Bookish pet peeves… we all have them. From overused tropes to literary devices, each of our reading experiences are shaped by our preferences. For me it is insta-love and conflict that could be solved if the characters would only talk to one another. And that got me thinking: what grinds the gears of other readers? So naturally I took to Twitter to find out what your pet peeves are!
I got some really great answers,ย see what some of my book blogging friends had to say below!
It drives me nuts when an author uses dialogue to tell the story. She told her friend, “He went into the attic and it was dark and scary, he was so frightened.” People don’t talk like that. I will stop reading a book if the author uses dialogue to tell the story.
โ Theresa (@BiblioReviews) June 18, 2018
When the writing is too formal for a casual conversation. Most people don’t always address their close friends by their name before they speak a sentence to them
โ Books, Life and Everything Nice (@BooksAndLife1) June 18, 2018
1. When an author spells the main characterโs name out inconsistently (Christian Grey..Gray… cough, cough. 2. The book stereotypes a cultural yet claims to be multicultural 3. There is no dialogue 4. An animal dies or is injured for no apparent reasonโthatโs when Iโve had it.
โ Christine | The Uncorked Librarian (@TheUncorkedLib) June 19, 2018
And relatedly – when a character finishes a battle or something else humungous, and then remembers it’s their birthday. The middle grade version of the YA breath holding!
โ Asha Hartland (@Cat_book_tea) June 21, 2018
I can’t stand when majority of the book is dialogues, or when there’s a major cliffhanger at the end of a book ๐
โ Norrie (@norrie_reads) June 21, 2018
When one of the good guys possesses some sort of unpleasant trait (being condescending, easily losing one’s temper, constantly berating everyone around them etc.)
And absolutely nobody calls them out on it; even those who are otherwise in the perfect position to do so.
โ HP (@Convoycation) July 10, 2018
“He couldn’t believe his eyes” or any variation of that phrase
โ Ignoring Life (@Ignoringblog) July 10, 2018
I love alternating perspectives unless… They are not clearly defined or benefit the story in no way, shape or form. Then they become the biggest peeve for me ๐
โ Danielle๐ (@BooksVertigoTea) June 22, 2018
When people turn on the tv while Iโm reading ugh
โ Jamie @BubblyBooks (@Jamie42019915) July 11, 2018
What about you? Share some of your bookish pet peeves in the comments down below!
Let’s go on another adventure together!
My bookish pet peeve is definitely insta-love as well! Info-dumping and love triangles rank pretty high as well. ๐
I know why some people like insta-love (it’s kind of romantic and destiny and soul mates and aww), but I am a horrible person that – if I am going to read a romance – wants to see conflict and the development of a relationship. I also kind of wish lovers/friends to enemies was a thing because I would be all over that lmaoo
My big one is typos, especially in professionally edited and published books!
YES TYPOS! It drives me insane – I even caught some in my ADSoM book~! I can’t escape them and my eyes like always gravitate to them
I see a lot of us has a thing with inappropriately used dialogues… ๐ That stuff needs to stop! ๐
HAHAHAHAHA yea you are definitely in good company there! ๐ (also yes to the cliffhangers. I still wish that sff had more standalones.)
To much description for absolutely no reason, ‘There were tall, tree’s by the lake near the campground and puffy clouds in the sky.’ Plus, I am tired of nonrealistic romances. Guy on white horse (the horses are always white) saves damsel in distress and kisses her, passionately. Gag!
I like descriptive language but for me there definitely is a fine line! And I also prefer more realistic romances rather than insta-love, but I know some people love that trope!
I am one of the rare ones that love character dialogue… unless it’s the entire book like one I read. Don’t remember the title. I didn’t finish it.
I love dialog but not when it is like the majority of the book!
Totally hate insta-love too! Also, Iโm not a fan of characters that are *too* perfect. I need dimensions to my characters, and I hate princesses and white knights that can do no wrong.
SAME! I like my characters to be put through the ringer and be broken and need to overcome things; I really like it when they work hard to get something rather than being the chosen one that can do no wrong.
Also I wonder what it says about me as a person that I like characters that are broken with complicated backstories
Haha, no, itโs totally true! My favorite protags go through hell and come out transformed. If an author wants to break a princess and make her into something new, then Iโm cool with that too. If it says something about you, donโt worry, it says it about me as well! I think that just means we like good transformative hero arcs. =)
Yes, transformative hero arcs is definitely a better way to describe it than “I like people to suffer.” Hah!
Yes too all of these! Thanks for featuring my tweet.
Of course, thanks for sharing!
I never realized a lot of these things bug me haha now that they are pointed out they are my pet peeves too! But my big ones are Cliffhangers and Love Triangles!
SORRY TO RUIN YOUR LIFE! The conflict one bothered me but I wasn’t hyper aware of it until talking with someone who mentioned it and now it is like a beacon I can’t unsee!
I was dying laughing at Jamie’s comment from Bubbly books’s ๐ the only time I get to read is when everyone in my house is entertained by the TV. So I’ve gotten really good at reading while so much noise is going on. I understand though what the difference is to read in silence and chaos! A lot of my own pet peeves were mentioned here… I have always hated dog earring pages.. however my own son does it, and my daughter will holler at him for it (also hilarious!) . I think Love Triangles have to be a top 3 for me and it has to be done REALLY well for me to like it. In a romance I hate it when the woman depends on the man.. I need to see them standing on their own and together.
Jamie’s comment is TOO FUNNY ahahaha. And so true!!! Kudos to you for being able to read with chaos all around you – I wish I could do that but I have a hard time focusing. I agree with all of you! I love strong female characters (don’t need no MAN) and love triangles usually drive me nuts. I just read a book that had a weird love rectangle and one of the “love interests” was super skeevy and possessive and it made me really angry.
Oh oh I got one.
How about characters introduced in one scene and then go missing in the next? Whatโs with that? You mean I read an entire chapter to only find they never ever come back in the book?
I have so many of these peeves that I wrote a two part posts on my blog.
Oh my gosh YES!!! That actually drives me nuts. Like, what happened to them? Are they okay? Why were they only important enough for like one tiny bit?
I will have to check out your posts, and thanks so much for checking out mine!!
What a cool idea for a post ๐ for me it’s messy dialogue… you know, like how they don’t use dialogue punctuation? Very common for South American books, and partly why I can’t stomach them. It’s just hard to follow and I feel like the author is trying to be array fartsy and pretentious -.-
Thank you so much! And yea messy dialogue is definitely something that annoys me too. Thanks for commenting, love!