I’ll go first. Mine is when the characters constantly drink and it’s not presented as problematic or unusual in anyway. I recently finished Diavola by Jennifer Thorne, and everyone was downing booze morning, noon, and night like it was water. Nary a hangover in sight. I’ve noticed it in other books like Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake and Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. Like guys come on it is NOT always wine-o-clock somewhere.
Again, it’s specifically in instances where regular binge drinking is not treated like a flaw, conflict, or issue.
(I understand I am probably the only one bothered by this but I stand by it. I can otherwise like a book but this irks me).
by IndigoBlueBird
11 Comments
It rarely happens but in the book I’m reading, they used “your” instead of “you’re” and I had to put the book down. I’m 130 pages in and it’s good! But I’m upset
Green eyes. So many characters with green eyes, yet I have only ever seen one person with them during my 57 years on this planet. Greenish? Yes, several. Green? One.
In YA novels, when a girl is always shy around boys because she’s ‘not like other girls’. This wouldn’t bother me if it only happened occasionally, but I remember reading so many YA novels when the main character was like this. Why can’t authors just write a girl who is confident around boys and flirts with them? I guess because of purity culture
I agree with you. One of my favorite books always describes them as drinking beer or wine. Every single time. Even with breakfast… Do they not have water? And how do any of them function?
When characters go to sleep with wet hair. I don’t know if it’s a thing americans actually do (I’m from south america) but it bothers me a lot when they take a shower, wash their hair, then just go to bed without any indication of using a blow dryer, on the contrary some authors often reinforce they go to sleep with their hair dripping wet
I don’t know if it’s just the types of book I prefer to read but I don’t like modern pop culture references, it really takes me out of the book and I’m not sure why. I’d rather the character just put the tv on rather than sit down and watch Walking Dead or something
A sex scene that refers to someone’s “bottom.” I cannot.
Using too many similes. Most of the time it just isn’t necessary.
Plot dumps in dialogue!
I hate when the amount they are drinking does not correspond to how drunk they are acting. Like fine have the character down 5 drinks in an hour bc of
nerves or whatever but they should also be throwing up soon.
Eating and drinking are an easy for authors (and movies) to make “something happen” when all they’re trying to do is have a conversation to establish plot or character. Going to the drinks table or pausing to carve the steak can break up an endless line of quotes.