Cover Lust (22)

Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson

(Orchard Books / Spring 2011)

The title is Ultraviolet... and so is the cover! This was instant cover lust for me the moment I saw it. It kind of reminds me of the design of Gayle Forman's If I Stay and Where She Went. I love this for the way it plays up the shadows across the girl's face and swishy hair. Swishy hair! My hair didn't even do that when it was that long.

Away (The Line, Book 2) by Teri Hall

(Dial / Sept. 15, 2011)

Wow. I liked The Line's cover a lot, but this one has definitey surpassed the first book's. So intricate, and so representative of what goes on between the first book and the second. The complementary colors stand out so well.

Luminous by Dawn Metcalf

(Dutton / July 7, 2011)

Perhaps it goes slightly overboard in complexity, but I simply love the vivid sharpness of all the colors and details.

The Sky Is Everywhere (paperback) by Jandy Nelson

(Speak / March 22, 2011)

When I first laid eyes on this cover, I gasped out loud. I'm okay with the abstractness of the US hardcover but the cover for this paperback reprint is right up my cover-loving alley: a photograph, with lovely visual texturing. Wowowowow.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

(Dial / March 17, 2011)

Just... Ohmygoodness. Look at the texture. The sepia tone. The model's penetrating stare.

Wood Angel by Erin Bow (UK version of Plain Kate)

Chicken House / March 7, 2011

This cover knocks all the breath out of me, it's that gorgeous. Very different from the uniquely evocative US hardcover, and gorgeous in its own right. I do think the US cover is more representative of the book's story, but I love love love this cover's cool-toned color scheme, and just...how very fragile yet dangerously powerful the girl looks, curled up like that.

Outside In by Maria V. Snyder (UK edition)

Mira Books / March 18, 2011

I like the US cover well enough, but the UK one just knocks it out of the ballpark for me. Who knew that the careful application of warm yellow-gold on an otherwise steel-blue palette could make the cover glisten so well? I think this cover has more of an adult lit feel over YA, which I absolutely don't mind at all, nope. Wowzers.

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So what do you guys think of these covers? Which are your favorites? What covers have you seen lately that have you spinning in awe?