Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is a cover freebie, so even though we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, that’s exactly what I’m doing this week! Below are ten nine covers of books I own (or formerly owned), all of which I really like. I wouldn’t call them all beautiful (though many are), but they’re all appealing to me in some way, and in some cases they even contributed to my buying the book!

1. Sylvia Izzo Hunter, The Midnight Queen — I don’t often do this, but I’m pretty sure I did buy this book based solely on how gorgeous the cover is!

2. V. E. Schwab, Shades of Magic series — The covers for this series, designed by Will Staehle, are so striking! I love the neutral beige and black with that pop of red.

3. Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale — I really like the colors on this cover, especially the author’s name in aqua and the title and bird/flower design in yellow. (The yellow is brighter in person than in this photo!)

4. Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent — I love a super ornate cover, and this one also has a fun raised/embossed texture!

5. Kate Milford, Greenglass House — This cover is absolutely stunning, and it looks exactly the way Greenglass House is described in the book.

6. Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing — I really like the cover artist, Kinuko Y. Craft. Her paintings are so detailed, lush, and fantastical; they really evoke the magic of the story.

7. Sherry Thomas, A Study in Scarlet Women — This is such a great cover for a historical mystery. I love the darkness of the room contrasted with the light behind the door, and the woman’s red dress being the only spot of color apart from the light sources.

8. Charles Finch, Charles Lenox series — Each book in this series features three of the same type of object on the cover, and the center one is always broken or “wrong” in some way (like the bloodred ink dripping from the second pen here). It’s such a clever concept, and I’m sad it’s no longer being used for the prequels.

9. Lauren Willig, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation — I’ve always liked art-based covers for historical novels, and this is a gorgeous example. The first few books in the series followed a similar style, but unfortunately the cover art changed partway through the series. Don’t you hate when that happens?!