Friday, July 27, 2012

Judging Books By Their Covers #5: Beach & Ocean

Judging Books by Their Covers is a feature I do every once in a while to showcase some book covers. Each post, I choose one category and some book covers that fit into that category, and talk about whether or not I like those covers. You can read some earlier posts in this feature here.


The links will take you to the Goodreads pages.

Today's category is: Beach & Ocean!



Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz



That Summer by Sarah Dessen
Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
(and some more Sarah Dessen books)



Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond



Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman
Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker



Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler
Raw Blue by Kristy Eagar



The Story of Us by Deb Caletti
Stay by Deb Caletti
(and some more Deb Caletti books)

I'm kind of split on these books. I love how the beach-theme conveys such a summer-y feel and screams cute contemporary. And some of these, like Moonglass, Second Chance Summer, and The Story of Us, are really, really pretty. But I'm not a fan of all of these - I don't like the ones with bikini'd people, like Jersey Angel, The Summer of No Regrets, and Invincible Summer, because, well, I don't want to be seen in public with a book like that! In the end, the cute summer-y-ness (I know, great word) wins out, though, because I just love summer books!

What do you think of book covers showing the beach and the ocean?


If you have a type of cover you'd like me to feature on one of these posts, let me know!

18 comments:

  1. About 90% of summer books seem to have beach covers! They have potential to be really pretty, but I agree that they look better when the cover models are fully clothed. My favorite of these covers has to be The Story of Us-it is simply dazzling and I live the sun in the background.

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  2. I feel the same way as you. I'm not wild about the bikini covers but everything else is fair game.

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  3. Have you seen the new Sarah Dessen covers? I kinda like them but I like the old ones too.

    I LOVE Unbreak My Heart - the heart as foreground and then the girl on the boat, it really captures the title.

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    1. I'm pretty annoyed that they changed the Sarah Dessen covers. I don't dislike the new covers (except for the huge name), but I need my books to match, so I don't like that the new ones won't match my old Sarah Dessen books. And I'm not going to buy all of them again. But I'm just not a fan of changing covers in general, cause of the matching thing.

      I love the Unbreak My Heart cover too :)

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  4. I think you can still order the Dessen books with the old covers - if you want to finish your collection.

    What people were complaining about in the old covers is that the girl wasn't completely in the photo, and that these are more stylized in a way.

    I much prefer the old Along for the Ride. I think the old covers were more lyrical in a way:)

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    1. Oh, yeah, I just mean that the upcoming Dessen books won't match the ones I already have.

      I get that - I'm not a fan of the head-cut-off type of covers. But I still don't think they should have changed them :p

      Ehh, I'm not a huge of either Along for the Ride Cover. The old one looked kind of awkward to me, like, the way they're sitting is... unnatural? Something like that. The new one is more realistic, but, like I said in this post, I don't like bikini covers.

      I love the new covers for Someone Like You and Dreamland.

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    2. In Along for the Ride Auden was sitting on the handlebars - which I kinda like because it's more casual and Eli got her to relax, to be unconventional.

      I don't know if the cover was meant to symbolize all that but that's what I saw. Maybe that wasn't their intention at all though:)

      I also like the new cover for The Truth about Forever:) The blue is beautiful:)

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    3. Hmm, I didn't even think of that! It does make sense like that. But I didn't think any further than noticing that the positioning seemed kind of awkward.

      Yes! The Truth About Forever cover is great too :)

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    4. I LOVE studying covers to see the symbolism in it. I know the cover artists don't always read the books, but maybe they get a summary from the editor and they create some gorgeous covers that are works of art and are symbolic:)

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    5. To be honest, I rarely think about the symbolism of those kind of covers. I love the more arty type of covers and do think about what those mean, but with covers that just have a pretty face on them, I rarely think about stuff like that. And I guess I just put the Along for the Ride cover in the pretty-face category, even though I shouldn't have!

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    6. I don't really like the artsy type covers that don't have a definite composition to them - I do however like artsy covers like Jennifer Armentrout's Half Blood, Pure and Deity because although they're artsy, there's a lot of meaning in them. And I love how there's a guy's face on the back cover.

      That's another thing - I like it when the back cover is also meaningful. For a great wrap-around cover, there's Lauren Barnholdt's road trip contemp.

      I LOVE Lauren Barnholdt, by the way:) Her characters are so real and funny:)

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    7. When I say artsy, I mean the type of covers that show an item that's of symbolic value to the story, for example. That kind of thing :)

      And yes, I love when covers continue onto the spine and back!

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  5. I totally agree about the bikini books- I definitely don't want to be seen with those!! ;) I really am in love with the cover for The Story of Us, the gorgeous summery feel that it achieves is just awesome. I would buy that book for the cover alone!

    Fabulous post Hannah! <3

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  6. I agree with what everyone has said about THE STORY OF US. It's such a beautiful cover.

    I don't like the bikini covers either.

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  7. I have read a lot of these. I love the beach, so that probably explains why I'm drawn to beach covers.

    I thought you forgot The Summer I Turned Pretty series -- but when I looked I was wrong. That series is so much about the beach, and those covers don't really show the beach at all...

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    1. I thought the same thing! When I thought about which books to include in this post, the first books I thought of were the Summer books, so I looked them up on Goodreads. And then I noticed that the covers have a beachy feel to them but don't actually show the beach or the ocean. Weird! I guess I just immediately associate the Summer series with beach books because they're, like, the epitome of summer reading.

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  8. I agree. I'm not one for bikini covers, but pretty much any other beach cover I love. I think The Story of Us, Moonglass, Stay and Unbreak my Heart are pretty.

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  9. I don't really like them. At all.

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Please leave a comment - I love to hear what you think!

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