Cover Crazy: The Curse Workers by Holly Black
I heart the Curse Workers series by Holly Black. Who wouldn't? Cassel Sharpe, the male protagonist, is an awesome character full of vulnerabilities and with a facade of bad-boy badassery, there is magic and lots of it, and then there are cigarillo smoking Godfather type men in suits and carrying guns. Come on. Curses and con. Magic and the mob. This series is just irresistible. There are different covers for the Curse Workers series- the publishers are really ripping through those alternate covers- and in my opinion, the newest batch is the best yet. (Although the first batch captures the mafia look much better) Here's what I call the "first batch": Then there are these, the UK covers, which look sort of Gaiman-ish and awesome (Black Heart reminds me of Rowling's illustration in Tales of Beedle the Bard for The Warlock's Hairy Heart) but had me thinking of fairy tales the first time I saw them: ...