Who's Your Author? discussion
Let's talk about...
>
Pet Peeves in books
date
newest »
newest »
Books written in first person, present tense and TSTL heroines (or doormat heroines who are usually TSTL) are huge peeves of mine.
Heroes & heroines who take themselves too seriously, or should that be authors who can't write at least some humour into there books. No-one wants a H or h with a stick up their arse *blush*
Pet peeves, where should I start?1. Like Sandra, doormat heroines who are too stupid to live.
2. "Dominant Alpha's" seriously, 95% of them are narcissistic bullies with screwed up sexual morals. The other 5% unfortunately must live in the shadow of my favorite Alphas, Curran and The Vampire Lestat.
3. Vampires who are hundreds of years old with no real character echoing when and where they've lived.
4. Bad editing.
5. The promiscuous woman, who's also the ex lover, that is offered to the readers as a sacrifice in favor of the doormat heroine. In these cases I prefer the other woman because at least she knows what she wants.
6. Proscribed plots. Alpha growls, woman/man whimpers, 2 days of humpy and ta-da Mated-ily Ever After.
Yes yes the TSTL heroine!!And great point Sandra Re: taking things to seriously.
I have a new one.At the end of a series book the publisher provides a free preview of a book earlier in the series. Why? I am reading like book six in the series why provide me chapter one from book one?
Yep, I often shake my head at that, its a total waste of space. Now give me a taste of the next book and I'm all tongue hanging out.
General pet peeves:-Heroes/heroines who are too powerful.
-Deus ex machina.
-Protagonists that are too perfect with regards to personality/morals.
-One dimensional villains.
Pet peeves in romance (I have a lot):
- Insecure women who need a man to tell them they're beautiful in order to feel confident about themselves and their body.
- I'm tired of the sexually dominant male. I would like to see more sexually submissive men.
- Average looking woman and supermodel man.
- Exes and romantic rivals that are always bitches.
-Extreme power difference male and female protagonist/damsels in distress.
- Sexually experienced man and inexperienced/virginal woman.
Romance appears to be the most formulaic genre. It is extremely difficult to find a novel that does not have any of these themes.
-Mind reading. It just cheapens the book. What's even the point when you know what everyone is thinking?-Virgins with experienced men. I'm so sick of virgins.
-Virgins who get pregnant after their first time. Who even thinks this is a fantasy? What woman wants to have sex and get immediately pregnant? No idea why this is even a thing.
-Monochromatic dialogue. When you can read a passage of dialogue out of a book and have no idea which character said it. Give the characters their own personalities.
I've been reading pretty heavily this past year and a half. I have loved nearly all of the fantasy books I have picked up, but there are a few things I have noticed in plots/characters that I am looking to attempt to avoid.
1. Male hero rich and powerful while female heroine poor and not quite powerful.
2. Male hero brooding and difficult until he meets female that makes things all better because she challenges him and gets him in touch with his feelings.
3. BUT MOST OF ALL, I want to read a book where the male character is the one who is poor/or less powerful that the female. I am in the middle of the Elemental Assassin series and this seems to be true in this series, but...where else?
1. Male hero rich and powerful while female heroine poor and not quite powerful.
2. Male hero brooding and difficult until he meets female that makes things all better because she challenges him and gets him in touch with his feelings.
3. BUT MOST OF ALL, I want to read a book where the male character is the one who is poor/or less powerful that the female. I am in the middle of the Elemental Assassin series and this seems to be true in this series, but...where else?
Sarah wrote: "I agree with P.M. A Study in Scarlet is the starting point. I only recently started reading Sherlock Holmes and that's where I started. It is the very first story of the duo."Jane Yellowrock - all the characters are less powerful.
Sarah wrote: "...BUT MOST OF ALL, I want to read a book where the male character is the one who is poor/or less powerful that the female."I think we can barely tolerate that story in real life let alone a book. A few years ago I remember reading a newspaper article about female breadwinners often have unsuccessful marriages. Maybe this is why the wage gap persists?
Dawn wrote: "Sarah wrote: "...BUT MOST OF ALL, I want to read a book where the male character is the one who is poor/or less powerful that the female."
I think we can barely tolerate that story in real life le..."
Maybe, but I do want that story, and it must be out there somewhere.
And I do agree that Jane Yellowrock has power, but I think she has quite a few equals. I love the Jane Yellowrock books as they do not fit into the mold, but I don't think they have flipped the mold either.
I think we can barely tolerate that story in real life le..."
Maybe, but I do want that story, and it must be out there somewhere.
And I do agree that Jane Yellowrock has power, but I think she has quite a few equals. I love the Jane Yellowrock books as they do not fit into the mold, but I don't think they have flipped the mold either.
Sarah wrote: "...Maybe, but I do want that story, and it must be out there somewhere."Rereading my initial comment and it did not come out quite right. However I think you got the gist of my point.
