Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
I’m surprised I haven’t talked about this cover yet. I read the book a few years ago (thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC) and I still think about the cover to this day. It’s somewhat simple but very effective. The blocky colours with just the jewellery as details are stunning and I love all of the foliage as background details.
Annoyingly, I’m yet to continue this series as I enjoy both the content the covers – book one is my absolute favourite. Which is quite unusual for me as red really isn’t a colour I enjoy and book two is orange (one of my favourite colours). This cover has a lot more detail to it and is definitely more eye catching.
Synopsis: Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl…
Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother’s love–and she’s on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele’s dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja’s otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back… by stealing Gisele’s life for herself.
The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed.
Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancé, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja’s tail, she’ll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
I’m pretty sure I talked about the cover of Belladonna when I mentioned I’d be reading an ARC of it. The version I have in this photo (it’s from the ARC version) isn’t actually my favourite cover, but it is still very pretty. I’ve since bought the entire series and the updated covers are absolutely stunning – maybe I’ll update this photo one day.
I’m assuming the birds are blue tits and these have quite a lot of significance to my family, so that makes this cover extra special. My favourite part of this cover is actually the colour palette. I love the soft purple with pops of blue and yellow from the birds. It’s a surprisingly pleasing combination.
In a turn of pure coincidence and I’m currently reading the final book in this series, which is possibly my favourite cover of the three, but more on that in a future post most likely.
Synopsis: Orphaned as a baby, nineteen-year-old Signa has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her remaining relatives are the elusive Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at Thorn Grove, an estate both glittering and gloomy. Its patriarch mourns his late wife through wild parties, while his son grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation, and his daughter suffers from a mysterious illness. But when their mother’s restless spirit appears claiming she was poisoned, Signa realizes that the family she depends on could be in grave danger and enlists the help of a surly stable boy to hunt down the killer.
However, Signa’s best chance of uncovering the murderer is an alliance with Death himself, a fascinating, dangerous shadow who has never been far from her side. Though he’s made her life a living hell, Death shows Signa that their growing connection may be more powerful—and more irresistible—than she ever dared imagine.
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