Catriona wrote in the Heyer/Grand Sophy thread:
Sarah, can we do a thread on romances that we want to love, we should have loved, everybody else loves them…but that we can’t stand because something just left a bad taste in our mouths?
I like this idea for two reasons. No, three. First, we’ve done it before. But let’s do a new one. It’s been years.
Second: not enjoying a book that it seems like everyone loved or enjoyed can be an isolating experience, but as I’ve learned on the internet, you’re never alone in your likes and dislikes, no matter how outlandish they might seem. 0_o
And third: everyone’s buttons are different (woo, kinky!). What ticks me off may not bother you in the slightest, and vice versa. For example, and I’ve used this example before: there are many who are intensely bothered by historical inaccuracies in romances. I am not one of these people. The Duke can in fact drive a Porsche to Almack’s, and I’m fine with it. Whatever.
My hot button is stilted, unrealistic and awkward dialogue. If characters, like, for example, the Duke of Porsche, say things that real human beings wouldn’t say, and use cliches to the point that they don’t sound like actual people, I get really annoyed. Yanks me right out of the story and into Land of Crankypants. But the Porsche? Meh. Whatever.
I am not alone in that preference, but I do think that among romance readers, especially historical romance fans, I’m in the minority. And this is not to insult any author who busts her ass doing the research. Go on with your bad self – and your Porsche.
Catriona’s example is a bit more specific:
My example is As You Desire by Connie Brockway. Everybody is in love with this book and it always appears on people’s top romances list. I should love it – I enjoyed Brockway’s other books, I’m crazy about Egypt and archaeology and I love romances that are supposed to be funny and witty. It had everything going for it.
But I’m telling you, this book is like my own personal berserk button. To this day, I still can’t think about it or hear somebody sing its praises without my blood pressure spiking. My issue is with the way the author set up an “older” woman (I think she was in her early 30’s) to be the younger heroine’s foil. Basically, the older woman was rejected by the hero and pretty much every male in the book because she wasn’t as “perfect” as the seemingly smarter, blonder, younger heroine. I would expect this kind of ageism/blondeism in a book from the 1970’s, but this book was from 1997! This passage in particular, in which Marta, the other woman, sees the heroine at a restaurant, encompasses everything that bothers me about this book:
“I say,” Lord Ravenscroft suddenly breathed, “Now, there is a treasure worth coveting. Have you ever seen such a piece of tiny, golden perfection?”
…Marta followed the direction of everyone’s gaze to where Miss Carlisle’s progress through the room was marked by a wave of men scurrying to their feet as she passed.
To blatantly steal a phrase from you, Sarah: OH COME ON NOW AND I MEAN IT! Is this supposed to be a parody? Because it fails if it is. I ended up feeling whole lot more sympathy for Marta, while I wanted to bury Desdemona Carlisle headfirst in the sand. Normally the perfect, blonde, child prodigy, men-literally-fall-at-her-feet woman is the RIVAL, not the heroine.
Maybe I’m letting this bother me way too much…. But somewhere deep down, it grates on me that the heroine has to be this drop-dead gorgeous, “oh save me” frail young creature. I often wonder why people loved this book so much when I, who was much closer to Desdemona’s age when I read it, was so bothered by the discrimination against the older, more experienced, more capable other woman.
I got to wondering, is this just a case of me finding it difficult to relate to the heroine, and seeing myself as a rival to her to the hero? Nah, I thought Harry was an idiot too. His famous “you are my Egypt” speech just made me cringe. I would’ve heaved if anyone said anything so ridiculous to me, but apparently a lot of readers disagree judging by the links out there:
I fully expect the pitchforks and torches to come after me on this one, but bring it! Catriona “Encyclopedia Hittanica” is ready!
Ok, I’m about to come off even more objectionably: I have never read this book, but now I’m so very curious.
So, what’s your book that everyone adored, but you couldn’t enjoy it? You certainly don’t have to limit your example or response to this one. No shame and no shaming, please! Bring on your least liked books that made you feel the most isolated in your lack of enjoyment.
I’m so surprised I’m not alone on the Gabaldan thing. I couldn’t get past the fact she’s on her second honeymoon with her husband who she loves, and she is almost instantly ready to hop on the Jamie wagon. So the adultery aspect doesn’t work for me. IF it she hadn’t been married then my problem would have been i found it boring.
