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So you’re humming along in a really great book and then BANG! something pulls you from it. You’ve just stumbled over one of your pet peeves. This has happened to me more times than I can count, and I bet you’ve come across it too. Because I’m also an author, this is one of my biggest concerns, so I asked readers to tell me their worst pet peeves. Some of what I learned, I expected. Other things completely surprised me—and didn’t have anything to do with the actual story.
The concerns fall into four categories. I only included pet peeves most readers can relate to, because obviously readers have different preferences when it comes to genres and content ratings.
What do you think? Are some of these your biggest stumbling blocks while reading?
Funny Pet Peeves
- Your spouse walking in at all the juicy parts.
- When the sun comes up and you haven’t finished the books.
- People.
- Job/housework/food prep that needs attention when your real calling is reading.
Pet Peeves Beyond Our Control
- Interruptions (this was the biggest pet peeve in this category with multiple people agreeing).
- Noise when you’re reading.
- When your reading spot isn’t comfortable (most people like being in a comfy chair or in bed).
- Someone recommending a great book—and then telling you all about it.
- Books with too many words that readers have to look up.
- People watching you read.
Pet Peeves Readers Wish Authors Knew About
- Cliffhangers (tied for biggest pet peeve). Finish the plot, people!
- Typos and grammar errors (tied for biggest pet peeve).
- Redundant descriptions, or too much description (tied for biggest pet peeve). Move on!
- When authors use a word without understanding its meaning (i.e. fortnight means two whole weeks and then/than are NOT interchangeable).
- Being interrupted.
- Cheesy characters or situations.
- When characters act different from how they’ve been acting the entire book (so out of character). This is often done to create a plot twist or confrontation. Conflict should arise from the plot!
- Characters who use pet names right after meeting.
- When an author reminds a reader too many times about something they have already stated (one reader claims an author said a character’s name is beautiful fifty times, but as the reader didn’t agree, it was a real turnoff).
- Using multiple character names that sound the same or begin with the same letter. Too hard to keep straight!
- When a book suddenly changes from one genre to another (you start out reading a gothic horror and suddenly end up with a paranormal romance).
- A book that is too short (need more time with characters).
- Words that are repeated too often.
- Head hopping, which means point-of-view switches between character that happen without warning (new chapter or dingbat division is preferred).
- Too many love triangles.
- Lack of basic research.
- Slowly moving storylines.
- Stories that should be one book but are dragged out for three or four.
- Bad or overly sad endings.
Production Issues
- Audio book narrators who mispronounce words or names.
- When the book blurb (description) makes the book sound completely different than it really is. Expectations matter!
- Missing pages or poorly designed interior.
- Poor cover design that makes you not want to read the book in the first place.
Please tell me below what your biggest pet peeves are, and I’ll spread the word to the authors. You can also weigh in on the Facebook post.
Errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Murder by ice pick – no one uses them anymore. People have ice cube trays or ice makers, or can buy bagged ice.
I don’t have a problem with cliffhangers, so long as there is a next book in the series and I don’t have to wait too long for it. In this age of self publishing it is rare to have to wait long, and a e-book is cheaper than a coffee to go. How many Netflix series end on cliffhangers? I’d say all of them, with one or two years to wait for the following season. That is, if they don’t cancel the show.
Cliffhangers or not, there is a story arc in every book that sets the time and pace. Three books in a series is three books.
Cliffhangers and typos/wrong word used or missing words tie for me as my biggest pet peeves. A close second would be all the romance in fantasy books. I don’t mind a little romance here and there but if I wanted the hot and steamy, I would read a romance novel, not fantasy!!!
OH! And – speaking of hot and steamy, it would be helpful if books containing romance (of any genre) make the heat level clearer in the blurb. For instance, I’ve seen “sweet” used as a description for “clean” (no swearing/sex) romance; and I’ve also seen it used to mean a book where the romance is adorable, but steamy – which can be very confusing!
P.S. And this need for clarity applies to ANY fiction genre that could potentially have romance as a significant focus – fantasy, historical, sci-fi, etc.
Fantasy CAN have romance as a big focus, but I think there should be a clear delineation between fantasy ROMANCE and fantasy that doesn’t have romance (or it’s not the main focus). Often when I’m assessing books via the blurb, I skim it to see if there’s a mention of romance, because I love romance. 😉 But others don’t – and it would be helpful for both groups to have romance or the lack thereof made clear in the blurb.
