Bookish Pet Peeves

Posted August 13, 2016 by Adalyn in Books, Lists / 4 Comments

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There are so many things in YA that really bother me, yet the things I love definitely outrank the things I hate. We all have those things that we hate though, and yet they always seem to be popping up. No matter how much I try to avoid them, I just can’t! So today, I am going to share with you those bookish pet peeves of mine.

Forced Relationships

Okay, this doesn’t just go towards romantic relationships, but just relationships and general. I absolutely hate friendships that you can tell the author tried to make it seem real, that it ended up feeling way too forced. The same goes towards romantic relationships, sibling relationships, etc. One book in my opinion that had really forced relationships was The Selection series by Kiera Cass, while the relationships in The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson felt the opposite of that to me.

Too Many Random POVs

This goes more towards series that have new POVs added in every book. A lot of times these books will already start out with 3+ POVs, which is enough for me. If there’s more than five, I’m definitely going to be annoyed. Sometimes it’s necessary for the story, but other times it’s not. While I enjoyed Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes, the second installment to the Falling Kingdoms series, there were too many POVs randomly mixed in there in my opinion. Sarah J. Maas adds a few new POVs as her Throne of Glass series progresses, but she does a great job of it, in my opinion.

Jealous Love Interests

One of my biggest pet peeves by far is love interests that get jealous over the smallest of things. They can’t fathom the fact that their boyfriend/girlfriends’s world doesn’t revolve around them, and become super jealous if they even see them with another girl/boy. My opinion of a book will instantly change when a character like this is in it, especially when it’s the main character. Lara Jean in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before/P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han and Adam in the Shatter Me Trilogy by Tahereh Mafi were both like this, and it aggravated me so much.

Insta-Love

Insta-love is always so forced, like after open date they already know they’re in love. No, it doesn’t work that way. This is very common in YA, and it bother me so much. I like a well developed romance, not one that just happens instantly. If a book is even slightly insta-lovey, you know I won’t like it. One example of this was The Siren by Kiera Cass. Seriously, our main character goes on one date and already knows she’s in love. Ugh.

Characters Who Think the World Revolves Around Them

There are a lot of examples of this, characters who cry when they don’t get their way, think they’re so great and have to be super show-offy, etc. etc. One of my lest favorite things ever in books is characters who, like I said, get all upset and whiny when they don’t get their way, or cry because they wanted to do something to stand out then get weird looks for it. I mean, come on, you were just asking for it! Also, when a caharcter thinks they’re so great because they do one semi cool thing or save a persons life. No, it does not work that way! A few examples of this for me are The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige (loved the first book, Amy was just such a show-off in this one) and Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie.

Characters Who Try to get People to Pity/Feel Bad for Them

This is similar to characters who think the world revolves around them. I just hate when a character has to act like they’re the worst just to get attention and for people to feel bad for them. I get if you feel insecure or like you can’t do something, but some characters just get to extreme. They have to go around saying that they suck at this and that and a re super ugly when they’re not. One example of this was Juliette from Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I hated her so much!

Dead/Absent Parents

Okay, okay, okay I don’t hate this one, and I understand that it helps move the story along, but this shows up in fiction so much, it’s just so annoying at this point! Where are our characters who have super awesome and fun parents? Why are teens the only ones have super powers or something, why not the adults or parents? I’m just saying, it would be nice to have more parents in YA especially, just because majority of our protagonists have dead parents. I’m not going to even give an example because I would be listing off 90% of books I’ve read.

So, those are some of my biggest bookish pet peeves. What are some of your bookish pet peeves/turn-offs? 

4 responses to “Bookish Pet Peeves

  1. I agree with this whole list!! I get so confused when there are too many POVs and ughhh jealous love interests are the worst – especially when they’re really possessive. I still understand why authors continue to include instalove. Another bookish pet peeve I have is when characters are absolutely clueless of why another is interested in them or don’t understand why they’re so special when it’s right in their face.

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      I get extra POVs can be needed to move the story along, but they’re just too confusing. When a love interest is super jealous I feel like it just ruins the whole book and makes me no longer want to read it. I also think instalove is so common in YA because the main characters are always teenagers. And I totally agree that characters who can’t understand why someone wouldn’t like them. Characters who act like that make me want to reach through e book and murder then. Also, thanks for stopping by! 🙂

  2. Totally agree with you with instalove. Love interests who are jealous without any reason to be (seen something that LOOKS LIKE flirting/abandonment issues due to something in their backstory/whatever) are also annoying.

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      Exactly! Especially when they’re already broken up and still get super jealous and possessive. Ugh, I can’t even stand books with characters like that.