Best Book Ever: Best Cover Ever!

Welcome to Best Book Ever here at Short and Sweet Reviews!  This week we will be talking about the number one thing that draws readers to a book- the cover!  Here are our picks for Best COVER Ever!

I was torn this week. There are SO many gorgeous covers out there, it's impossible to pick just one. So, I decided to go with a book that makes me smile every time I look at it. I haven't read it yet, but the cover alone grabbed my attention and made me covet this book like a pair of Jimmy Choos. Hopefully, it lives up to the awesome cover. 

Alanna @ The Flashlight Reader

 When I think of Best Cover Ever, Lee Monroe's Dark Heart Rising. That cover is just beautiful and every time I look at it I feel like it's telling a story. It's just Art for me. In fact, Lee Monroe's entire series has beautiful cover. I haven't read the books, but I purposely bought the series from The Book Depository just because I wanted to have them on my bookshelf looking all pretty. I would love to have Dark Heart Rising poster size. Yes, that is how much I love this cover. It's the best cover I've seen yet on a book. Love it! What do you think? 

Damaris @ Good Choice Reading

I don't know how I'm supposed to pick the best cover ever, given just how many books there are out there. But one that made a big impression on me is Sam Weber's illustration for the e-book edition of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. This is quite easily the best cover ever for Ender, and I've seen quite a few different versions of it over the years. It can't be a simple task to reimagine what's become a very iconic science fiction book, and come up with a cover that will appeal to both adult readers and the young adult audience it is often targeted toward. What I love about most about it is Ender's expression, which shows how heavily his burden weighs on him--even as he is clearly weightless. He looks clever, determined, and vulnerable all at the same time. He's in control, but floating in nothingness, he seems helpless; and if you want to read a little further into it, his Christ-like pose suggests the kind of sacrifices he'll have to make. Ender's Battle School uniform, the holographic computer icons, the planet, and the starscape all identify this as science fiction, but the boy takes center stage--even over the book title. And setting aside the question of whether it fits the book or will grab readers' attention, it's just beautiful art. I love Sam Weber's work. I just wish this cover were available in a hardcover edition as well as the electronic. Kudos to Irene Gallo, art director at Tor.com, for boldly commissioning this wonderful piece, and designer Jamie Stafford-Hill for the excellent layout. You can read more about the cover and the process of designing it here:  http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/04/enders-game-ebook-cover-by-sam-weber

The words behind the book cover are pretty awesome too. This is one of my favorite books.

 E.C. Myers, debut author of Fair Coin (2012 Prometheus Books)

Before I begin, I feel the need to state that Imaginary Girls is MUCH more than just a pretty cover. I love the story that takes place between the covers even more than the image on the front.

But, MAN! Isn't that a gorgeous cover? I still remember reading Nova's blogpost the day she revealed it: http://distraction99.com/2010/11/15/imaginary-girls-cover-reveal/ and the first time I saw it, I gasped. It's even more gorgeous in real life. One of those pictures you just want to stare and stare and stare at. Even better, it directly relates to the story. The cover is changing for the paperback (which comes out mid-June) and yet again the cover gods were kind to Nova. I love the paperback cover...  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13026356-imaginary-girls But the hardcover will always be my favorite. 

Tiffany Schmidt, debut author of Send Me a Sign (2012 by Walker- Bloomsbury) 

I am a self-confessed cover-magpie so this is the hardest category for me so far in my participation of Best Book Ever. There are so very many beautiful covers out there right now. It is so hard to pick from them all. It took me a while to settle on just one but I can tell you it is a beautiful one! 

My nomination is TOUCH OF DEATH by Kelly Hashway. This isn't a book I've had the pleasure of reading yet as it's not released until January 15th 2013. But I do know I will be clamouring to read it. I've only known of it's existence for a month or so but when I saw the cover I started salivating and when I read the blurb, I was hooked. 

Now as I picked one I haven't yet read, I was also naughty and picked another. Oops. Bad girl. I just love this cover so much and I truly loved the book. So here's my choice: SHATTERED SOULS by Mary Lindsey.  I think this is extremely beautiful and the feel of the velvet texture of the cover is so smooth that I kept picking it up just to touch it. 

Keren @ Gothic Angel Book Reviews

This is a funny one for me because I'm going to pick a book I actually haven't read yet. First, about me--I don't particularly like zombies. I can't really handle zombie stories. They creep me out too much. But every time I'm in a bookstore, I pick up a copy of Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel because I'm totally taken in by the beautiful cover. It looks haunting but enchanting and beautiful. After I pick it up though, I read the back, see the mention of zombies and inevitably put it down. Or at least I did until recently. After admiring the cover at least ten, I finally decided that I was going to go for it--screw the zombies.

Elizabeth Norris, author of Unraveling (2012, Baltzer and Bray)