{"id":32863,"date":"2025-07-24T04:13:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32863\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T04:13:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T04:13:19","slug":"more-of-the-best-book-covers-of-2025-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/32863\/","title":{"rendered":"More of the Best Book Covers of 2025 So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the other fun things to notice throughout the year are the trends we see in cover design. In these second quarter books, two trends really stand out. First, there\u2019s a lot of great use of red. Second, there\u2019s a fascinating juxtaposition on a lot of these covers between the natural world and the man-made world. <\/p>\n

Find below a number of the most interesting, visually surprising, and best book covers of 2025 from the second quarter of this year. These covers are for adult fiction only, as there are entire posts\u2019 worth of covers for nonfiction, YA, middle grade, and children\u2019s books. I\u2019ve also not included book covers for short story collections, even though those book covers are some of the best of the best in the world of design. Not including them isn\u2019t because I feel like slighting them. It\u2019s because you can check out this roundup of the best book covers for 2025\u2019s new and forthcoming short story collections<\/a>. <\/p>\n

All of the covers featured here are for books published between April 1 and June 30, 2025. I\u2019ve done my best to track down credit. You can and should check out the best book covers from the first quarter of this year<\/a>, too. <\/p>\n

\"awakened<\/a>Awakened<\/a> by A.E. Osworth, Cover designed by Caitlin Sacks, Illustration by Andreea Dumuta<\/p>\n

The three main colors on this cover should not complement one another, but that jarring use of dark blue\/purple with the bright orange of the title and pink of the authors name work. But the real stars here are all of the summoning goods at the center that are made to look hyperreal with their bold colors. <\/p>\n

In many ways, despite looking quite different, this cover reminds me of the vibe of Quan Barry\u2019s We Ride Upon Sticks<\/a>. It\u2019s fun and it captures the book\u2019s tone well. <\/p>\n

\"bad<\/a>Bad Nature<\/a> by Ariel Courage, Cover Design by Emily Mahar<\/p>\n

The title font here is something I can\u2019t recall having seen on a book cover before, and it gives a bit of a vintage flair, which carries through in the color scheme more broadly. The fat letters and circles for the counters (i.e., the space inside the B, A, D, and Rs) adds a unique weight to the cover that\u2019s nicely paired with the dark red in the lower half of the design.<\/p>\n

For a cover that doesn\u2019t have a whole lot going on in terms of imagery, there is a lot of movement in it. When you look at the top of the flower\u2013the part above the red and leaning into the \u201cU\u201d in the title\u2013you can feel the breeze blowing. <\/p>\n

\"dark<\/a>The Dark Maestro<\/a> by Brendan Slocumb<\/p>\n

For a thriller about a classical musician forced into witness protection, the central image here tells nearly the whole story in a simple but evocative way. The color scheme here works well, as does the movement in the lines separating the blue bottom half of the cover and yellow top half of the color.<\/p>\n

The design here has an old school feel to it. It\u2019s quite reminiscent of the hardcover design of Colson Whitehead\u2019s Harlem Shuffle<\/a>. This is likely intentional, since the two books would make pretty good read alikes. <\/p>\n

\"endling<\/a>Endling<\/a> by Maria Reva<\/p>\n

Compare the cover for Endling with that of The Dark Maestro above. The covers are not anywhere near the same, and yet both utilize (and bastardize!) the rule of thirds, breaking the design into three distinct and eye pleasing pieces. Both make the three pieces energetic, though where Maestro does so with smooth lines, Endling goes with rougher ones. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s so striking about Endling isn\u2019t just the brilliant red. It\u2019s not just the stripes depicting both sand and movement. It\u2019s the careful juxtaposition of the natural world in all of its sharp edges with the smoothness of the man-made recreational vehicle. The thinly-weighted font for both the title and author name are nicely done, too, allowing the reader enough information to know what they are but they don\u2019t impede on the design itself. If they\u2019d been straight, rather than with a little curve to them, the impact may have been distrcting. <\/p>\n

\"food<\/a>Food Person<\/a> by Adam Roberts, Cover Design by Janet Hansen<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve waited for months and months to share this cover in a best of roundup. It is easily one of the best book covers I\u2019ve seen in a long time, and that\u2019s because it\u2019s unique\u2013this is a photograph, rather than a graphic or piece of art\u2013and it is a little absurd. Who has not thought about running a red comb through a plate of restaurant spaghetti? <\/p>\n

The title and author font, alongside the white starburst used for a blurb, is perfectly befitting an Italian restaurant that would use the kind of red checkered tablecloth in the background. <\/p>\n

\"gulf<\/a>Gulf<\/a> by Mo Ogrodnik<\/p>\n

Gulf may be the least bold cover on here in terms of color palate, but that softness is necessary to heighten the impact of what this cover is doing. Remember those optical illusions from childhood, where you would see either two vases or two faces in the same image? This kind of does that: you can see a serious-looking face in the center and you can see a collage of stacked rainbow-shaped arches. If you let your gaze soften enough, you can see both simultaneously. <\/p>\n

\"misophonia<\/a>Misophonia<\/a> by Dana Vowinckel, translated by Adrian Nathan West<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a very similar structure in Misophonia\u2018s design when you compare it to Bad Nature, and yet the two covers could not feel nor convey their stories more differently. There is a lot of color going on with this cover, and that busy feel helps readers feel the MOOD of the young person in the center of the image. You don\u2019t need to ask them if they\u2019re happy or angry. You know the answer is going to be that it is none of your damn business. <\/p>\n

The neons, the explosions, the stark black headphones against it all: just perfect. Talk about conveying misophonia. <\/p>\n

