My Mom Guesses YA Book Plots Based On Their Covers!

Hey guys! So, today’s post is going to be a little…different to say the least. 😛 I got the idea from Kate Cavanaugh’s videos where she makes her brother guess plots of books based on the titles/covers! It looked so fun and hilarious and I knew when I first saw them I really really wanted to try something like it and turn it into a blog post somehow.

(Actually, I think I did read a post on someone’s blog who did try this with their friend, but I can’t remember who it was. UPDATE: Kristina reminded me it was Jamsu, so you should go check out her post here! 😀 )

So, since the only family member I really have to try this with is my mom, I thought I’d ask her to participate in this little game/experiment and see what she comes up with! XD Also, there might be small spoilers for the books mentioned, so proceed with caution. 😉

Mom: Well, with the picture and the purse…the backpack…it’s a student, it’s in Charlotte… *thinks* …and another student…so the boy student is looking for the girl student who disappeared and all they can find is a purse with a snake which means a sinister uhhhhh event happened around the girl when she’s just walking.

Me: *Laughing*

Mom: Okay it looks like a park so she disappeared in a park… *thinking* and her backpack and purse are on the ground. Annnnd he was…walking by…I guess he was looking for her so he’s studying…A Study in Charlotte.

Okay! It’s a cold case that this boy discovers about a female student who went missing in Charlotte in the park so he was gonna investigate it but there was something sinister because the snake made a home in the purse so he knew it was a murder. So it must have been a long time ago and he puts…the title says something about Watson and Holmes, therefore I think the process of deduction is in the book, uhhhh investigation and…he…he must love Watson and Holmes and all that detective work so he used their…logic of deduction to solve the mystery…in Charlotte.

Me: *Laughs* I-is that all? I mean, you’re-

Mom: -Yeah.

Me: You’re kind of right but kinda not, like the plot you came up with-

Mom: I’m just going with the pictures on the the cover!

Me: Yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to do. *shows her blurb on inside flap* Okay, so this is what it’s actually about…

Mom: Oh my gosh.

Me: *Makes her read it out loud.*

“The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship?!

Mom: *laughs*

(I don’t know she thought that was funny. 😛 )

to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter,

Mom: Oh!

who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament.

Mom: *laughs knowingly*

From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar. From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies

Mom: *audible increase in interest*

under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—

Mom: Why do they put this tiny print on a black cover?!

Me: *Laughs*

and the only people they can trust are each other.”

Mom: I like it! I want to read all the books now.

Me: You know, um, that show Sherlock? Did you watch it with me? I can’t remember if you’ve seen it or not…

Mom: I like the British one… (BBC)

Me: Yeah! That’s the British one but it’s like Sherlock in modern times?

Mom: Right.

Me: It reminds me a lot of that except for it’s with teenagers and it’s like Sherlock Holmes is a real person and they’re descendants instead of being like the actual person. And it’s like supposed to be a pun of A Study in Scarlet. But her name is Charlotte so…it’s not a town. XD

Mom: *Laughing* Oh, I thought it was Charlotte, North Carolina! That’s what I kept thinking of…

Me: That makes sense why you kept saying in Charlotte. *Laughs*

Mom: Well it says a Study IN Charlotte!

Me: It’s…it’s just a pun.

Mom: Yeah, but it makes you think of Charlotte, NC!

*Both laughing*

Me: Well, when you know it’s Sherlock Holmes it makes sense.

Mom: Well, that is going to be interesting, okay. Is there another book?

Me: There’s four more.

Mom: Well, the cover is a whole bunch of keys and he’s holding a key like he’s a latchkey kid, you know, he’s got all this time on his hands because his parents work and he’s got a key to the house…but it’s the Boy Who Steals Houses; maybe he’s homeless? So he spends time in other people’s houses when they’re at work?

Me: *impressed*

Mom: Or he’s…*thinks* he doesn’t want to go back home cuz he has a bad home life…and so he…yeah he steals time, like a timeshare, he steals time in houses. He goes in houses after school, pretends they’re his house…and he always cleans up and gets out before the people come home. And then one time he gets in a house and it’s her house, and she figures out what he’s doing and they end up getting in a relationship but he…he’s trying to impress her so…he’s saying that all these houses are his. *Laughs* And they go to different houses every day! And he has to confess cuz he’s just so totally whipped by her…emotionally.

