Cross My Palm: YA Covers

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.

Okay, so this time around it's not a genre, but covers I'll be talking about. This will probably be the last Cross My Palm post, at least for a while — although I may return to this feature in the future! Catch up on all the others here.

• The about-to-kiss (or sometimes even middle-of-kiss) covers. I know this trend has been discussed by other bloggers on more than one occasion (Stacked has a great post on "almost-kiss" covers here, and Lori from Pure Imagination highlights "kissing/hugging" covers in her On Top of the Covers feature here). I don't really have a problem with these covers the same way some bloggers do, but then, I rarely read in public. If I did, though, I'm not so sure I would pick one of the following to take along: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller, First Comes Love by Katie Kacvinsky, The Thing About The Truth by Lauren Barnholdt, or When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle. This trend seems to be found primarily in the contemporary YA genre, as is the next one.

• The "couple standing in profile having a magical moment" covers. These are a cousin to the about-to-kiss covers — ones like Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill, The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry, My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick, Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti, and While He Was Away by Karen Schreck. These I am generally a fan of, actually. Less lip action, more adorable cuteness. 

 Seriously, though, even the colour schemes of the backdrops are similar with these covers!

• The HUGE FONT covers. These covers seem to think they're making a statement or something. Like, "My font is SO GINORMOUS that I must be super important and deep. Read me!" This is only emphasized all the more if the font happens to be bold, clean and sans serif, as is the case with many of the following examples: Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown, When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle, What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang, The Best Night of Your Pathetic Life by Tara Altebrando, Never Let You Go by Emma Carlson Berne, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield, Ten by Gretchen McNeil, and Something Like Normal by Trish Doller.

• Masks. I can't really complain about these because you have to admit they're pretty, but...maybe the cover designers could vary it just a little more, and have something other than a close-up of a girl's face wearing a glittering half-mask? Cross My Heart by Sasha Gould, The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen, and Venom by Fiona Paul look remarkably similar; the exception here is Ironskin by Tina Connolly, which happily manages to give us some atmosphere as well as the character in her entirety. Covers with masks seem to be found mostly in the historical YA genre at present.

• Reflections. These are mostly in water, but occasionally in mirrors, and not to be confused with the separate but related "girl submerged in water" trend (link to another cover trend post from Stacked). Reflections can be found in the covers of Through to You by Emily Hainsworth, The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee, The Selection by Kiera Cass, All These Lives by Sarah Wylie, One Moment by Kristina McBride, The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes, Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson, and Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins.

• Butterflies. I'm not too sure why, but for whatever reason, butterflies seem to be gracing YA covers left and right at the moment. Recent and upcoming butterfly cover books include: Possession by Elana Johnson, Pure by Julianna Baggott, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison, Haven and Mirage by Kristi Cook, Middle Ground by Katie Kacvinsky, A World Away by Nancy Grossman, and The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker. Interestingly, several of these books are dystopian/post-apocalyptic. (Symbolism, anyone? :D)

And then there are...

• The cover styles that have become so ingrained in YA that they aren't even trends anymore. Namely, close-ups of faces (usually Caucasian girls), the off-with-their-head covers (usually Caucasian girls), and of course, the ubiquitous "pretty dress" ones (do I really need to say who these usually are?) A couple of points here. First, I'd love to see the "whitewashing" of YA covers stop entirely and more covers featuring PoC characters being created and used. Second, do you agree that these "trends" can no longer be considered as such, but rather something more permanent in YA cover design? Or do you think we have a hope of escaping the pretty dress phenomenon someday?  

So, readers: have you noticed the above trends in covers? Any that I missed? What are your favourite/least favourite trends?

Also, for a blog devoted to honest appraisals of YA cover art/design, be sure to check out That Cover Girl if you haven't already!

Cross My Palm: YA Fantasy

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.


Sorry it's been so long since the last post in this series! You can catch up on all the previous posts here (contemporary, sci-fi/dystopian, historical, and paranormal YA have already been covered), but this time it's YA fantasy trends.

• Time travel is the next "hot" topic. I think time travel stories hold a lot of potential for creativity — and apparently publishers think so too, with offerings such as the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire, the Ruby Red series by Kerstin Gier, the River of Time series by Lisa Bergren, and Tempest by Julie Cross. Not always "fantasy" in the strictest sense, I know, but time travel books kind of fit into several genres...

• Retellings — both fairytale and mythological — are holding their own. On the fairy tale side of things, we've got books like the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Jackson Pearce's fairy tale companion books (Fathomless is releasing this year), Queen of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, and Enchanted by Alethea Kontis. In terms of mythology, there's a whole subsection just for "the underworld" stories, like Meg Cabot's Abandon trilogy, the Sirenz series by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman, the Everneath series by Brodi Ashton, and The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter. Other mythological retellings (or stories with mythological aspects) include the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, the Medusa Girls series by Tera Lynn Childs, Starling by Lesley Livington, and the Gods & Monsters series by Kelly Keaton. And there are even a few upcoming fantasy retellings of classic tales like Jane Eyre (Ironskin by Tina Connolly) and the Ugly Duckling (The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors).

On a related note, fairytale retellings seem to be popping up in TV and movies as well! Any of you who have not yet tuned into the TV show Once Upon A Time, you guys are missing out. And I haven't watched Grimm but I know that it's a CSI-style show based on the Grimm fairytales. Also, be on the lookout this year for the movies Snow White and the Huntsman (yes, it stars Kristen Stewart – but seriously, check out the cool trailer!) and Mirror Mirror (which has Julia Roberts in it, even though the trailer makes me think a lot of the comedy might not be my style). 

• Here be dragons — well, a few, anyway. Dragons are no vampires in YA, at least not yet. But there seems to be the start of a renewed interest in these fire-breathing monsters, with books like Sophie Jordan's Firelight series, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Prophecy by Ellen Oh, and Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey.

• Faeries are in, but elves and dwarves are not. Tolkien-esque fantasy does not yet seem to have made its way back into popularity, but faeries still hold an allure for readers. (Note the spelling there: by and large these are the unpredictable, can't-always-be-trusted "fey," not the Tinkerbell type of fairies.) Examples of upcoming faerie releases include Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier, The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long, The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney, The Falconer by Elizabeth May, The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton, and Luminance Hour by Ryan Graudin.

• Thieves and assassins are stealing readers' hearts. In a way, I think this is kind of the fantasy version of the trend in historical YA for secret agents and spies. I guess there's something about the seedy underbelly of a city that draws readers in... Recent or upcoming books that fit into this category are Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, Mastiff by Tamora Pierce, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, Grave Mercy by R. L. LaFevers, and Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

• Oddly enough, "touch" seems to be an important theme in fantasy (and paranormal) YA these days. I don't know if this is just a fluke or what, but with books like Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder, Touched by Corrine Jackson, the A Touch trilogy by Leah Clifford, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, the Clarity series by Kim Harrington, and the Curse Workers series by Holly Black...it seems like this idea is becoming popular. What do you think?

• Unusual settings (for fantasy) and PoC characters are making an appearance. I wouldn't say yet that either of these aspects are common in YA fantasy, but hopefully others will follow these authors' leads and make it happen. We're talking books such as Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, the Wildefire series by Karsten Knight, the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series by Laini Taylor, Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson, and Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson.

So, what are your thoughts on trends in YA fantasy? Is the "power of touch" something concrete or just coincidence? Will we keep seeing more PoC characters and different settings in the future? Will there be a return of the elves? Let me know what you see for the future of YA fantasy!