Judging Book Covers: Upcoming Release Edition

About four months ago, I wrote a short post where I spoke about a few pretty books! In one part of the post I mentioned some upcoming books and I feel like it’s been a while since I perused NetGalley on the hunt for some gorgeous upcoming covers. Obviously judging a book by their contents is probably the best way to go, but since I almost never read the synopsis, this is the method I use!

To make things interesting I’ve decided to switch things up and give my first impressions based on the cover of the book (this part is ensured to be nonsensical) and then read the synopsis to see if I would actually read the book! *Gasp* I know, me actually reading a synopsis? Unheard of. But it is a sacrifice I am willing to make for this post.

**All covers link to Goodreads**

First Impressions: Um. So cute!! This cover makes me think of summer and raspberry ices! I love the font of the title too, literally anything with a script like title and I’m sold!

Will I Read This? Aaah, so you’re telling me that this book is about a Cuban American teenager who gets shipped off to the UK where she works in a bakery and then meets a boy who works at a tea shop and then they FALL IN LOVE?? You’d have to fight me to make sure I didn’t read it.

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First Impressions: fhajkfhdiue IS THAT A MERMAID LADY IN THE BACKGROUND??? Also, the boy on the cover is giving me Milo Thatcher vibes which I am 100% here for!

Will I Read This? So (to the best of my understanding) this is a graphic novel about a Vietnamese boy who is struggling with coming out to his parents, and story is told with the help of a series of Vietnamese fairy tales. I don’t see how I can NOT read this book. So once again the answer is a resounding yes I will read this.

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First Impressions: As a New Yorker, I’m actually contractually obligated to read every single YA book that takes place in NYC. It’s a hard undertaking, but it is what it is. I love the taxis and the brick buildings, and I love the pink beanie! Wish I could pull that off.

Will I Read This? Ooooh, this plot honestly sounds like the plot of a late 90’s rom-com and I am here for it! It’s the classic, girl finds out about boy’s side hustling scheme and blackmails him into helping make her more popular at school. Again I’m going to have to say, yeah, I’m going to read this. (Book 3 and I think it’s obvious that my judging based on covers system is ~flawless~).

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First Impressions: It looks like a birthday party! Confetti! The guy in the back looks like he’s wearing Justin Beiber merch, so that’s an interesting touch. And I love the purple overalls, tres cute.

Will I Read This? !!!! A book about queer theater nerds who put on a production of Les Mis! I would probably be in physical pain if I didn’t read it. My only complaint is that it comes out in December, which means I can’t read it immediately * sobs *.

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First Impressions: Sooooo, I made the mistake of reading the synopsis before writing this first impressions bit. Oops. But! My first impression was like, oh cool, some kind of school related thing, maybe someone gets bullied. Who knows?

Will I Read This? This book is about two teens who fight against their school administration after a teacher gives an assignment for the students to argue on behalf of the final solution (the ruling in Nazi Germany to eradicate all Jews). After reading that, it’s kind of obvious that the raised hands on the cover are supposed to be symbolic of the heil salute. Apparently, this is inspired by a true story, and though I know that as a Jew I should probably want to read this, I have to be honest and say that I probably won’t. I don’t really need to go around reading a book about anti-semitism since I already have enough of that first hand.

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First Impressions: A picture inside of a picture!! And the colors are so pretty! The color style of the cover kind of reminds me of the covers for We Are Okay and Hold Still. Both of which I have not read yet, but, I still love their covers.

Will I Read This? So lemme tell you about this one. A queer romance that explores gender identity written by a transgender author. If you’re not convinced that I’m going to read this by the description alone, just look back at the gorgeous cover.

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First Impressions: Well purple is one of my favorite colors, so to see it featured in a cover gives it automatic points. Also, stars! Shiny! I’m also left with questions, are the stars a penpal? What did they write back? How long did it take for the letter to come?

Will I Read This? This is a compilation of short poems. Now, while I do enjoy reading books told in verse, poetry compilations aren’t really my thing. This means that I probably won’t be reading this book.

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First Impressions: PURPLE. PURPLE. PURPLE. Also, this looks like a Fantasy! Based on the cover and the title, and I love fantasies! Are those little stars on her dress?? Stars and purple seem to be a reacurring theme recently.

Will I Read This? AH! A queer fantasy retelling of Phantom of the Opera!!! The magic system is song related, the main character is promised to be absolutely brutal, and the synopsis says the main character is reunited with her childhood friend. So. Friends to Lovers?? Anywho, yeah, um definitely going to read this.

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First Impressions: So when I went to copy this cover off of Goodreads the cover became super big and I got to see allll the details of the cover, which are absolutely gorgeous. I want to know more about the magic she’s doing with her hands! And what’s with the gem in the middle of the O in Legendborn? What does it signify? I must know!

Will I Read This? This book is about a secret society of students who hunt down demons, and a girl who gets dragged into it on a mission to solve the mystery behind her mother’s death. Honestly, all you had to say was magic secret society related to King Arthur and my answer would be yes!

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First Impressions: Purple again! Which as you all should know by now means that I’m automatically sold. I also love how the trees are forming a little archway, and the flowers by the roots are so pretty!

Will I Read This? Oooh, this book sounds so creepy!! Children disappearing into woods? Unconscious boys lying in the middle of the road? I would be honored to read about Wendy solving the mystery of the creepy child eating woods.

This was really fun to do! I think that I learned that I’ll read pretty much anything and that I’m (mostly) great at judging books by their covers! (Ignore the two books that I said I wouldn’t read). What I did notice while sifting through covers for this post is that contemporaries usually have much prettier covers than fantasies. Which is kind of a bummer since I tend to read more fantasies anyways. But! If you’d like a post of upcoming fantasies that sound interesting but have unfortunate covers, let me know! Because I’d love to roast the god awful covers while hyping their plots.

Are you looking forward to reading any of these books? What are some upcoming books with pretty covers that you want to read?