Book Pet Peeves?

[Ember]

I hate it when a character has a pet but then the pet gets forgotten and never mentioned again. It drives me nuts.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

I don't want my protagonist to be a Mary Sue - but I at least want them to be likable. That's why I can't stand Patricia Cornwall's Scarpetta stuff. Every single character in that series is repulsive. I read a few because they seem like they would be my kind of thing. They're not. I have ended each one hoping that the bad guy takes out Kay and her whole entire crew.

 

[Minnie_me]

I hate it when authors have "pet phrases" that they use way too much. Why don't editors call them out on it? It's especially easy to notice when you read more than one book by the same author.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I hate open-ended endings. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! Don't make me guess or leave it to m imagination.

Maybe that's why I prefer non-fiction or historical fiction.

 

[Andtototoo]

I hate it when a character has a pet but then the pet gets forgotten and never mentioned again. It drives me nuts.

Or when a character has a pet or a child and the action is written in such a way that the dog cannot go outside to do his business or the animal is not being fed or the kid isn't being fed or given an opportunity to nap, sleep or eat. I read a book once in which the dog was left for several days with no mention of anyone checking on it to feed and let it out and the character sows up days later and the dog is just fine. Or there is a baby who is never fed OR sleeps for 24 hours for days (never waking up, never needing a diaper change, etc).

I don't mind changing povs, but I just read a book in which the voice of the pov changed every chapter. Every odd number chapter was written from the pov of "Sam" in the third person and every even number chapter was written from the pov of "John" in the first person. Why would an author do that? Either write it all in the 3rd person or 1st person.

 

[DWGal210]

I don't want my protagonist to be a Mary Sue - but I at least want them to be likable. That's why I can't stand Patricia Cornwall's Scarpetta stuff. Every single character in that series is repulsive. I read a few because they seem like they would be my kind of thing. They're not. I have ended each one hoping that the bad guy takes out Kay and her whole entire crew.

I so agree. I really used to like her books, and then I thought they got way too dark for me. I don't expect/want books to be all sunshine and unicorns but someone or something has to be redeeming for me to read more.