I haven’t read Gena Showalter’s Lord’s of the Underworld. I was really excited about reading them as I have seen videos of her talking and she seems adorable and super nice and everyone loves the books. Then I read King of the Vampires, and I literally could not believe this wasn’t a spoof, or a Satire of every over the top trope of Paranormal Romance. If it had been, it would have been brilliant. The heroine magically is transported to another plane of existence because she is the perfect mate to this Vampire who is jailed by an evil princess and used for sex. She doesn’t know this guy, but he likes the way she smells so that is reason enough for her to let him out of jail where he instantly starts sniffing her and grunting “mine”. A chapter later and they are having sex. Which they continue to do every time they are left alone, even when its near the enemy and a bad idea.
I’m not going to go on about Anita because frankly I think more people hate that character now than love her so it feels like kicking the “special” child on the bus, but yeah..it is awful.
Oh, my. I thought maybe there’d be a few others who didn’t like Outlander, but gracious. It’s nice not to be alone since all I’ve seen is overwhelming praise of it. I greatly disliked it and I only read a few chapters (which may somewhat nullify my opinion of it, but oh well). The main reason being that I hate adultery. I really do. The only time I’ve ever been able to at least sympathize with the adulterer is in Bridges of Madison County. Especially when Outlander’s heroine’s husband was such a nice guy. And then I kept reading and the hero appears to be an ass. Okay, so they seem to deserve each other. But I don’t wanna read any more about it. For a lot of people, adultery in romance isn’t a squick and that’s fine or if the time travel thing makes it okay for you that’s fine, but it’s not enjoyable for me at all.
Whitney, My Love – oooh, this books makes me so angry I’m not even gonna start.
Sookie Stackhouse is one of the most irritating heroines I’ve ever encountered. Everything I can’t stand about the majority of modern heroines in one little package.
Kresley Cole disturbs me, Nora Roberts bores me, Christine Feehan makes me wanna scream.
Glaring historical and cultural mistakes, adultery, rape (in any form, but rape is rape), overbearing hero, and bratty heroine are a few things that I see in a lot of books that are popular that will completely turn me off.
I’m with the other Ellie in that I couldn’t get into the Psy books at all—nice idea, but the world-building just didn’t cut it for me.
Also a big fan of Loretta Chase, but Lord of Scoundrels wasn’t my favorite. But my real beef is with Don’t Tempt Me. While not touted as her best, it’s not even remotely close to the quality that I expect from Chase. Offensive ethnic stereotypes, complete twit of a heroine, and the ever-convenient “schooled in the mystical Eastern Arts of Lurrrve, but still a virgin.” Her sex-talk with the hero was not remotely hot and just embarrassing to read.
And I really enjoyed Zoe Archer’s Warrier, but the rest of The Blades of the Rose series gradually annoyed me because the series was so formulaic. All of the heroines, even the virgins, had 21st century sexual and social mores. (I realize historical romance often requires a bit of stretch to keep it fun for modern readers, but it just got to be too much for me to process.) And the sex scenes were totally formulaic. @Ch 3: First hot sex (always much too early on without enough built-up tension. @Ch 11: Heroine performs oral sex on hero, but hero stops her short of orgasm, because apparently having to decided whether to spit or swallow is just more than a 19th century woman should bear even after all of her previous hot, modern sex with the hero….
Wow, did this push some buttons!
For me it was J.R. Ward’s Bhrothers or whatever the hell they are. Just could not finish the first one, had no desire to go any further. And I’ve liked other Ward books, so it’s that series.
Also, I gave up on Anne Bishop after about book 3. Liked the initial premise, after that it was “Meh. What else is on my TBR shelf?”
And I swear, the next person who tells me Wuthering Heights is a romance is going to get slapped. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
ok here’s my (non) hit list:
The Time Traveler’s Wife—I had so many issues with this book. There was no consistency in the world-building: first, he traveled only within his lifetime, then he traveled into the future to see his daughter. And if he always arrived somewhere naked, why the bleep didn’t he move to a warmer climate where it wouldn’t be quite so much of an issue! And finally, he expected her to wait for him . . . and she did. Drove me bananas that she spent her whole life waiting.
