words and shows a detail from the story is awesome.  Plus, I love the muted gray background and the bright title!  

Rating: Simple and lovely! 

What do you think of these covers?  Any you love?  Hate?  How do you feel about having real people pictured on covers? Let me know in the comments below!

Judging Books By Their Covers #3

We're always told not to judge books by their covers but, really, it's hard to help it.  There's a lot of aspects that make a cover good or not and everyone sees them a little differently.  So, in these posts I'm doing what we all do when we pick up a book - judging their covers.

Colors:  I really like the way the blue steadily gets darker on the cover until it's eventually just completely black.  I think that really symbolic of the book as the whole.

Font:  Not my favorite but I don't think they really could have gotten away with anything else considering it takes up the majority of the cover.  Better to keep it simple.

Images:  Well, the main image is really the title and the bubbles.  They are very significant to the story and I feel that cover images does a lot for the book as a whole. 

Cover Relevance:  It's a subtle and you don't fully grasp the relevance until the end, but it's definitely there.

Rating:  Not my favorite but a perfect fit for the story.

Colors:  I love them.  The gray background really makes the red stand out and I love the splotches of black.

Font:  So lovely and fits the feel of the story quite nicely.

Images:  I love the infinity sign, especially how it is smeared and dripping.  It makes it 10x better!

Cover Relevance:  This is so relevant to the story.  I don't think it could get any more relevant, really.  

Rating:  Holy cow, this is one gorgeous cover.  Yes, please.

Colors:  I'm not a huge fan of how the letters fade from purple to blue.  I would like it better if it was all one color.

Font:  I like the font of every letter except the R.

Images:  Meh.  It's just a girl and a guy lying there.  Not a huge fan, honestly.  But it's not as terrible as it could be with just two people on the cover. 

Cover Relevance:  Not really relevant.  I mean, sure, the main characters are on it but it doesn't tell me much else about the book.  They could be vampires for all I know.  It gives off a very vampiric feel to me. 

Rating:  Would have passed it over it I hadn't already read and enjoyed the first book in the series.

Colors:  So pretty!!  I adore how colorful it is.  The orange, pink, purple, and blues go really well together.  

Font:  I luff it.  It's so pretty and it makes me wish I could write like that.  

Images:  I'm not a huge fan of having people on covers but I like it much better on here since they're silhouettes.  Plus we have the water and part of a surfboard which is nice.  

Cover Relevance:  It's fairly relevant.  A lot of the story is centered around surfing and stuff.  

Rating:  It's pretty but kind of generic.  Still nice to look at on my bookshelf!

What do you think of these covers?  Any favorites?  

Judging Books By Their Covers #2

We're always told not to judge books by their covers but, really, it's hard to help it.  There's a lot of aspects that make a cover good or not and everyone sees them a little differently.  So, in these posts I'm doing what we all do when we pick up a book - judging their covers.

Colors:  I love this!  It's so colorful (though it does kinda remind me of Christmas with the green and red) but they all blend nicely and fit together really well!

Font:  I'm a fan of swirly font but not on covers so I'm glad this isn't too swirly.  It's just enough to make it look whimsical which works well with the story.

Images:  Love.  The girl looks just how I picture Alyssa looking in this story.  She has just a hint of mischief and madness in her eyes and expression to make it perfect.  

Cover Relevance:  The bugs, the cover model, and chaotic greenery.  All very relevant.  It totally just shouts Wonderland. 

Rating:  Totally on point.

Colors:  Very Red.  I can handle it though, especially because it's lighter and darker in areas.  It really gives off a sense of impending doom, ya know?

Font:  The font is pretty simple and very easy to read and I like that it is spruced up a bit with the swirling design around it.  And I like that the red shows through the black design to spell out the title.

Images:  I'm not a huge fan of just having the girl sitting in a field of flowers with a white dress on.  But I like the silhouette of the castle in the background.

Cover Relevance:  It's relevant.  I mean, it has the castle and the main character on it but I feel it could have done better. 

Rating:  It does its job.

 

Colors:  I honestly am not a huge fan of the yellow and green.  It looks like a sickly yellow-green to me.

Font:  Simple but not boring.  It fits the feel of the story!

Images:  Cute shirtless boy and a city silhouette.  Hey, I'm not complaining.

Cover Relevance:  Not totally relevant.  It has one of the main characters and the setting.  There's a lot of small details that tell you more about the story.  

Rating:  As a twelve year old, I was afraid to buy this because I thought my parents would think it was a mature romance novel and they would take it away.  I still hide the cover from my dad when I'm rereading it.

Colors:  So pretty!  I luff it.  

Font:  It feels very regal and decorative but it's easy to read.

Images:  Not a fan of the half face trend.  At all.  It is pretty with the colors framing it though and the girl is really lovely!

