By Tessa @TessaTalksBooks Posted on

Book Blogger Hop | Book Pet Peeves

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The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Billy @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to their own blog.

Question:

Do you have a pet peeve about books?

(submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Answer:

I am a person with many pet peeves, including saying, ”pet peeve.” lol. Okay, I’m just kidding about that…I think 🤔. The following are my book pet peeves:

1. Writing in the margins of a book.

I don’t like the author’s words cluttered up with someone else’s thoughts, and I never understand what the note taker is talking about anyway, so that’s a big no-no for one of my physical books.

2. Cliffhangers that are used for the sole purpose of trying to entice you to read the next book in the series.

This is my logic, if you have written a book that I enjoyed – I’m reading the next book regardless of if the book ends with a cliffhanger or not. So, SOMETIMES the cliffhanger is a very annoying to me because it feels like the author doesn’t believe I will read the next book based on the merit of the story.

That being said, the book I reviewed yesterday – The Silvered Serpents – ended with a cliffhanger but it felt like a natural pause in the story, so this did not annoy me. That is the distinction between when a cliffhanger is a pet peeve and when it is not for me. Is it a natural pause or is it contrived to make me want to read the next book?

I also am annoyed by cliffhangers when there is not the guarantee of a next book. 🤯

3. Multiple narrators that are not distinct.

When there are multiple narrators and they are all speaking in the same voice, I get very confused if I have to take a break and come back to the story. I’ve read many good examples of multiple narrators, but I have also read very annoying/confusing examples.

What are your pet peeves when it comes to books?

33 Replies to “Book Blogger Hop | Book Pet Peeves”

    1. Tessa says:

      Definitely understandable. I’ve noticed my own irritation when an author inaccurately writes about an area that I live in. It really stands out to me.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Davida Chazan says:

        Yes… there was one book set in Chicago, where apparently the author didn’t bother to check anything about the city, and tried to put a warehouse building on the lakefront… but that has NEVER been allowed, and even along the river within the city limits you can’t have that kind of building. GRRR!

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Just_Me :) says:

    1. Books that start so great but end poorly.
    2. When people say they don’t like reading.
    3. Interrupted while reading.

    Do these count? Enjoy your day! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      They definitely count! I always wonder when people tell me they don’t like reading. Why would you tell me that when you know what I do? Such a conversation stopper. ❤️🤗

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Teri Polen says:

    Yes – #3! I’ve read books with six POVs and every one of them is distinct. I’ve read some with two POVs and I can’t tell them apart. Also not a fan of tossing in romance (especially when it’s not logical or does nothing ot propel the plot) just for the sake of having a romantic element – just read one of those earlier this week.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Mae Clair says:

    I’m totally with you on #2 and #3 Tessa. Those are two of my HUGE pet peeves as well.

    I do admit when I use a non-fiction book for novel research, I mark it up like crazy–underscores, highlights, notes–it’s well-loved by the time I’m through, LOL.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      You know, I’m fine with highlights in a book for research but even those books writing in the margin annoyed me. I would write on paper and just indicate a page.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Mae Clair says:

        Would you believe I do that, too? I have whole notebooks dedicated to my research, but I still feel compelled to scribble and highlight. I’m diabolical when I’m in research mode 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Louise H says:

    I don’t read physical books any longer but would never have written in one when I did. And so very much yes to cliffhangers and indistinct narrators.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. swordsandspectres says:

    Nothing worse than those last 2 peeves. Having to wait after a cliff hanger for a year or more really waters down the emotion.

    And indistinct narrators just make the whole thing feel so bland.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. cherelle the bibliophile says:

    One of my pet peeves are dropping bookmarks which make me lose my page number and potentially seeing spoilers when hunting for the right page afterwards. My own actions annoying myself haha! Hope that counts. 😊😅

    Liked by 1 person

  11. @lynnsbooks says:

    Multiple POVs can be difficult to pull off but when it’s done well I love it.
    And, I’m really not a fan of cliffhangers.
    Lynn 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Tessa says:

      I’m glad I’m not alone in that. I love multiple POVs when done well, especially unreliable ones – they are so fun to figure out.

      Like

  13. D. Wallace Peach says:

    I agree totally on the cliffhangers, Tessa.
    Another thing that makes a book almost unreadable for me is similar to “indistinct” narrators. It’s head-hopping. That usually ends up as a DNF.
    Oh, and I agree about love triangles and romance for the sake of romance. Ugh. Lol.

    A fun question.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Shalini says:

    Not sure… But don’t like cliffhangers, love triangles, too much angst, long long descriptions of the settling but not much of plotline, many POV, sometimes first person present tense, basically present tense too irks me but I am learning to get used to it

    Liked by 2 people

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