Musing Mondays - Book Covers

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book covers…

We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?

I don't buy books based on their covers, but I do pick up books with attractive covers simply I am intrigued by their beautiful artwork and I am curious to find out what the stories are about. Personally, I think having an attractive cover is especially important to a debut novel because even if the story is fantastic, it still needs an eye-catching cover so that readers will pick it up and read all about it.

However, that does not mean I will buy any book with an attractive cover either. Though an attractive cover does make me pick up the book, still I will have to check the blurb and see if it interest me enough to buy it. Honestly, I cannot remember if I had bought any books based on the cover alone; I suppose I did on a few occasions and it turned out that the stories aren't that bad after all!

Now that we are discussing about covers, have you ever heard someone commented that certain covers do not fit the story plot well or that the models (never mind if they are illustrations or real life models) have mislead the readers somehow? What do you think of them?

And finally, back to the question... do you judge a book by its cover and have you ever bought any books based on their covers?