Skip to main content

BTP's ROMANCE Book Pet Peeves

In January, I shared a list of Bookish Pet Peeves. Well it's July, and I am back with more pet peeves but this time relating to romance books. Let me know if you think any of these things are nerve-shredding too. 

Romance is a genre with many tropes (enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, forced proximity, etc.). A very frequently used theme for romance books is the classic "opposites fall in love" or become really good friends in the beginning. While I have read books with this trope and liked them, I don't fully understand how this is supposed to work. If two people "are polar opposites" (as some back covers report), how did they meet or become friends (much less lovers)? Shared experience is how I've met almost everyone I know, so if two people "have nothing in common," they couldn't have become even acquaintances. 

If the protagonist has a "unique name" - I'm out. O-U-T. Any Pepperidges, Zeldas, or Evies, and I can't go on. Also, bad nicknames that are short for already horrible first names can almost ruin books. Sometimes in my head, I switch the name of the person to something a little more manageable. For example, a protagonist named Clementine - I've come to terms with that. I can deal. Then, the author makes a vague side-character yell, "Hey Clemmy, over here!" YUCK. 

Here are some lines I hope never read again:

"She let a breath slip out of her she didn't know she was holding."

"She wasn't like other girls." OR "But he wasn't like other boys."

"But I'm *pause* complicated, *insert man's name here*."

"I dropped out of college."

"Her breath caught in her chest." 

Half-naked guys on the cover of books. While it makes certain types of books identifiable, it's annoying. 

Writing ill-suited couples just for the sake of a sexy storyline is unimpressive. Making a morally gray, socially awkward man who is kind of a slob fall in love with a fashion major extrovert who he would normally hate makes me mad. No real person thinks "Hey, this woman will make me a better person and less of an introvert." Real people think "This girl annoys me." The author that writes something like this is trying to write something "different" but ends up publishing a book that's cheesy and the same as a lot of other raomance books I've read. 

Oh no, two people that just met and/or hate each other, there is only one bed in this motel room! Whatever will we do? How in the world will we, two people that despise each other, sleep in the same bed? Because this one bed implies that we will later on have a romantic relationship. One of us will have to sleep in the chair. Even though we are both falling down with exhaustion let's talk all night about my alcoholic father and your dead brother. 


I will be back to update this over the years. You can bet on it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Author Spotlight: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley At my school, I am a Library Leader. (Library Leaders promote reading in the middle school and recommend books for the younger grades.) The Library Leaders had the fortunate opportunity of eating lunch and meeting with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. We got to ask her questions and just talk with her. Mrs. Bradley also spoke to the whole seventh and eighth grade in assembly about her research. 1)      When/How does she write? Mrs. Bradley writes in the morning, but this depends on her chores for the day. She got into her routine when her children, now graduating college and out of college, were small and went to school. She would always wait until her husband took them to drop them off at school. She likes for her writing space to be very quiet. She prefers typing when she when she writes as to writing. (This may be pretty common; I do not know what the common format among writers is today. I just thought I would include eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Long Way Down

A Long Way Down Written in verse, A Long Way Down by J ason Reynolds is a novel about making a moment’s decision. *DISCLAIMER: The story deals with grief, mild cussing, and gun violence. Plot Summary: Will doesn’t live in a so great part of town. This African-American teen’s brother, Shawn, is shot and killed by a member of gang member in a near-by part of town. Will decides to follow ‘The Rules’. (‘The Rules’ are passed on through generations of members of this community and they are: 1. DON’T CRY 2. NO SNITCHING 3. ALWAYS GET REVENGE.) Will decides to kill the gang member who killed Shawn. He HAS to follow ‘The Rules’. He gets on the elevator to go down to the Lobby and the elevator stops at every floor. People that have been shot in the past and were in his life get on the elevator at every floor. This thriller is written over one minute and nine seconds. Author Praise/Critique: Jason Reynolds is a very talented poet. The book is very visually pleasing because ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Reading and writing, reading and writing, reading and writing: that's what I hope to keep doing all summer (with some swimming and seeing friends mixed in there too!). Here's another review! This is Stuart Turton's The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle,  and it's a doozy.  SUMMARY THE RULES OF BLACKHEATH Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let's begin... Evelyn Hardcastle WILL die. And every day Aiden Bishop WILL try to identify her killer and break this neverending cycle he has somehow found himself in. But every time a new day begins, Aiden inhabits the body of a different guest at Blackheath. Some of Aiden's hosts will be more helpful than others. Some of Aiden's hosts are more capable than others. Some of Aiden's hosts start to overcome Aiden's true personality. Then again, who is Aiden? A...
Post a Comment
Read more