Friday Face-off: Potion or Perfume Bottle
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Hubble bubble toil and trouble”
~ a cover featuring a POTION/PERFUME BOTTLE
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose
This week, I’ve chosen a historical tale of mythology, suspense, and lovers separated by time. While I can’t really say I enjoyed this novel, it does fit this week’s theme very well, following protagonists Jac L’Etoile and her brother Robbie who are heirs to a preeminent French perfume company.
Haunted by memories of her mother’s suicide, however, Jac moves to America to become a TV show host, leaving her brother to take care of the family business. While going through some of their old archives, Robbie stumbles across a collection of ancient pottery shards and a family secret about a scent rumored to enable a person to remember past lives. He has big plans for the discovery, but there are others who would do anything to stop them from happening. When Robbie goes missing, leaving the dead body of a stranger at the scene of the crime, Jac desperately joins the search, becoming embroiled in politics, suspense, passion, and a mystery that goes back thousands of years.
I was actually surprised to discover there were at least a dozen covers for this book; I really wasn’t expecting to find so many. Let’s take a look at them now:
From left to right, top to bottom:
Atria Books (2012) – Atria Books (2013) – Center Point (2012)
Random House Australia (2012) – Spanish Edition (2013) – Italian Edition (2012)
Portuguese (2012) – German (2012) – Bulgarian (2013)
Portuguese (2014) – Russian (2015) – Polish (2015)
Winner:
Ironically, neither of the two covers that appeal to me the most feature perfume bottles. At first, I was drawn to the warm colors and simplicity of the Random House Australia edition, but then at the last minute, I caught sight of the Polish edition and found myself quite taken by its delicate beauty. I think that’s our winner, folks.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
Interesting covers. Such variety for the same book. And a unique theme. Your choice looks lovely and sounds interesting. I am checking it on Amazon now. Strangely, the first thing that came to my mind seeing this post was a movie: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
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Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but I’m glad it piqued your interest! I believe this book is the fourth in the series, but I think most of them can be read as standalones.
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Atria 13. Some are almost perfect but there is some detail that is not quite right
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I know what you mean, sometimes even a tiny “off” detail can ruin a good layout!
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I’d go with Australia or Spain for this one I think! The Australian one at least has the book in it.
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Yes, the Australian would have been my second choice! And Spanish would have been my third 😀
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I actually like the Center Point one the best but am finding the longer I stare at it, the more the hands start bothering me. Who would have guessed you could find so many covers?
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I zoomed in on the Center Point cover because of your comment just to get a better look at the hands. Now that you mention it, they do look kind of weird…are they supposed to be belong to two different people? LOL!
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That’s a lot of covers for a book I’ve never heard of, lol. And they are so different! Im laughing a little at the Russian cover. Also I thought the flowers on the cover you chose were garlic buds at first!
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I laughed at The Russian cover too! That one is hilariously bad! 😀
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The two Atria ones are me favourites. The title and the cover make me want to read the books. The blurb not so much. But all of these covers were interesting. And yes I agree with Barb about the hands bothering me the more I looked at them.
x The Captain
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Yeah, can’t say I enjoyed this book very much, but it does have some nice covers! 😀
And yep, I agree with the hands – they look a little like they belong to two different people!
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Really like your pick!
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It’s quite pretty, isn’t it! 🙂
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Yes!
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You wouldn’t believe how much I struggled to come up with a book this week – then of course I thought of a couple that I could have used. Typical.
I like the Australian cover but I also like your choice – it has a lovely freshness to it.
Lynn 😀
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It was a tough week! Good thing I remembered this book, or I probably would have skipped this theme! 😛
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So much variety here. I think I like the Atria 2012 the best, although I like the Bulgarian and the Polish ones a lot too.
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I confess I only glanced at the Bulgarian edition before, but now that you mention it, there’s a nice vibe to it, kinda like a poster to a classic film!
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A story about perfumes is one that intrigues me deeply… 🙂
Choosing a cover would be difficult, since many of them are quite beautiful, but I would go with the Spanish edition: all those fragrance bottles draw my attention like a magnet…
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The Spanish edition is in my top three! It really is quite pretty!
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