Top 10 Things I Dislike Seeing in Books + Some books that managed to pull them off!

i’m writing this late bc im a mess and i spent the last 24 hours HARDCORE binging ‘grave mercy’ and every time i reminded myself of all the things i had to get done, my brain was like,,,,,”bUT THE BOOK”

guess who won??

anyways, last week, i went all soft and wrote about the top 10 things i love to see in books and so to balance my sweet, here’s some salt

but not entirely salt bc i am also going to be mentioning SOME books that used this tropes, but played them well

10. lots of dialogue

i think this is only a me thing bc i haven’t seen a lot of people complain about it, but i find it really tiring when a book is FILLED with dialogue and there’s hardly development of the plot, setting, conflict etc.

naturally, its going to be lacking bc with dialogue, you’re going to have a lot of //telling// rather than //showing//

9. insta-love

here’s the thing about instalove, it’s not all bad. in fact there are a lot of books that i ADORE that have instalove and i don’t get bothered by it; when the romance furthers the plot

generally in YA, the couple getting together is the big accomplishment, so when they’re all googly-eyed for each other early on, it takes away from the anticipation

HOWEVER

when the romance is used as a PLOT DEVICE, that’s where things can get interesting

laini taylor pulled this off REALLY well, in my honest professional opinion

8. missing parents / unrealistic student life

these kids are coming home from 8 hours of school, put no effort into their PERFECT grades and then run off to save the day and their parents aren’t like ‘??oh i wonder what my offspring is off doing?? eh, theyre probably fine.’

THAT’S. NOT. REALLY. HOW. IT. WORKS.

the missing parents and totally unrealistic school life (especially in YA contemporary) is bothersome bc…..how am i supposed to relate to this??

after a long day of school, i would come home and turn into a potato, watching youtube and wiping my tears with my essay papers

7. resurrection trope

when it’s done really badly, it can entirely ruin a good book. the resurrection trope is SO overly-used and excessively dramatic for no good reason.

it’s not something i see done well, often times, but when it is, it has the ability to add some really interesting twist to the book

not giving any spoilers here, but this series pulled it off pretty well (i think so, at least)

6. villain redemption arc

this one bothers me A LOT for some reason. i find it so cheap when a villain does their last monologue and they reveal all their secrets and theyre like ‘but im good and pure deep down so all is forgiven’

i WANT developed, flawed characters but when the villain is evil for 300 pages and then decides that OH YEAH BUT ITS OKAY BC I HAVE A TRAGIC PAST im like: “no”

but do it right and you can get a REALLY developed, really realistic antihero

i’m upset at how empathetic this book made me for these ‘villains’ without forgiving them, amazing.

5. oh-so-gorgeous characters

this…..is just annoying

i’m over hearing how 16 year olds have the perfect bodies and how they could all go into modeling and how everyone is SUPER fit with abs and sharp jaws

do…..authors…..know….what 16 year olds look like?????

i love seeing books that show body positivity and give us different, realistic body types, whether short or tall or skinny or fat. we just need this MORE

4. girl hate

do you know what i love in books??? girls supporting girls and helping them to be better and stronger and supporting them through all the bad

I DONT WANT GIRLS TURNING THEIR NOSES UP ON EACH OTHER JUST BC ‘omg she’s dating the guy i like’

sis, plz, you’re better than that

and im not dismissing the idea that there shouldn’t be any evil, catty female characters but when our main character detests EVERY girl except her token best friend, i’m gonna be side eyeing

^for clarification, there is a lot of ‘girl hate and shaming’ taking place in this book but i think the message that the book ends with is really what makes it profound. showing how harmful these ideas are, really puts it into a lasting perspective

3. miscommunication

this is sooooooo aggravating. i understand miscommunications happen in real and a lot of times people don’t like putting themselves in a vulnerable position

but when it’s written in books its ridiculous.

they’ll be these outrageous, life-altering decisions that a character will keep to themselves and then 10 pages later their family/friends/partner finds out and it all goes to crap

i just do not have the will to deal

2. love triangles

love triangles are like the MAIN trope everyone is quick to drag and rightly so (usually) bc its laughable at how 2-super-hot-extremely-fit-guys are pinning over this plain-jane-damsel-in-distress-girl while the world is literally burning up in flames

and the most annoying part about them is that they’re so one-dimensional bc you can SEE it coming from 600 pages away

has anyone ever been properly shocked by a love triangle plz raise your hand

i MUST admit tho, i’ve seen some love triangles (v rare) that were played with a twist and done right and those are something special

y’all saw this coming

1. break up as a plot device

THIS REALLY BOTHER ME

and FUNNY STORY i was casually reading my very first WIP (my goodness, the cringeeeeee) and I LITERALLY USED IT TOWARDS THE END AND I WAS SCREAMING

it shall never see the light of day, if it is up to me

brb, off to block myself

but seriously when i SEE how often this is used in books it makes me wanna chuck it. I UNDERSTAND the author is trying to build angst etc. but its just such a SILLY way to do it

WHATS THE POINT OF BREAKING THE COUPLE UP JUST TO HAVE THEM GET BACK TOGETHER IN 15 PAGES AAAAAAAA it just feels like MASSIVE filler to me and im not having it

i think i talked everyone’s ear off. that’s it for now. i want to hear from you, what are you least favourite things to find in books? do you agree with my list? do you disagree?

i wanna hear it all.

thanks for reading & stay hydrated, ducks,