Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group discussion

What elements or issues in a book will ruin it for you? Make you want to toss it or slam it into a wall?

Pulling someone out of character to make them fit the plot instead of making the plot fit your character!

And you?

Adultery is a big no-no for me. Also TSTL heroines. Lack of a plot. Just plain boring. These are a few anyway.

I'm not big on adultery, either.

Yes...boring is horrible. And unfortunately, I can't not finish a book no matter how boring it is. LOL

When a HEA is rushed and there was no pain on gain to get there.
Or when you finish a book and your left with "is that it!" That you fine your flipping back pages and combing the Internet for a sequel and there isn't one!
Boring is so factor.... But I ended up finishing it anyway.. And then throwing the book at a wall.

I hate it when characters are all in their heads and don't communicate with each other! I know there has to be some of this to cause some conflict but too much is so frustrating!! Just talk to each other already!! lol

YA that has 4 or 5 stars and you read it realizing that the reviewers were probably 11 and the book is so bad, cheesy etc.
I wish the YA writers had more warnings about its explicit content. I like YA but would prefer to know if it is too fairytale.

I hate to get into a book that doesn't have any real conflict...the characters might have chemistry but the plot is just a hodgepodge of "misunderstandings". And then suddenly at the end of the book, they come to an "understanding" and it's HEA.

Sharmilla, I hate it when it does that. I want a satisfying HEA even if its in an epilogue. I hate it when there are unresolved issues.

Dana, I know. Communicate already! I can only take so much conflict. At some point I want it over so the couple can move on in their relationship.

Hilary, I don't read a lot of YA but I know what you mean. I have read one or two that I would have probably LOVED back when I was 12 but just doesn't work for me now at my old age.

TSTL heroines (or heroes sometimes) have to be my #1 pet peeve. Reading about someone completely brainless and stupid is not the way I enjoy spending my free time.

My #2 pet peeve are books where the hero and heroine fall in love by the first half and admit it to each other, but they have to fight for another 150 pages against society or villains to get their HEA. 150 pages of "I love you"s, "I love you more"s and "Oh, why can't we twin souls be together"s are 130 pages more than I care for.

Books where the author is telling us instead of showing us. "Oh, he is so dark and dangerous!" thinks the heroine in every chapter, when the hero -usually trully manlish in appearence- is a kitty cat and jumps at the heroine's every need. Or when we learn in the first chapter that the heroine is a shy wallflower, and "to her own surprise" she can talk back to the rackish, experienced hero with sharp wit and ease few outgoing heroines would possess. And last but not least, HR heroines who give their virginity without a passing thought or even beg the hero to have sex with them when they know he won't/can't marry them; so silly, so unrealistic:(

I'm sure I could think a few more, but I'll stop for now. Oh, and I agree about what others wrote about YA. Very few of them were worth the hype IMO.

Oh, my pet peeves are many! Gratutious sex, especially when it happens right when the hero and heroine meet. Heroines (and some heroes) who refuse to grow up, or stay in the 'rescue me!' mode. Modern slang or idiom in a historical, or really distorted historical facts that are just lack of research on the author's part. Shoddy writing.

Rebecca wrote: "Oh, my pet peeves are many! Gratutious sex, especially when it happens right when the hero and heroine meet. Heroines (and some heroes) who refuse to grow up, or stay in the 'rescue me!' mode. Mode..."

I agree with you except the gratuitous sex! lol.

Okay, this may sound stupid but I am a "virgin" to the codes here.
What is
IMO
HEA
TSTL
?

IMO = In My Opinion
HEA = Happy Ever After
TSTL = Too Stupid to Live

Hilary: It isn't so much that there's sex, but rather that it's instant lust, and personally I have a problem with that. It implies a bit of carelessness on both characters part. Sigh. I must be getting old...

I agree!

Sandra wrote: "I hate to get into a book that doesn't have any real conflict...the characters might have chemistry but the plot is just a hodgepodge of "misunderstandings". And then suddenly at the end of the bo..."

What constitutes a TSTL heroine or hero?

I thought I knew but I'm not sure it means what it thinks it means.

It means Too Stupid To Live.

Debbie wrote: "It means Too Stupid To Live."

Okay, I got that. But does that mean naively stupid or stubbornly headstrong stupid? Or both? Or something else?

From what I've seen when people use TSTL, it can go either way.

Thanks!

Cassie wrote: "I hate when the hero is a jerk the whole book to the heroine or does something really mean to the heroine and the heroine just easily forgives him. Like, WTH! I want a grovel scene or something so..."

Ditto!

TSTL characters get on my nerves too but they aren't near as bad as when lore is changed too drastically. For example, when vampires sparkle or can have children with thousand year or sperm. Their dead they should be able to procreate. Not sure why that bothers me so much but it does.

Most often TSTL is used for heroines who stupidly put their lives in danger, trying to 'save' the hero (by jumping bare-armed in a gunfight or such) and only end up with the hero having to save himself as well as her, or she gets captured by the villain and the hero has to bargain for her life, when he'd have won the fight had she not interfered.

Which of course means that Debbie is right and she was either too stupid to take the risk in the first place when it was so obviously a wrong decision, or she was too stubborn to stay put when the hero told her to, and she had to 'follow her own mind' and just end up messing everything.

LOL
In general I don't mind if the lore is changed drastically, as long as it all makes sense and there are no contradictions.
Like Kresley Cole. She adds has so many changes to the lore with so many different species but she pieces it all together.

Thanks, ladies. That's what I thought but wasn't quite sure I had it right.

TSTL heroines do totally irk me though not necessarily the deal breaker.

Kryptonite wrote: "LOL
In general I don't mind if the lore is changed drastically, as long as it all makes sense and there are no contradictions."

