Mentions of comics and superhero comics actually do nothing for my gender perceptions. I've been reading comics since I was 12, and my brother decided he was too old for them when he was about 14.
I had a similar experience to this just this week, though. Mette Ivie Harrison's The Princess and the Hound has a female centric title, a girl and a dog on the cover, and advertises itself as a reverse beauty and the beast. Imagine my surprise when the titular characters didn't appear until 1/4 through the book, and their story was far secondary to (almost a tool of) a story about a pretty typical angsty young fantasy prince.
I read a lot of comics as a kid, then let it go as I grew older. Once I got married though - well, Joe's a Marvel and DC nut, with subscriptions to a few things, which I usually end up reading. (If it has words and it's within reach...)
"The Princess and the Hound" sounds like it would have been confusing to me, too - I wonder how some title and cover decisions are made?
I don't know. There's an amazon review that accuses the book of alienating half the audience (boys) by having a girl on the cover. My complaint would be that the cover misleads the YA audience who would be drawn to it. I suspect the cover helped sales more than hindered them, but probably didn't help sales of future books. Personally, one of the reasons I got into YA last year was because it was easier to tell what fantasy would be all about generic angsty fantasy princes and Special young farmboys than a lot of "adult" fantasy, so I was a bit aggravated.
Interesting--I have been planning to read this book next. Ha. Anyway, considering that the blurb mentions Miguel as well as Lainey, I don't think it would surprise me much to learn that this was a teen boy's voice. I *would* totally be surprised if he hadn't been mentioned in the dust jacket blurb, or if I had only looked at the cover before reading it, though.
I myself do tend to get influenced by the covers of books, though. I totally judge books by their covers, lol. But for example, if a book looks like it's set in space and then it turns out to be about unicorns, I feel ripped off. Not because I don't also love unicorns, but because the book looks like it should be set in space, not dealing with unicorns.
I don't tend to judge books by their covers - and I have many an ugly covered book to prove it. But I am influenced by them. If a cover doesn't look right to me, the dust jacket had better read well. Then again, I've given books with a bad synopsis a go because of spectacular cover art...hmm, now I'm not really sure where I'm going...
yes, I think your explanation is better. I do judge a book based on its cover sometimes, but if a synopsis sounds awesome, I'll read it no matter what the cover looks like. But if I've never heard of a book, for example, and if the title itself doesn't attract me, I am far more likely to pick up a book if it's got cool cover art.
Edit: Oh, I think I missed a post or something somewhere. I didn't know you were expecting--Congratulations!! :D
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Thanks for thinking about it. =c)
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I had a similar experience to this just this week, though. Mette Ivie Harrison's The Princess and the Hound has a female centric title, a girl and a dog on the cover, and advertises itself as a reverse beauty and the beast. Imagine my surprise when the titular characters didn't appear until 1/4 through the book, and their story was far secondary to (almost a tool of) a story about a pretty typical angsty young fantasy prince.
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"The Princess and the Hound" sounds like it would have been confusing to me, too - I wonder how some title and cover decisions are made?
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I myself do tend to get influenced by the covers of books, though. I totally judge books by their covers, lol. But for example, if a book looks like it's set in space and then it turns out to be about unicorns, I feel ripped off. Not because I don't also love unicorns, but because the book looks like it should be set in space, not dealing with unicorns.
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Love the icon, by the way.
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Edit: Oh, I think I missed a post or something somewhere. I didn't know you were expecting--Congratulations!! :D
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