Do You Like Seeing a Face on Your Romance Novel Covers?

I don't mind full face views on cover but if it doesn't represent the H/H adequately, then I'm insulted. For example, blond hair when I know one and/or the other is a brunette. White anglo saxon features if I know H/H is of another race. Certain decorative featues not added; tattoos, facial piercings, ect..

Sometimes I'll even find myself looking back at the cover if it has a face and think to myself "oh yeah, that's what they look like..."

But I'm right there with @Torifl, I care more if the cover is NOT what the H/H are supposed to look like. I once worked with this one book at a lit agency that was supposed to be about a girl who is a skinny Irish Catholic girl with blonde hair. The art department came back with a voluptuous olive skinned dark haired girl on the cover. So if I know a character is supposed to be one way and the cover doesn't represent that, then it's more upsetting than seeing a face or no face. But I'm fine in romance to just allow the fantasy to take over—you'll get a sense of hair, eyes, and maybe mouth or jaw but most everything else is left up to the readers imagination.

I like to create a picture in my mind of the characters, so sometimes if the bookcover has a face I like I'm okay with it. However sometimes I pictured the character differently and in that case i go with my fantasy rather than the cover.
Example: The Gollancz covers for the Psy Changeling series, (a man's half face) started off well - Lucas was a darkhaired guy with green eyes and 3 scars on his cheek, Vaughn had brown gold eyes I think, then for Judd they had a real looker except he was blond and blue eyed, but they really got it right for Dev and Drew. I absolutely love those covers and those cover models work with me.

On the other hand the British covers for the BDB series can be hit or miss, I disliked Rhage's (can any guy do Rhage justice?, he's described as truly gorgeous to both men and women) , Zsadists, Butch's, John Matthew's and Tohr's while V's, Rhevenge's and especially Phury's, worked for me (pity the book didn't). Of course this is just my personal choice.

Sometimes when I have no preconceived idea and there's a cover model he can become the character - Kresley Cole's Lothaire - I got an american copy at an airport and that cover guy became Lothaire.

Then of course there's those times you're reading about a skinny pale heroine with brown hair and the cover has a voluptuous brunette who is about as mousy as Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox.

I like the body covers that Julie James' books have. Especially because of the lovely dresses she tends to have. I think the cover of her new one would've been perfect for Kyle and Rylann's story because of that gorgeous red dress.

Decapitated ladies on book covers look ridiculous. I don't really look at the covers (all my HR reading is on Kindle), but it does seem that the person(s) on the cover should at least bear a resemblance to the descriptions in the book.

I prefer there not be people on the cover. Especially half naked men. I've witnessed a bit of an uproar lately about the stereotype of the romance genre and I don't think the half naked people on most of the covers help dispell that stereotype. But, if people are going to be present, I also prefer that they're representative of the character descriptions.

I make it a point to ignore covers as much as posible. Before the advent of the internet, I would locate a type of cover that I liked and then be on the lookout for simillar ones under the assumtion that they would be of a like style. This was a short-cut for me to wade through all the books vieing for my attention. Now, thanks to the lovely romance community on the net, I can rely on word of mouth and recommendations from trusted sources and just ignore the covers which most often have absolutely nothing to do with the story itself.

I don't really go by the cover. I do perfer if they have people on them to not have a face. To me the covers rarely have anything to do with the story!!

Because I know from reading what authors say about covers, I know they very rarely represent the author's inspiration (or indeed resemble the character as described) so they don't affect me in that respect. I do wonder though *why* the art departments of publishers don't make more effoer to match the covers to the descriptions in the books.

I don't care for pictures of people on the covers. A. Most people make the assumption that I'm reading a smut book if they see people in a romantic way on the cover. Which I really resent. These books are definitely not cheesey romances. I resent strangers making that judgement from the cover. B. The man/woman on the cover never match the image the author has painted for me in my imagination. Thanks.