I think there is a little romance in almost anything, but you have a very good point. Different genres have (or should have) different focuses.
Reader expectation is very important!
Pet Peeve:
I think when you pick a cover for a book, it should actually match the characters IN the book. A lot of people literally choose a book by its cover.
I agree! Unfortunately, authors often don’t really get a choice in covers, at least with regular publishers.
I absolutely hate when books have a cliff hanger or unfinished plot as if the author is trying to get you to purchase 10 books from 0.99 -2.99 each. I’d rather purchase one book for 10.00-29.00. If I read, three books, and there is still not conclusion, to the same plot, I’m not willing to pay to find out. I don’t want to keep purchasing books not knowing if this will be the last one. I don’t mind books that continue in the same story line with different people, from the initial story. Or just one cliffhanger, but to continue for more than that, tries my very patience. I’ve read a series with 13 books, but each book had it’s own story and it’s own ending.
This is one of my pet peeves too. Series are great! Dragged out stories are not.
My two pet peeves are the misunderstanding plot line, as soon as that happens I’m done with that book and the use or lack of the late great apostrophe. I bought a book once and there was a sentence “Robs mothers opinion” what the heck, Robert was the name of the main male character, did someone rob his mothers and how many did he have. That little apostrophe means a lot to a sentence and the proper use is important.
Lol. This a great example of the importance of grammar.
I “hear” the words in my head as I read a book (yeah I know I’m weird, LOL). So sometimes I will read a book because I want to “hear”(no, I’m not talking about an audio book, yes, I have actually had an author tell me “that she didn’t know what I was talking about, as the narrator did an excellent job”!) an accent or foreign language (I’m in the US), so when the book is set in Scotland with a Scottish male/female lead I expect to “hear that brogue, if I can’t hear it…..well that book usually ends up on my DNF shelf. It doesn’t take a genius to look up a few foreign words and how to use them in context.
I don’t “hear” them, but I do “see” them, for me reading is like watching a movie.
I’m not aware of hearing the words as I read, but apparently I do give the characters a “voice”. A few times I’ve listened to the audio version after reading a book and thought a character sounded really different than what I imagined. It can be jarring! Unfortunately my talent doesn’t stretch as far as yours. I wish I could “hear that brogue” in my head. I love foreign accents. Usually if I know a book takes place in, or has a main character from, another country, I will choose to go with the audiobook and let the narrators carry me off to foreign lands. 😉
On the other hand, Lorelei King does such a fantastic job with the narration of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum audio books that when I decided to go back and read a couple of the earlier books that had originally been available only in abridged format, I definitely heard Lorelei’s voice for each character in my head! For me, it added to the reading experience.
My biggest pet peeve is spelling errors, words missing, things like that… I have a feeling that a lot of authors are using speech to text, because of some of the spelling errors, like one I just had an hour ago.. It should have been heeled, but it was healed… not that same thing… when I review a book, I make sure to point them out and suggest that better or even a proofreading is needed, because sometimes it doesn’t even seem like it was done at all… Just dictated and bam, out to the world… and yes, cliffhangers.. had one last week that I was totally into the book…. cut me off in the middle of her arrest to be continued in book 2… oh yeah.. I had enough emotions invested I went right away and got it and continued.. but I blasted the author in the review about it…
A lot of authors seem to be cutting off in the middle of a book these days. It’s frustrating to be sure. I don’t know about dictation, but authors or publishers really do need to invest in at least three proofers for each book.
ALL of the above! Especially the English class stuff.
My 2 pet peeves
1.. Adult Romance if any kind that have Cartoon or Animated covers I just don’t buy them as it kind of make it not such a serious read. Just my opinion
2. Seeing the same model on covers over and over
I personally get confused whether I’ve actually already got or read the book.
So potentially missing out on a really good book or I’ve bought one then realized after the first chapter I’ve read it before sheer waste off money I can’t afford at this time
X
Ooooh, good ones! I have many times seen the same model on a few books, and even sometimes 6 or more books with the exact same model(s)! It becomes very confusing – and as I link book covers to characters, it’s weird to see a man I associated with one character be also used for 4 other heros!
