We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book (what are your immediate turn-offs or dealbreakers when it comes to books?)
To be honest, I think I’m pretty laidback when it comes to books and what I’m open to reading and what will make me say yeah nah. Most of these things I tend to discover from reviews or when I pick the book up but when I come across these elements, it really puts me off reading and will generally make me want to speed skim through the rest of the book (especially if it’s really bad) because I’m terrible at DNFing (although I’m trying to be better, lol)! Can I think of ten things? Well, we’ll see, so on that note, let’s get to it.
Love Triangles
Look, I’m just one of those people who really don’t like love triangles. I don’t think they can be done well but that’s also because I’m very biased against them. 😂 There’s just too much angst and unhappiness and it sucks. Sometimes I can power through a book with a love triangle but most of the time it’s a “yeah nah” for me—one very popular book that put me off was Daughter of the Moon Goddess as it sadly really didn’t work for me!
Instalove
I have to say that I’m a little less “strict” with the instalove especially because if the rest of the story and romance is developed well enough, I’ll be fine with the fact that the characters fall into their feelings very quickly at the start. An example that comes to mind is The Dead Romantics—it was pretty instalove but the way their story and relationship developed won me over (big time) in the end!
Horror
Especially if it’s of the ghostly creepy variety. It’s just a big yeah nah for me as I’m way too much of a chicken to handle it!
“Manly men who must continuously prove their manliness”
This is very specific, I know. But I came across a series of romance books with these men in them and it made me so mad! Like, why must you be so scared of feelings, saying the hard parts out loud and taking care of your mental health?! I assure you, it does not make you any less of a man! 🙃
Immature & annoying characters who don’t grow
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more “tolerant” of immature characters so long as they experience significant enough growth throughout the read. One of my more recent reads this year, Spice Road, had an MC who was frustratingly immature and close-minded at the beginning but her growth was fantastic and it genuinely made me love the story more! Not all books end up this way, lol.
Overly long books in desperate need of editing
There are some books that are simply in desperate need of editing. I find this a lot with certain genres of self-published or indie-published books but there are definitely trad pubbed books out there that have me scratching my head at how they ever got published as they are! It makes me cringe when a book is over 500 pages when it very clearly could’ve been less than 400 and it makes me less keen to read more by an author when that happens.
Problematic authors
I’m not here to tell anyone not to read a certain author or anything like that but I’m not here to support problematic authors who behave badly or who write problematic content with bad representation. There are enough bad things happening in the world, I don’t need that bad to creep into my safe and happy reading spaces!
BIPOC characters written by non-BIPOC authors
This is obviously very much a personal preference. I know that “not all authors” write BIPOC characters poorly but I must prefer when stories about people/worlds that are inspired by a certain culture/country are written by people who are from said culture/country because although it might not seem obvious to others, there is a big difference, particularly in capturing the little things/the nuances, right.
A slew of bad reviews
I don’t tend to put that much weight on reviews because what works for some may not work for others and I tend to trust the opinions of those who I know have similar tastes to me. But when there is a slew of (genuine) low ratings and reviews for a book, especially a new release, it definitely makes me think twice about adding it to my already endless TBR!
Not recommended by blogger friends
Similarly, when many blogger friends review a book poorly, it also makes me cautious about picking it up because, like I said, I know whose reviews I can trust and most of my close bookish friends have yet to steer me wrong! 😂
What makes you want to say “yeah nah” to a book? Do any of the things I mentioned put you off reading something? Do you immediately DNF or speed skim through?
dinipandareads 
I liked reading your thoughts. I don’t like overly long books either.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
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I literally agree with all of these! I usually try to not let reviews get to me before I read a book for myself, but if it’s got nothing but negative ones or my blogger/bookstagram friends don’t like it, chances are I’m not going to either.
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So many good ones that I agree with one here! The one I sometimes waffle on is the overly long with editors needed. There are two authors I can think of who might fit in this category (Zapata, Tijan) at times and for some reason it doesn’t bother me. The rest, I’m like get a better editor!
