Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there’s a new book-related topic to answer!
This week’s topic is Top Ten Things That Will Make Me Instantly NOT Want To Read A Book – tell us all your book turn offs!
- Weird book covers: I know, I know, we’ve all heard the phrase „Don’t judge a book by its cover.“ but I can’t help it! If a cover is aesthetically pleasing or I really like a certain font, picture, phrase, colour, I am more likely to pick it up that when I see a very poorly made cover (we all know which ones I’m talking about). I hate that I’m like this but that’s just the way it is! 😀
- Insta-love: Oh man, I AM SO TIRED OF INSTA-LOVE!!! Sure, maybe love at first sight exists, but I feel like at first it’s just a CRUSH that develops! You can’t be in love with someone after one day!!! I hate when characters meet someone (usually girl-meets-boy) and one day later their inner monologue consists of “oh my gosh, he’s so cute! What are these feelings? I think I’m in love! I can’t live without him!” like how??? Suddenly, they’re in love with someone they’ve just met without having even had ONE meaningful conversation!!! You don’t even know anything about the other, HOW CAN YOU BE IN LOVE WITH THEM ALREADY??!!!?!?!
- Multiple POVs: I usually hate when a book is told from multiple perspectives especially if there are more than 2 POVs!!! I can still tolerate when a book is told from 2 points of view (like in Eleanor & Park for example) but if there are more than 2, I probably won’t pick it up unless it’s well done *cough* SIX OF CROWS *cough*.
- Poor grammar: I don’t think I need to explain this one. Get your book proof-read before publishing it!!!!!!
- One trope that I absolutely hate is the girl-against-girl/girl-hate trope! You know when there’s a group of female bullies, or if a girl talks bad about other girls for wearing make-up, dressing differently, playing football AND SO ON AND SO FORTH! I could go on about this forever! Everybody is different and unique in their own way (oh my god, I am having High School Musical flashbacks)
Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong (we make each other strong)
Were not the same
Were different in a good way
Together’s where we belong
If that wasn’t encouraging! :’) We as women get enough comments from butthurt men so why can’t we girls all stick together and love and support each other? Especially in books! Young girls need to read about girl LOVE and female empowerment!!!
- No diversity/questionable rep/heteronormativity: This doesn’t need explaining either. WE NEED DIVERSITY IN BOOKS!!!! Representation matters!!!! We live in a BIG WORLD and no one is the same! Just because you’re one thing, doesn’t mean everyone else is!!! Don’t just assume and keep an open mind. Always.
- Controversial authors: I won’t read a book if the author of said book is considered controversial. If an author has questionable views, is known to be homophobic/racist/sexist etc or there’s other negative things they have done in the bookish world (in terms of publishing or whatever) I won’t be reading or supporting their books. No matter how good the book might be, if the author is problematic, I won’t read it!
- Standalones/duologies that turn into series when it wasn’t expected (Apparently, A Court of Thorns and Roses will be getting three more books and two novellas??? Huh?????)
OR
- Series that are longer than 3 books: This isn’t necessarily a book turn-off, I just prefer a trilogy over a long series with 6 books (or more)! Sometimes a trilogy is enough and some authors just make it worse by adding more books to a story! For example, I love the City of Bones series but it could have ended at City of Glass and it would have been enough! That doesn’t mean I didn’t like the last 3 books of the series, it just felt very draggy and unnecessary! This isn’t the case for all books though! As I said, sometimes it’s great to have a looong series and sometimes a few books are enough!
Thanks for reading!
Jackie x
What are some of your book turn-offs? Are there certain tropes you dislike? Or is there a certain word/sentence that makes you want to instantly NOT read a book when you read it? Are you like me and judge a book by its cover? Let’s chat in the comments!
Great post! I agree with all of these. And Six of Crows is one of few YA books to have successfully pulled off multiple POVs.
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Thanks a lot! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with that many POVs (I still need to get to SOC oopsies!) but I hate when it’s really confusing and you can’t really tell who is who!
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Yes, especially when all POVs sound alike. Like they have no unique personalities. Thankfully that is not the case with Six of Crows. It was one of my favorite novels in the years I read it.
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Ugh that’s so true! I’ll definitely read it after I finish the series I’m reading right now! Can’t wait 😀
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I do agree about ugly covers… it boils down to the publisher believing a story deserves a good looking cover or not… if they don’t have confidence in their product how can I? … I actually love books with multiple points of view … but that’s what’s great about books, we agree on some things but its okay to disagree about other things. Great post!