\"mrs.<\/a>Mrs. Lilienblum\u2019s Cloud Factory<\/a> by Iddo Gefen, translated by Daniella Zamir, cover design by Pablo Delcan<\/p>\n

A perfectly blue sky meets a bright yellow machine pumping nature full of man-man clouds. Brilliant. It\u2019s BRILLIANT. <\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>My Documents<\/a> by Kevin Nguyen<\/p>\n

Again, we have a cover utilizing and remixing the rule of thirds. The top of the image in neon green and light pink is your first third. The mountains in the background are your second. The third comes from the black tower of eyes and the land below (the lines from the bottom of that tower separating the ground into three pieces is especially pleasing to the eyes). This is another excellent example of nature meeting the man-made world, too, and it reflects the book\u2019s exploration of internment camps\u2013with the absolutely arbitrary, hate-fueled ideas that people from different backgrounds are somehow not human enough to be granted safety, security, and the freedom to live their lives as anyone in the white majority. <\/p>\n

\"of<\/a>Of Monsters and Mainframes<\/a> by Barbara Truelove, Cover illustration by Carl Cozier<\/p>\n

Technicolor space vampire mouth. Delicious! <\/p>\n

\"old<\/a>Old School Indian<\/a> by Aaron John Curtis, Cover art by Alex Jacobs<\/p>\n

There are not a lot of book covers that make use of a collage style, whether or not they\u2019re truly a collage. That\u2019s part of what makes Old School Indian feel so fresh and so different. We have an incredible array of colors and movement here, from the background, to the orange hanging out behind the \u201cD\u201d in the title (it looks like it\u2019s falling or floating), and the reverse color scheme along the person\u2019s cheeks and chin giving. <\/p>\n

Where Bad Nature went with circles for its counters in the title font, note that there simply are not any counters in this one. It works so well, given the collage style. (This is a great cover for folks just learning about or thinking about design\u2019s \u201crule of thirds\u201d to see where and how it works here\u2013that collage style of foregrounding some things and backgrounding others makes this an excellent example). Bonus: this cover and the lines of the sky draw the eye the way it naturally wants to move across an image by bringing attention from top to bottom in a bit of a reverse 6 motion. <\/p>\n

\"sike<\/a>Sike<\/a> by Fred Lunzer<\/p>\n

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Weirdly, this isn\u2019t going to be the only solo image of a couch to make a best covers of 2025 roundup this year. The next one will come later on, but remember this as the one that was very purple. <\/p>\n

\"small<\/a>Small Ceremonies<\/a> by Kyle Edwards, Cover design by Kate Sinclair<\/p>\n

You know already that this is playing with thirds. You also likely see the same elements that make My Documents work are happening here too\u2013this time, it\u2019s a bright blue river that\u2019s slightly off center. The use of yellow for the title and author are great, but more noteworthy is that the styling is all lowercase. The emphasis being \u201csmall.\u201d <\/p>\n

The tiger on the left, whose rear body is all that\u2019s visible, offers something that makes this cover just different enough and invites intrigue. <\/p>\n

\"smile<\/a>Smile for the Cameras<\/a> by Miranda Smith<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the blurry technicolor cabin in the style of an old film or television show that does it for this one. There\u2019s really nothing new or innovative in terms of a haunted\/scary house story for the cover, but it is just different enough to be memorable and noteworthy. The font choices here are good, too, in adding to that 80s\/90s horror feel. <\/p>\n

\"sour<\/a>Sour Cherry<\/a> by Natalia Theodoridou, Cover design by Beth Steidle<\/p>\n

Beth Steidle is a favorite designer of mine, and this cover is such a knockout for its simplicity. We\u2019ve got red going on again, but it\u2019s paired with a simple font in pink, and ultimately, the font drives the cover. . .even with what is a disembodied head dangling from the second \u201cR\u201d in cherry. The person\u2019s face is STILL defiant, despite their current, err, circumstances. The cover stands out for all of these elements and the face there\u2019s still a lot of blank space going on. <\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>The Stalker<\/a> by Paula Bomer<\/p>\n

A hole in the eye for the title? The smarmy look on the face of what is likely the entitled main character from the book? The elements work and do something different than a cover that would simply have this face on it. The space it takes up relative to the cover is also visually arresting. <\/p>\n

In some ways, where the title is can be confusing, especially since you see \u201ca novel\u201d at the top corner, followed by the author. But that decision to put the title in an unconventional place really does make you pay attention. <\/p>\n

\"state<\/a>State Champ<\/a> by Hilary Plum<\/p>\n

There are a lot of different styles clashing on this cover, between the very common font for the author\u2019s name, the graffiti style title font, the hyperrealistic body parts, and the sketched out body parts. But none of those styles seem to be competing. They work in a weird harmony that also perfectly captures what it is to be angry and push back against the systems causing unjust harm to others (it is a book about a woman who works at an abortion clinic and sees this stuff first hand). <\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>The Wanderer\u2019s Curse<\/a> by Jennifer Hope Choi, Cover Design by Grace Han<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another really great example of the natural world meeting the human built world in design this quarter. The windows and the door against the giant cloud creates such an intriguing contrast. The thin, barely-there font for both the title and authors name almost get lost in the cloud in a way that works well. A small detail that stands out is that white fence along the bottom of the cover\u2013again emphasizing the human-built world working in opposition to the world around it (even if the goal in an open fence like this is to work in harmony with the landscape). <\/p>\n

\"work<\/a>Work Nights<\/a> by Erica Peplin, Cover design by Holly Ovenden<\/p>\n

Last but not least, a moment to enjoy a giant pink donut around a technicolor skyscraper and cityscape. The oversized, outstretched white font? Icing. on. top. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the other fun things to notice throughout the year are the trends we see in cover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-32863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}