Lovely Books - Covers and Titles

Hello, dear readers! Did everyone have a nice Valentine’s yesterday? (Admittedly, I kept forgetting yesterday was Valentine’s Day. . . *cough, cough, cough* But still.)

Fabulous things are going down in my blog circle at the moment! One of my dearest internet buddies Tracey is hosting a perfectly drool-worthy linkup for the whole month of February. Why is it drool-worthy, you may ask? Because it’s about BOOKS!

Lovely Books features, you guessed it, lovely books! Every Saturday of February Tracey is putting up a new edition. The linkup for each one is opened until March 5th so there’s plenty of time to join in. The first one features Covers and Titles, the second is all about your favorite Book Couples! You can linkup with one or both and in any order you choose.

As per usual, I’m a little late to the party, but there is no way I’m passing this up. BOOKS PEOPLE. BOOOOOKS. Who needs a Valentine’s date when I could spend the evening with a book? Seriously.

Anyways, onward to my favorite covers and titles! Since there’s about 9238402 covers I could drool over for days, I’ve decided to only choose books I’ve actually read and own in order to narrow it down a bit. Otherwise we’d be here all day (or for a few days).

Covers
(Click on the covers to go to their GoodReads page.)

One Realm Beyond
by Donita K. Paul

Okay, there is just so much going on here. The gorgeous portal, the castle in the background, the DRAGON. I adore the blue, starry color surrounding everything. It promises a fun, adventurous story inside. And it doesn’t lie. Mrs. Paul’s stories never cease to be filled with unique plots, ridiculous and loveable characters, and grand adventures galore.

Moonblood
by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Does this not just scream hauntingly beautiful fairytale? The girl, the roses, the ominous dragon above, all awash in moonlight. Every cover from the Tales of Goldstone Wood series is brimming with gorgeous fairytale goodness, but this is one of my favorites.

Angel Eyes
by Shannon Dittemore

Another somewhat haunting feel. That misty forest just pulls you right in. Really, what first drew me to this book was that cover. I wanted to know this girl’s story. It’s a YA spiritual warfare story with a bit of a twist. Turns out, it ended up being one of my new favorite books. Goes to show you sometimes judging a book by its cover can actually work. So there.

The Bones of Makaidos
by Bryan Davis

This cover, guys! One of my top favorites of ever. And not just because it’s part of one of my favorite series, I promise. There’s so much going on! I remember when Bryan Davis first released the cover and uploaded a large, high quality version. I downloaded the image right away and stared and stared and staaared at it, soaking up every single detail. Not only does it feature my two favorite characters, there’s also an entire war going on in the background, that beautiful horse, and a dragon (I’m seeing a pattern here). Just so much! I still find myself staring at this thing, mesmerized. The artist outdid themselves for this one!

Reapers
by Bryan Davis

Another Bryan Davis one. What can I say? He finds great artists. I have this thing about cities on cover art, I don’t know why. But this one is a perfect example of that. The lit city in the background, the intriguing silhouette staring down into it. It sparks the imagination.

Swords of the Six
by Scott Appleton

Oh look, a dragon! Basically if there’s a dragon on the cover it’s automatically put on my favorite cover list. Okay? Okay. But I mean, really. Look at this thing! I love the grassy landscape around it. Then add that perfect font and it makes for one drool-worthy cover. I actually bought this one because of the cover alone (*cough, cough*). Well, that and because it’s Christian fantasy and it’s sort of my goal to read ALL Christian fantasy. Unfortunately, this is a case where I shouldn’t have judged it by its cover. As gorgeous as the cover is, I wasn’t impressed by the story at all. Ah well, it still looks amazing on my bookshelf. (Yes, I’m that vain. Don’t judge.)

Illusionarium
by Heather Dixon

This is another one of my top, top favorites! Do I even need to explain why? I mean, wow. The clothes, the scenery, the steampunk-goodness surrounding it. Just just just. . .! *wipes drool off screen* Ahem.

The Goose Girl
by Shannon Hale

There’s something about this cover that makes me happy. I don’t even know what it is. I tend to have a thing for hilly green fields. They always look so happy and calming. Is that just me? I’m in love with the art style for this one. It’s also a fantastic retelling of The Goose Girl. I really enjoyed it.