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I’m glad you agree about the covers! 🙂 and you’re so right – everyone has a different opinion and that is totally alright! I haven’t read that many books with multiple POVs to be honest, do you happen to have any good recommendations? 🙂
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Not sure what your likes tend to lean toward but I really enjoyed Gilded Cage by Vic James. Not all the POVs are equal but I loved getting the full spectrum of the world. It isn’t always done well as inexperienced writers tend to jump on that bandwagon before experienced ones do. To be honest I always comment about a dislike toward multiple POVs because the book I’m writing has 4 POVs and it’s scary for an aspiring writer to read “hate” about a central focus in their story. 😅
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I’m open for everything! Thanks so much for your recommendation, I’ll make sure to add it to my TBR! 🙂
Ohh, don’t feel discouraged or anything! I know a lot of people who are big fans of multiple POVs! And to be honest, I’ve only read two or three books with multiple POVs so I can’t really be one to judge lol.
I’m sure you will do great! And as long as you do what YOU really want to do and what you’re passionate about (even if it seems like people don’t like multiple POVs – but trust me, they do), it can only turn out great!!! 🙂 ❤
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Thanks so much! 😁❤️
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I hate it when books use more than two perspectives too! It can be soo annoying, especially when there’s about more than four point of views. But I have seen it done well, so it depends I guess. You made some great points!
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Ugh yes, it’s mostly too confusing to really tell the characters apart unless it’s really well done! Thanks a lot 🙂
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Omg ALL of these!! Well, maybe except for the last and the multiple p.o.v. one 😂 (But I agree it has to be well done and not confusing. It must also have a purpose; why does the reader NEED several p.o.v.?). And the girl-hates-girl one!!! It just pisses me off and unless there’s something saving it, I’ll just put it down (or finish to do a rant). It’s old, it’s cliché and it’s not realistic (plus it promotes devaluation of things feminine and girls who wants to act like girls without being seen as inferior and shallow, while the more “boyish” girls are presented as the more “woke” one that is a better person in every way but OH *they* are being oppressed for being too boyish! By girlish girls! Get the hell outa here). Ugh insta-love, enough said 😑 And totally agree with you on the covers haha 😂 But you can’t expect me to buy a cover with a shirtless man staring *sexily* (awckwardly) at you.
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Hahaha yay I’m glad we can agree on so many things 😂😂
Ugh you are SO RIGHT about the girl-hating aspect! Whenever it comes up in a book and I decide to keep reading, it’s all I really think about and I already make up a rant in my head! Can we just get rid of both girl-hates-girl and insta-love FOREVER!!! 😀 and those weird shirtless covers make me very uncomfortable and I would NEVER EVER reach for them!!!! Ever. 😂
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We’ll make a club -#StopGirlsHateGirlsAndInstaLovaPlease 😂
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Hahaha that’d be so funny, it could be our book club where we read anything BUT those kinds of books 😂😂
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Hahahaha I’m on 👍😂
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That gif had me cracking up. That’s what I’m like when I open a detective novel and the first thing I’m reading is about how damaged and broken the lead detective is. Ugh, gimme a break!! Lol 😛
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That gif represents me in so many ways 😂 Oh jeez, those kinds of detective stories really are the worst! Like why can’t they be strong, fierce and smart from the start?!
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Same hahaha! and I know right, they’re always weak in some ways and it bothers me!!
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Insta love is high up on my list of things that will turn me off a book immediately! It’s just not beleivable!!
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I know right! I’m sick and tired of that trope!!!
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Great list! I totally agree on the weird book covers front. And insta-love drives me crazy too, it’s so incredibly unrealistic.
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I’m glad you agree! They should just ban insta-love from books, it’s getting old!
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I sell books part time and it takes a lot of inner strength not to mention that John Grisham once said that there were too many middle age white men in prison for child pornography (he was trying, apparently, to defend a friend of his who’d gotten caught in a child pornography trap set by police). I stopped reading his books after that, and there are other authors I’ve dropped for similar reasons.
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Oh my…… He really said that? That’s just disgusting. I’ve also heard some controversial things about James Frey so I won’t be reading anything from him! Thanks for sharing!!
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I actually enjoy books that are written with multiple POVs but it is such a difficult thing to get right that some authors should just avoid it. You have to change the tone of each narrative to match the character and when there are multiple – like 4 – perspectives, sometimes it gets confusing and problematic and the story would probably be better told another way.
