My Top 10 Covers for 2011

Throughout the week, I've been posting a Top 10 List of books for 2010 and 2011. Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic and I thought it might be fun to do a sort of recap, sharing all the books we've loved - or are loving from afar - for various reasons and then some. I hope you enjoy my list. Be sure to head over and check out Jessica's too. Also, don't forget to keep checking back each day for a new list to see who's on it - or back track to Mondays post to see where these lists all started!

Title: Entwined
Author: Heather Dixon
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 336 Pages (March 29th 2011)

What I like about the cover - I think this is one of those covers that just sticks with you. I LOVE the dress and how enchanting it makes everything feel. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

Synopsis: Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Title: Across the Universe
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill, 400 Pages (January 11th 2011)

What I like about the cover - It has a breath-taking feel to the whole thing. The vastness of space and it's brilliance with the two almost silhouettes come together perfectly.

Synopsis: A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone--one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship--tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Title: Unearthly (Unearthly, #1)
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: HarperTeen, 448 Pages (January 4th 2011)

What I like about the cover - Another amazing dress.... and the text with the feather are so eye catching. Just something to pull readers in to really have a chance to take in just how beautiful this cover is.

Synopsis: In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees. . .

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what it is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place--and out of place, at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make--between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 356 Pages (March 22nd 2011)

What I like about this cover - Again, with an amazing dress! I think I've found a theme here. This cover is shiny (yes, I have one!) and so different. The whole thing is pretty amazing. I could look at this cover for a long time and still find new things to see. It's one of those covers that when I saw it, I knew I had to pick it up and see what it was about.

Synopsis: What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limited time she has left.

Title: Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #3)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 368 Pages (July 12th 2011)

What I like about this cover - It follows along and matches the others - the previous two books. It's red. It has Sam on the cover... it's The Wolves of Mercy Falls. Need I say more?

Synopsis: The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy from Maggie Stiefvater.

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Title: Chain Reaction (Perfect Chemistry, #3)
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers, 336 Pages (May 24th 2011)

What I like about this cover - It's HOT. WOW.... This one is pretty different from the other's I've posted so far for this top 10. I just knew as soon as I saw it, there was NO way I could leave it out of this list.

Synopsis: Luis Fuentes is a good boy who doesn't live with the angst that his big brothers, Alex and Carlos, have always lived with. Luis is smart, funny, and has big dreams of becoming an astronaut. But when he falls for the wrong girl, Luis enters a dark world he's never known, and just when he thinks he's got life all figured out, learns some disturbing news about his family that destroys his positive outlook on life. Will that Fuentes bad boy streak come out with a vengeance and lure Luis to live on the edge like his new girlfriend and his own father?

Title: Haunting Violet
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers, 352 Pages (June 21st 2011)

What I like about this cover - Along with the title, I did get the whole Haunting vibe with this one. And well... the whole Violet tie in as well. It's eerie and peaceful and even graceful. Looking forward to this one.

Synopsis: Violet Willoughby doesn't believe in ghosts. But they believe in her. After spending years participating in her mother's elaborate ruse as a fraudulent medium, Violet is about as skeptical as they come in all matters supernatural. Now that she is being visited by a very persistent ghost, one who suffered a violent death, Violet can no longer ignore her unique ability. She must figure out what this ghost is trying to communicate, and quickly because the killer is still on the loose.

Afraid of ruining her chance to escape her mother's scheming through an advantageous marriage, Violet must keep her ability secret. The only person who can help her is Colin, a friend she's known since childhood, and whom she has grown to love. He understands the true Violet, but helping her on this path means they might never be together. Can Violet find a way to help this ghost without ruining her own chance at a future free of lies?

Title: Possession
Author: Elana Johnson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 7th 2011)

What I like about this cover - Another different one for this list. It's simple, yet amazing and I think the butterfly caught in ice speaks volumes for just what this book is all about.

Synopsis: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Title: Delirium (Delirium, #1)
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen, 440 Pages (February 1st 2011)

What I like about this cover - Everything about this book is amazing. From cover to the turn of the last page, it's a must read. Out of the other one or two covers I've seen, I like this one the most.

Synopsis: Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Title: Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely, #5)
Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperCollins, 336 Pages (February 22nd 2011)

What I like about this cover - It's just so beautiful! Out of all the books in this series, this one tops them all. The art department out did themselves with this one. Need I say more?

Synopsis: The Summer King is missing; the Dark Court is bleeding; and a stranger walks the streets of Huntsdale, his presence signifying the deaths of powerful fey.

Aislinn tends to the Summer Court, searching for her absent king and yearning for Seth. Torn between his new queen and his old love, Keenan works from afar to strengthen his court against the coming war. Donia longs for fiery passion even as she coolly readies the Winter Court for battle. And Seth, sworn brother of the Dark King and heir to the High Queen, is about to make a mistake that could cost his life.

Love, despair, and betrayal ignite the Faery Courts, and in the final conflict, some will win . . . and some will lose everything.

*Note: this list is in no particular order. Each of these books are a few of my favorites from 2010.
*covers are always subject to change.