I’m so behind this week with all my posts for RARE London but I wanted to participate once again in Shanah’s @bionicbookworm weekly meme: Top 5 Tuesday.
Especially as today it’s an old favorite of mine that I already posted about in the past: Pet Peeves!
So let’s play 😉
So I HATE when:
- The heroine is a doormat.
You know that kind of woman without any backbone. She is used and abused by others her boyfriend being one of them and she always excuses him because “he had a good reason”. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, just grow a pair would you! I always want to slap her myself and I’m not a violent person (well, not all the time).
- The hero (or heroine) is a cheater.
Sorry but I’m invested in my read. I BECOME the main characters. So cheating is a personal betrayal. As I hate dishonesty and duplicity as a whole I can’t stand cheating either. There have been very, very few exceptions to my no cheating rule. I need gallons of Ben and Jerry to recover from the treason. And what happens when a girl eats tons of comfort food? It gets on her hips and behind! So a big fat no no!!!
- The main character is killed gratuitously
I don’t speak of these books when you know upfront the hero is terminally ill. You expect he/she will die even if you pray for some miracle. We are prepared all along (I’ll still cry like a baby by the end). No I speak about books when nothing justifies the main character’s death. Two well- known dystopian/sci fi books embody such appalling thread (no, it’s not Game of Thrones). I’ve seen these characters grow, take blow after blow. I’ve walked in their shoes, nurtured my love for them. They’re my friends. When the author kills them whereas another outcome could have been chosen I’m destroyed! WHAT JUST HAPPENED????? Nooooooooooo. I can’t live with the ending and I make my own ending in my head plain and simple.
- You use sex to sell a book with no meat (pun intended)
Sorry but if I want only sex with no plot and shallow characters I read porn. I don’t speak about erotic stories, sometimes dark erotic stories because the good ones have plenty of sex BUT the author also took the time to build a plot and flesh out (yes, it’s always a matter of flesh with sex) his/her characters. Take the Dark Duet series by CJ Roberts as the perfect example of how you should write a compelling very hot and dark story. But sex with nothing else especially if the blurb promises something more, it’s only a loss of my hard won money!
- I want him/her but I can’t and still…
Endless back and forth, conflicted feelings and undecided hero/heroine just bore me to death. I don’t ask for insta love or insta lust and I like reading about conflicted feelings or taboo love stories…up to a point. When more than 80% of the book is filled with” I love you but I can’t have you and yet I try but then I reject you”, wash, rinse, repeat… I’m already asleep. The same about endless love triangles. Just make up your mind already for God’s sake!
- Trilogy becoming “N”logy just to make money
When something is sold as a trilogy I don’t like it when the author writes a fourth, fifth,… book about the same main characters. Sorry but I like to know what I’ll buy. Usually the other books become simple fillers and the author can’t keep the quality. I just feel conned.
Some authors do write long series about the same characters and the quality is upstanding from the beginning to the end but we know it from the start. Take Sarah J Maas, Cassandra Clare and GRR Martin as wonderful examples.
It’s just the same when authors write really small books, each ending on a cliffhanger and relatively pricey. If you put them all together you would just have a book of average length (say between 200 and 300 pages) but really expensive.
- Copycats
When I read a book I want to be surprised. I don’t want to be constantly reminded of just that other book that is so similar… Again it’s a waste of my money.
- We barely scratch the surface
If I can’t see the character’s world, I can’t connect with them because they are two dimensional or the plot is way too simple with many missed opportunities I won’t be a happy camper …errrmmm reader!
You have usually 200 pages or more so fill them in with something meaningful please! You don’t write a handbook or how to use the new washing machine (when the old one is crashing down in a family of four it’s a disaster! But I digress…).
I’m stopping now with my reader’s rant. I promise to post a “When I want to hug and kiss the author… and give her/him my first born” today or tomorrow.
Now, what are your pet peeves?
Thanks for reading and Happy Tuesday!
