You’ll be lying to yourself if you say that you’ve never judged a book by it’s cover. We all consciously or unconsciously do it and sometimes buy a book solely because of that gorgeous cover. And you know what, it’s okay. That is exactly why so much time and effort is spent on book covers.
But how much can you exactly tell about a book by it’s cover? Maybe the genre and a vague idea of the plot but not much, right?
Today I’m playing a fun little game with my wonderful friend Kate π
Kate is an awesome person who runs a book blog as well as a booktube channel so you totally need to go check out both her platforms!
Kate and I both chose 5 books that the other person has never heard or seen of and then we took a guess at what those books were about. There were some giggles and surprises in store for us as we tried and mostly failed at this game.
Books Charvi Chose for Kate
Every Ugly Word
Kate’s thoughts: I feel like this is a teen book about bullying??? Or perhaps a Snow White retelling?
What the book is about: You’re actually right about Every Ugly Word, at least a bit. It talks heavily about teen bullying while also being a sort of urban fantasy. I really would love to read this if someone wrote it as a Snow White retelling too.
Too Close to Home
Kate’s thoughts: a murder mystery that takes place somewhere in that part of America where it’s all cornfields, racists, and serial killers
What the book is about: Haha it’s certainly a murder mystery somewhere in which a family is slaughtered and the family was living right next to the main characters’ house. And maybe the killers other wrong house… I’m snorting as I imagine the cornfields in this scenario though XD
Words on Bathroom Walls
Kate’s thoughts: okay wait no this is the one that seems like a teen novel about bullying?

500 Words or Less
Kate’s thoughts: I’m choosing to believe this is f/f romance about note-passing told in epistolary form

The Marriage Clock
Books Kate Chose for Charvi
How She Likes It
Charvi’s thoughts: This cover gives me such mystery thriller vibes but the title gives rom-com vibes? I’m so confused. Okay so maybe the girl disappears and the guy has to figure out how the girl liked certain things in life in order to find her?
Mango Summer
Charvi’s thoughts: If the only mango in this book is in it’s title I’m gonna be mad. Total It’s such a cute cover it looks like maybe these two cuties bond over mangoes??
What the book is about: The owner of a mango orchard is worried that her trees won’t produce crop for that year because there’s an old legend that the owner of the orchard has to have kids in order for the mangoes to grow. She considers getting into a relationship with a convenient guy (her best friend’s younger brother) and wonders if she should have kids with him, but realizes her happiness shouldn’t be dependent on marrying or having kids and just being content with who she is. The mangoes sprout the next season and she discovers that the magic is all about being truly happy and content, and it was just that her ancestors’ happiness was tied to marriage and children and hers isn’t.
Love At First Run
Charvi’s thoughts: Okay this one seems straightforward enough – boy and girl or maybe boy and boy or girl and girl are running and crash into each other or just see each other and they’re in love. Boom.
What the book is about: It’s how a woman learns to turn to running marathons in order to process her emotions and stress and falls in love with her running coach.
A Conspiracy Of Stars
Charvi’s thoughts: I’m digging that cover! So it looks like a sci-fi book? So the main characters have to go into the universe and figure out something about the stars and their alignment to save the world? Idk I’m just guessing.
What the book is about: In this book, humans have migrated to another planet with an indigenous population. The human government have come up with a plan to try and take over that planet from the indigenous species and it’s up to a teenage girl studying to be a scientist who discovers that she has a telepathic connection with the indigenous species to stop them.
Brave Enough
Charvi’s thoughts: I have literally no clue. Looks like YA Contemporary? The girl is maybe into art and has to be brave enough to let the world see her art? I don’t know, the cover gives me an artsy vibe.
What the book is about: A ballerina is diagnosed with bone cancer and has to learn how to be a dancer again after her amputation. She’s helped by a former drug addict she meets at her clinic who is slowly overcoming addiction.
