Prince Charming

Every girl dreams of having a prince charming. We all love the sexy hero's in our books. Who wouldn't want to be swept of her feet?

But do we really want someone who 'saves' us on a daily basis? Don't we all want to be strong and independed? I for one, hate to be dependent on someone. I want to take care of my own business.

A couple of days ago, I had troubles with my car. And the people at my stupid garage didn't took me serious and tried to con me. I hated that I needed my knight in shining armor to sweep in and save me... I wanted so bad to fix everything myself, to be independent, but I couldn't. And I hated it...

So for me, those princes can stay in their books, I'm a strong independent woman who will be her own hero! (And when I really need some help, I'll ask very heroically for help from my prince.)

Don't judge a book by its cover, or do you?

I think everyone knows this English idiom. It's a metaphorical phrase which of course means "you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something, by its outward appearance alone".Now there is something I have to confess: I'm Renée, and I *do* judge books by it's cover.

It feels good to get that confession of my chest. Yeah, I judge my books by their looks. If a book has an amazing cover, I have to read it! But if everyone is raving about a story, but the cover sucks... It's bye bye book...

But does this mean I'm missing out on some amazing stories with an ugly exterior? Probably... 

Do I think I can change? Probably not...

I love pretty covers! A gorgeous cover is for me a reason to buy a book. When I'm in a bookstore I even stroke the pretty covers! 

So does this make me a bad person? Or is this screening process working for me? 

Let's check some covers of books I've read:

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

I LOVED this cover. Cool kick-ass chick, smoking red dress, great background, and of course the most amazing weapon ever (I don't know if you know this, but I have a thing for crossbows) the crossbow!

But did this cover mean it was an amazing story? Hell yeah! 

One of my favorite books EVER!

So that's 1 for judging books.

Darkness & Light by J.A. Belfield

As soon as I saw this cover I had to read it. It was cool, interesting, original. I can't really say why, I just needed to know more about it.

The genre was a new genre for me, but I tried it anyways. And I was glad I did. It's now one of my favorite series and Julie is one of my favorite authors and bookish friends.

BUT after a while D&L got another cover, a cover that fitted the rest of the series. And truth be told, I don't know I'd have read this novel only based on it's cover if it had this cover to begin with. (SRY JULIE!)

So I read this novel, because of it's cover, and loved it. So that would make it another point for my screening process. But I wouldn't have read this book based on it's new cover (I guess I would still have read it though, because of my co-blogger Jen's raving reviews), so that means a point against judging books.

That would make the score now: 2 points for screening by looks vs 1 point against.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This book, I wouldn't have read if it wasn't for it's cover. 

As soon as I saw this cover I was intrigued. I needed to know more, so I looked it up on Goodreads. But the blurb on there didn't really interest me, so I decided to put the book on my 'might read' shelve and forgot about it. But I kept seeing this cover, and the more I saw it, the more I needed to read it. 

And I was so glad I did! I loved it!

So that's one point for screening books AGAIN! That makes 3 vs 1.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver
I HATE the first cover! HATE IT! I think it looks horrible! I read some amazing reviews about this story, but just couldn't put myself to picking up this book. But when they released it in it's new cover I did read it. And I have to say, I'm glad I didn't miss out on this book. It's a great story.

Again a point against judging books by it's cover, which makes the final score: 3 vs 2.

The final score isn't really convincing me to stop judging. And to be fair, I never think I will. But I will try to keep an open-mind and read books that other people are raving about, but aren't great lookers.

What about you guys? Are you a judger? And are there any books you've read and loved, but you hated the cover? Or the other way around, great lookers with a bad story?

Happy reading,

Maria V. Snyder

I'd like to dedicate my blog post to my favorite writer in the whole world and beyond!

Maria V. Snyder

How it all began:
3 years ago I didn't read as much as I do now. I loved reading (I've always loved reading, ever since I can remember) but I think I read 5 to 10 books a year. It was enough, I was busy with other stuff; school, boys, movies, boys, hanging with friends and did I say boys? I think you catch my drift.
But after a while I felt the urge to read something new. So I went on the web and started looking. At that time I only read Dutch books. And there, on a web page about fantasy books, it was: Poison Study or Studie van Gif as it's called in Dutch.



I fell in love! After a couple of pages I was hooked! I loved everything about it! The world, the characters, the plot twists, the action! Everything about it was amazing! As soon as I finished book one I ordered book two: Magic Study/Studie van Magie.

 

But after that, a problem occurred. Fire Study wasn't translated yet! But I had to read it, and I had to read it at that very moment! So I decided to try and read it in English. How hard could it be, right?

And that was the beginning of the end. After Fire Study I started searching the web for more MVS books. Which led me to Goodreads (The beginning of the end!). And soon after that I read the Glass Trilogy.



I love all of MVS' books, but most of all, I love the person behind them. Maria is kindhearted, full of imagination and always very fun to chat/FB/email with. My goal is to travel to the US someday to attend one of her signings.

If you love reading Epic Fantasy YA novels, make sure you pickup one of her books, it doesn't matter which one, all of them are good!

Maria's website
Goodreads