*Both laugh*

Me, thinking: Whipped?!

Mom: And he has to confess to the truth…so how close did I come?

Me: Like 99%!

Mom: Really?!

Me: Yeah,

Mom: Wow!

Me: except for the part where he like shows off the other houses to her. He doesn’t do that he’s…not like that. But he like um, goes into her house one day and he thinks it’s empty but they all came back from vacation before he woke up. And he ends up getting stuck there when they have a bunch of people over so he ends up blending in and they sort of accidentally adopt him and they all assume he’s a friend of-it’s a big family-so everyone just assumed he’s a friend of somebody else. Like all the different siblings. And they let him eat lunch with them and stuff and he ends up falling in love with the girl and it’s just…it’s really good. XD

Mom: Oh wow. And they say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover!

Me: *Laughing* I just wanted to know what you’d say because…of like the title is interesting, so-

Mom: That’s a good cover!

Me: It’s such a cute cover, I really like it. But yeah, you were like really close, it was really good.

Mom: I was just imagining and sitting here going “This would be a great movie!” *Laughs*

Me: Yeah, it would be. It’d be cool if they made it on Netflix or something. That was one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, btw. And this next one is another favorite of mine.

Mom: I’m amazed how I could kind of read the plot in the cover! XD

Me: Yeah, I didn’t know what you would come up with and you were really pretty much right!

Mom: Sky in the Deep…

Me: Another weird title sorta thing…

Mom: *stares at it for a long time*

*clock ticking*

Mom: *Deep sigh*

*more silence*

Mom: Uhhhh futuristic…different dimension and culture, like multiple cultures…like a little bit of Nordic, a little bit of…maybe they’re Irish or the Scottish and a little bit of French…

Me: *raises eyebrows*

Mom: …but it’s in this futuristic realm…and uh…uh…Sky in the Deep…it’s almost like sky representing like…a break. A blue sky? You know? A light blue sky and the deep dark…almost like a jungle…sinister, dark environment. So, this teenage girl surrounded by evil and darkness and the ways of her people…but futuristic…she knows that there’s like…light at the end of the tunnel, cuz every time she looks up…it’s almost like she longs to go…up. Out of her environment…and her uh, circumstances and escape to a new, lighter, more peaceful serene…land. …How am I?

Me: *pauses* Sorta? *Laughs* But not really.

*Makes her read blurb*

Mom: *sighs*

“Raised to be a warrior,

Mom: Okay…

seventeen-year-old…

Mom: *squints*

Me: Eelyn.

Eelyn…fights alongside her Aska clansmen

Mom: *nods* I see…yeah, I saw that…

in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan.

Mom: Okay…

Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago. Faced with her brother’s betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family. She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.

Mom: Okay. She was looking at the greener grass at the other side.

Me: Well…

Mom: Kinda.

Me: Sort of. It’s like not futuristic; it’s more like historical fiction in ancient times like based on vikings…

Mom: I kinda got that part right. Sort of.

Me: But she…she totally like agrees with everything she was raised with because she doesn’t know anything better and she thought her brother died, and then all of a sudden she’s fighting against him and sees that he’s alive and he’s fighting with the enemy and doesn’t know why. And then she gets captured and she has to like…live with them and come to term with all that and just, you know, realize that…not like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence but more like…we’re all human…type of thing and…

Mom: Right…

Me: …just…compassion and stuff. It’s like one of my favorite books, I really loved it. I didn’t expect to love it but…it’s really good!

Mom: Okay, is there another one?

Me: There’s two more.

Mom: Heartless…*stares*

Me: …It’s probably a hard one.

Mom: *says definitively* …There’s betrayal here.

Me: *cracks up* …uh…okay.

Mom: Either the main character was hurt by betrayal or…*flips paperback over*

Me: You’re not supposed to read the back yet!

