diff --git a/internal/library/library.go b/internal/library/library.go
index 323c10e..b42fc07 100644
--- a/internal/library/library.go
+++ b/internal/library/library.go
@@ -286,8 +286,12 @@ func findEPUBCoverPath(rootPath string, pkg packageXML) string {
 }
 
 func cleanEPUBPath(rootPath, href string) string {
+	href = strings.TrimSpace(href)
+	if href == "" || strings.HasPrefix(href, "/") {
+		return ""
+	}
 	joined := path.Clean(path.Join(rootPath, href))
-	if strings.HasPrefix(joined, "../") {
+	if joined == "." || strings.HasPrefix(joined, "../") || strings.HasPrefix(joined, "/") {
 		return ""
 	}
 	return joined