books that deserve better covers

You ever find yourself trying to recommend someone a book, and then you show them the book, and they kind of cringe/scrunch up their nose/say “but it’s ugly….”? Or if that’s never happened to you, then I’m sure you’ve at least experienced the shame that comes with reading a good book with a not so good cover in public. If neither of these situations has happened to you, then damn, you’re doing well.

So, yes, unfortunately, bad book covers tend to happen to good books quite often. If the book or book series is lucky, sometimes they’ll get a cover change, and more likely than not the cover change will be better than the original, but not always. But anyway, for this Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by Broke and Bookish), I’m going to share some of my favourite books that have unfortunate covers.
(I also may have snuck in some books that I haven’t read purely because I struggled to think of any more books I read and enjoyed that didn’t have great covers, okay? Moving on.)

Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead

You will notice that majority of the covers that I dislike have close up faces on them. I have learned that I really dislike the look of covers with close up faces, this one being no exception. I mean, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WITH THE COVERS IN THIS SERIES?! This series is one of my all-time favourites, and the covers make it look like a cheesy, erotic romance when it is ANYTHING BUT. And then they say it’s getting a cover change, and all they do is put a huge VA over the top of the old covers. I mean, you had the perfect opportunity to ditch these covers and you STILL kept them. But anyway, read this series if you haven’t yet okay I swear THE COVER DOESN’T DO IT ANY JUSTICE.

 

The Mortal Instruments – Cassandra Clare

Ah, yes, another favourite of mine. You all know by now how much I love this series (and all of Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books), but damn are these some unfortunate covers. Like, what even. I don’t even know what to say, really. To be perfectly honest, I actually love these old covers only for the nostalgia, but damn they are ugly. Thank the lord they blessed us with two sets of new covers.

 

Bloodlines – Richelle Mead

Apparently, Richelle Mead just has really bad luck with covers. Again, FACES. Ugh, whyyyyyyyyy. It’s not that they models are ugly, it’s just the way they’ve made them model. It just looks so cheesy and doesn’t at all suit the story line of the book. Why do YA paranormal series have to look like trashy, erotic romances??????

The Lux series – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Okay, look, the old covers weren’t that much better, but when you do a cover change for a book series you should try to MAKE THEM PRETTY, NOT THIS. Ah yes, add some sparkles to the paper and it’s all better- NO. Having to look at someone’s face this close-up, even if it’s only half of it, makes me feel damn uncomfortable.

The Iron Fey series – Julie Kagawa

And the close-up, half face saga continues. Can we just send a friendly message to cover designers, that from now until forever there will be NO MORE CLOSE-UP FACES. This one actually isn’t too bad since her face is kind of faded and blends with the background. The rest of the cover is actually quite pretty, but I just can’t get past the close-up. Just, why.

Anna and the French Kiss & Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins

Let’s be real here, do I even need to say anything? I’m sorry but if this series didn’t have a cover change I probably never would have picked up these books. WHY ARE THEY SO UGLY WHY.

The Sidekicks – Will Kostakis

Okay, with this one I don’t really hate the old cover (pictured on the left, the new, US cover is on the right), I just simply like the new cover a lot more. I don’t know if it’s the colours or the font or what, but I’m super tempted to buy the new cover purely because it’s pretty…

Hopeless – Colleen Hoover

Okay, this was more of a, “I’m running out of covers I don’t like let’s just choose this one because it has a face on it” choice. The girl is actually quite pretty, but I still just don’t like faces on book covers. Maybe it’s because I like to picture the character in my own way, and not how they’re portrayed on the cover, I don’t know. Anyway, read this book if you want your heart broken.

On The Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta

Okay, yes I’m kind of cheating here because I actually haven’t the book, but come on. Firstly, the cover is pretty damn ugly. And secondly, I’ve heard so many people rave about this book and just the author in general, so I definitely think it deserves a better cover.

Percy Jackson – Rick Riordan

Yes, another book I haven’t read (and in this case, I probably never will), but seriously it was damn hard to try and think of ten that I’d actually read, okay? Anyway, if I’m being honest, I find all the covers (because for some reason this series has had a lot of different covers) pretty boring/ugly/meh. Maybe it’s because they’re designed and aimed at younger readers, I don’t know, but I do know practically everyone loves them and so I think they deserve some really pretty covers. The End.

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There you have it! Some books that I tink deserve better covers! I’ve read and loved most of these books/series and would definitely recommend you pick them up if you haven’t already (please try and ignore the ugly covers okay I swear they’re good).

What are some of your favourite books with ugly covers?

Until next time,