I Swear I Just Noticed This Today (+ Book Giveaway Contest!)

My Spring 2012 list is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Five Creatures-style, the three books can be classified as:
  • Three YA novels
  • Two incredible debuts and one strong return
  • One fantasy and two realistic contemporaries
  • Two first-person and one third-person
  • One author born in Mexico, one in the U.S., and one in Canada
  • Two books that use split timelines and the telling of a story as motifs and one that does not
  • One male narrator and two female perspectives (three, really -- Irises's POV alternates between its sister protagonists)
  • Two books set in cities and one in the deep wilderness
  • One male author and two female authors
  • Two (three) narrators of color and one Caucasian
  • Three romances 
  • Three books that will inspire both arguments and deep thoughts
  • Three really powerful, resonant endings
  • And -- here's the part I just noticed today, to my amusement -- three gorgeous covers that focus on girls' backs:



Above by Leah Bobet falls under debut, fantasy, first person, Canada, split timeline, male narrator, set in a city, female author, and narrator of color. Out in April.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork can be classified as return, realistic contemporary, third person, Mexico, does not, female perspectives, set in a city, male author, and narrators of color. Out in January.

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin is a debut, realistic contemporary, first person, United States, split timeline, female perspective, set in the deep wilderness (Idaho), female author, and a white narrator. Out in February.

And they are all quite, quite genius, and I love them madly, and I love their covers too. I hope you do as well.

Giveaway! If you'd like to win a galley of one of them, leave a comment below using one or more of the titles in a sentence, and three winners will be chosen at random (one for each book).