Friday, November 2, 2012

Feature and Follow #2 -- Deal Breakers


This is my second Feature and Follow Friday. Feature and Follow is a blog tour organized by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It's a great way to meet more book bloggers--find friends, find new blogs to follow, and get followers yourself. Just follow the Feature and Follow button above and follow the rules...then follow some blogs and hopefully people will follow you too! ;)

This week's question is: 

Q: What is a deal breaker for you in a book? For example, do you abhor love triangles? Or can't deal with bad editing?


This is a difficult question for me. There are a lot of things that annoy me in books, but often these things depend entirely upon my mood. I thought a long time about it and came up with two books that I really disliked and "everyone" else liked: The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga. Of course, the only reason these books stand out in my mind is because they are so gushingly popular. I guess that brings point one: Over-hyped books. I really wish I weren't influenced by other people when I decide what I think about a book. But unfortunately, I am. If a book is hyped, I go in with high hopes. And if the book is disappointing, then it doesn't land in the obscure "oh, yeah, I read that...didn't really like it" category. It goes right into the "passionately dislike" category. I try very hard not to let this happen when I read hyped books, but sometimes I can't avoid it. 

Another thing that these books have in common is that they are YA books about a girl who can't decide which guy she wants. Perhaps I was a particularly decisive teenager, but I could never relate to that sort of waffling, and I think it's WAY too common in YA books these days. It seems like the stock romantic filler for any good YA urban fantasy or dystopia. If I saw it less frequently, it would bother me less.

The final thing that they have in common was that I simply didn't like the main characters. I don't mind a well-developed anti-hero, mind you, but these were characters that I was SUPPOSED to like. Bella was weak and needy. She teased Jacob with her coy "oh, let me cuddle with you, but it's not because I have feelings for you....oh, let me kiss you, but it's not because I have feelings for you." She was quite negligent of other people's feelings. She was very self-centered and self-pitying. And Edward was simply stalkingly creepy. It makes me shudder that teens think Bella and Edward's relationship is healthy and heart-throbbingly romantic. As for Katniss, I only read the first book, so I can't vouch for what sort of character development occurred in the next two books. I felt she was unrealistically tough. And she was too ready to kill. 

I guess it's a combination of factors that breaks the deal for me. I suppose I shouldn't start out with an unrealistic view of how fantastic a book is. Then, I shouldn't repeatedly defend my reasons for not liking this oh-so-amazing book, because that only reinforces my dislike to the point so it burns with a passion equal in force to the love my friends feel for the book.

I'm not saying I dislike EVERY over-hyped book, mind you. Just the ones that I dislike. ;)



Don't forget to sign up for my Social Justice Theme Read (February 2013). Sign up in advance, review one book on social justice / injustice OR write an entry about a social justice / injustice issue during February and send me the link, and you'll be entered into a giveaway for $10 gift certificate from Amazon for EACH post! :)

26 comments:

  1. Bad editing is definitely a deal breaker. I've run across books that everyone is raving about and yet I can't get past the first chapter because the editing is so bad. Also, I'm sick of virgins. If I have to read about another virgin (that's not young adult) I'm gonna scream. Ditto in the happy endings that wrap up all neat. A little reality goes a long way with me.

    New follow via GFC.

    Julie~ New Adult Addiction

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  2. this post made me giggle because it's so true. but i like all that stuff -- except bad editing!

    trish - my follow friday

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  3. Great answer!

    I'm a new GFC follower. You can follow me back here http://www.thedemonlibrarian.com/2012/11/feature-follow-friday-november-2nd-2012.html

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  4. I love your comment about YA girls. The waffling and liking every boy is very annoying. Way too many YA teen love triangles.

    new follower. Here's my FF:
    http://booksojourner.blogspot.com/2012/11/feature-follow-1.html

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  5. I rarely read YA books, just because I can't stand whiny teenage girl angst. I couldn't even stand it when I was a teenage girl, lol. New GFC follower.

    ~ Cia
    www.ciasstories.blogspot.com

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  6. New follower!