Libertine’s Kiss—I had a feeling I wouldn’t love Judith James, but when I found this at the local UBS I decided to give her a try. It just did nothing for me, at all.
Forgot to mention: vampires. I’m so sick of vampires. I used to like them as heroes because it was fun even if it was outrageous and a little gross. But now that they’re everywhere, I really want them to go back to being their soulless, blood-sucking monster selves. Cold, brooding guy who sucks the life out of you is not appealing at all.
And a footnote to “bratty heroines” being a turn off. That’s mostly if they’re touted as angels. But if it’s a character like Scarlett in GwtW or the heroine in Ain’t She Sweet, I find them fascinating and a refreshing change from the usual. …Kinda seems like a contradiction, but there it is.
okay so i figure i’ll probably be flayed alive when i say this, especially since i haven’t seen this book mentioned yet. but i didn’t like Scoundrel by Zoe Archer. i thought that the male lead was kind of a douche and i didn’t like the way the female lead acted around him. i didn’t like the characterization so much that i don’t want to read her other books. and the problem was not the plot, because the plot i loved. just the characters ruined it for me. this isn’t the only book that was terrible that i read this year but this is the only one that i hated with such a passion.
I feel like I have been vindicated. I can’t stand the Outlander series. I keep trying to get through the first one, and no luck. The Iron Duke—-DNF. The hero was a huge ass!. There is one author that everyone seems to love, and she constantly gets starred reviews. I feel like I should love her, but I can’t. I keep trying her books, but nope. It’s Loretta Chases. I just don’t get it.
Others on my list are Fern Michaels, Danielle Steel, and Nicholas Sparks.
Finally, I would agree with another post about first person POV. I am not a fan. There are very few books that I am able to get through that are in first person.
It felt good to say this “out loud”.
@Darlene Marshall – Yes, yes, yes on Wuthering Heights! Not even remotely a romance!
i liked Outlander, although the books became more of a struggle later in the series, like she completely lost hold of whatever loose plot threads used to tie everything together. But i honestly don’t remember the rape thing… maybe i skipped over it, maybe i blocked it out. it’s been a good 8 years though, so it makes me wonder it i’d still like it after going back and re-reading.
Same with the sookie books… Liked the first few but then they kind of lost wind and got really arbitrary and patchy. (although as scary as it may sound, the books are more coherant than the show has become.)
i have a bunch of sherrilyn kenyon on my shelf though, and i just can’t seem to get into them, or the LKH. and i will generally read anything. I don’t know if i can explain it, but something about their writing styles just makes every scene feel completely ridiculous and the characters don’t seem to react to things in even semi-realistic ways.
@ Kerry Allen
I didn’t read that scene that way at all. From what I gathered from the book Rhys character only ever had consensual sex when he was feeling the need to prove to himself that the years of being used against his will hadn’t broken him.He was not accustomed to feeling passion. In the scene they are both under the influence of alcohol and hormones. It starts out consensual, she wanted to have sex with him, until her past trauma causes her to panic mid-oral. He doesn’t realize that her pleas are for him to stop until after the fact and is then horrified and sickened by what he’s done, as someone who spent his childhood/adolescence as a sex slave might be upon learning that he’s basically done what was done to him to the one person he’s ever wanted.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who disliked The Hunger Games. I have a friend who loved the whole trilogy, just went through them like they were nothing. I enjoyed a good chunk of The Hunger Games, but then I started to hate the heroine. I understand that the situation made her actions necessary. However, that didn’t make me hate her any less for what she did, and I couldn’t bring myself to feel sympathy for her when Peeta finally learned that a lot of her behavior was just an act.
Props to the Kenyon truthsayers!! I’ll toss J.R.Ward onto the fire as well. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: there must be some sort of crack-like substance imbedded in the pages. There’s no other reason for her books to be that popular. And she’s getting worse as time goes by.
But the one that makes me tear my hair out? “The Horse Whisperer” by Nicholas Sparks. Suicide by wild horse?! Are you effing kidding me?!!!!!!
@KerryAllen, I still respect you even if you don’t respect me.
@Eb Rai: for god’s sake, READ THE FIRST BOOKS!! As I’m in the process of rereading all the Guardian books prepatory to the release of the latest addition, I will defend this series with my last breath.
