Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted byย That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week is a new bookish category in which we get to brag about our favorite books that fit with the weekโs category. You can pick your top 5, 10, 15โฆor so on. I tend to keep my list to ten.
Todayโs category: Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book (what are your immediate turn-offs or deal-breakers when it comes to books?)
Letโs get started!
1. Author
There are certain authors that haven’t captured my attention with their novels, and after three tries of reading their books, they are out. I’m not one for cutting out authors based on their mind/body/spirit viewpoints. I have my own opinions that I stand firm on, and they have theirs. Like my daddy taught me, if you don’t like what’s coming out of someone’s mouth, you have the power to turn and walk away from them. I judge an author solely on the books they write and publish. I don’t judge them for their beliefs because at the end of the day, I don’t know these authors on a personal level. I don’t know what they went through as children, or the hardships they face on a day to day basis. Treat others the way you want to be treated, is another life lesson from my dad. and I try to live my life based on that code.
2. Trope(s)
Same with Authors, there are certain tropes I will not read for instances, Billionaire romances. I’m so over the same billionaire romance storyline. Girl from the wrong side of the tracks falls for handsome man, then learns he’s a billionaire, and enter insecurity issues. BLAH BLAH BLAH. I’m so over the typical billionaire scenario. I’m also over the Insta-Love trope. I don’t believe you can meet someone and fall in love with them that same day….without even knowing anything about the other person. This trope also, in my opinion, feels a bit repetitive in the romance world. And the last trope that bugs me is the Fake Dating/Fiancee/Marriage trope…. And speaking of being repetitive, I’m about to go there. A deal is made to fake a relationship, the fake-ists fall in love (secretly) with one another, then one pulls away and gets mad at the other for falling in love because it *wasn’t part of the deal*. UGH! I’m so over these repetitive by nature tropes. If you find a romance within these three tropes that isn’t at all as I described it, drop the recommendation below.
3. Reviews from trusted bloggers/reviewers
I have three bloggers/reviewers I follow who share the same reading likes as I do. Before I dive into an overhyped up book, I’ll read their reviews to see if this book will be something I’ll love or hate. If it borders the hate side of the spectrum more than the love, I’ll pass on it immediately.
4. Certain Situations in romance novels
I never knew how important trigger/content warnings were/are to some readers until about three years ago when I lost my dad. I read a book, shortly after his passing, and in that book the father of the main character grew ill and passed away. I lost it, and honestly, I’ve been a bit shell shocked ever since that read. So if a novel has a parent passing away, I would like to know about it before diving in. I also refuse to read romance novels that detail sexual abuse and child abuse. These novels enrage me due to the exploitation. It never used to bother me, I would usually skip over scenes until the flashback/moments were over, but now as I’m growing older, I’m finding I have no tolerance for those situations in the romance novels I read.
5.ย Overly Dark Romance Novels
I’m not a fan of blood or gore in romance novels. I understand dark romance is a sub-genre all on its own, but if half the novel is all about blood lust and gore, I’ll pass on it in a heartbeat. I don’t do good with details, I have a vivid imagination and usually what I read will follow me to sleep and I’ll have very vivid dreams of those situations. The last time this happened was when I read Blood Lust by Erin Trejo. OMG! I had to DNF this one after I had some brutal and traumatizing nightmares over the novel. I’m still a tad bit grossed out over this.
Peace Love and Happy Reading,
All good reasons not to read a book.
Iโm grateful that trigger warnings have become more common, too. They certainly make life easier for a lot of us!
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
I’m not triggered by much when it comes to reading, but I’m grateful authors are now watching out for the readers who are triggered.
Fake dating/marriage is one of my least favorite tropes, too. It’s just so unrealistic and ridiculous!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
The trope’s storyline seems to flow the same way. It’s too repetitive for my liking.
It’s not something I’ve personally ever experienced but I feel the same way about books with sexual assault as you do about reading about parents passing away: it knocks me off guard if I’m not prepared for it and I find those scenes really hard to read anyway so I just prefer to know going in so I can skip if needed.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/30/top-ten-tuesday-422/
I really dislike sexual assault in romance novels. I understand sometimes the heroine/hero has a tragedy happen along the lines of that subject, and they have to grow from it. But to me, why do authors have to put extra detail into those moments and play them out from start to finish. We all know how brutal and tragic sexual assault is, we don’t need to have it described so vividly. Like you, I can read through it if I’m prepared. However, I do draw the line when a child is involved. No amount of sugar coating words will make this subject (child abuse in any and all forms) ever be okay in romance novels. This tends to be a make it or break it for me when reading specific authors.
I completely agree, I never understand why authors feel the need to describe those moments in explicit detail and I’m always grateful for the authors who will just imply what happened without showing it and move on. I went to see a play this year about sexual assault and I thought the way they did it was really clever, the story is more about the woman coming to terms with what happened and starting to move on, and the assault whilst a pivotal moment in the story, was only implied in the narrative and never shown on stage which I really appreciated. I can read it if I’m prepared but I definitely do prefer there to be as little detail as possible. I agree, reading about child abuse is not something I ever want to do either.