Starting my end of the year posts today with book covers! Believe it or not, this isn’t every book I read this year… just most of them 😅 As I always like to say, books can still be amazing with more basic covers, and ultimately the most important thing is what’s inside the book, but I still like to appreciate pretty covers!
I want this to be a positive post, but I need a moment to rant. Because I am getting more and more angry about artists not being credited for their work. It should not be this difficult to find out who the artists are for book covers. I was tempted to just not even do this post, or not include any books that didn’t list the cover artist/designer in the front matter (it should be in the front matter in all versions of the book, including the ebook preview you can access online). Some of these didn’t even say the artist in the cover reveal posts! One I could only find mentioned in one random interview after ten minutes of searching. Some I’m still not sure I got right.
Especially now that AI art is becoming more prevalent, it’s more important than ever to CREDIT ARTISTS. So I did my best to find all the artists and designers and included whatever I could find (I put the names/handles after the book title and author). Please let me know if I got any wrong or you know of any I missed.
And if my post makes you interested in buying any of these from Amazon, I’d love it if you’d use my affiliate link!
Witchlore by Emma Hinds – @gildedruin
Thirsty by Lucy Lehane – Art: Colin Verdi, Design: Olga Grlic
Vesuvius by Cass Biehn – Chris Sack
Starting off with some covers that have just beautiful and eye-catching art, great portrayal of the characters, and are all-around well designed.
My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich – @astal.art
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley – art by the author
Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch – Art: @lilith_saur, Design: @lesleyworrell
I put these together because all three use vertical space in an interesting way, putting the characters above and below each other. I love how it shows the fun you can have with a cover, how it doesn’t always have to represent things so realistically, if that makes sense.
The Alpha’s Son (Series) by Penny Jessup – Art: Kayleigh Fine, Title Font: Paula Painmar
These are together in a series, clearly, and I’ve just always liked these covers! Really nice art, and I love that they credit the person who did the lettering because that’s such an important part of these too. These are covers where everything is great and works so well together. I also love how they made sure to include the moon in every cover, since they are werewolves and the moon is important in the stories. Just a nice detail.
The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato – Design: Michelle McMillian?
Of Monsters & Mainframes by Barbara Truelove – Design?: Charlotte Strick, Art & Lettering: Holy Moly
Key Lime Sky by Al Hess – art by the author
Text covers! There are noticeably fewer of these on my list, but wow, these three do it right! And they really show how text can be art too and how text-focused covers can portray a vibe just as much as characters or anything else can.
Seven Wonders by Jay S. Wright & EM Jeanmougin – Alicia Henson
An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder by K. Valentin – Ana Hard?
Subtle Mind by Zach Dodson – Tiia Reijonen?
Because I’m weird, I like to group covers together in these posts by little similarities I find. These three are the only ones that only have a single character. Why does that matter? It doesn’t 😅 Look at them though, aren’t they pretty? Also neat that they’re all very vibey, but in different ways and with such different styles.
Lovesick Gods // Lovesick Titans by Amanda Meuwissen – Thander Lin
A duology I reread that got cover updates, and I love them! Gorgeous, bold, sexy, and fun.
Bright Spring // Dauntless Summer by Emmaline Strange – Bear Pettigrew
Phantom and Rook by Aelina Isaacs – Bear Pettigrew
The first two are part of a series, the last one is separate, but they all have the same artist. And I love the beautiful, colorful, bold art and the style of this artist! The first two have a really visually interesting framing thing too.
Reclaimed by Seth Haddon – Julie Dillon
Beneath the Indigo Sky by Rayne Hawthorne & D. W. Michaels – @lis_photoart
Till Death by Kellan McDaniel – Elena Masci
These three really bring the passion, emotion, and intimacy. It’s also cool to see trans rep visibly shown on a cover (Reclaimed). And do I really have to keep saying how great the art is on every cover?
Of Feathers and Thorns by Kit Vincent – Corey Brickley
Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens – Art: Sam Schechter, Design: Rebecca Syracuse
Fire Spells Between Friends by Sarah Wallace & S.O. Callahan – Caras Alexandra
Last but certainly not least (some of my favorites, even)… I love the art and whole design of these. I love how bright and magical the first one is. I love how fun and quirky and magical in a different way the second one is. And I love how beautiful and cozy the last one is.
Check out my other end of the year posts!
Cover Love: Best Book Covers from Books I Read in 2025
Bookish Musings: Top Ten Characters from Books I Read and Games I Played in 2025
Bookish Musings: Top Five Books/Series I Read in 2025 + Some Non-Bookish Things
I much approve of your taste! I, too, think a lot of these are absolutely gorgeous! I very much prefer illustrated covers, and we so often get such lovely ones in Fantasy!
Especially love the reversal in the Lovesick Gods duology, how well the two covers go together!
Illustrated is definitely my favorite, I have a type when it comes to covers 😅 I’m glad you like them too! Those two do have a really fun reversal.
My faves are the ones from Roommate, Amateur Witch and Lime Green Sky, for different reasons (I’m not a huge fan of covers where the lettering is prominent, but the last one is really well done).
“Especially now that AI art is becoming more prevalent, it’s more important than ever to CREDIT ARTISTS.”
That’s what I was thinking when I started reading your post…maybe it’s time for me to add an illustrator reference to my full reviews (though I’m writing lots of minis lately, oops…).
I feel like I can see a sort of similarity in those, compared to the more romantic ones especially.
I don’t usually credit artists in my review posts (although maybe we all should). But the credit should be easily available for anyone who wants it when they’re looking up the book, you know? And it’s especially egregious to not mention it in a cover reveal post that is specifically about the cover! (Which, I don’t blame bloggers if they weren’t given the info, that’s still on the publisher or whoever gave the info.)
Kill creatures has the most gorgeous cover ! I also got the indigo hardcover of icebreaker- shiny white with blue to pink colored edges!
Oh wow, you’re right! The art and the colors on Kill Creatures are amazing! And the blue and pink page edges on the other one are gorgeous!
I love your cover posts! Thank you for all your effort in tracking down artists, I also find it so frustrating when it’s not easy to find out the artists
Glad you enjoyed it <3
Oh so many pretty covers! I like the one for Love at Second Sight, I have that book, but haven’t read it yet. And the covers for that series by Sarah Wallace & S.O. Callahan all are such pretty covers, I still have to read those as well. I also like that artwork by the artist Bear Pettigrew. When the Tides Held the Moon is also pretty, I didn’t realize the author themselves did the artwork for that. I like the The Alpha’s Son series cover too, that moon on every cover is a nice nudge to the werewolf theme.