I mostly enjoy the Pink Carnation books (the historical inaccuracies do bug me, but not enough to stop me reading, and I skip the present-day bits) but I really didn’t get along with The Seduction Of The Crimson Rose. Not only did I not believe the hero and heroine would make each other happy in the long term, I thought they’d end up making each other nastier people. And from their appearances in the later books, it seems I was right.
@Donna – I’ve never read any Nicholas Sparks, but the phrase “suicide by wild horse” kinda makes me want to read it for freak value.
So in love with this topic!!
Three books sit on my nightstand calling to be me to finish and I just can’t. Giving them to the library during my next donation drop.
1. Outlander – Can’t get past the adultery!
2. Twillight –
3. The Hunger Games –
And the one book guaranteed to get a visceral reaction from me…Catcher in the Rye. Hated the book from cover to cover.
Put me down for not liking Lauren Willig’s books. I’ll never understand why they got printed as hardbacks. Mediocre writing, annoying heroines, silly behavior. Just don’t get it.
I liked Soulless just fine, but I cannot understand why this isn’t shelved as a romance. It so is! 🙂 And it always seemed more Steampunk-lite than true Steampunk to me.
Goddess of Spring is another one I don’t get. It got an A here but I kept wondering if I had the right book as I read. Very much a Mary Sue, gumdrops and lollipops plot to me.
Lastly, The Perfect Play probably tops my WTFery list. Yeah, the cover is awesome, but the writing is just bad. The heroine is annoying, and jumps all over dumb misunderstandings. The hero is a Mary Stu. And the dialog? Gak. Cringeworthy in sex scenes. Yes, thank you for announcing that you are coming; I wouldn’t have known otherwise. And please, beg to be fucked every single time you have sex. *eye roll worthy of muscle strain*
One that hasn’t been mentioned yet, which I’m almost afraid to mention, is The Shadow and The Star by Laura Kinsale. I read it based on a couple SBTB recommendations. I really enjoyed it, up until the very end, and the ending destroyed it for me. I’m trying to not be spoilery, but the fact that he DIDN’T TELL HER about a key part of his life bothered me. I mean, come on – they were involved in this crazy life and death fight and he doesn’t explain what it was about, and she doesn’t push him? That lack of honesty made me doubt their hea, and made me realize that it’s one of my rock bottom values – in life and in books.
Yes, Darlene Marshall, yes!
I hate Wuthering Heights with a blazing passion. I hate every person in that book. I despise the parents, and I loathe the children, and I gritted my teeth to finish it, because it is “Literature”. Some lovely writing, of course.
I like the Willig series (and love some of them), but I’m with Ankaret on Crimson Rose. I have hopes that Sebastian and Mary will lose all of their money and end up having to work for a living. Also, after hearing through 3 books about Sebastion being a seething mass of hotness, I didn’t even get a nookie scene!
So nice to see I am not alone…
I have friends who adore Sookie and I read the first book and said, “meh” and never went back for the second.
Laurens – I was given a huge box of her books. Oh god, three characters and two plots over and over. Her historical inaccuracies made me batshit. “It’s so nice to have a witch in the family now” – in a historical!!! That hit the wall. Gave them all away in turn and was very pleased I had never actually bought any.
I read the In Death books and they are OK, but I rarely read Nora Roberts otherwise. The ones under her name all seem too simplistic to me. The characters are sometimes likable but never compelling, and I can usually spot her few plot twists a mile away so they are a little boring. She does better as Robb, IMO.
@Jen – Thank you! Oh I wanted to beat the crap out of Scarlet the entire book.
Okay, I know not everyone is going to love Soulless, I don’t see why one person called the writing “dreck” though. It’s very good writing. Better than a lot of famous writers out there IMHO.
But on the subject on how being “soulless” works – Gail got the idea from two things –
1: She wondered if vampires and werewolves were apex predators, why they weren’t in control and over populating the worlds they lived in.
2: A real docotr named Duncan MacDougall who tried to weigh the human soul –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_MacDougall_(doctor)
He’s where we get the title for the movie 21 Grams.