My list here: https://runwright.net/2017/04/25/books-to-avoid/
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You’re right – it must be so difficult as an author to write multiple POVs and unless they’re really good at it, they just shouldn’t do it! Thanks for sharing and I’ll make sure to hop over to your blog 🙂
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Totally agree with the insta-love!! Its ruins so many potentially good romance novels! Covers definitely need to be well done too 😮
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That’s true – I really wish authors realised that insta-love is unrealistic, cliché and predictable!
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I so agree with the ever-expanding duologies/trilogies and series. I like it when there’s a foreseeable end in sight. Throwing in 3 extra books right before the supposed end is not a treat for fans in my opinion.
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That’s so true, I don’t mind it when you KNOW that the series will be longer but if it happens unexpectedly it just throws me off!
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Ahhh I love this list! I agree with so much of it. INSTA LOVE UGHHHHH. I am not a fan at all haha and will take much convincing to pick up a book with it. 😂 And yessss Six of Crows!! ❤ I don’t mind multiple POVs, but they can be so hard to do correctly and SoC is such a great example of it done right haha. 😍 Also yes for the covers! Just like a beautiful cover can get me to read a book, a less appealing one can do the opposite ahah.
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Thanks so much!! 💞 yesss insta-love is just a PAIN! I haven’t read too many books with multiple POVs but usually it just goes wrong and is more confusing than anything else! And I totally agree with what you said about the covers! 👀 thanks for sharing!! 🤗
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I am so with you on these. The only time I can deal with more than two POV’s is in epic fantasy because there tends to be so much going on you need extra heads to jump into. But in a standard mystery or romance? It’s too much.
Insta-love is for 13-year-olds. As an adult, the building of the relationship is where the attraction is (for me anyway).
Poor grammar. Sigh.
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Ugh – I keep doing this. I forgot my link, sorry!
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday!
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Ah I’m glad you agree with me! Yeah, IF insta-love still has to exist (lol I wish it’d just disappear) authors should save it for younger audiences only! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
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Poor grammar kills me. Great list!
My TTT.
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I know right!? Thanks!
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Totally agree with all of these especially Insta love!
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Right?! It’s the worst!
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I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE INSTA-LOVE. Like why??? And omgggg PLEASE #represent! We are all diverse and if you don’t show that in your novel, then it’s not realistic at all??? And haha, I agree with the multiple perspectives thing. *she says looking at her novel written in six point of views* XD I think I just don’t like it when each chapter is “labeled” a character’s name. But I don’t like it jumping around either??? Okay, so basically, I like multiple perspectives like ADSOM. XD BUT NOT TOO MANY! Also adlkfjaldskjfadslk long series are the WORST. Do I want to commit? Do I want to read all? WHY ARE YOU WRITING MORE WHEN THERE ARE TEN THOUSAND BOOKS IN THE SERIES ALREADY??? 😛 Anyways, great post, Jackie! ❤
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Thankssss May, it’s always a pleasure to read what you have to say ❤️
I’m not the biggest fan of multiple POVs unless someone tells me it’s REALLY WELL DONE! And aw, I’d totally make and exception for you and read your six POV novel!!! 😀
Ahh, is ADSOM told from multiple perspectives too? I didn’t know that! Now I’m very intrigued and want to read it!!!!! *she says as she stares at her humongous TBR list and her empty banks account* lollll
THANKS AGAIN!!! 💞
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Agh you’re too sweet. 😛 And AAAGGHH YESS THE TBR MONSTEEEEEEEER. *runs away*
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I cannot believe I forgot Insta-love and poor grammar on my list. Both of these traits irk me to no end. Great list!
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Thanks a lot! I know, they just make me want to DNF a book immediately!
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Oh insta-love – it worked out so well for Romeo and Juliet, didn’t it? 😉
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Hahaha 😂😂
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I’m the same with book covers. They have to at least look like they tried haha.
This is a cool tag. I really liked your answers!
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Thanks a lot! 😀 and you’re so right!
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I loved Six of Crows and The Mortal instrument series😭 I felt that the Multiple PoV was necessary in Six of Crows because they were always doing something, and normally split up. But I love this tag and agree with most of your turn offs.🤗
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I haven’t read Six of Crows yet but I know that I’m going to love it!!! And it’s probably the only Multiple POV book I will enjoy 😀
Thank you!
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