I am loving today's TTT! I need to just talk about things that annoy me when and while I'm reading or anything book-related. You ready?
Poorly selected book cover - Hear me out. Yeah, there's something to be said about judging a book by its cover. I'm not going to lie, there have been books that I wouldn't have read or wouldn't have given it a try if my friends didn't recommend it to me or if I didn't see it on a book recommendation group because the cover art was not visually appealing to me. This breaks my heart because book covers are there meticulously chosen and done because they're the first visual message sent to the readers. I'll always remember somebody saying "book covers are your baby's clothes, dress them well."
Lack of content/trigger warning - I once read an ARC that I thought would be a light contemporary love story only to find out that it was loaded with several serious subjects such as trauma from sexual assault, attempts of sexual assault, severe bullying and more. I finished the book but it truly disturbed me. For one, there was no content warning. The blurb didn't indicate anything about the triggering subject matter. I felt misled. I know some people don't care much about CW/TW, but others, that matters to them. If you're one of those lucky ones who don't need them, consider yourself blessed and find compassion for those who need them.
Unnecessary conflict - I know there needs to be some drama in a book, there needs to be conflict for there to be a resolution and getting there is the meat and bones of the story. But sometimes, there's just pointless, needless conflict that shouldn't have been there.
Continuity errors - I'm one of those readers who pay attention to details. Really. So when something is amiss, it takes me out of the reading experience. When I read an ARC, I send the author a message. I've had gracious ones who are thankful for it. I've had one who spun the story into something else, that wasn't in the book. It was weird.
Queerbaiting - Recently, I was re-listening to the audiobooks of this series I've read and loved way back in 2018. Two of the main characters in the book, the leader and his second have the strongest plotline for a really good MM romance. It wasn't forced, it was gradual and organic throughout the series. Really the undercurrent of a bisexual romance was there. It would have been so good. Then once the leader got his own book, bam! He falls in love with a woman. I was so disappointed and so pissed, I skipped that darn book. I really felt queerbaited.
Too much drama going on - There needs to be conflict right? Plus another one, to make things more interesting.. and another one to intersect and make it more intense. Do we really need 5 million more in one story?
Dumb characters who make stupid choices - It's SO annoying.
Mispronunciation of names - I listen to a lot of audiobooks. One time, I was listening to this story with a female character with a weird-sounding name and that she's Filipino. I had to buy the ebook to see how the name is spelled because of how it was pronounced. Her name was Mahal "mah-haal" but the narrator butchered it. Perhaps reach out to a native speaker?
Cliffhangers - I have no patience and I'm not ashamed to admit that.
Misogyny - whether intentional, thinly veiled or unintentional, it causes me to DNF a book.
What's your bookish pet peeve?
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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
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