At any rate if you look to the fantasy world you may get closer to this concept. Some example that may get you close are
If you find something else be sure to let me know I would love a new kind of relationship.
Sarah wrote: "And I do agree that Jane Yellowrock has power, but I think she has quite a few equals"I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Jane is one of the few female heroines who has not given up one iota of her independence or strength, and none of the other characters are equal to her. The only one who comes even close is Leo and she (view spoiler)
Dawn wrote: "Sarah wrote: "...Maybe, but I do want that story, and it must be out there somewhere."
Rereading my initial comment and it did not come out quite right. However I think you got the gist of my poin..."
Thanks. I'll check those out Dawn.
Rereading my initial comment and it did not come out quite right. However I think you got the gist of my poin..."
Thanks. I'll check those out Dawn.
Lauren wrote: "Sarah wrote: "And I do agree that Jane Yellowrock has power, but I think she has quite a few equals"
I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Jane is one of the few female heroines w..."
I guess I think Bruiser has become an equal, and Leo has more power. I do agree she has not given any of her power up, and she did take some people into her fold that have much less power (or no power). I love Jane. Maybe I need to stew some more about this one. Maybe I'm just frustrated at my latest string of books...
I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one. Jane is one of the few female heroines w..."
I guess I think Bruiser has become an equal, and Leo has more power. I do agree she has not given any of her power up, and she did take some people into her fold that have much less power (or no power). I love Jane. Maybe I need to stew some more about this one. Maybe I'm just frustrated at my latest string of books...
Romance novels that focus too much on when the man says she's his mate and wants to get her into bed. I want to see the relationship grow outside the bedroom.-Too much focus on erotic scenes.
- a series that keeps on going and the plots weaken
Sarah wrote: "Maybe I need to stew some more about this one. Maybe I'm just frustrated at my latest string of books... .."Perhaps a re-read is in order :0)
Jenn wrote: "Romance novels that focus too much on when the man says she's his mate and wants to get her into bed. I want to see the relationship grow outside the bedroom.-Too much focus on erotic scenes.
- a ..."
I feel like this is the standard language in PNR.
The other annoying thing is insta-mate and of course, the guy is always an alpha type who needs the woman to submit which is typically sexual first and emotional second.
I always enjoy relationships a bit more in UF generally the relationships take longer to build but it is satisfying you find yourself rooting for the couple...well at least I do :-)
Like these are ones I really like
I like to root for the couple to grow. a couple of the books you posted I have on my TBR list.
Lauren wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Maybe I need to stew some more about this one. Maybe I'm just frustrated at my latest string of books... .."
Perhaps a re-read is in order :0)"
Ha! may-be! Cold Reign comes out pretty quick though... I'll have to postpone that re-read.
Perhaps a re-read is in order :0)"
Ha! may-be! Cold Reign comes out pretty quick though... I'll have to postpone that re-read.
I'm tired of clumsy virgin women in books. They're popping up in 1/2 of the books I read. Where the heck are all of these virgins coming from and why can't they walk anymore?I know this is a bit on the weird side but I've had it with the word "normalcy" that word gives books a half star deduction. What's wrong with normality?
I completely agree! Also, you're hilarious.
Josie wrote: "I completely agree! Also, you're hilarious."Thanks!!
Lack of research/blatant inaccuracies.Even in a fantasy, actual facts, especially related to locations in real life, should be accurate (unless there is a difference attributed to that particular "world"). For example, one of my favorite authors used "Houston" and "Houston County" interchangeably. Houston is in Harris County. Houston County is located in East Texas and is a rural, not urban area. It is possible the protagonists left Houston and ended up in Crockett or Grapeland or some other town/area in Houston County, but the description sounded more like an urban area with a large gang and numerous places to hide. And, if that relocation occurred, a one or two sentence comment could have explained that. This was a great distraction from the story for me and I obviously still haven't gotten over it yet, lol.
hIpnoticraQs wrote: "Hello fellow Texan!!"Hi! I live in Palestine, in Anderson County. I know the duplicate city/county names, which often do not coincide, can be confusing, but a simple search would take care of that issue instead of just assuming otherwise...sigh.
Tina wrote: "hIpnoticraQs wrote: "Hello fellow Texan!!"Hi! I live in Palestine, in Anderson County. I know the duplicate city/county names, which often do not coincide, can be confusing, but a simple search w..."
All of that checking around is too much work, people have books to write, lol.
Who's Your Author?
Books mentioned in this topic
Succubus Blues (other topics)Kitty and the Midnight Hour (other topics)
Spider's Bite (other topics)
Magic Bites (other topics)
Ship of Magic (other topics)
More...
Today I have two:
1.) Covers which have nothing to do with the book. Why?? I feel like a cover should be like an artistic impression of the plot or something.
2.) Hundred-year-old dragons, vampires whatever who are celibate or cold hearted who meet a twenty-year-old and bam they are lusty and sweet. Like really - is this the first person who smells good with breasts??
Ok what are your pet peeves??