What draws you to a book?

So this isn't a review, but more of a get to know kind of post.  I'm going to try and put more of these in here. 

So Tuesday I went in to Barnes and Noble after being told they were having a clearance sale.  I was hoping some of their clearance books would even be cheaper, but no, they just added more to them.  Of course that didn't stop me from buying 12 new books and not all of them on clearance.  A little over a week before that I had purchased 11 books there and was pretty much finished with them.

It got me thinking though when I read other blog posts about the covers of books what draws me in and what turns me off.  I'm not a huge fan of mystery books, so if it looks like a detective story or something violent I don't even read the blurb on the cover, same goes for Science Fiction.  Unless I am looking for a specific title, the cover really does have to draw me in.  Dark colors while it doesn't always keep me away does tend to make me think "nope this isn't for me".  But on the other hand if its too feminine or "romancey" I look at it with skepticism.  Not that I don't like romance books, I really, really do.  And most books are romance in some way shape or form.  But I like to even out my "romance" or "chick lit" books with some "heavier" reading.  I try to buy half and half or as close as I can.  Other than mystery and science fiction, which isn't to say I haven't liked some of those, I will read pretty much anything.

I usually don't grab it though if it is an Oprah Book, mainly because I haven't liked most of her books.  I think those are too "fancy".  I just want the writer to tell me a good story.  Most of these books are too "artsy" I think for me.  I just want to sit down and get immersed in a good story.   Which begs the question, what is a good story?