Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and feature lists related to all things bookish–characters, authors, titles, and favorites. They’re an excellent way to find new interesting books on a variety of topics, and to find bloggers that love the books you do.
Check out their blog for their top ten and lists of other bloggers who participate.
April 25: Top Ten Things That Will Make Me Instantly NOT Want To Read A Book (topic originally done back in 2013) — tell us all your book turn offs!
1. Angst. Conflict is the driving force of many a book–but angst is pointless hand-wringing and goes nowhere.
2. Consent issues. Very occasionally I’ll forgive a book where one character kidnaps/buys/etc. another at the start of a relationship, but usually I just pass on the book instead.
3. Flat Characters. If there’s no character development, especially if the female characters are more object than person, it’s not the book for me.
4. Info dumps. Good world building is a favorite of mine–and long, dry informational paragraphs are a serious pet peeve.
5. Moralizing. I’ve read a few Aesop’s fables, but I don’t want a moral buried in my fiction. Especially if it’s hidden for the first bit, and then suddenly starts clubbing you over the head.
6. Poor writing. I can forgive the occasional mistake, but if a book has an overall weak grasp of sentence structure, verb tense, etc., I’m not reading on.
7. Typos. If I spot a glaring mistake on the first page, I’m putting it down.
8. Unhappy endings. I can tolerate cliffhangers and some sadness. But an ending that has no hope in it at all… if I get a hint a book is ending that way, I’ll read ahead, and abandon it if it’s true.
9. Unnecessary love triangles. If it’s just wedged in there for no good reason, making the plot limp along, someone should have edited it out of its misery.
10. Violence against women and children. I may read a book where it happens, but if there’s a great deal of detail, it only depresses me.
caitlinsternwrites 
Ah, I like angst to a point in some books. It really has to go with the topic, though. I can see why you wouldn’t like it. Nice list!
My TTT.
Well, a little angst might be forgivable. 😉
I found a few typos in a book that was really good, minding i finished the book but the sentence would take me a few times to read it over and over to figure out what it was suppose to be or why it was in there anyways.
Usually I find the bad writing too distracting to enjoy the story. But glad you found a diamond in the rough!
Good list! Though I, too, am torn by the angst. I think it has to be suitable – angst about truly serious situations is so much more forgivable than angst about, say, which of the two boys only one of whom is nice is worth dating. That I have no patience for.
But the not nice one is soooo handsome when he broods! 😀
Great picks for this week, I definitely agree with most of these. Love triangles I just find unnecessary and while I’m not avoiding books with them in anymore I won’t go as far to say I love seeing them. Also yeah violence against women and children is a major no go for me as well.
Oh, stealth violence is what really gets me. Give me some kind of warning, will you, author?
Yep, I completely get what you mean, it’s kind of why I put triggers/trigger warnings on my list this week.
Flat female characters are the worst. I love Dickens but he can’t write women well.
Some authors have no good female characters, which always confuses me. People are just… people, male/female/whatever.
Great list Caitlin! I agree with 100% of these, honestly you nailed all of them! 🙂
😉
Yes to all of these! I’m especially not keen on info dumping, love triangles, or graphic violence against women & children. I would say the graphic violence against children is more of a book sensitivity then a “turn off”… I used to be able to “tolerate” it a little more, but since becoming a mother myself I just get too emotional.
It’s a terrible thing.