Discussion Topic #4 - Don't judge a book by its cover?

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

Does the cover of the book sway you from reading it? Or not reading it?

Additionally, post some of your most loved and hated covers!

[Paula]

Yes and no. Certain book covers scream hard core romance. I'm not overly fond of romance. The swooning woman thing irritates me. On the other hand I think book covers like Patricia Briggs' Mercy series are cool. To me Mecry looks like a woman with power and purpose. However, lately publishers have gotten book cover savvy. I do read reviews now to help me decide whether or not to buy a book. The opinions of my fellow GB people also sway me.

[Paula]

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[new_user]

Some covers really make me want to read them. I'm just so disappointed when I read the summary and know the art inside doesn't live up to the art outside. *sigh* Sometimes I allow myself to be swayed and read the book anyways-- find out the hard way, LOL.


*
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*good book

[Yz the Whyz]

Wonderful series I would have missed out, if I allowed the covers to sway me.

Singh's Psy/Changeling series:



Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series:

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I'm glad I didn't.

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

Yeah I think thats why I have avoided the changling series, and I would have avoided Angels Blood as well because I can't stand that cover either lol... and here the author is just brilliantly talented!

[Yz the Whyz]

♥Tricia♥ wrote: "Yeah I think thats why I have avoided the changling series, and I would have avoided Angels Blood as well because I can't stand that cover either lol... and here the author is just brilliantly tale..."

Especially the first book in the Psy/Changeling series...horrible pink with this guy trying to look seductive...LOL....

Fortunately, the story inside is just wonderful.

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

WOW this books cover is amazing! Definately one of the good covers I have seen.. wonder if the story is good lol

[Sarah]

This is the first book in Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series. I'm sooo glad they redesigned the covers because the first one makes a really great series look like just another Highland bodice-ripper.

[[deleted user]]

I mostly read ebooks, so covers I don't really pay attention to covers that much. However, I won't read the Sookie books because I think the covers are cheesy. Bloody Good by Georgia Evans is another one that I won't read. It has the same style cover, and I just hate them.

[new_user]

Yeah, that one's gorgeous, Tricia. I have not the least idea why she reissued her books with the new lame covers unless it was because people weren't recognizing them as UF (her new covers are more stereotypical).

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

I agree with so many of the suggestions already given. Having easy access to both UK and US covers, I tend to check out both and buy a series from whichever country has the better covers.

I didn't initially like the Mercy Thompson covers, but I think they've gotten better with each book, and I love the one for Bone Crossed and Silver Borne, however I own the UK versions of the series:


Another of my favorite series that I wouldn't have picked up based upon the covers is Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels:

The rights for the series have recently been purchased by a British publisher though, so I'm curious to see what they do with the covers.

A series with beautiful covers that don't reflect the quality of the books has to be Jory Strong's Ghostland

I couldn't even get through the first book.

And honorable mention for Nicole Peeler's debut novel:

I just love the uniqueness of it and can't wait to check it out.

[new_user]

The Ghostland books do have excellent covers. A lot of the smaller presses have lousy covers too. ><

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

Oh, and a couple more because this is fun. Here are various US and UK covers. While not all of the US covers are bad, I preferred the British one in each case:

Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld
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Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid




And Holly Black's Modern Faerie Tale books:


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[Caleb]

If the cover is too blush worthy, I make a "slip cover" for it so that I do not have to feel like a dirty bird sitting at Starbucks or the break room at work reading a book that has T & A on the cover.
One of my favorite book covers has always been A Caress of Twilight:
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Some of the books that the covers look like CG/Animae people, I tend to shy away from. I am not sure why.

On the other side of that coin, I've also been totally taken by a books cover and then not really been able to get into the story.

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

Yeah I tend to shy away from books where the cover is blushworthy.. not that many things make me blush lol.. but I tend to like more then just sex in my books and that's what I tend to think the book is solely about if the book cover oozes sex.

[Book Huntress]

I have to agree on covers that are blushworthy making it hard for me to pick them up.

Heck I didn't even take "Lover Unbound" with me on my recent business trip cause I didn't want to get caught reading it on the plane!!!!

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

I really hate all of the Brotherhood book covers. I really do.

Also alot of Kenyon's book covers suck horribly. A few examples:
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I can go on with Kenyon's book covers.. I don't know WHO she has working on them but she needs a new person ASAP. All of those men don't even come close to matching the heroes inside the books they represent.

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

I really loved this book cover:
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The cover matched the heroine and I really liked the book :D

[Book Huntress]

men don't even come close to matching the heroes inside the books they represent

yeah I wish they wouldn't try and put faces to characters on books (unless it is a movie but even then) because they never match and everyone has their own imagination, I mean even though the description is the same everyone's interpretation will be slightly different....

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

Yeah, thats why I like the Destiny Kills cover, you cant see her face really. Just a back shot that is really sexy :D

[Jackie]

DarkHeart wrote: "A series with beautiful covers that don't reflect the quality of the books has to be Jory Strong's Ghostland



I couldn't even get through the first book. "

Now I would have to disagree with you on this. I love the covers (I don't disagree with you here), but I thought the stories were fairly good. I like the different take Strong took with her world and supes and it was a good PNR.

