Posted by Savanna, Associate Editor on December 18, 2018

Every year, the BookPage editors get together to create the best books of the year list, but also its slightly more superficial stepsibling, the best covers list. It’s always a monumental undertaking to cut down and rank our extensive long list of covers that caught our eye, so this year we’re cheating just a little. We have not 10, not 15, but 31 covers on the list below, from jackets that took our breath away with their sheer beauty to the ones that made us feel like an idiot when six months later, we realized there was a tiny person in the pencil (. . . this may have been just me).


Covers we’re still finding new details in, or “That’s why her hair’s so big. It’s full of secrets.”


Why do my eyes feel funny


Gaze upon this lovely plant, tree of life edition


Gaze upon this lovely plant, fistful of flowers edition



This wallpaper is prettier than me


I give you, “Face.”


Oh look, it’s the meaning of the book



Fish are the new vampires, apparently


This is unsettling and I don’t know why


Light something on fire


Jackets that would also be killer dorm room posters

You May Also Like

Seasonal Work and Other Killer Stories by Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman’s recent form has been sparkling. Her last novel, Dream Girl,…

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

Translated by Chi-Young Kim — Gu Byeong-mo has written across a range…

Best indie crime novel of 2022 shortlist

Indie crime fiction is something we work hard on here at Crime…
The five best romance novels of Valentine’s Day 2023

The five best romance novels of Valentine’s Day 2023

★ Canadian Boyfriend Jenny Holiday’s Canadian Boyfriend, in which a dance teacher…