So she postulated that some people had excess soul – artists, scientists, singers, actors, etc – these happened to be the only types who could become werewolves, vampires, or ghosts. On the same token, if some people could have more than 21 grams worth of soul, some could have less than average soul, down to being soulless. Sort of a balance of nature.
I like the books because Alexia isn’t like other heroines I’ve seen. Being soulless she’s incredibly practical for one thing. Instead of keeping all the reasons Connal might not wish to marry her inside her (she’s overweight, her skin’s too dark, her nose too big, etc) she actually TALKS about it. Something no heroine with body issues every does in any other book I’ve read. They keep it all bottled up inside, have sex with the hero even though they hate themselves, and his Magical Disco Dipping Stick fixes all their self esteem issues. “Ooo – he had sex with me! I must be beautiful even though I weigh 300 pounds and smell like rotting fish!” (Well, that’s how it always seems in those books.)
I also like her because unlike other heroines she has a support system. She does what real women do when faced with problems. She talks about it to others. Her husband, their pack, Ivy, Lord Akeledama, etc. None of this running around doing it herself like if she was just a man with boobs and a vagina like all other “strong” heroines do.
Now, I’m not saying you have to give the books another chance or anything. It’s okay for people to not like what I like. But I did want to explain that part.
I also like them because they’re steampunk I can actually understand. Most confuses the crap out of me. I also like to think about what the future of a world where they know for a fact the soul exists would be like. Let’s not forget that Hilter, Stalin, and Mao Tse Tung were all atheists who used the theory of evolution and their own twisted science to justify the murder of millions of people. Jews, Christians, homosexuals, the handicapped, etc all murdered in the name of evolution. They didn’t believe in the soul or the afterlife. But in a world like Alexia’s they can’t deny the existence of the soul. So how would they justify things like the Holocaust? I like it when a book gets me pondering like that.
@ Sandra:
I really liked the Cynster books, although it has been a long time since I’ve read any—I’d probably be annoyed now too. But yeah, the Black Cobra series was when I finally gave up as well. I managed the first one okay. It wasn’t great but it was manageable and something to do, I guess. But the second was just it. I couldn’t finish. Not only was there the whole checklist issue, but that heroine was way, way more annoying than most.
I don’t have that much time to read for fun anymore (full time job + full time school + two kids, husband, cats, and house make me a very busy woman) and I’ve decided that I want to make what time I do get worth it. I hate when I feel I’ve wasted that precious 2-3 hour uninterrupted chunk of time that I so rarely get anymore.
@JamiSings – I think people’s opinion of whether an author’s writing is good or bad is very subjective. That’s one of the reasons why I try never to say that I disliked something because the writing was bad or liked something because it was good – that doesn’t really tell anybody anything. I had this point brought home when I had a discussion with a friend of mine about Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series versus Collins’ Hunger Games series. She said that she disliked the Uglies books because she felt the writing was bad. I couldn’t understand what she was talking about. I think it all depends upon what in writing pushes your buttons or is something you can ignore. Those things are different for everybody.
I actually do tend to like Crusie, but I’ve never been able to finish Welcome To Temptation which is always right up at the top of a lot of peoples’ favorites list.
Lord of Scoundrels. Omg. I’m sorry but Daine was such a selfish, pathetic man-child that I never could buy an HEA. With the exception of Mr. Impossible and Miss Wonderful Loretta Chase doesn’t work for me in general. For some reason her books seem emotionally detached and sort of cold to me.
I also disliked Thea Harrison’s books. They’re just a rehash of old tropes and they don’t live up to the promise of a strong heroine.
I’d also like to jump on the No Thank You Laura Kinsale train. The characters in Prince of Midnight, Seize the Fire, and Uncertain Magic were such assholes. I generally enjoy moral ambiguity and characters that aren’t all rainbows and sunshine, but Kinsale characters cross the line into just sucking.
I really liked the writing style in Gone With the Wind, but man did I want everyone in that book to get hit by a bus. Good lord, most of the protagonists belonged to the KKK. Rhett lynched a man. Scarlett was a heinous bitch. Just no.
I think as women we’re expected to just loooove certain books, because we’re women – the Brontes, the Roberts, the Gabaldons, etc. We’re just supposed to be all nice about it and not hurt the author’s feelings if we secretly don’t like a book.