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I definitely connect with a lot of these, but PARTICULARLY with love triangles. They drive me up a wall. 😅
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I love your list. I hate love triangles, anything problematic and long books desperately in need of editing. Also, I have a pet peeve about immature characters that don’t grow. Even in YA, yes this is possible!
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I am more tolerant of insta love in YA than I am in adult.
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Great list, Dini and I agree with all of these. I guess the problem is that you might have to DNF books if you don’t know about these issues going in.
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Great list. Good points about bloggers and reviews, they definitely shape my own opinions.
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Overly long books – that’s near the top of my list. I am seeing this a lot, but there is are some romance authors out there with 500+ page contemporaries and people rave about them. I have read one of the authors and found the book to be bloated with lots of stuff that did nothing to move the story forward.
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Love triangles are a big yeah nah for me! I always inevitably end up picking the wrong one and getting disappointed. I also don’t read horror because I don’t like getting scared 😦
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All I care for is if the book is well written or not.
My TTT: https://snapdragonalcoveblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/30/top-ten-tuesday-things-that-make-me-not-want-to-read-a-book/
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If an author wants to write a character with unfamiliar characteristics, they need to research it. Even then, they need to understand that they need to know what they are putting out there. It doesn’t matter if they’re writing about people of a different race, culture, sexual orientation, health, etc. They need to make sure the representation is accurate.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/how-i-select-books-to-read/
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I agree with you on most of these. I do like ghost stories, though, as long as they’re not TOO creepy! I’m kind of a wimp 🙂
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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Insta love is the worst and i can’t believe I forgot it on my list. 😂
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It’s definitely interesting to see what other people don’t enjoy in their books! I definitely agree with you on most of these for sure!
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yes to this post, i get affected by so many things prior to even picking something up.
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Instalove is always a big turnoff. When an author doesn’t allow time for *real* feelings to develop, it’s hard to be invested.
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Great list, and I definitely agree with ALL of these! You’re so right that The Dead Romantics is one example where instalove did work for me too. And I totally laughed at “Manly men who must continuously prove their manliness” haha, but it is indeed so frustrating when that happens.
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Yes!! I AGREE WITH ALL of these! We had so many overlapping ones. It’s not surprising though since our reading tastes are so similar, haha. Ohh, the manly men one is a good one and highly annoying. I just cannot do it!
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Love triangle can be a hit or miss for me. I couldn’t stand immature characters too and when it comes to characters development, sometimes they come too late in the story for me to properly appreciate it 😭
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Instalove and love triangles are big no’s for me too, I just don’t think they’re ever done well. The horror you describe not liking is actually the kind that tends to be more my cup of tea, the ghostly, creepy variety! I don’t like horror with a lot of gore, or that’s super scary, but the creepy, eerie kind of horror, I do quite enjoy. I feel the same about overly long books, I mean I have read a lot because I like fantasy and that comes with the territory but I could probably list on one hand the number of books over 600 pages where I haven’t thought to myself: “yup, this could have been trimmed by 100-200 pages and you won’t have lost anything!”. Sometimes I feel like fantasy authors write long books because they feel like that’s what the genre expects and when they write a long book just for the sake of writing a long book and the plot is too thin to really stretch across that many pages *cough SJM cough* then it just doesn’t work.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/30/top-ten-tuesday-422/
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100% agree on the blogger friends, and overlong books. So many KU romances are about eight million times longer than they should bc, probably bc authors get paid by pages read. It’s unfortunate, and I wish some of those books got hit by a heavy editor. There’s some good ones out there, they just need a little help. And I’m about 293034% more likely to never pick a book up if my friends gave it a bad review. I know not every book is for every person but I don’t feel like wasting time on something that my friends didn’t like!
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[…] #TopTenTuesday: Things That Make Me Say Yeah Nah […]
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I agree with most of these except I’m *okay* with horror, I just don’t read much of it anymore. And I love a good triangle. If it’s done right. Give me all the angst! Ha! And yes, an immature character better grow and change by the end! Great list, Dini!
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I agree with a lot of these especially the immature and annoying characters who don’t grow!
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Yes to Insta love and annoying characters that don’t grow… I actually DNF’d two books last month because of those exact issues. I don’t mind horror, as long as it’s not OTT scary.
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