So turns out that I’m not the best person to go to when you want to guess what a book is about just looking at the cover and title…
Well that’s what blurbs are for. Anyway, I had a really fun time playing this game with Kate and I hope to bring more such game posts on the blog if that’s something you all would be interested in reading π
This looks like so much fun, I wanna do it now lol. I loved reading both of your answers and I have to say I REALLY REALLY want to read The Marriage Clock now β€
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Hehe maybe you can play this game on your blog too! Me too! I’m going in with lower expectations though since my friend Sahi felt that it was okayish.
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this looks like a fun post! i wouldn’t say i would buy a book just because of the cover, but i am definitely guilty of ignoring a book because of the cover without reading the blurb. oops. i don’t know why, but i have a DEEP hatred for books with real life people on them??
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Thank you! Ah I get it. I don’t hate covers with real life people per say but I do prefer other covers when compared to covers with real life people. Although recently my opinion has changed a bit, especially looking at the covers of Sandhya Menon’s books π
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This is such a fun and creative post! I would love to do this on my blog with my friends as well ^^ Thank you so much Charvi!!! (I also snorted w/ Kate’s depiction of Too Close To Home XD)
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Thank you! I would love to see your post π
Hehe yes, the cornfields were a hilarious edition XD
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This is such a fun post Charvi and Kate π I enjoyed it so much. Haha I am not sure if U can make correct guesses about the stories by just looking at the cover. It is so tough. And I donβt think I have bought any book just because if the cover but I have requested so many books on NetGalley just because of the cover and title. So yeah, guilty! π
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Thanks, Sim! π
I know, I usually look at the cover and title and then go ahead to read the blurb. Hehe even on Netgalley I try looking at the blurb.
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Ahhhh this is such a fun post! I’d like to think I’m good at judging books by their covers? but in all reality I’d probably totally fail at it. I think I’m good at looking at the covers and deciding if I’ll like it, and less so at figuring out what the hell it’s about?
And I’d be interested in playing this game with you if that was a thing you wanted to do π
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Thank you, Iris!
It won’t be your fault, covers can be really misleading sometimes. I would love to play this game with you π
DM me on twitter or shoot a mail and we can figure out a collab on your blog β€
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Book blogging just goes so well wth judging the covers π the post seemed really fun to do! A Conspiracy of Stars and Brave Enough look so good!
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So true XD
I know, it’s the one book I went ahead and added on my TBR π
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This post is so much fun!!! I’m really proud to say I didn’t get one rightπ. I totally buy the books cz “it sounds fantasy and it looks beautiful”. Great Idea Charvi
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Thanks, Dany π
Ahahaha! I think neither did I, lol. Hehe fantasy books usually have such gorgeous covers so it goes hand in hand.
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Ah! Charvi! This sounds like so much fun!!! I swear the whole time I was thinking βWhat would *I* have said for that?β
Can we also talk about how lovely youβre new profile picture is? β₯οΈβ₯οΈβ₯οΈβ₯οΈ
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Haha, thank you so much, Ahana! :*
Oof I’m blushing, stoppp!
My blog is getting a revamp and the profile picture is part of that π
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This post is so fun, and Kate is the best!! I love her personality so much!! Also, same about the mango thing. Why include it in the title if it doesnβt even show up in the book?? Thankfully, that seems to not be the case. Also, I really donβt think that you did all that badlyβwait til I try this hahaha
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Thank you so much, Caitlin! π
Ikr?! I’m a huge fan of mangoes π
Hehe good luck to you!
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This looks like it was so much fun! Loved reading the books, and honestly hadn’t heard of some of them.
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It was π
Ooh did you put any of them on your TBR?
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Yes! I did!
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This is a really fun post to do and I do like to judge a book by the cover but I am not so sure how good I would be at guessing the plot but I loved reading the guesses– some were so funny!! The too close to home one π
I thought your guesses were pretty good!! π
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Thank you so much, Sophie!
Haha yes, I had some fun laughing at both of our guesses π You should give it a shot too!
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Yes it was great!! It would be really cool to give this a go so maybe!! π
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