Top 5 Books with Animals on the Cover I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October 2018 and it has grown really big! This is a series of books that all have a common theme. I post the schedule for the next month the last week of the prior month. You can talk about books you want to read or books you have read and all prompts are open for interpretation! Feel free to get as creative as you want with the prompts.

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Upcoming Schedule!

September 26th, 2020 — Guilty Pleasure Reads

October 3rd, 2020 — Intimidating Books

October 10th, 2020 — Feminist Themes

October 17th, 2020 — Animal on the Cover

October 24th, 2020 — Wishlist

October 31st, 2020 — Vampires

Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people — So that more people can join us!!
  

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Books with Animals on the Cover

I always love topics like this because they give me so much freedom. It’s so much fun to be able to pick books of any genre for a topic. There are so many amazing books out there with animals on the cover. Lately birds and snakes have been on the covers of a lot of great books. There are tons of books out there with animals on the cover, but a few of my favorites are: Strange the Dreamer, The Merciful Crow, The Hunger Games, Six of Crows, Descendant of the Crane, Bone Crier’s Moon, Girl, Serpent, Thorn,  The Bone Ships and The Diabolic. Clearly there are tons of amazing books with this common feature on their covers!

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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

This book has made its way to the top of my TBR. I’ve wanted to read this book for years now because people seem to love it, but recently I’ve really been loving YA paranormal books. I just recently got a copy of this book and then not even a week after I got a copy this book was recommended by a coworker. I have been looking for a good YA paranormal series to binge read ever since I finished the Beautiful Creatures series.

This is Our Story by Ashley Elston

Five went in. Four came out.

No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them.

Kate Marino’s senior year internship at the district attorney’s office isn’t exactly glamorous—more like an excuse to leave school early that looks good on college applications. Then the DA hands her boss, Mr. Stone, the biggest case her small town of Belle Terre has ever seen. The River Point Boys are all anyone can talk about. Despite their damning toxicology reports the morning of the accident, the DA wants the boys’ case swept under the rug. He owes his political office to their powerful families.

Kate won’t let that happen. Digging up secrets without revealing her own is a dangerous line to walk; Kate has her own reasons for seeking justice for Grant. As she investigates with Stone, the aging prosecutor relying on Kate to see and hear what he cannot, she realizes that nothing about the case—or the boys—is what it seems. Grant wasn’t who she thought he was, and neither is Stone’s prime suspect. As Kate gets dangerously close to the truth, it becomes clear that the early morning accident might not have been an accident at all—and if Kate doesn’t uncover the true killer, more than one life could be on the line…including her own.

I get this book confused with The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley because they have similar covers and they even sound kind of similar, but The Hunting Party has a lot of mixed reviews and this book is a YA thriller, which is much more up my alley. I love books about rich prep school kids and their drama, so this is totally the kind of book I will turn to when I need something fast paced and entertaining.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

After I finished the Daughter of the Pirate King duology everyone kept telling me that I should read To Kill a Kingdom. I love books set on the sea, I love books with morally grey characters and most of all, I love books about pirates. The only reason I haven’t read this yet is because I’ve had pretty bad luck with books about sirens, but Daughter of the Siren Queen broke that bad luck streak!

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

This book has been calling to me for a while now. This is the kind of YA paranormal book that I pick up when I’m looking for something light and entertaining. It’s got a fast pace, an interesting concept and it is set at a boarding school for magickind. It just sounds like a really fun book to read and I know I will pick this one up soon.

These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy

Publication Date: April 20th, 2021

Three Dark Crowns meets Wicked Saints in this queer #ownvoices retelling of “The Firebird,” a Russian folktale, by debut author Alexandra Overy.

When twin heirs are born in Tourin, their fates are decided at a young age. While Izaveta remained at court to learn the skills she’d need as the future queen, Asya was taken away to train with her aunt, the mysterious Firebird, who ensured magic remained balanced in the realm.

But before Asya’s training is completed, the ancient power blooms inside her, which can mean only one thing: the queen is dead, and a new ruler must be crowned.

As the princesses come to understand everything their roles entail, they’ll discover who they can trust, who they can love—and who killed their mother.

Okay, I know this one doesn’t come out for a while, but I just couldn’t help myself! I love retellings of folktales that come from other cultures. I am kind of obsessed with these types of #ownvoices novels and I spend way too much time reading about mythology and folklore from other cultures. This book just looks SO good. It’s a political fantasy about twin sisters and I am super excited for it. I will probably wind up reading this one super early and holding the review until closer to publication because I just can’t wait for this one! (IT HAS BIRDS ON THE COVER IT TOTALLY COUNTS!)

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Check out other book blogger’s Top 5!

Jill @ Jill’s Book Blog — Top 5 Saturday — Animal on the Cover

Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog — Everybody Wants to be a Cat — Top 5 Saturday

Dini @ Dinipandareads — Top 5 Saturday: Animal on the Cover!

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Let’s Chat!

Do you love covers that have animals on them? Have you read any of the books I listed? Which one should I read first? What are some of your favorite books with animals on the cover? Make sure to comment below so we can chat about books with animals on the cover.