This reminds me of ANOTHER BIG PEEVE: when the book covers show characters that look very different from how they are described inside the books (unless the description of features is right at the start of the book, which often it isn’t). Cover art affects me quite a lot and it’s disconcerting to find out halfway through the book that the hero has blonde hair when he had jet black hair on the cover. 😉
Mary, I agree with you…do the cover designers not bother to read the book they design for? Or can’t the author describe the characters for them? For my first book, Tangled Webs, I made the cover designer re-do the cover model because her hair was the wrong color… of course, he really had no choice since my son is a graphic designer and he’s working off the orange juice he drank while growing up… LOL. But I refuse to have a cover picture that doesn’t match the characters in the story.
Okay, I now must add a HUGE new pet peeve. It’s not fully new, as I have come across this before, but never so badly as a book I’ve just finished, which has brought it back freshly and painfully to my mind. MEANINGLESSLY SAD ENDINGS. This book had a touching romance and characters that felt very real, and it was wonderful to watch them fall in love, but then at the last minute, just before they got married, something happened that meant they couldn’t end up together. The author tried to make it okay by having secondary people waiting to help them recover from their deep sadness, but they felt shoe-horned in, added just to make it “okay.” It was FRUSTRATING. Pleeeease, if I’m going to spend hours reading a book, make the end at satisfying and worth the time spent reading!!! *Mentally throws another book* 😉
That does sound really frustrating, and more of a woman’s fiction than romance, to be sure. I wonder if there is a sequel? Hmm, you probably didn’t read it! 🙂
haha – apparently there is to be a sequel at some point, but the book was written in 2016, and I checked the author’s website and the sequel is only 47% through its rough draft, apparently. Also the brief synopsis isn’t encouraging – it’s to be about both characters finding it a struggle in their new lives apart from each other. Having said all that, if there seems to be a chance of a happy ending whenever the sequel DOES come out, I might have to check it out, haha! (But I wouldn’t spend much money to find out. ) I’ve tried to make up my own happy ending for them, but my inspiration is not complying…
I like to think I’m pretty tolerant when it comes to typos and unlikely scenarios that occur in books. I appreciate every authors’ efforts to provide me with a few hours of escape and enjoyment, and after all, it is fiction. But there have been a couple of instances that went too far. I was reading a series of three contemporary romances by an author who was new to me. I loved the stories and characters, but the books were full of editing, grammatical and factual errors. The name of an actual city close to the fictional setting was repeatedly misspelled and in one situation, one well-known landmark was stated as being visible from another location that’s actually about a hundred miles away. Despite these issues, I enjoyed the books enough to go to the author’s website to see what other books might be available. Imagine my shock to discover the author also advertised her services as an editor and writing coach!
Another time I started reading a series of cozy mysteries and loved the first and second books so much that I went out and purchased the next nine books in the series. Unfortunately in book three, the author apparently decided the hero of the first two books wasn’t good enough to continue on and she brought in a new love interest for the heroine. It wasn’t like we learned the heroine had discovered something disturbing about the first man, he hadn’t been cheating or lying, he was just in fewer and fewer scenes as the new guy was showing up more and more to where, about two-thirds into the book, the original couple were no longer seeing each other. There didn’t seem to be any justifiable reason and it felt like fickleness on the part of the heroine. I was so upset that I couldn’t finish the book, let alone continue the series! My trust in the author was broken. How could I form any relationship with the characters if they were going to be written out in the next book? I’ll never buy a whole series again!
Ugh, I have come across similar things in series! In two books, the hero was really nice and adored his girlfriend and they married and he was really sweet with her, then suddenly in the third book with NO REASON GIVEN or hinted at, he was completely different in personality, fairly cold and she was grateful when he even spent part of a day with her – and it was written as if he’d always been that way, as if the author either forgot what he’d been like or changed him for the sake of the plot and pretended he’d always been like that. ANNOYING! *Mentally throws book in head 😉 *
Wow, that does sound upsetting. If that was going to happen, the other man should have been there from the beginning, and an attraction noted, I think. Still, I hope you read and enjoyed some of the later books!
One of my big pet peeves is the new trend to write books like they are all emails: no indents and a space between paragraphs. Is this because writers are getting too lazy to learn how to remove the space that Word puts between paragraphs, as though programmers don’t realize not everyone uses email exclusively. Spaces between paragraphs denote a change in POV, Time, or Setting… it’s very disruptive in the reading.
