Appearance Can Be Misleading

I know, I know, never judge a book by its cover. Some book cover art is so striking that you cannot help wanting to read the book. If the inside is as good as the outside, you will have a fabulous read. One of the covers I have really liked recently is The Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. The slightly 3-D effect of the eyes cut into the cover perfectly conveys the humorous feel of the book, and all those watching eyes perfectly exemplify the Spellman family who cannot stop spying on each other. In this case, a fun, catchy cover matched the fun, enjoyable story inside.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is another example of a book that fulfills the promise of its cover. The enchanting, Alice Hoffmanesque story of the Waverly women and the peculiar talents they inherited, their temperamental apple tree, and a mysterious walled garden that blooms year round, is by turns touching, enthralling, and amusing.

On the flip side, there are those covers that lead to disappointment. Take Narrow Dog to Carcassonne by Terry Darlington. The brightly colored, cute cover caught my eye; the topics were right up my alley. A retired English couple takes a narrowboat ( I always wanted to take a narrowboat cruise) from England ( I love books about England) across the channel into France ( I love books about France too) and down the many lovely canals to the ancient city of Carcassonne. To top it off they brought their whippet Jim with them ( I love books about dogs). All these topics should blend together to make a perfect storm of a book. Sadly, the book plodded wearily along: I gave up halfway through. Perhaps it was the odd blue typeface that threw me off. If you have read the whole book and can tell me the tale improves, let me know, I will persevere.

Is there a book cover that you remember as being perfectly outstanding, or perfectly misleading?