Librarian Confession: I judge books by their covers. All the time. And I have to say that in the past few years I’ve seen a clear trend emerging – book covers are just getting better and better, across the board. I looked through the books I’ve read this year and plucked out the best of the best, in no particular order. Most of these ended up being 2014 titles with a few 2013 and 2015 titles in the mix. I also included publisher info so we can see which houses are hiring the coolest cover designers.  Please gaze upon their beauty (while I keep writing, madly madly, racing until Christmas to finish these posts!!)

• Through the Woods by Emily Carroll (Margaret K. Elderry Books)
• Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour (Dutton)
• Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin (Crown)
• The Vacationers by Emma Straub (Riverhead)
• This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (Harper)
• I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan (Little, Brown)
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Candlewick)
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (Riverhead)
• Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff (Balzer + Bray)
• The Circle by Dave Eggers (Knopf)