The Top Ten Covers of 2012

This has been a year of epic covers! This post most certainly hasn't caught them all, but they're the first I could think of!

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter. The dress! And I really like the border, the way it has little Alice in Wonderland references like the card suits and general prettyness.

The American  cover of  Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin. I like the UK one for its simplicity, but this one has a beautiful dress and setting with the clouds and umbrella and text.

Cinder by Marrissa Meyer. The shoe is the recognisable bit of the Cinderella, and the metal skeleton in the leg is a little creepy, but subtly sets the tone for the premise of the book-cyborg Cinderella.

Harbinger by Sarah Wilson Ettienne. The red moon is interesting, the background is good, but the red ties it all together.

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. I love the use of the lighting and the way they work together. And the butterfly mask is gorgeous.

Pure by Jennifer L Armentrout. Actually, all of the Covenent series (which I need to get reading some time!) I love the way the flowers seem to be made of light and smoke at the same time, apart from Elixir, which is water. So pretty!

A Million Suns by Beth Revis. The space/stars/nebula/whatever the technical term for it is. And the colours. I'm also guessing that the girl and boy in the spacehship are important too.

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang. For a book that's about two girls in one body, this is infinitely clever-the two girls in one shape.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I don't know why, but it's strangely nice to look at.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. The detail in that picture! And the dragon!


There was also a big thing about racism on YA covers. I've noticed this with a couple of books, but never really thought about it. There is a very well worded piece on this that can be found here though!

Once again-what would be on your list of favourite covers this year?

Book Review- Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Title: Alice in Zombieland

 Author: Gena Showalter

Series:  White Rabbit Chronicles #1

Published:  5 October 2012 by Mira

Length: 404 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary : She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.
Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
Her father was right. The monsters are real….
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

Review: When I first saw the title, author and cover, I got REALLY excited. Having highly enjoyed Intertwined, (review here) and with a name and cover like that, you’d think that you were getting a reimagining of Carroll’s original, but with zombies involved. Not so. Instead, there’s a contemporary paranormal story with a heavy dose of romance. And (as I remember) no chance to wear that dress (I don’t mind pretty dress covers as long as they’re relevant to the plot). The only connections with Carroll’s story are the fact that Alice is called Alice and the chapter titles are quotes with undead spins. Now we’ve cleared that up, we can move on.

It’s Alice’s birthday when their car crashes. Alice is the only  survivor, and as she wakes, she thinks of her now dead family. And the monsters surrounding her car. She starts a new school, where she is accepted by part time hospital buddy Kat into the friendship group and introduces her to the group of tough guys, with the likes of Cole, Frosty and the others. There, she is told what actually happened: It was zombies! Alice decides that she will eradicate all zombies ever. That’s once she’s trained with Cole.

After being disappointed at the lack of Alice in Wonderland, I got a bit disappointed by the way the plot of Alice in Zombieland panned out too. It’s really heavily romance orientated, which is fine if you like this. It’s just really not my thing, and I don’t feel it was done amazingly. Luckily, there is a good amount of zombie slaying, which is more up my street.

Alice could have been a great character, but I felt there was something a bit lacking around her. My favourite character is Kat-she’s cool, witty, and a good friend. Close second comes Alice’s grandparents and their failed attempts to be cool.

The pacing. Started out really nicely with awesome stuff happening. The middle was dragged out a lot and the ending could have been really amazing and emotional, but ended up over before it had really begun.

There was some good points though. The characters, that weren’t fitting the mean/tough girl/guy stereotype were  really good. And the zombies! While I don’t approve of the sparkling qualities, the idea of spirit form and the emphasis on spirit as opposed to corpses is generally awesome.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to an underwhelming book with some good features, but not really my thing, despite first impressions.

Links: | Goodreads | Author website | 

Waiting on Wednesday #39-Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we show off books that we want to read but have not been published yet. 

Title:  Alice in Zombieland-White Rabbit Chronicles #1
Author: Gena Showalter
Release Date: 25 September 2012 by Harlequin
Link to / Summary from Goodreads: She won’t resist until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever. Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone. Her father was right. The monsters are real… To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….
Why I want it: I don’t think this is a redo of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece exactly, but still....Zombies + Alice + Gena Showalter (really enjoyed Intertwined) = CAN’T WAIT.  And that cover is gorgeous.

What are YOU waiting on this week?

On My Wishlist 6

*insert usual rambling about OMW being hosted by Book Chick City etc...*

So, in memory of the zombie/ apocalypse that never happened, I thought I’d theme this weeks wishlist around zombies/apocalypses just for the fun of it. Here you go.