Most of my other big peeves have been covered, especially when the writer doesn’t wrap up the main conflict in each volume of a series, either limited or ongoing. I hate being “forced” to purchase another book or three just to find out how it gets resolved. It should be my choice to read on or not. I use a lot of cliffhangers in my stories; I try to end each scene and each chapter on a cliffhanger (which I interpret as a line or situation that says, “Turn the page!”) until the very end when I wrap up the main plot and the subplots. But, since I’ve started writing a series, I do leave one subplot open (Skylark’s personal life) that moves on from book to book, but I always have the main plot and other subplots wrapped up, with either a HEA or HFN (that’s Happily Ever After, or Happy For Now) ending. I want to be satisfied at the end, not frustrated.
And don’t get me started on the mis-usage of such things as: it/it’s; sit/sat; etc. Drives me bonkers!!
I so agree with you there Susan! I have noticed this, too. And more and more I’m seeing bigger gaps between paragraphs – two lines instead of one – and it makes it even harder to read, because it breaks the flow so much. I usually don’t buy the book if I see spacing like that in the sample chapters.
Rachel, that article is really good! So glad they’re not encouraging this new trend!
I agree with you entirely. And I won’t read an ebook if it doesn’t have proper indents, and I hate the spacing between paragraphs. It’s also interesting to note that Book Cave has an posts for authors on just that subject: https://mybookcave.com/authorpost/standard-vs-block-formatting-in-ebooks/.
My pet peeve, modern words/phrases used when the story is clearly from another place and time. For example, the f* bomb being dropped in a renaissance period story or say for instance the phrase “Twitter storm” popping up in a 1930’s British story. Even space opera’s which are set in the far and distant future, create new curse words and phrases, please.
So true. I recently helped another another with a fantasy, and I found too many instances of that. It’s easier to see in others’ works. That’s why editors are so important.
My pet peeve is Amazon. I constantly get emails from authors saying “free on Amazon” only to find out it isn’t free on Amazon.ca eventhough Amazon told the author it would be. It is frustrating for us and frustrating for the authors.
One thing I’ve learned about Amazon, is that if you go through a US link and you are in another country, it will charge you the full price. Instead, copy the title of the book and go directly to Amazon.ca (or UK or AU or wherever), and past in the title/author name. Often, you’ll find it is free (though sometimes if the author has to take an additional step and email Amazon to make sure). Amazon is the ONLY vendor who does this price mess-up. Kobo, Google, and iTunes all have software that gets you to the right place and the right price.
Interesting, Rachel! I usually change the url from .com to .co.uk (as I’m in the UK), which brings me to the same book on Amazon UK. Would this be effectively the same thing, or should I go straight to Amazon and put in the copied book title instead?
Yes, that is effectively the same thing! And a lot easier.
Yay! 😀
No, I’m talking about being on Amazon.ca site and it coming up not free. I have the Amazon.ca app on my phone.
That is frustrating, Teressa. I’ve had to email Amazon various times to fix prices in other countries. I wish they made it easier for authors so readers wouldn’t have to be disappointed.
Related but not the author’s fault – synopsis reviews – if they cover everything, why bother to read the book!
Exactly!
Right. This is important. It should be a teaser, not the entire plot!
My cliffhangers aren’t because I don’t finish the plot. They’re more send off points for the next book. The cliffhanger endings also set up for a joke in book 3. I won’t release book 2 until I finish book 3 because it has a hard cliffhanger, unlike the soft cliffhangers in book 1/3.
As for shifting genres, that’s one of the things that made my debut novel so unpredictable and unique. My debut novel, “The Internet President: None of the Above,” blends a dozen genres. It won an award in the Cross Genre category, so that should give people some warning. The series itself is about the world transitioning to science fiction at an exponential rate, so the series genre shifts too, with each book more science fiction than the last.
Hooks at the end of a story definitely are not cliffhangers. That’s a stay tuned, there’s more statement. If the immediate conflict is over and there is some resolution (happiness/contentment), then the reader has that satisfied moment, and it’s okay to throw in a hook. As for your “hard cliffhanger,” I hope it works for you! Some authors do have success with them.
I love a hook, and I can deal with “a” cliffhanger, but not 3 books with no end in sight. That just aggravates me. It makes me want a refund on the two or three I have already purchased. I refuse to buy more than 3.
Hooks. I love that terminology and it describes exactly what I was going for. Readers still called them cliffhangers because they (and I until now) didn’t have a more appropriate term.
Marvelous list! My pet peeve in my reading life is verbose, rambling reviews that retell the story despite the provided blurb being sufficient. Reviews are to be about whether the book is a worthwhile read and how the book affected you, made you think or feel – or at least along those lines.