I don't really know why that bothered me so much. I mean I have read other books where lore was changed and it didn't faze me at all. I guess it was because they had to die to be changed into a vamp. If they were born that way or it was explained that they were another species than it wouldn't have been such a big deal.

A heroine who falls in love with a man who rapes her - Johanna Lindsay makes me want to tear my hair out and stomp on the book until its in tatters - whew! Had to get that off my chest.

Silly misunderstandings, adultery and adults behaving like immature idiots.

Jessica wrote: "TSTL characters get on my nerves too but they aren't near as bad as when lore is changed too drastically. For example, when vampires sparkle or can have children with thousand year or sperm. Their ..."

LOL I guess that's why I never finished watching Twilight or read any of its books.

Great answers, everyone. I had to go visit my sissy in the hospital. :(

But I'm back now and reading everyone's messages.

If I can't sympathize with the characters because she’s TSTL or he’s a jerk, then I have no interest in their story.

On a side note, certain words or phrases will often take me out of the book. Not enough to warrant a toss across the room, though. The most recent one had the girl “mewling” because of his touch and I just had to laugh. Made me think of a lost kitten. : )

One of my newer pet peeves are all of these trilogies being released. I don't like cliffhangers, so why am I going to pick up book 1 of a trilogy? If I even glimpse the t word on the cover I just walk away.....

Ugh and I hate the YA and new adult trend. Maybe I would enjoy them if the characters weren't so shallow, clueless,and annoying. I'm always amazed at the middle aged authors that write that dribble. I think they must watch Kardashian marathons before writing for character inspiration.

Rachel, I've had to do a double take on a few words of choice myself.

CaroleDee, I haven't given up on series but I do hate it when they have cliffhangers and unresolved issues. GRRRR!

I've never watched the Kardashians so I can only imagine.

Definitely adultery in a story that doesn't have any indication that it's going to have it until you start reading. I'd rather know so I can avoid it if I can. Too much telling and not enough showing. Nothing really happens for pages and pages. In a historical romance, when the story is really anachronistic and the characters act like modern people. Inauthentic characters. Personally, I am sick of the kinky erotica sex trend pervading more mainstream romance. I don't think every romance book has to be erotic when it doesn't fit the story. I think authors are being forced to write these kinds of books and it's not their thing so they can be published, because the assumption is we all want to read it. I'm pretty sick of the obligatory cliffhanger. I think it's perfectly okay to end a story with a real ending.

Oh, I don't like commitment phobic heroes. It's pretty boring to me. I always think, who would want him anyway. I can't see why a heroine would put up with him most of the time.

I hear ya, Lady D!

Kinda long list, huh? :)

Incompetent female main characters, melodramatic love-triangles, boring character conversation, over-descriptive scenes page after page, pointless sex lol, Self-assertive heroes. That's just to name a few >.>

I don't like love triangles either, Sky. And so agree with you about boring character conversations!

I have a horrrrible habit of skimreading the rest of a book after such a drag with conversation and description. And one petpeeve that sticks with me even in my fictional worlds are cocky people, male or female. I hate reading how much someone loves themself and how how they thing they are, gahh!

I'm not a big fan of narcissistic or excessively arrogant characters either, Sky.

I agree, Sky. confidence is hot. Cockiness, not so much. There's a lot of things I love reading about in fiction that I wouldn't enjoy in real life, but that is one of the few things that crosses the boundaries on both sides.

Too much telling and not enough showing... Can someone give me an example of this?

An author writing something like "Jane Doe is a strong, tough girl." instead of maybe writing up a scene where she holds her own when she is attacked by the bad guys would be example of telling and not showing.

Have only read two books that I absolutely could not finished (see my did not finish shelf)...one got very high rating from most everyone, but it absolutely drove me nuts, and the other was just plan stupid. Some that I have given lo ratings to involved adultery, TSTL heroines who were too willing to forgive the hero when he needed to grovel and beg forgiveness, and then she should have still made him wait while she thought about it.

I also hate when authors describe in great detail scenes or people who have nothing to do with or contribute nothing to the plot....like its just filler to rack up a page count.

I like the character to tell about its own personality through dialogue and actions, I don't want the author to tell me how strong the heroine is or how masculine the hero is, SHOW me through their actions and words!

Rachel wrote: "An author writing something like "Jane Doe is a strong, tough girl." instead of maybe writing up a scene where she holds her own when she is attacked by the bad guys would be example of telling and..."

Good one.

Sandy wrote: "Too much telling and not enough showing... Can someone give me an example of this?"

Instead of using dialogue and action, the author just narrates everything that happens.

For example. John had gone to meet the drug dealers. When the leader drew a gun, John killed all the drug dealers and then walked away with all their money. He told his girlfriend, but never went to the police.

As opposed to:

"I killed them," John said.

"Who? What happened?" Sheri asked, shocked.

"The drug dealers. Shockwave drew on me, so I shot him and I had to kill all of them."

Sheri walked over and hugged John. "What are you going to do?"

He returned the hug, feeling a growing sickness inside at what he'd done. But there was no turning back. "I took the money. We can run away. The police don't need to know I'm involved."

--The second way is a lot more active and involving than just narrating what happened.

Heidi wrote: I also hate when authors describe in great detail scenes or people who have nothing to do with or contribute nothing to the plot....like its just filler to rack up a page count.

I like the character to tell about its own personality through dialogue and actions, I don't want the author to tell me how strong the heroine is or how masculine the hero is, SHOW me through their actions and words!

Totally agree!

Another peeve of mine is convoluted sentence structure and flowery prose that doesn't actually say anything. Stephanie Laurens' Devil's Bride immediately comes to mind.

Yup, yup, Lauren!