Howl’s Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones

“Come on, Christine,” you may be saying, “you’re just being biased because this is your favorite book.” Now, now. Hold on a minute. Yes, this is my favorite book (I probably mention it in every other blog post. . .), BUT did I not just say I like hilly green fields, hmm? And come on, people. This cover! It was actually this cover that confirmed my decision to buy the book in the first place. I knew I wanted it (my book fairy Deborah told me I needed it, and I trust her opinion wholly), but when I caught sight of this copy in a bookstore and beheld that cover I instantly took it to the checkout. It’s just so adorable! The happy green field and the epic moving castle itself and Sophie down there shaking her stick at it. Ah, it’s perfect! Best money spent EVER.

The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien

Speaking of favorite books. . . This copy of The Hobbit, oh man. Not only is it a beautiful cover and just whimsical and delicious, the cover itself is actually fuzzy! Like, soft and wonderful. This copy also has wonderful illustrations and just yes. I love it so much!

And while we’re on the subject of favorite books and copies. . .

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll

By all rights I shouldn’t even be alive. Because when I found this book I died. My obsession with Alice in Wonderland has no bounds, and you can probably all guess by my current blog design that pink is my absolute favorite color. So put those together and you have a Christine who up and nearly died in the bookstore when she found this thing. It’s perfect. PERFECT. In fact, here, I’m breaking my cycle of pictures so you can see the actual copy better.

*droooooools*

Ahem.

Five Magic Spindles
by Unknown

So I broke my own rule for this one because, well, this doesn’t exactly even exist yet. Obviously I haven’t read it, no one has. No one even knows which stories will be in it. But I refused to make a list of favorite covers without adding this one. Because, as much as I’ve fangirled and squealed about all these covers, this one may, honest to goodness, by my favorite cover that has ever been made. When it was first released I literally gasped out loud. It actually took my breath away. The fall-like glow and trees, the stone steps, that DRESS. And the unique fact that Sleeping Beauty is a redhead. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more fairytale-like image. You can feel the magic. Gracious! I love it so much!

Okay, I’m going to try to stop there, but it’s hard. There are just too many amazing covers out there! And, again, I forced myself to only do ones I’ve read and own (with the exception of Five Magic Spindles). I might break the internet if I tried to fit all the covers I love on here.

I seem to like ones with a lot of things going on—those covers that you have to study to catch every detail. I also seem to really love blue and green ones (and pink, obviously). And, of course, if there’s a dragon on the cover I love it. Because, ya know, DRAGONS!

Titles

I know this is getting so long buuuut I also get to share with you some of my favorite titles! What’s a book without its title, after all? Once again I’m narrowing this down to only ones I’ve read, because the prospect of trying to think of titles of ALL the books I’ve ever seen turns my brain into mush.

• Orphan’s Song by Gillian Bronte Adams
• The Looking Glass Wars By Frank Beddor
• The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner
• Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis
• Starlighter by Bryan Davis
• Beyond the Reflection's Edge by Bryan Davis (don’t laugh, he comes up with really good titles, okay?)
• Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
• House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
• Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Ugh, this was so hard! There are so many others but I tried to not go too overboard. I love titles. I love playing with titles and reading titles and imagining what titles mean. Titles are amazing! They basically explain the entire book in just one or a few words. Fascinating!

I’m laughing at how many I have starting with “the”. I apparently have a thing for titles that have an item or something particular that catches my interest. Such as The Secret Garden, The Maze Runner, The Looking Glass Wars, 100 Cupboards, etc. I want to know what that thing, whatever it may be, is about. I think one word titles are also great. Heartless and Starlighter—short and to the point, but so very intriguing. Then there’s the whimsical ones that flow off the tongue. Orphan’s Song, Beyond the Reflections Edge. They awaken something artistic and beautiful inside me. On the flip side, I also adore the fun and witty ones. How could you not be interested in something called The Mysterious Benedict Society, Dragon Slippers, or House of Many ways, and Dealing with Dragons? And, again, if it’s got “dragon” somewhere in there I’m instantly interested. Duh. I also seem to be partial to Bryan Davis’s titles. I’m not biased, I’m not! He really does come up with the most unique, interesting ones.

Obviously I have a title addiction. I can’t help it! I’m a writer, words are life.

This was way, way, way too much fun. Thank you so much, Tracey, for hosting this! Hopefully next week I’ll join in on the second one and pester you all with allll my favorite bookish couples. *grins* Don’t forget to hop over to Tracey's blog to get in on this fun stuff!

Join me in the book love! What are some of your favorite covers/titles? Share any of mine? Did I make you drool on your computer with all these cover pics? *evil grin* Not even sorry!