Happy February!
Today’s post is all about my favorite covers for the second half of 2020! I love love love pretty covers, and I’m so excited to share with you some of the covers I loved the most in 2020! This list covers books published between July 1 and December 31, because I’ve already done January through June here.
And now without any further ado, here are some BEAUTIFUL book covers!
Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy Series: Faith Herbert Origin Story #1
Published on July 7, 2020 by Balzer + Bray
Genres: Science Fiction, YA
Pages: 352
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From Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’, comes the first in a two-book origin story of Faith, a groundbreaking, plus-sized superhero from the Valiant Entertainment comics.
Faith Herbert is a pretty regular teen. When she’s not hanging out with her two best friends, Matt and Ches, she’s volunteering at the local animal shelter or obsessing over the long-running teen drama The Grove.
So far, her senior year has been spent trying to sort out her feelings for her maybe-crush Johnny and making plans to stay close to Grandma Lou after graduation. Of course, there’s also that small matter of recently discovering she can fly….
When the fictional world of The Grove crashes into Faith’s reality as the show relocates to her town, she can’t believe it when TV heroine Dakota Ash takes a romantic interest in her.
But her fandom-fueled daydreams aren’t enough to distract Faith from the fact that first animals, then people, have begun to vanish from the town. Only Faith seems able to connect the dots to a new designer drug infiltrating her high school.
But when her investigation puts the people she loves in danger, she will have to confront her hidden past and use her newfound gifts—risking everything to save her friends and beloved town.
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron Published on July 7, 2020 by Bloomsbury YA
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Retellings, YA, Queer
Pages: 400
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It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia makes the desperate decision to flee, and finds herself hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .
This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales they’ve been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world around them.
Love, Jacaranda by Alex Flinn Published on July 7, 2020 by HarperTeen
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 368
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Alex Flinn comes a tale of taking a chance on love and letting your inner voice soar.
Jacaranda Abbott has always tried to keep her mouth shut. As a foster kid, she’s learned the hard way that the less she talks about her mother and why she’s in jail, the better. But when a video of Jacaranda singing goes viral, a mysterious benefactor offers her a life-changing opportunity—a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school to study musical theater. Eager to start over somewhere new, Jacaranda leaps at the chance. She pours her heart out in emails to the benefactor she’s never met.
Suddenly she’s swept up in a world of privilege where the competition is fierce and the talent is next level. As Jacaranda—Jackie to her new friends—tries to find her place, a charming boy from this world of wealth catches her eye. She begins to fall for him, but can he accept her for who she really is?
Ever Cursed by Corey Ann Haydu Series: This Is Not The Jess Show #1
Also in this series: This Is Not the Jess Show
Published on July 28, 2020 by Simon Pulse
Genres: Fantasy, Retellings, YA
Pages: 296
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ONCE UPON A TIME...
There were five enchanted princesses, one witch in search of justice, one queen trapped in a glass box, and a quest to find...
A clock from the oldest, a tear from the saddest, a lock of hair from the most beautiful, a crown from the richest to break the curse.
But the kingdom of Ever is under a spell far more threatening than any cast by a witch...
THE PRINCESSES OF EVER are beloved by the kingdom and their father, the king. They are cherished, admired, cursed.
Jane, Alice, Nora, Grace, and Eden carry the burden of being punished for a crime they did not commit or even know about. They are each cursed to be without one essential thing- the ability to eat, sleep, love, remember, or hope. And their mother, the queen, is imprisoned, frozen in time in an unbreakable glass box.
But when Eden's curse sets in on her Thirteenth Birthday, the princesses are given the opportunity to break their curses, to prevent them from becoming True Spells and dooming the princesses for life. To do this, they must confront the one who cast the spell - Reagan, a young witch who might not be the villain they thought - as well as the wickedness plaguing their own kingdom... and family.
Told through the eyes of Reagan and Jane - the witch and the bewitched - this insightful twist of a fairy tale explores power in a patriarchal kingdom not unlike our own.
It Came From the Sky by Chelsea Sedoti Published on August 4, 2020 by Sourcebooks Fire
Genres: Contemporary, Science Fiction, YA
Pages: 512
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From the author of The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett and As You Wish comes the unforgettable story of the one small town's biggest hoax and the two brothers who started it all.
This is the absolutely true account of how Lansburg, Pennsylvania was invaded by aliens and the weeks of chaos that followed. There were sightings of UFOs, close encounters, and even abductions. There were believers, Truth Seekers, and, above all, people who looked to the sky and hoped for more.
