Top 10 of 2012: Tuesday

Top 10 of 2012 is a great event which is co-hosted by some awesome bloggers (Rachel from Fiktshun, Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic, Jaime from Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads). It's a week-long event where you can look back at the best books of 2012 and forward to the awesome books coming out in 2013 :)

Today's topic is Best Book Covers of 2012. These must be from books released in 2012, and preferably from those you've read. As I didn't read that 2012 releases this year, the first 6 are books I've read and the remaining 4 are books from my TBR.

1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Generally speaking Maggie Stiefvater's covers are amazing and The Raven Boys is no exception. I love the hand-painted appearance of the raven and the swirls in the background really complement it and stop the book from looking plain. There is also red foil for the author, raven's heart and the little raven by the title that give it that extra sparkle.

2. Outpost by Ann Aguirre
I really like the Razorlands covers because they manage to show the creeping danger of the Freaks (zombies if you're new to the series). The covers always display features that you have to look again to catch, like the eye and hand moving the fence board. This shows off the creepiness of the book really well.

3. 13 by Kelley Armstrong
When it was announced that 13 would be the last Otherworld book I was devastated. This is the series that got me hooked on urban fantasy so I'm sad to see it go. But then I saw the cover and was really impressed. The simple blood drop against black fits perfectly with both this book and the whole series and really stands out amongst other books.

4. Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates
When I heard about this I was hesitant to pick it up as I already have a lot of cozy mysteries sitting unread on my shelf, but the cover won me over. I love the cute almost cartoony look to it and how well it fits with the book (the cat on the cover is a dead ringer for Honeybee in the book).

5. The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
I love the covers for the Darkness Rising books. The use of the silhouette as a background to the main design is really unique and I love that it shows what could easily be a scene from the book. Definitely a favourite and one of the few times where the UK cover is nicer than the US :)

6. Angel's Flight by Nalini Singh
The Guild Hunters is another series where I generally love the covers but of the two releases this year, Angel's Flight really stands out to me. The swirling background, the colours on the angel's wings, even the falling feathers. I love it all :)

7. The Accidental Genie by Dakota Cassidy
I love Dakota Cassidy's paranormal covers as they are always really cute with a cartoon feel to them and they stand out from the other paranormal romance books I own. I love this one in particular because it is so pink and girly (not something that usually appeals) and it really reminds me of I Dream of Jeannie which is one of my favourite shows :)

8. Raven Calls by C.E. Murphy
Where to start with this cover? I love the Celtic Cross in the foreground and the stormy clouds in the background as well as the moody feel to the cover. The simple raven in the sky really adds to the book and I love how barren the landscape is. If this wasn't already a favourite series, this cover would have made it one.

9. Endure by Carrie Jones
I've adored the Need Pixies covers from the start, even though I'm not really a fan of gold so I expected to love Endure when it came out. I think it's the most beautiful one so far as the simple gold iris really accents the gorgeous swirls agains the black background. It's just so pretty :)

10. Rapture by Lauren Kate
Yes it's a girl-in-dress cover which is getting to be horribly overdone in the YA market, but I really like the cover for Rapture. It has a feeling of movement too it and the greyscale colour scheme really appeals to me. It may well be my favourite cover from the whole series.



Honourable mentions: Reached by Ally Condie, Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick and Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.