Friday Face Off: Staring Eyes

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO compares Peeps by Scott Westerfeld and Gothic!, a short story collection by Deborah Noyes (Editor), Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Celia Rees, Barry Yourgrau, Janni Lee Simner, Vivian Vande Velde, Joan Aiken , M.T. Anderson, Neil Gaiman, and Caitlín R. Kiernan. Both covers give me the creeps. Which do you prefer?

Now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Click on any cover to enlarge.
Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On the last FFO: Ordinary Magic won against Rump: The True Story of Rumplestilskin with three votes to none. It's been quite a while since then!

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: Magic Castles

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO compares two covers that, although illustrated, seem to come from the same scene: Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway and Rump: The True Story of Rumplestilskin by Liesl Shurtliff. I could imagine looking through the trees on the left of the Ordinary Magic cover and seeing the castle from Rump. They have smilier color palettes and the titles look very similar as well.

I personally prefer the cover for Rump, since it seems more focused on the central image of the kids and the tower, whereas everything in the Ordinary Magic cover seems to be leaning away from the center. The Rump cover is also really cool when zoomed in (as I would recommend).  

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Click on any cover to enlarge.
Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: Ashes on the Waves won against the older victor of A Beautiful Dark with three votes to zero.

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face Off: Falling Forward

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO is a throwback to my very first FFO, when A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies won against Baci Immortali by Laini Taylor. This week, A Beautiful Dark faces off yet again, this time against Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsey. 

Like the last cover comparison, both covers show a girl with her arms outstretched, falling forward to an uncertain fate. Although I still prefer the cover for A Beautiful Dark, I like how the girl seems to be rising out of the water on the cover for Ashes on the Waves, almost as if she was part of the wave herself. 

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Click on any cover to enlarge.
Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: The covers for Scarlet won against, Dark Triumph and Maid of Secrets. Dark Triumph came in second, and Maid of Secrets received no votes. Thanks to M.A.D., Natasha, and Heather for commenting!

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face Off: Playing With Knives

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO features not two but three covers that show a girl holding a dagger. All three of the girls seem to have a different intent, but there is little doubt that they would all use their daggers if necessary. 

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Click on any cover to enlarge.
Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: The cover for The Goddess Inheritance won against Cursed, although Cursed gained support for its more natural-looking model. The overall sentiment was that the colors on The Goddess Inheritance complemented each other better, which created an overall more pleasing cover.

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: On the Ground

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO features two covers showing girls lying on the surrounded by vegetation:  Cursed, by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and The Goddess Inheritance, by Aimee Carter.

Both covers are beautiful, but I find myself leaning toward The Goddess Inheritance more than Cursed. I think it's the green eyeshadow on the Cursed cover that turns me off. I do really like the bright green in the leaves and the way her hair and her jacket complement each other. I've already discussed my thoughts on The Goddess Inheritance cover in my Cover Crazy. (I don't mean to feature this series so much. It's just a coincidence.)

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: The cover for Venom won against it's masked competitor, Remembrance. And excitingly, Venom's author, Fiona Paul, stopped by to comment! Natasha wins the prize for being the one voter on this FFO. Thanks, Natasha.

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: Masked

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO compares two masked women looking back at the reader: Remembrance, by Michelle Madow, and Venom, by Fiona Paul.

I prefer the cover for Venom because it looks more professionally done and the colors work really well together. I also like that the mask and the text match because they both use the same swirly pattern. The cover for Remembrance looks much more photoshopped, and the background and lighting don't really seem to fit together.

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: The Alchemy of Forever won against Counting Backwards, with one vote (yet again). Thanks to M.A.D. for the one vote of the week.

[EDIT: The vote is now tied between the two covers, with each receiving one vote.]

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: The Alchemy of Forever vs. Counting Backwards

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO features two covers that use the same effect of several images of the same face, one behind the other: The Alchemy of Forever, by Avery Williams, and Counting Backwards, by Laura Lascaro.

I really like both of these covers, and although they use the same effect, they are so different. I would choose Counting Backwards over The Alchemy of Forever because I am a fan of the simplistic and minimalistic design. Both of them have great elements, though. I especially like the font on the title of The Alchemy of Forever.

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: Tides and Of Poseidon faced off for their matching underwater poses. The stark cover of Of Poseidon won with one vote over the pastel-colored Tides.

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: Diving Under

I had decided not to continue with the Friday Face-Off posts, but I really enjoy them and now that I have nearly doubled my follower count, I thought I might try again. If you like this feature, comment! Let me know your thoughts!

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO compares two covers that feature the same underwater pose: Tides, by Betsy Cornwell, which is a 2013 debut, and Of Poseidon, by Anna Banks, which has been getting a lot of love this year. 

While the bright white dress in Of Poseidon is more eye-catching, I prefer the softer palette of the Tides cover. To me, Tides captures the feeling of being underwater better than the stark black and white of the Of Poseidon cover. 

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On the most recent FFO: Unraveling Isobel won with a single vote (from Andrea at Cozy Up With a Good Read) against Someone Else's Life.

As usual, you are still welcome to comment with your thoughts on old FFOs, and I will update this page accordingly.

Friday Face-Off: Writing on the Wall

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

This week's FFO compares two covers with a similar concept but very different execution: Someone Else's Life, by Katie Dale, and Unraveling Isobel, by Eileen Cook. I personally prefer the cover for Unraveling Isobel, since I love how the paint loops around the model's arms. I like the composition of Someone Else's Life, but the eye-catching contrast between the model's read dress and the light blue walls is matched by the purple of Unraveling Isobel.

But now it's your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

On last week's FFO: Well, actually, there weren't any comments at all on last week's FFO, which compared the covers of The Vespertine and The UK version of The Goddess Test. Since the week before only got one comment, this doesn't seem to be a very popular feature, and as it is kind of dependent on reader input, so I think this will be my last FFO for a little while unless I get some comments on this week's or last week's FFO post (by the way, I still welcome any comments on older FFO posts, and will edit the newer ones if results change). I really like this feature, so please comment if you want it to continue! If not, you may see it return later in the year, but this is it for now.

Friday Face-Off: The Goddess Test vs. The Vespertine

Friday Face-Off is a weekly feature hosted by Misty at The Book Rat. 

For this week's edition of Friday Face-Off, two titles that use the same stock image are going head to head: The Vespertine, by Saundra Mitchell, and the UK cover of The Goddess Test, by Aimee Carter.

The choice between these two titles is not quite as clear-cut as last week's FFO, since the two covers use the same image. Personally, though, I'd go with the cover for The Vespertine. Although I do like that red dress, the brown seems the more natural color for the dress, and I love the immediacy that cutting off the extra space at the top gives to the image. To me, the girl in The Vespertine cover seems to be in much more danger than the girl in The Goddess Test. Also, the colors in the Goddess Test cover seem to fade away past the hem of the girl's dress. Granted, it's a lower quality image, but I still like the crispness that the Vespertine cover gives even to the ground at her feet. 

And now it is your turn to choose...

Which cover did it better?

On last week's FFO: The cover for A Beautiful Dark won against Baci Immortali for its graceful line and lack of photoshopped elements, with all of one vote (not counting my own). So... yep. Thanks, Misty, for your vote!

Leave your thoughts for this week's FFO in the comments!