Have you ever been hesitant to start/try/buy a book because the cover is just nasty? It took me a good long while to start Sarah McCarty's Promises series --the stories are westerns set around the 1800s but the covers look like androids(!) Thank god by the 4th book she got a new cover artist --you can find that beauty in the hot covers thread ;)

Yes, here's one that I enjoyed the book, but the cover is awful:

When I saw this topic, this book immediately came to mind...Giving Chase

There's just something about that guy on the cover that was turning me off, but I decided I had to get past that and give the book a try. Turns out it was a really good book, and a great series. Luckily, the covers got better with each book in the series!:)

Auntee wrote: "When I saw this topic, this book immediately came to mind...Giving Chase[bc:G..."

I agree this cover stinks. The guy looks like a wuss.

A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole



The guy is just creepy and looks like a vampire not a lykae

I don't have an example handy, but I don't like those Ellora's Cave book covers that did the computer generated people for the covers (I think some other publishers have done it too). They give me the creeps! And always seem to make me shy away from a book, despite knowing it probably has nothing to do with the content.

The first three IAD titles had crap covers and the books were much better.

I'm the same way Isis, I hate the computer generated people covers, they are such a turn off. I also don't like the drawing covers like the Heaven series by Jet Mykles.

That cover on Giving Chase was pretty bad...

I totally agree about the CG covers, they're pretty unattractive. I don't like covers that look like I could have photoshopped them either, LOL, e.g. Chase books.

First that comes to mind is Teasing Danger by Autumn Dawn. Good book, unappealing cover. For some reason, werewolf books seem to have rather uninspiring covers, LOL.

new_user wrote: "I totally agree about the CG covers, they're pretty unattractive. I don't like covers that look like I could have photoshopped them either, LOL, e.g. Chase books."

re: the Photoshopped thing...totally agree. But mostly when it comes to adding title and author to the cover. Some of the smaller presses get really funky with title and author appearance and it looks silly.

Here are a couple of my bad covers/good books:



...this cover annoys the heck out of me. It's so cheesy looking. And the woman looks nothing like she should...well, according to that book, yes, but when she was first introduced 4 books prior, she had wispy blond hair. So it annoys me to no end. Loved the book, though.



...computer generated people...yuck! Good book, though

Oh yeah. These covers alone wouldn't inspire me to read them.:)

Auntee I totally agree with you on the Chase cover --which is probably why I haven't read it yet (lol!) The guy reminds me of that singer "Snow" from way way back when for some reason --oh ya and also an adolescent devil (lol!)

Lisa Marie Rice's MIDNIGHT covers are horrible --way too much "junk" one on top of the other:


Those Jet Mykles' ones that Teryl mentioned look like Manga books or cheap porn --doesn't encourage me to give them a shot that's for sure.

Corinne I'm sooo with you on the first 3 IAD covers. Did she ever improve with Kiss of a Demon King though :D

That Dangerous Beautyin Isys's post is creepy! Robo-vampire and his corpse or something.

The Midnight Manin East's is totally Rambo. I really want to read that book, but the cover is waaaay bad. I've heard it's really good though.

Jet Mykle's covers look cheap--I agree.

Here's a really bad cover from a really good book. It's so bad, and does the hero of the book such a disservice, that even the author has commented on it. It's called Get Lucky by Suzanne Brockmann. Here's the cover:

He's got chipmunk cheeks!!! How awful! Most of the Silhouette covers are way bad.

I think Suz called him the Pillsbury Doughboy...she didn't like the cover either.

Funny you should post about that Waiting for Nick cover Isis. I could have bought that exact one at Half Price Books but passed on it because of the cheesy cover, LOL I still need to read that book.

I hate when books have embaressing covers, I keep my book in my purse so I can read it wherever. If the cover is bad I tape a piece of paper to cover the awful picture and I won't even touch a book with fabio on the cover!

Kim, the guy on the cover of "Midnight Man" looks like he has boobs (!) He looks like he could just float away --bad artistry.

I had to go back for closer inspection, East. You are right!