Sophie
For me personally, it’s love triangles that involve cheating, if that makes sense. Like take Anna and The French Kiss for example. The guys a total douche in my opinion. I understand that sometimes you are actually in love with(or just have strong feelings for) two people. I get that. But when you act on them and constantly string someone along, it’s just childish and not okay in my book. PICK ONE lmao.
Totally!!!
yes yes AND yes for the “series too long because we need money” eeerh .. reason why I won’t read anything more than 3books .. unless they’re not actually the “you must read ALL” but rather each are standalone that somewhat have a link between them, like a “collection”.
hahaha the porn pun got me that’s my kind of humor .. note that I work in a sexshop aswell *cough*. but I agree aswell ! gimme a reason for that sex scene jesus, not just because you can out of the blues ! (adult 101 is the exception… although its only a fellation.. anyway. exception that confirms the rule, eh ?)
Hahaha Kristina you have an interesting job! And yes so many pet peeves.
OMOOOO!! I agree with all of these!! I just hate when these kinds of tropes and stuff are used, it just enrages me to no end!!
Great post Sophie!! <3
LOL..well put! Cheating is also a no for me, though there’s a few, very few, exceptions to my rule, namely Unrequited by Saffron Kent!
Haha I knew it! I see Saffron is becoming one of your unicorns authors TRisy 😉
These are all valid peeves, and I completely agree I don’t mind sex and like the heat but I need a story to go with it! Yep, cheating is a no for me too.
Well as I’m deeply loyal I can’t read about cheating Kimberly. I am the MC when I read so it’s betraying me too 😉
I agree with all of these. Also that cat gif is so perfectly chosen.. doesn’t even need an explanation :-). I’m sure there are more but I can’t think of any.. it’s usually only when I come across one while reading that I’m reminded it’s a pet peeve 🙂
Hahaha thank you Inge 😉
I’m with you with the spineless women. I can’t stand reading from a perspective of the doormat. I understand that not everyone will be a bad ass warrior that kicks ass and takes names all day long. But I need for that character to stand up for themselves. Be at least a little confident! Have the ability to make a decision! Just do SOMETHING!!
Rant over….. lol
Thanks so much for participating – added you to the list 🙂
Thank you Shanah and yes I see you are passionate about that particular pet peeve too 😉
LOL. I totally get you on number 1. Seriously, a backbone is needed if you’re going to be the star of the book I’ve just committed my valuable reading time to.
Exactly! I want to see a girl with come back. One who can stand on her own 😉
These are some fantastic pet peeves that you have shared here. and I totally agree on so many of them. I really really get frustrated with the all sex and no plot books because they are a waste of money and not worth my time either. So I will DNF those if that happens. And yeah the cheating aspect is a critical one for me as well. And yeah doormat heroines are frustrating. I like those that fight back and stand on their own.
Oh yes I do prefer girls with a backbone. It makes things much more interesting 😉
I second each point! The one that gets me the most riled up is the push and pull of “I want you, but I cannot have you, wait… no, jk, we cannot work together.” That for me is the epitome of needless angst. I’m not a fan of this type of internal conflict in books.
Another pet peeve of mine is when the heroine has a big secret she keeps from the hero throughout the book, and usually for very silly reasons. I am a firm believe of facing battles together, so I hate it when it happens.
So true Talia! So you have some common point with Suanne: she hates unnecessary drama that could be solved with a good talk 😉
Love this post. We share some peeves!
Thank you Micky! xoxo
OMG, I totally agree with all of these especially the doormat heroines, books that has no plot but a lot of sex, and also trilogy becoming “N”logy. I absolutely hate these three!
Well yes doormat heroine make me want to slap them LOL
I agree! Especially with “Trilogy becoming “N”logy just to make money” This drives me nuts! Particularly your second example where they break a book up into lots of little books. I like my books to be one story. It needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. I hate it when nothing really happens and then you have to pick up the next book!
YES!! I agree with all of these. Especially about the cheating. I read reviews to see if it has any in it before I waste my time.
What you too??? Haha I try to avoid these thanks to reviews like you do Kayla 😉