hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Top Ten Book Turn-Offs
1. Flat Characters. I can’t stand when a really great plot is ruined by cookie cutter, stereotypical, and uninteresting characters.2. Romance without a real plot. I can’t stand when books have two really great characters who have a lot of chemistry, but the book lacks everything else. I feel like the author skipped right to building the romance instead of putting the effort into building a story.
3. Stereotypes without reasons. In general, weak females, alpha males, broken characters, etc don’t bother me. But there has to be a reason why they are the way they are and that reason has to be more than just to further the plot…
4. Typos and a general lack of editing. After reviewing for quite some time and actively supporting the indie author, I do think it’s a shame that such a large handful of self published authors don’t put enough work into editing their novels. The best authors in the world have good editors and skipping one is never a good idea. I’m tired of reading books with great potential, but they need x, y, and z to be good to regular readers. I hate making excuses for books to my friends, warning them about errors, plot holes, or other issues and still trying to make a case for why it’s not a waste of time.
5. A one book story stretched into series. I like series and I like longer plots. However, I can’t stand reading a book that is really only the beginning and a build up to a plot rather than an actual conflict and then it ends on a giant cliffhanger. I know series are popular, but unless the story is beefed up to make it belong in more than one book, I can’t help but feel cheated by these flimsy series. When Book 1 is less of a Book and more of a Part 1, and perhaps even just a handful of chapters and not even a whole Part in terms of plot, conflict, and overall story, I think it’s a shame to sell it as a whole book.
6. When a book doesn’t bring anything new to the table. I can handle a lot of clichés and plot formulas, as long as the book has something else to offer. There has to be something unique about it, even if it’s familiar.
7. Wishy Washy Heroines. A lot of people dislike love triangles. I think when they are done well, even some of the more cliché ones, they are still good. However, heroines that go back and forth or are incredibly indecisive drive me nuts and it makes me file the book away as kind of crappy, even if I do like it.
8. Angst-filled guys with Romeo and Juliet ideas of love. I can handle a few parallels, but all or nothing, death over despair kinds of attitudes drive me crazy. And heroines that fall for that kind of love just make me shake my head. I mean, let’s be real, we all just met and you’re kind of scaring me, dude. How about we graduate high school before we talk about killing ourselves? K, thanks.
9. When books try to be more important than they really are. Sometimes, I’m reading a book and I can just hear the snobby intellectual discussions people are having over it in my head. I just like books that are normal and maybe become important by accident. I don’t like books that are written to be important, just like movies that are somehow made just for that Oscar nomination. I feel like it’s all fake, a design to tug at my heartstrings or intrigue my brain and not an honest story.
10. Too many issues. I can’t stand it when a book throws out every issue like it’s plot candy instead of something real. It just isn’t believable in a romance when two people are cutting, ex drug addicts with eating disorders from broken homes. With a dead family member. And self esteem problems. Who did time in a juvenile detention center. And raised their siblings. And are on the run from an ex boyfriend who happens to be a psychopath. I mean, come on. Take a couple issues and run with them, but don’t throw them like confetti or pixie dust. You wouldn’t just throw sugar in a bowl and say it’s cake. You have to do something with the sugar.
I didn’t mean to get all in depth and slightly ranty with my 10 picks, but sometimes, you just gotta say how you feel!
