Waiting on Wednesday (2): More Beautiful Covers

Our second Waiting on Wednesday, and in keeping with the theme of our first WoW post, these books all have beautiful covers!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

There were so many beautiful cover releases recently, many for books we're eagerly anticipating (like Ellen Oh's PROPHECY, for example). So it was very difficult to choose, but here are 3 WoW picks...

1) OCD LOVE STORY by Corey Ann Haydu

Blurb from Teen Writers Bloc: When Bea meets Beck, she knows instantly that he’s her kind of crazy. Sweet, strong, kinda-messed-up Beck understands her like no one else can. He makes her feel almost normal. He makes her feel like she could fall in love again.

But despite her feelings for Beck, Bea can’t stop thinking about someone else: a guy who is gorgeous and magnetic…and has no idea Bea even exists. But Bea knows a lot about him. She spends a lot of time watching him. She has a journal full of notes. Some might even say she’s obsessed.

Bea tells herself she’s got it all under control, but this isn’t a choice, it’s a compulsion. The truth is, she’s breaking down…and she might end up breaking her own heart.

This book wasn't on my radar until I stumbled upon the cover reveal, and oh what a cover! I love the bright, pop colors and the scrawling, dynamic text. Plus, the story sounds delightful - equal parts contemplative and quirky.


2) THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR by Mindee Arnett

Blurb from the jacket: 16-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy is hard enough, but when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing.

But it does.

Eli is dreaming of a murder. The setting is Arkwell.

And then his dream comes true. Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target...

I'm pretty much a sucker for paper-cut-out / silhouette covers (i.e. previous WoW pick, Sarah Rees Brennan's UNSPOKEN), and this one definitely falls under that category. I love all the little details and the way the title type grows into branches, and the purple makes it all nice and spooky. And story-wise? I love some good supernatural sleuthing, and doing it through dreams? Awesome.

Tor.com did a sweet little article about the cover design process that I found fascinating. Plus, I loved seeing all the different iterations of the cover! Link: Cover Reveal for The Nightmare Affair

Oh and you can enter to WIN an ARC of this beauty at Mindee's website: The Nightmare Affair Cover Reveal Giveaway!


3) TAKEN by Erin Bowman

Blurb from goodreads: There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends...and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?

I really adore this cover, and it's not just because I like Erin. No, there's just something about everything here that appeals to me. From the imagery to the colors to the composition, this cover is striking and so different from the covers I've gotten used to seeing in the YA section of the book store. It's a little bleak, a little futuristic, and a lot gorgeous. I love how the warm colors contrast imagery that is so typically rendered in cool tones. And don't get me started on how much I love the raised K in the title! Story-wise, this cover makes me really want to know, what's over the Wall and what is the Heist?

Erin did a fun and informative interview with her cover's designer over at Pub(lishing) Crawl. Link: TAKEN Cover Reveal!


Ah, all of these are 2013 books, but I want them all now!

What books are you looking forward to?