Never Judge a Book By Its Cover?

One of the funnest things about e-publishing is getting to help design the cover of my book. Ever since I started writing I've know what I wanted my first book's cover to look like, that is until I actually saw it. I gave my idea to my cover designer and then told him to see what he could come up with on his own. It didn't take him very long to get several rough draft designs ready for me to view and I would have to say I was surprised. The idea I've had in my head for over two years was not the one I would have picked.

Although I still like my idea I was more impressed with his. To make things even more interesting he gave me a few more idea's that he thought might work even better. I loved them right away, but the only problem is they don't necessarily match any specific scene from the book. He believes it's more important for the cover to be eye catching and intriguing then telling the books story. The covers he came up with would be eye catching and match the title perfectly, but I had always envisioned something else.

Now I'm stuck. The covers he came up with are very cool. I think they would create a desire to read the book not necessarily paint a direct image from the book. I don't think the covers are misleading by any means and they do match the title of the book.

So what's the problem? Maybe nothing, but that's what I'm now asking you. What do you think? What is the main purpose of a book's cover? What books have you read just because of the cover? (Name title's people!) Was the cover anything like the book? If not, were you disappointed? Please let me know what you think.