Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers of Books I've Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish.  This feature was created because they're particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish (and who isn't?). They're all about creating new lists including a little bit of everything and I've been meaning to participate for so long but always seemed to get behind.  So here we are and hopefully you'll head over to their page and check out what everyone else put up for this week's Top Ten.

While all of us know that we shouldn't judge a book based only it's cover, we all do it a little bit.  It might be that the cover is what drew our attention to check it out further, or kept us from racing to the register to make our purchase if it was less than appealing.  Either way, a book's cover image is important and I've come across a lot that have just taken my breath away and gotten me even more excited to read a title that I'd already been looking forward to checking out.

Favorite Cover Pick #1:  The Space Between (The Book of Phoenix, #1) by Kristie Cook

When Life Falls to Pieces, Answers Lie in the Space Between

After a month-long dance tour through Italy, 20-year-old Leni Drago returns to Georgia to care for her great-uncle, only to find him gone, the home they shared empty and any evidence he ever existed wiped out. All that’s left is a journal she can’t open.

Jeric Winters has been searching for a piece of his past for over a year, only to reach a dead-end in Georgia. When an urgent and magnetic pull draws him out of his hotel room, he comes face-to-face with the beautiful dancer who’s been haunting his dreams day and night.

Jeric’s one to stay away from—a bad-boy, hit-it-and-quit-it type—but Leni can’t escape the fervent feelings between them. As their own existences begin to crumble around them and shadowy forms that are more monsters than men attack, they realize there’s more to the connection between them than physical fascination.

To solve the riddle their lives have become, they must embark on a journey that requires them to face their pasts and release their true souls. And they must do it fast—dark ones from another world are closing in, intent on killing them. Permanently.

I'm not sure if it's the pastel colors swirling around, or the silhouettes presented of two of the characters?  Either way, the first look I got of this title and I was sold.

Favorite Cover Pick #2:  Airel (The Airel Saga, #1) by Aaron Patterson & Chris White

All Airel ever wanted was to be normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like an incredible ability to heal. Then there’s Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous…and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything. Airel knew change would be an inevitable part of life. But can she hold on when murder and darkness begin to close in and take away everything she loves? Will she have what it takes when the truth is finally revealed?

While I might not have been sold on the story itself, the cover image haunted me.  There was something about the character's pose and the coloring that drew me in and without a doubt left me wanting to know what her story was?

Favorite Cover Pick #3:  Splintered (Splintered, #1) by A.G. Howard

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

Who didn't fall in love with this cover? It's creative and blows a great imagination out of the water...all the elements it should possess to tell a tale related to Alice in Wonderland.

Favorite Cover Pick #4:  Darkness Before Dawn (Darkness Before Dawn Trilogy, #1) by J.A. London

Only sunlight can save us.

We built the wall to keep them out, to keep us safe. But it also makes us prisoners, trapped in what's left of our ravaged city, fearing nightfall.

After the death of my parents, it's up to me--as the newest delegate for humanity--to bargain with our vampire overlord. I thought I was ready. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the monsters. Then again, nothing could have prepared me for Lord Valentine . . . or his son. Maybe not all vampires are killers. Maybe it's safe to let one in.

Only one thing is certain: Even the wall is not enough. A war is coming and we cannot hide forever.

It's all about the girl and the fabulous dress right?  Again another cover that left me haunted and wondering what this girl's story was all about.  I couldn't resist.

Favorite Cover Pick #5:  The Selection (The Selection, #1) by Kiera Cass

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Yes it's another one I fell in love with due to the girl and the fabulous dress...but come on!  It's a stunner and totally worthy of my gawking.

Favorite Cover Pick #6:  Reached (Matched, #3) by Ally Condie

After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

I waited to see what this cover would look like just as anxiously as all the other fans.  When I saw the new color scheme that was being used, and the way our main character Cassia was breaking out of the bubble instead of being trapped inside I was thrilled.  Excitement coursed through me and I was eagerly counting down until I'd get to check this third installment out and see what Condie had in store for her characters this time around.  Condie didn't disappoint with her writing and plot lines, nor did the cover image fail to live up to what I was expecting.  All of it was just fabulous!

Favorite Cover Pick #7:  If I Stay (If I Stay, #1) by Gayle Forman

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heart-achingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make, and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

I know that this title has both a hardcover image and a paperback cover image, but it's the paperback cover image that I fell in love with.  And after reading this story I can't imagine another cover more suited to the story.  It perfectly captures what goes on within the pages, and the image itself drew me in before I knew anything about the story Forman would weave so poetically for her readers.

Favorite Cover Pick #8:  The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Love is all you need... or is it? Penny's about to find out in this wonderful debut.

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It's a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there's this certain boy she can't help but like. . . .

Everyone knows I'm a huge fan of all things Elizabeth Eulberg, but this cover sold me right off the bat before I even knew anything about her.  My love of the Beatles goes back to when I was little and my dad was trying to make sure I didn't grow up without an appreciation for the "good" type of music.  In fact ever since seeing this book cover and reading more about it in Eulberg's story I've always wanted to reenact the famous album cover with friends or family!

Favorite Cover Pick #9:  Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Wickedly hilarious and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love—all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers.

Isabella, Mary, and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married. On Sunday after Sunday, at bridal shower after bridal shower, they coo over toasters, collect ribbons and wrapping paper, eat minuscule sandwiches and doll-sized cakes. They wear pastel dresses and drink champagne by the case, but amid the celebration these women have their own lives to contend with: Isabella is working at a mailing-list company, dizzy with the mixed signals of a boss who claims she’s on a diet but has Isabella file all morning if she forgets to bring her a chocolate muffin. Mary thinks she might cry with happiness when she finally meets a nice guy who loves his mother, only to realize he’ll never love Mary quite as much. And Lauren, a waitress at a Midtown bar, swears up and down she won’t fall for the sleazy bartender—a promise that his dirty blond curls and perfect vodka sodas make hard to keep.

With a wry sense of humor, Jennifer Close brings us through those thrilling, bewildering, what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life years of early adulthood. These are the years when everyone else seems to have a plan, a great job, and an appropriate boyfriend, while Isabella has a blind date with a gay man, Mary has a crush on her boss, and Lauren has a goldfish named Willard. Through boozy family holidays and disastrous ski vacations, relationships lost to politics and relationships found in pet stores, Girls in White Dresses pulls us deep inside the circle of these friends, perfectly capturing the wild frustrations and soaring joys of modern life.

I think this one just speaks for itself if you've ever been a bridesmaids or participated in a wedding of any kind.  By the end of the process it's very likely you'll find yourself feeling a lot like this girl featured on the cover....a dress and a bouquet of flowers...point me in the right direction and away we go.

Favorite Cover Pick #10:  Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. See the other titles in the couture-inspired collection: Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Scarlet Letter and Wuthering Heights.

Ruben Toledo’s breathtaking drawings have appeared in such high-fashion magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Visionaire. Now he’s turning his talented hand to illustrating the gorgeous deluxe editions of three of the most beloved novels in literature. Here Elizabeth Bennet’s rejection of Mr. Darcy, Hester Prynne’s fateful letter “A”, and Catherine Earnshaw’s wanderings on the Yorkshire moors are transformed into witty and surreal landscapes to appeal to the novels’ aficionados and the most discerning designer’s eyes.
Ruben Toledo's illustrations take my breath away!  I love his creative take on this classic favorite of mine, as well as all of the other Penguins' classics that he gave his own spin to.