    Yes, over-hyped books can make it difficult to form your own opinion of them.

    http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/11/follow-friday.html

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  7. Thanks for stopping by everyone! I'm off to visit your posts now. :)

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  8. I see you're a Star Trek fan. Love the name of your blog. Can't go past an episode of the Borg.

    Thanks for stopping by. Following you back :)

    Marilyn @ Marilyn's Mystery Blog

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  9. Very interesting. I liked Twilight when the first read it when it first came out (the shame!) and after it got popular I couldn't help myself from hating it. I don't know what it is....

    New follow.
    Alise - My FF Post

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  10. I couldn't get into Twilight. It was just so awful. I want to read them all the way through to be able to say I did, but I just can't bring myself to. I haven't read the Hunger Games yet, but that's because they don't really interest me.

    Thanks for stopping by! I've refollowed you.

    -Ariel
    My FF

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  11. "It makes me shudder that teens think Bella and Edward's relationship is healthy and heart-throbbingly romantic." I completely agree with this statement! I worry all the time what message some of these books send to young people. While I liked Katniss, Bella annoyed the hell out of me.

    Thanks for stopping by The Book Asylum and following. I'm a new follower via GFC.

    Happy Friday,
    Megan

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  12. It is pretty hard to get into a book when you don't like the main character.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    New follower.

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  13. Well thought out response! New follower through GFC as lucyatmax/no pic. I can be found and followed at bethartfromtheheart.blogspot.com .
    Have a great week end!
    Beth :D

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  14. Interesting to read the other side - the people who don't like these popular books!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog, I'm a new follower through GFC!

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  15. I intensely disliked Bella Swan!

    New follower

    -Amanda P
    Paranormal Romance

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  16. GREAT answers!

    New Follower via GFC. Would love for you to stop by my blog and check it out. :)

    Christine
    Rainy Day Reads
    www.rainydayreads.com

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  17. Thanks for stopping by and returned the favor.

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  18. Thanks for becoming a follower of my blog. I'm now following you back via GFC and look forward to more of your posts.

    The Scarf Princess

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  19. I love your answer! I totally forgot about my peeve of over-hyped books until you mentioned it!
    Thanks for stopping by my FF.
    new follower :)

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  20. I loved your post! I will admit that I was a twi-hard. Notice the was! I owe Twilight for getting me back into reading my supernatural books, but now I definitely agree with everything you said. Although I read the Hunger Games series I was not a huge fan of them and found them too bloody for YA. Thanks for stopping by my blog! New GFC!

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  21. I'm not a fan of the overly-angsty girls either. Thanks for stopping by my FF this week. I'm following you back via GFC.

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  22. You have a great answer here :)
    Also, wanted to thank you for commenting and following on my site! Just followed you!

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  23. Hate me a waffling girl! It's not that difficult to decide, really it's not! ;)

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  24. What a shame you don't like THG - I personally really enjoyed reading it! But I completely agree with the comments on Twilight though - especially the part about their unhealthy relationship!
    Thanks for stopping by and following my blog, I’ve returned the favor :)
    Katie @ Fiction Predictions

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  25. Good answer. I hate it when books have a lot of hype and end up falling short. I feel that way about the 50 shades books, myself.
    And I know what you mean about YA love triangles. If they are believable or plausible and I can understand where the characters are coming from, it doesn't bother me, but girls being indecisive for no reason just irks me.
    I liked The Hunger Games and Twilight, but I realize that both of these I read before I had known they were going to be a big deal. And even though I liked them, I cannot for the life of me figure out why or how they turned into huge things that people freak out over.
    Thanks for stopping by and following. Following you back!
    Megan @ Love Literature Art and Reason

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  26. I know right! Bella's just a tad bit on the crazy side, its so unrealistic and god, over-hyped books! Especially when you kind of got there first and then two years later when a movie comes out suddenly the whole world knows about it and then gets obsessive about it and then the book is just ruined for you. Why, society, why?

    Get answer! Thanks for stopping by! Following you back :)

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What do you think? I love getting comments!