Only...there were no aliens.
Gideon Hofstadt knows what really happened. When one of his science experiments went wrong, he and his older brother blamed the resulting explosion on extraterrestrial activity. And their lie was not only believed by their town―it was embraced. As the brothers go to increasingly greater lengths to keep up the ruse and avoid getting caught, the hoax flourishes. But Gideon's obsession with their tale threatened his whole world. Can he find a way to banish the aliens before Lansburg, and his life, are changed forever?
Told in a report format and comprised of interviews, blog posts, text conversations, found documents, and so much more, It Came from the Sky is a hysterical and resonant novel about what it means to be human in the face of the unknown.
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland Published on August 11, 2020 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, YA
Pages: 448
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram
It’s been three years since ICE raids and phone calls from Mexico and an ill-fated walk across the Sonoran. Three years since Sia Martinez’s mom disappeared. Sia wants to move on, but it’s hard in her tiny Arizona town where people refer to her mom’s deportation as “an unfortunate incident.”
Sia knows that her mom must be dead, but every new moon Sia drives into the desert and lights San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to guide her mom home.
Then one night, under a million stars, Sia’s life and the world as we know it cracks wide open. Because a blue-lit spacecraft crashes in front of Sia’s car…and it’s carrying her mom, who’s very much alive.
As Sia races to save her mom from armed-quite-possibly-alien soldiers, she uncovers secrets as profound as they are dangerous in this stunning and inventive exploration of first love, family, immigration, and our vast, limitless universe.
Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale Published on August 25, 2020 by Roaring Brook Press
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Pages: 304
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From Shannon Hale, bestselling author of Austenland, comes Kind of a Big Deal: a hilarious, madcap story that will suck you in―literally.
There's nothing worse than peaking in high school. Nobody knows that better than Josie Pie.
She was kind of a big deal―she dropped out of high school to be a star! But the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Josie fell. Hard. Ouch. Broadway dream: dead.
Meanwhile, her life keeps imploding. Best friend: distant. Boyfriend: busy. Mom: not playing with a full deck? Desperate to escape, Josie gets into reading.
Literally. She reads a book and suddenly she's inside it. And with each book, she’s a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, a 17th century wench in a corset.
It’s alarming. But also . . . kind of amazing?
It’s the perfect way to live out her fantasies. Book after book, Josie the failed star finds a new way to shine. But the longer she stays in a story, the harder it becomes to escape.
Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever?
Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke Published on October 6, 2020 by Holiday House
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, YA, Queer
Pages: 336
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Sometimes there's a town called Indianola.
And sometimes there isn't.
Summer, 1993. Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There's nothing too remarkable about Indianola: it's run-down, shabby, and stifling hot, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast.
Well, there is one remarkable thing, she discovers. Something otherworldly.
But if you leave Indianola, you forget about it... and if you stay, you have to live with it every day.
Because there's a confluence of energies at Indianola, a fissure in time and space, a gap in reality. Nothing is as it seems. And unless Claire can figure out this town--the talkative lizards under the pecan trees; the honey-sweet but terrifying girl next door; the cute daughter of a powerful family, who would answer Claire's questions if she had any answers; the pervasive sense of history coming unspooled, like a video tape--she might never leave.
Featuring a mindbending plot, heartfelt queer romance, brilliant writing, and intricate worldbuilding, Forget This Ever Happened is a lush and thrilling genre-bender perfect for the Black Mirror generation.
How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason Series: The Thorne Chronicles #2
Also in this series: How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse, How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge
Published on October 27, 2020 by Daw Books
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Science Fiction, Thriller
Pages: 408
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram
Rory Thorne must use the fairy blessings gifted to her to change the multiverse in the second book in this space opera duology.
After View Spoiler » As the situation gains the attention of an increasing number of alien races, Rory finds herself acting as negotiator and diplomat, in order to save Rose and her friends--and avert an unprecedented war.
A Universe of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology by Dhonielle Clayton Published on December 8, 2020 by Crown Books for Young Readers
Genres: Anthology, Fantasy, Retellings, YA
Pages: 416
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
From We Need Diverse Books, the organization behind Flying Lessons & Other Stories, comes a young adult fantasy short story collection featuring some of the best own-voices children’s authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Libba Bray (The Diviners), Victoria Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic), Natalie C. Parker (Seafire), and many more. Edited by Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles).
In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.
AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone, and a to-be-announced debut author/short-story contest winner
What are some of your favorite covers from the second half of 2020? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!
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