10 things that bug you most when you’re reading or, put bluntly,  ‘book turn offs’.

I saw this over on Mega Mad 4 Books.  It’s a weekly meme entitled Top Ten Tuesdays hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and wanted to take part.  Unfortunately I missed the opportunity (ahem, by almost a week!) but still wanted to have a go because the cogs were already in motion.  Here are my contributions:

1. Book jackets that bear no relation whatsoever to the content – what is the point??  Don’t show me a blond haired white girl with a sword and tattoos if it’s about an Asian girl dragon slayer who uses a crossbow!  I’d sooner have a plain cover than a misleading one.
2. Inaccuracies in content during a series – keep to the programme please.  If I can do it then so can you.
3. Errors in spelling and grammar – can stomach a little bit but if I have to start backtracking to make sense of the sentence then I’m pretty quickly going to lose patience/the will to carry on reading.
4. Made up slang that requires a glossary in order to understand.  I don’t want to keep flipping backwards and forwards all the time.  It’s up to the author to use the language in a way that makes it possible to grasp – that being said I don’t mind there being a glossary for reference purposes – just more that I don’t want to take twice as long to read the book because I’m constantly having to study definitions.
5. The inevitable love triangle!  Bored with that now.
6. Huge info dumps.  Be a bit more subtle please and find a way to deliver the information without a 30 page history lecture.
7. Sex, violence and profanity used purely for the shock value rather than to add to the story.  Don’t mind it being there but not for the sake of it.
8. False modesty in the characters.  You know, the beautiful girl who doesn’t know she’s beautiful even though men and women are falling over themselves to get her attention.
9. Rushed endings where it feels like the author had simply had enough and wanted it over and done with!
10. Fur coat no knickers – in other words lots of plot and action but very flat characters with, well, no character

Now, what about you??