The obvious pick for Dominica, a tiny island in the Caribbean, is Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel by Jean Rhys, but I already read that book in 2018. It wasn’t my jam then, and I wasn’t interested in rereading it now, so instead, I read Island Man: A Novel by Joanne Skerrett.

Island Man begins in 2017 as Hurricane Maria makes landfall on Dominica. Hector and his estranged father Winston have recently arrived to spread his mother’s ashes, and their histories unfold against the the backdrop of Hurricane Maria’s wrath. The story shifts between the perspectives of Hector and Winston while toggling back and forth between the present and the past. This narrative structure could have been an absolute disaster, but for me, it worked 110%. (As a writer, I’m completely jealous!)

This book really had it all: complicated characters; a setting that came to life; and a skillful examination of messy issues like racism, poverty, and the immigrant experience. I’m running waaaaaay behind on my reviews, so it has been several months since I read Island Man, but as I sit here in February 2025, I can still feel the way it expanded my heart’s architecture in October 2024.

However, I’d like to get one thing off my chest: I hate the book’s cover.

I know, I know: don’t judge a book by its cover. But there are only so many hours for reading over the course of a lifetime, and I try my best to choose books I’ll love. Covers definitely affect my reading choices, and this cover screamed “intense masculine energy!” and “Tony Soprano! Minus the psychiatrist!” In other words, even though it was my pick for Dominica, I assumed I’d hate it.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I loved this book! Yet months later, I still feel a shudder of cognitive dissonance when I look at the cover because its energy does not match my experience with the story. Skerrett has also written several romance novels, so I think the publisher wanted the cover to tell the readers, This is different! Very different! but I very nearly missed out on an excellent book because I hated the cover.

Going forward, will I completely ignore a book cover’s when choosing my next read? HELL NO. Covers are a major cue about a book’s genre and vibe, and I’m not about to discount one of the most reliable factors for choosing a book. Instead, as an author myself, I will never underestimate the power a book’s cover has over potential readers. The old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” has plenty of wisdom — just not when it comes to books.