I go through genre stages from sci-fi to biographies to thrillers, but during this Covid shut in, I have been fortunate to find the clean romance and cozy mystery genres I used to look down on as not being serious literature. However, I got so fed up with bad language and gratuitous sex, I had really practically stopped reading.
My favorites are stories about families, faith and character. You can have challenges that you face in life without having a big blow out that is a pet peeve on your list. Many are just misunderstandings because we all think so differently.
I had a lot of proofreading in my past also and am now an ARC reader for a few of my favorites (Jessie Gussman, Jennifer Griffith and others). I could go on, but I won’t.
Great job and comments.
Thanks for the comments. Good thing there are a lot of books out there in the genre you love.
I still love all genres, just want it PG-13 lol
I love the clean romance genre too! If characters are well written and feel “alive” to the reader, just the graze of a hand or a glance across a room can be so thrilling.
So many of those pet peeves fit in for me. Both the things listed at home, my husband, my cat. And those created by author’s, many times I’ve found myself wanting to yell at the author.
Admission: I have thrown a book across the room before!
So have I, I just didn’t want to admit it…..lol.
1) Cliffhangers – except in one scenario: they can be appropriate for the penultimate book in a sequence setting up for the Big Finale. However, book 1 should always be a complete story (even if not a story arc).
2) Characters who are too stupid to have lived as long as they have…
3)…or then act stupidly out of character (point 7 above).
4) Shoehorned-in romance where it isn’t needed. Sometimes characters don’t need to end up together to be perfectly happy…
5) Inconsistent spelling/grammar: if you’re using American English, stick to it, and the same for British English. And if you have major characters in one book from both sides of the pond: be very careful!
6) A minor point for authors: please be sure of the difference between series & serial, and use the right one in your blurbs.
While punctuation/spelling/grammar issues do catch my eye (I have acted as a proofreader before) the odd error doesn’t bother me: too many and it becomes an issue.
Nice points Tim and Mary both. Or when two subjects in a sentence have NOTHING to do with each other like: “He ate the soup, and the dog was wet.” That’s a result of poor editing. Likely a few more sentences needed to be added.
Thanks! ^_^ Yes, that’s a good one! Sometimes when sentences don’t line up it can be a result of the writer altering something in the plot and forgetting to make sure everything’s coherent afterwards.
Good ones! I have worked as a proofreader before as well. Certain errors in particular make me cringe and put me off a book the fastest:
1) When commas are used incorrectly (e.g., “She walked towards him, ‘Do you want to go now?'” or “He turned the street corner, the light was green.”)
2) When dependent clauses are not linked to the right subject (e.g. “Blinking furiously, the crowd blurred in her vision” – which is technically saying the crowd was blinking furiously. 😉 )
Though regarding romance: I personally adore romance – the more the better (hehe), as long as it makes sense with the characters’ personality and circumstances (e.g. some people would be happy single, but many wouldn’t, at least long-term).
Blinking
Love the blocking crowd
hehe! 😉
A great list! Here are some BIG ones of mine to add:
1) When the main characters act out of character or unrealistically in some way to create the big conflict near the end of a book – e.g. there is a misunderstanding that any character with 1/3 of a brain would have seen through immediately. This feels “forced” and takes me right out of the story. I’d far rather there be less of a conflict (or none at all) than for it to feel unrealistic!
2) Why in fact does there HAVE to be a culminating conflict in every single romance book? If it naturally comes about, great, but as a reader I often dread the “inevitable” big argument. “Oh, dear, here it comes… I knew it was going too smoothly…”
3) When the characters act out of character in any significant way – as if the author is forcing them to do something they wouldn’t naturally do. E.g., characters suddenly becoming super emotional for no discernible reason, characters falling in love when there is no chemistry, and characters seeming to change personality half-way through the book (all of these are far too common!).
Has anyone else felt this way?
Absolutely, I agree with you. Acting out of character is really annoying. I do like a final conflict, but only if it comes naturally from the plot. Too many times I’ve put down a book thinking, “We did this argument/angst already. This couple should be beyond this petty disbelief in each other.” This is especially true in book ten of a series, lol. I’ll add yours above!
Yay, thanks! 😀
Yes, I’m fine with a final conflict if it flows naturally. And even better if it has some positive outcome(s) – like character growth.
Haha, right! Not a good sign when you want to hit the characters over the head with the book. 😉
Haha. Or with a crowbar!
haha! Maybe THEN they’d listen! Or… wake up with amnesia. 😉
Haha!