Mom: *flips it back over* …or has like an evil stepmom or something like that…who’s totally heartless, somebody she’s related to…and she just cannot go along with…whatever…she’s supposed to go along with and because of the crown so…it kinda reminds me of Meghan Markle. *Laughs*

Me: *Cracking up* Oh my gosh!

Mom: Being forced to go along with the rules of the British. *Laughing* Kind of, you know? And she’s like…I’m not doing that! That’s not what I stand for!

Me: …I am going to put this on the internet, you know.

*Both cracking up*

Mom: It was all I could say because it’s a crown, and it’s heartless, and it’s like…the sword; the dagger’s supposed to be…

Me: *Trying not to laugh too loud*

Mom: …defending the crown and-and all I could think was of was Meghan Markle! It’s like…I’m not going along with this!

Me: It’s not about Meghan Markle!!!!! *Cracking up*

Mom: No, I know! But…her life is like that!

Me: *Shakes head* Oh my gosh.

Mom: All I could see is betrayal! And…

Me: Well…

Mom: The main character’s…not agreeing with the heartless attitude of a family member or…a loved one…or dynasty…or something, somebody…who’s totally heartless…

Me: Kind of…

Mom: And…doesn’t care about the people, just their position.

Me: Sort of. You want to read the back now?

“Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King

Mom: Oh, see I was right about that…royalty.

of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Mom: Ah the mother is totally…yeah.

Me: *Snickering*

Mom: …And she doesn’t want to go along with it.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.”

Mom: *looks up* …What’s different than Meghan Markle???

Me: *Loses it*

You know more about that than I do, I don’t pay attention to…drama…in the…world. XD

Mom: I can see you putting in the blog; “SHE ACTUALLY THOUGHT THIS WAS A STORY ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE!” *Cracks up*

Me: Yup, that’s…that’s what’s gonna happen.

Mom: *Laughing*

Me: Wait, did you finish reading all of it?

Mom: *Laughing* Yes, I did!

Me: ‘Kay, well…

Mom: It’s like a Cinderella thing in a way…but…

Me: Actually it’s Alice in Wonderland. It’s about the Queen of Hearts, the villain, like how she became the villain. So Catherine is the Queen of Hearts but you see how she got to that point. And her parents aren’t that terrible, it’s just like she has a lot of expectation on her and…things just go wrong and it’s just really sad, so you feel bad for her but she still ends up being the villain and…just writing-wise it’s really good.

Me: Okay this is the last one; it’s another one of my favorite books.

Mom: Ooooh. This one’s cooooool. Snow Like Ashes…well, ashes when they’re…they can be like snow. Soft and so fine…and they’re white…if they’ve been…burning it ends up white.

Me: *Blinks* So you’re…taking a more scientific approach to this? *Laughs*

Mom: No, just describing why it’s snow like ashes. In other words, something…*looks at cover* …and they’ve got hot and cold, like a ying and yang symbol here. That means that something was purified with the fire…and afterwords it’s almost like snow…so I don’t know how the story could go but something tragic…like the fire, was the purifying…uhhhh refinement of a person’s life or circumstances to end up calm, serene, like snow, uh…white. The ashes is a result of that.

Me: *Looks at her weirdly*

Mom: What?

Me: Uhhhhhh *Laughs* I don’t know. Maybe you got it right a tiny bit…but not really.

Mom: *Reads the blurb*

“Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since. Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat,

Mom: *Squints* Mariah?

Me: Meira.

-Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again. So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.”

Mom: Hmm.

Me: …What?

Mom: I like my plot better.

Me: *Laughing* Your plot of just…boring scientific explanations of ash purifying things?

Mom: Yeah.

Me: *Cracks up* Well…thank you. This will be an…interesting post.

Mom: My favorites are The Boy Who Steals Houses and the Meghan Markle one.

Me: IT’S NOT A RETELLING OF MEGHAN MARKLE’S LIFE!

Mom: I know! I Know!

~

Well, there you have it! The weirdest post I’ve ever done. XD Hopefully you enjoyed it if you made it to the end. 😛 I’ll be back with another post on Tuesday, bye! ❤

So what did you think of this crazy post? Should I make a part 2? Should I try it with someone else? Have you done something like this before? Let me know!

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