[Jackie]

Wow....of all the responses here, I've found myself disagreeing with more than going along with a lot of others. While I agree that UK covers do tend to be better in some cases, overall I have to say I prefer the US covers. Especially for the Mercy Thompson and Queen Betsy series. Holly Black's Faerie series - definitely prefer the US covers. Same with Armstrong.

Also, I love the Ilona Andres covers. The fact that there is a lion on the cover is awesome. Usually, if a shapeshifter is featured on a novel, it's a wolf or the man, not the beast.

Plus I'll give people that the cover for Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh isn't that great, but the cover for the second novel, Archangels' Kiss, is easily one of my favorites. Plus it has a great story.



Some of my favorite covers (at the moment) would have to be:

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One series that I absolutely hate and still do is the Stephenie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. If it wasn't for my cousin loaning me hers, I probably never would have picked them up. The stories aren't the greatest, but they are fun.

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

Jackie wrote: "Now I would have to disagree with you on this. I love the covers (I don't disagree with you here), but I thought the stories were fairly good. I like the different take Strong took with her world and supes and it was a good PNR."

=) I know I'm probably in the minority here, but if I had to read one more horse genitalia comparison, I was going to go mad. Possibly the story improved, but I only made it 100 pages or so.

They are doing amazing things with YA covers these days. Here are a few new covers that have really caught my eye:

[Jackie]

DarkHeart wrote: "I know I'm probably in the minority here, but if I had to read one more horse genitalia comparison, I was going to go mad. Possibly the story improved, but I only made it 100 pages or so.

I will admit, I enjoyed Ghostland much more than Spider-Touched, but they were still good reads.

Be careful with Hush, Hush. A few of the reviewers I rely on for good recs have not liked this one too much. The consensus was that it's similar to Twilight in a lot of ways, but a lot more unhealthy.

[♥Tricia♥, Group Lead]

I am right there with you DarkHeart, though actually to be totally honest I am just tired of sex in general in books. *gasp* yes I know this is blasphemy! lol

I just REALLY love me a good story with action and character building. Sure I love the romantic addition to this and maybe *a little* sex in the mix but I am so tired of every few pages sex sex sex.. It just makes me put that book down and never want to look back.

[DarkHeart "Vehngeance"]

LOL, I totally understand Tricia. I don't mind the sex, but it has to make sense in the story and not just be there as filler and it should never distract from the overall story line. That was one of my main issues with Ghostland, and maybe why I'm such a fan of YA books of late.

[Lu]

A books cover definitely can sway me! These are 2 of my favorites:

and

[Heather]

♥Tricia♥ wrote: "


WOW this books cover is amazing! Definately one of the good covers I have seen.. wonder if the story is good lol"

I loved the book and the rest of the trilogy it belongs to.

[Wendy]

I don't know what it is like over in the US and UK, but here in NZ unless an author is major, they do NOT get much input at all into the covers designed for their books. I asked about it because I purchase children & ya books for my library and a lot of times the cover either entices me or puts me off completely. I won't purchase a book with a boring cover simply because I know kids won't pick it up. It's got to have a good jacket to entice them. And yes I totally agree with Darkheart, the publishers are doing amazing things with ya and kids book covers, fiction and non-fic alike. (kids are SOOOOOOOO lucky today, there was next to nix in the way of ya books when I was a teen). I think publishers are finally getting a clue and putting decent and exciting jackets on their books.

Some of my favourites:
Kids: The classics: [image error] [image error] YA:


As for covers of adult books, I too can get embarassed by some of the covers of the romances I read but it doesn't put me off reading them. On the plus side when browsing it is always easy to spot a bodice-ripper ;) The cover is what catches my eye, but I still decide by the blurb and sometimes the little snapshot in the front of the book.

[Blue Eyed Vixen]

♥Tricia♥ wrote: "


WOW this books cover is amazing! Definately one of the good covers I have seen.. wonder if the story is good lol"

Definitely a pick me pick me cover - I love it.

[Blue Eyed Vixen]

"Well yes ... I do judge a book by it's cover! ... so, I'm a cover-floosie ... I'll admit it"

I admit that I am more drawn to an interesting cover (that's why advertising is such a big market folks ... but I will always read the dust jacket before dropping it into my shoppig basket. If unsure I will also flip it open and read a few pages to see if the authors writing grabs me.

Personally I am put off by the "loud 'n' brassy" style of Janet Evanovich but would still read it if I thought the story was interesting.

It's interesting to hear about readers preference to UK or US covers. I've never considered the origin before - in the end it's always the story and writing style that is the deciding factor for me.

To Darkheart I haven't come across the horse genitalia book series yet (lol).

It also made me think about Australian PNR/fantasy authors (do we have any???) so after a little hunt of my own here's a few that I found...bit sad, hey!



I even found a New Zealand author in my search