Top Ten Books with Deceptive Titles and Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and features a new top ten list each week.

This week’s TTT topic is Top Ten Books That Were Totally Deceiving. These book covers, titles, or summaries gave me the wrong impression about the book. Most of these books I ended up liking a lot, though initially I had a different impression of the cover. My daughter and I brainstormed this week to come up with this list of deceptive books.

Listed in no particular order, here are 10 books that deceived me:

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins- I underestimated this book based on the cover and the title. It totally exceeded my expectations.
2. The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour – Though the cover does evoke a story appropriate retro vibe, based on the female cover model I was surprised that the book is written in a male POV.
3. The Pledge by Kimberly Derting – I like this cover and it looks really mysterious, but it kind of looks more paranormal than dystopian/fantasy.
4. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi – This girl in a dress cover doesn’t really line-up with my impression of the book. It’s a little too glamorous.
5. Divergent by Veronica Roth – My daughter was put off by the cover of this book, and didn’t believe me when I told her how good it was. It’s now one of her favorite series.
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Similar to Divergent, this cover did not grab me at all. It sat on the shelf for a year before I read it.
7. Mothership by Martin Leicht, Isla Neal   – This one isn’t out yet, but my daughter had the opportunity to read the ARC. It’s about pregnant teens that are sent off to go to school on a spaceship. She didn’t know what to expect and made some judgments based on the cover, and was wary about Sci-Fi in general. However, she really enjoyed it and can’t wait for the sequel.
8. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead – The title and cover put off many would be readers that I’ve recommended the series to. It is much better than it looks.
9. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler -The title and cover make this look like a light-hearted romance book, when it really is more about grieving and loss.
10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – Love the book, but I’m not sure how I feel about this cover. I don’t think it needed to have a sad cover necessarily, but I think this cover’s quirkiness is a little misleading.

Ornament

16 thoughts on “Top Ten Books with Deceptive Titles and Covers

  1. Carissa says:

    I totally agree with you on Shatter Me. I had it in my post too, for different reasons, but yes, the cover seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the book!!

  2. Tara says:

    I definitely agree with Anna and the French Kiss – I totally wasn’t expecting to get as into it as I did, or love it so much as I did!

    I also agree with The Hunger Games – for me it was the cover, and the idea of kids killing kids that put me off. And I was put off Divergent for being mentioned at the same time as THG too often – I was worried it was going to be essentially the same book, what with all the dystopian novels around at the moment!

    Great list!

    Tara @ Hey, Tara

  3. I have Vampire Academy on my list as well. I thought it was going to be just another vampire book like House of Night. TFiOS, Anna, and THG are great choices!
    My Top Ten Tuesday

  4. I agree about Shatter Me… to be honest I could lump a lot of YA books with covers of girls in pretty dresses into a deceiving category

  5. VeganYANerds says:

    I haven’t read Shatter Me but I am really sick of girls in big dresses/ball gowns on covers when it has nothing to do with the story!

  6. tinalinatime says:

    I will admit that I felt the same way with The Hunger Games for a little while too! I did have a hard time with this theme so I went my own way and did fairy tales instead. Oh well! 🙂

  7. Anna and the French Kiss is on my list too! Much better than the fluff it appears to be!

    I keep seeing Vampire Academy cropping up and think I may be giving it a go sometime now!

    My TTT: http://www.pocketfulofbooks.com/2012/04/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-were-totally.html

  8. Great points on the books that exceeded expectations. You’ve got me juiced to finally start VA. The first has been sitting by my bedside since Christmas.

  9. adkwriter15 says:

    Oy for Anna, VA and Divergent. I literally just didn’t care about their covers at all. If I hadn’t heard such great things about those series, I never would have picked them up.

    When I reviewed Shatter Me … I ranted for many, many reasons. But the cover totally should have been one of them.

    My TTT

  10. BermudaOnion says:

    The only one of those books I’ve read is The Hunger Games. The cover and title fit AFTER you’ve read it.

  11. mystmusician says:

    “Legend” didn’t fit it’s cover; I didn’t end up liking “Halo” (*hiding*) and the cover for that was beautiful! I agree with you on Hunger Games and Divergent. I passed up Hunger Games SO many times at the library before my BROTHER (who never reads) begged me to read it because it was so good! …I did that to Eragon too and ended up liking it as well.

  12. I definitely had Vampire Academy, Divergent, and Anna in common with you. Like, those covers aren’t the greatest and I feel like they mask the awesome that is inside! 😀

  13. I only have one book on my list in common with yours, but I considered almost all of the books you listed. I’m okay with the Divergent cover, but I think it could be better. I agree with you about Twenty Boy Summer as well.

  14. reutreads says:

    Anna was hugely deceiving, amirite? I almost couldn’t believe it when so many glowing reviews of it were popping up. I wish they’d redesigned the cover for the paperback–although it is very cute.

  15. Elizabeth says:

    I’ve been planning on reading The Disenchantments eventually… and I don’t think I realized it was from a male POV either. Weird that they’d put a pretty girl on the cover. Also, I am still resisting Vampire Academy… I just cannot get past my prejudices there, I guess!

  16. WHAT. Disenchantments is written from a male POV? That IS deceptive, hah! I had no idea. I agree on Shatter Me and I have a huge bone to pick with the VA books! Their covers are so cheesy, and the books are so awesome. *sigh* Great picks, Lucy.

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