My example of a good book with a bad cover is Wideacre by Philippa Gregory. It's part of a Trilogy, but so far, I've only read this first book in the series. This book actually gets a lot of debate on whether it's good or not. After reading reviews online, it seems like you either love it or hate it. I think this is due to the fact that the main character is absolutely awful. She will do whatever it takes to get what she wants (including murder and incest... oh yeah... lots and lots of gross incest). In addition to being downright horrible, the main character is described as intelligent, powerful, beautiful and completely seductive. The reason I actually liked the book is that it constantly kept me wondering what was going to happen and how it would all end. From the first act of murder to sleeping with her brother, I never knew what was going to happen next.
I think my biggest issue with these covers is that they don't allow you to form your own vision of what the main character looks like. I also think that they all do a poor job of capturing her many characteristics. The middle one seems to do the best, but there is so much going on with the rest of the cover, that you don't really focus too much on the character. The first one is the most pleasing design (in my opinion) but they have completely missed the mark on portraying the main character, which is most likely why readers are so shocked my the subject matter presented in the book.
