Everyone has those hot buttons that ticks them off when they read. Whether it be bullying, or heroines that are To Stupid To Live, or heroes that are alpha-holes, they’re there. What works for one person doesn’t work for another. It may be because of personal experiences. In fact, I’d bet that would be the number one cause of a hot button issue.

So for today’s post, I thought I would share a few of my irritations, especially since I’m reading a series that seems to encompass everything I hate in a book. I’d stop reading it, except I’m kind of fascinated by it, in a sort of train-wreck-can’t-look-away way.

1. Make the entire book about a misunderstanding.

You know what I’m talking about. Couple gets together. They have a good time and then they break up. Hero gets female friend (who is married and having issues with her own husband) to petsit for him and goes off for the weekend. Meanwhile, heroine goes to apologize to hero. She knocks on the door. Hero’s friend is arguing with husband on the phone, wearing hero’s robe. Then tells heroine that the hero isn’t there and then slams the door in her face. Then conveniently forgets to tell the hero that the heroine came by later.

We’re all human, which means we forget things. But when no one talks about these things? I’m just put out. A series of them becomes coincidence, which while it happens in real  life, isn’t enough to carry a story on the page.

2. Have your heroine make the worst decision possible.

Now with this one, that might be a good thing… except when it adds up to negligence. Like, for example, I’m reading this book, a romance. The heroine gets a call from the police (we won’t metion the inaccuracy here about police procedures…) saying her store is in a hostage situation and she has to come immediately.

Now at this moment, she’s taking care of her Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother, who is sleeping. I read this part, cringing, because I realized what the author was going to do. She calls a friend, gets said friend to come stay with grandmother. But the police show up and friend isn’t there. Heroine ASSUMES friend will be there in a few minutes and leaves the grandmother alone, when it’s been proven already that she can’t be left alone.

Now there’s a lot wrong here. Like why didn’t she ask a police officer to stay with her grandmother until the friend got there? What possessed her to leave someone by themself who has proven they can’t be left alone? After this, I was done with the heroine. The hero was already on my nerves, but this situation and the handling of it by the heroine turned me off.

3. Make your secondary characters more loveable.

I have mad love for secondary characters. I really do. It’s the stuff of sequels. But when it gets to the point where the secondary characters take over the book? It’s too much.

Probably the one offender that sticks out for me is JR Ward’s Lover Unleashed. The book is supposed to be about Payne and Manny… but ends up being a second Vishous and Jane book. Don’t get me wrong. I liked Vishious and Jane. But I was super excited for Payne, because she was this warrior chick and all RAWR! and I wanted to know more about her story. But then… yeah… I won’t spoil it for those that hadn’t read yet.

4. Try to make it an issue book.

There’s a current trend to make romance more literary, or to talk about issues. The problem with this is that it ends up being a preachy book.

I don’t read romance to be preached at. I read it to escape and while I want these characters to deal with every day problems, like losing their jobs, or their house burning down, or having to care for their ailing grandparents, I don’t want that to be the central focus.

I want to see how these things shape the character, not how these things are shaped by the character. So please, talk about rape, or losing a job, or fire safety, but it needs to be secondary to the relationship in the romance. Otherwise, I’m not getting the escape I want.

5. Make me scream in rage at my ereader.

I think this should go without saying. If I’m screaming at my ereader, I’m not the only one. It’s one thing to be so totally invested in a character that you’re mad at the author for treating them badly. It’s another for the book to enrage you with needless stupidity.

What kinds of things make you rage against a book?