Cover Relevance:  It's the main character so it's okay.  But I feel like it would have been easy to design something more relevant to put on the cover.

Rating:  Meh.

   

Colors:  Yes, so pretty.  I love how the colors are pale in the middle and gradually get darker and more prominent toward the edges.

Font:  It's nice and easy to read.

Images:  HOLY YES SO PERFECT

Cover Relevance:  So relevant!  The knife and the eye reflected in it are amazing and are so significant to this story.  

Rating:  If I publish a book, I want my cover to be this beautiful.

What do you think of these covers?  Love 'em?  Hate 'em?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

PS:  Wonderland's Reader recently reached 300 followers!  To celebrate, I'm hosting a giveaway in which you can win five awesome books!  To enter, go here.

Judging Books By Their Covers

Ten points to whoever can guess what book that is :) 

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

We've all heard that.  Whether someone is telling you to literally not judge a book by its cover or whether they're telling you not to judge a person by their appearance.  This saying is all over the place.  But, no matter how many time the words are repeated, we can't help but judge.  Especially when it comes to books.  

I know I am personally guilty of this.  If a cover doesn't click with me or it feels cheesy or unoriginal, chances are I won't pick up the book (this is the reason it took me so long to pick up Anna and the French Kiss when it had the old covers).  A cover can tell a lot about a book but, if done wrong, it can also completely misguide the readers.  So today, I thought it would be fun to judge some covers to my favorite books!  

Colors:  Of course, this is mostly pink but I feel like it just works well and I really like it!  Especially when you put this one next to all of the other books in the series.  

Font:  Simple and elegant.  It fits the feel of this series and, despite the fact that the words take up the entire cover, it doesn't feel overwhelming. 

Images:  Spot on.  The Eiffel Tower in the background is perfect!  

Cover Relevance:  This book takes place in Paris, France so the art and background on this cover is awesome.  It actually tells you something about the story.  Plus, it has a heart and is colored pink, both of which are generally related with love and romance which is huge part of this book!

Rating:  A perfect fit!

Colors:  I'm not a huge fan of the teal and the red.  They work for the most part but it's kinda eh.

Font:  It's simple and easy to read so I don't have a problem with it!

Images:  As cute as that boy is, I'm not a fan of the close up face thing we have going on with our covers.  Also, I don't like the sillouette in the background.

Cover Relevance:  I mean, the main characters are on the cover...kinda.  And there's a "comet" falling in the background which is relevant but I feel like this one could have been done better.  I prefer the old covers to these new ones.

Rating:  Could use work.

Colors:  Dark and mysterious and YES.  These colors work so well for this cover.  I love.

Font:  The title almost feels like an afterthought to the cover but it works well with the cover.  I love the font and I like how it spans across the whole cover.

Images:  Looooooooooooooooooooove.  It's so elegant and the details are wonderful.  I'm not normally a fan of having people on covers but this takes that trend and does it right.

Cover Relevance:  Very relevant, when you look at it more abstractly.  Mara is barely staying afloat after what happened to her and her friends and Noah (the love of my life) is keeping her from drowning.

Rating:  PLEASE DON'T EVER CHANGE.  EVER.

Colors:  I like the colors a lot!  They are simple and clean and wonderful.

Font:  I'm not a huge fan of the font but the way they incorporated the words into the cover is awesome.

Images:  Yes, perfect.  I love the whimsical feel of the sun and the dark silhouette of the people and the bench.  

Cover Relevance:  Despite how much I like the colors and images, it's not super relevant to the story.  In fact, it's a bit misleading.  This isn't the bright, cheery story the cover suggests.

Rating:  Pretty but doesn't match the story.

Colors:  These colors are lovely and I they work and blend well together.

Fonts:  Perfect, yes.  I especially love how the end of each word is sort of blurring away.

Images:  I don't think they could have found a more perfect image.  Teens at the beach.  Seriously great fit.  And it works all the more by the fact that it is sort of blurred and unclear.  

Cover Relevance:  So relevant I can't.  I won't say much else because this is a book you don't want to spoil.  

Rating:  Yes, you are wonderful.

Colors:  The background sunset is really pretty...

Fonts:  I really, really dislike the title font.  It feels clunky and awkward.  But it's a "sporty" font so I guess it semi works.  

Images:  Ugh, classic, cheesy couple just sort of hanging out.  I do not like.  Although, it does have a football so that works.  

Cover Relevance:  It's relevant to the story with the couple and the football.

Rating:  Awkward and cheesy.

Welp, there we go folks!  Here are a few covers and what I think of them.  I'm considering doing this regularly so if you like the idea, let me know and tell me in the comments below!  

Are there any covers you'd like me to talk about next time?  What are your opinions on these covers?