Every bookish blog I visit has their own form of discussion feature while I’m sitting here alone, thinking, hmm, what can I do to make my blog more exciting and unique? So I decided, why not start my own feature where I can talk about random bookish topics? And so, Let’s Speculate was created.
The topic I chose for this week is What Are Your Pet Peeves in Books? As readers, we all have different pet peeves when it comes to books. Here is a list of some of mine.
1. Everything in the book is predictable.
This is the top pet peeve in books for me. I have this annoying, sometimes useful skill that easily lets me predict every possible twist and outcome in a book. I am rarely shocked down to the core at an event I haven’t predicted when I read a book. (Ahem, good job Everbound!) This was my problem with Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo; I could predict every single plot twist and guess what? They all came true! That made reading Shadow and Bone dreadful for me. It was like watching a decent (not favorite) movie you know every line to on repeat. Hopefully the sequel will not be as predictable as Shadow and Bone.
2. The book has slowww pacing.
When I read a book, I read for fun, to enjoy it. I don’t read books that makes me want to sleep, especially when I’m on the subway where I could miss my stop. You can easily tell that the pacing is too slow when nothing important and essential to the plot happens for too long.
3. The book has -gasp- insta-love!
In my opinon, insta-love ruins an entire book, especially when the love is forbidden. I think that when you’re forbidden to be with someone, but want to be with them no matter what, you have to make sacrifices. For a character to make sacrifices just for someone they fell in love with at first sight and knows nothing about just isn’t realistic and it continuously astonishes me when it happens. A great example of this case would be Black City by Elizabeth Richards.
4. Love triangles that take over the entire focus of the book. Also, love triangles that drag on through several books (my standard of “several” is more than three books. You would have think that the main character solved their who do I like more? problem already.)
I think that is pretty self-explanatory. The series I’m thinking of as I’m typing this? Shadow Falls by C.C. Hunter. C.C. Hunter managed to drag the pointless love triangle into five books. It’s like, enough already!
5. When a character becomes a mindless zombie because a guy/girl is hot. It gets worse when the same character follows the hot person’s every order because the person is, did I say, hot?
I can’t stand this. It makes me want to bang my head against the wall every time I come across a character like that. League of Strays by L.B. Schulman is the main example for me; every time Charlotte agrees to do Kade’s biding, because, well, he is hot, it just made me want to scream. The part where he gets arrested and she thinks somewhere along the lines of, oh, he doesn’t look that hot anymore just made me want to go into the book and shake her. So, if Kade was still hot, you’ll still be on his side?
6. The publisher/author/whoever decides to change the cover art or style of the book after the first book is released or in the middle of a series.
This is not about the writing or plot of a book, but it’s a major pet peeve of mine. A personal book rule of mine is when I buy any book that’s in a series, I also have to buy all the other books in that same series. When I buy a book series, I expect them to match from the cover art to the format (hardback or paperback). I hate it when the publisher/author/whoever decides to change the book somehow in the middle of the series. I mean sure, it may be changed to something a lot better like from the old cover of Blood Red Road by Moira Young to the new cover, but now I have to wait until the entire series is released in paperback to collect the whole series so I get matching covers in the same format.
7. When there are three or more easily spotted [and could have been fixed] grammatical mistakes.
I was reading a newly released book this week, Timekeeper by Alexandra Monir, which I’ve been waiting to come out for one entire year (since the sequel was released two years ago). It felt so wrong for me to spot more than two easily spotted and corrected grammar mistakes, making me feel like I had an ARC in my hands instead of the finished copy.
8. When the main character makes bad decisions again and again. It’s even worse when they already learned the lesson before.
This is also pretty self explanatory. A perfect example of this will be Mia from the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.
So these are my bookish pet peeves. What are yours?
I share the same pet peeves as you, Kelly. The only pet peeve that I can think of now that isn’t on your list is when everyone falls head over heels for a character who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It’s the endless whyyyyyyy.
Great post, Kelly :D
Couldn’t have said that one better! I’ve read so many books lately where I couldn’t understand why the spotlight shone on the bland central female character & all the fallen angels/vampires/hunky jocks in the known universe want her! Can’t the authors give her a little wit or personality or just some old fashioned charm? Sigh…
I agree with every one of yours. I hate it when the Publisher changes the cover art half way though the series. I like when a series match and it makes me mad when the series doesn’t match. I also have the same Skill has you, I can predict most of the twists and turns in a book a mile away. So, like you, very few books really and completly shock me.
Happy reading :)
Cover changes in the middle of a series. Hate them!!! Like the old Curse Worker covers of Holly Black’s series. They were perfection. The cover for the last book had even been revealed. Then they redesigned it all, and now nothing matches -__- The new ones aren’t ugly, they’re just not as good in my opinion.
I personally don’t mind slow pacing, especially in the beginning of a book. For me it just means the focus is elsewhere at the time. What I dislike is when things stagnate forever in the middle.
I also don’t like insta-love. Insta-attraction, yes. But talking about forever and soulmates and whatnot after knowing each other for a few days? *Snort*. Maybe because I’ve never experienced love at first sight. I think people mean different things by insta-love though. The term is thrown around a lot but not always applied to the same books. For me for instance, Black City wasn’t insta-love. Natalie and Ash didn’t even like each other at first.
I also dislike the going gaga or excusing everything because the guy is hot thing. Ugh -.-
A pet peeve you haven’t mentioned but that tells me to stay away from a book is talk of prophesies and destiny and only that one person can save the world blabla. It’s just… been done. Another thing I don’t like is religiously-driven moralizing.
Yeah I agree with prophesies and destiny – unless it’s written very very well.
I agree with several points you made here! I get bored when the stories are already so cliched, especially when reading historical romance books :/
Great list—you cover just about everything that gets me steamed or ready to throw a book across a room ; )
Literally all of yours. Plus the one about falling for someone who is either A) a jerk or B)totally bland but everyone wants them.
Another pet peeve (that, surprisingly, nobody mentioned) is when the character does something that seems TOTALLY out of character just because it serves the plot. If it has already been established that the character is weak and easily frightened, they can’t suddenly be badass and ready to fight to protect themselves.
I also hate it (although you see this a bit more frequently in shows/movies than in books) when the character is unerringly amazing at something that there’s no reason for them to know. Like, the guy who get sucked into a fantasy world and discovers he’s amazing at sword-fighting and he’s out sword-fighting trained soldiers with no past experience, but somehow winning. haha
I also hate characters (and I see this A LOT) that are described as ordinary, average, normal etc…Especially when the book is written from first person POV and that’s how they are describing themselves. First off, most people don’t see themselves as being boring and completely average. And, personally, I don’t want to be told a character has nothing special about them–especially when I’m almost definitely going to read a story that makes them seem like an amazing person. haha
Wow. Turns out I had more than I thought. :)
I completely agree with all of these! These things have forced me to drop so many boks </3
I have a silly, minor peeve too… I can't stand it when a girl calls a boy by his last name, even when they're dating. Like in WHATEVER LIFE THROWS AT YOU by Julie Cross. It might just be me, but the romance doesn't feel genuine when a girl calls him by his last name. It's just so impersonal!
I also HATE the good girl trope. Trust me, I'm just about as goody-goody as they come, and even I'm not as clueless as some of these characters. The innocent, wide-eyed virgin (in ways more than just sex) is so overdone. And completely unrealistic. I really loved in ALL PLAYED OUT by Cora Carmack, how she totally crushed this trope. The main character was completely inexperienced, but she wasn't clueless. She was way more realistic than half the characters I've read.
I JUST HATE WHEN THINGS AREN'T REALISTIC