Well, nuts to that. I don’t hate authors, I hate their books. If I pay good money for a book and an author doesn’t deliver, that sucks and I want a refund. Why shouldn’t we stand up and say, “this book tasted terrible and I deserve something better?” Our time and money are too precious to waste on something we don’t like.
I can’t stand heroes who are possessive or jealous. A lot of people find that romantic – I see it as the first step down the slippery slope to abuse. It’s like some hear Every Breath You Take by the Police as a beautiful love song, while others (like um, Sting) know it’s about a creepy stalker.
Because of this, a lot of beloved heroes are way too controlling and possessive for me, like Cam in Lisa Kleypas’ first Hathaway book. Or the hero in Julie James’ Something About You. He griped a knife when her (gay) best friend told a funny story about trying to pick her up in college. That’s not romantic – that should be on a warning list somewhere.
Oh, I forgot about Kenyon (blocked her out, I guess). I tried with that series, up until the one where the powers that be or whatever trick the heroine into getting pregnant. And there’s some situation where she will die at a set time, like right after her pregnancy? I’m pretty sure this was a book, otherwise I just hallucinated a really terrible plot…
Oh, man. What a great discussion topic! I have this feeling a lot. To stick with a few topical examples, I actually really like Nora Roberts. Sure, her books are formulaic, she populates them with the same recycled characters, and she head hops a lot, but for me, she’s like the book equivalent of mac and cheese—comfort reads. I know what I’m going to get and I know it will entertain me. But I just CANNOT get into any of the JD Robb books. I read the first 4 or 5 In Death books before I gave up on the series, so I definitely gave it a fair shake, and just no. Eve Dallas annoys the hell out of me. The police procedure often doesn’t make any sense.
There was one Laura Kinsale novel that bombed for me, too; I think it might have been Midsummer Moon, but I’ve clearly blocked it out of my memory. But I have adored the other of her books that I read.
I read more m/m than anything else these days, and I have a whole pile of those that everyone seemed to love but that I was really underwhelmed by.
And I don’t really like Jane Austen. *ducks*
What a relief to know I’m not the only one to HATE the Outlander series!
As for Nora, I like her books most of the time, but the Irish ones… oh dear. Definitely an “American who has never been to Ireland” ‘s idea of what Irish people are like and how they speak. Also drives me insane when she doesn’t spell Irish names correctly. There are plenty of Irish people with English names… use those.
Anyone ever read any of Tami Hoag’s early romances? Cringeworthy! Thank goodness she moved on to crime!
Wish i had a nickel for every time Danielle Steele used the word “stunning” in her books. *sigh*
Anything like Sex and the City with relentlessly shallow, shopping-obsessed heroines = do not read. I have never been that person, don’t know any woman who is, and don’t want to spend time with her.
I gradually developed a severe allergy to Christine Feehan, LKH, MaryJanice Davidson and all incarnations of Jayne Ann Krentz and won’t go near any of their books anymore.
The whole SatC/chickLit hate was the only time I really felt I was overwhelmingly in the minority, at least during its heyday. With the other authors, I knew I had company.
Whitney My Love. is the one that makes me froth at the mouth. Too many Big Misunderstandings, and the hero rapes the heroine. Oh, and he’s a douchebag,
I don’t get Julie Garwood at all, her historicals are just so inaccurate I cringe at the dialogue, Pa and Ma, are not commonly used in medieval England.
and to be fair, Diana Gabaldon always stresses that Outlander isn’t a romance novel so the things that readers dislike most about it, the adultery and the ‘beating’ are more common in fiction and more ‘acceptable’.
This discussion is so good. Many thanks for the points on various books I might have read but will consider more carefully now.
I’m kind of in the Outlander camp. I enjoyed the first one but could never finish the second and didn’t bother with any of the others.
Totally on board with the Wheel of Time dislike. I didn’t even bother finishing the first one.
Ah, George R.R. Martin: I so want to love his books. They have everything I normally love in fantasy and yet… I got maybe 100 pages into the first one and forgot about it.
I could not finish Kresley Cole’s A Hunger Like No Other and there are a number of UF/Paranormals that I simply don’t finish if they can’t grab me in the first chapter or three. My level of happiness and content in the world has increased considerably since I owned the fact that I will not like a great deal that is published in that particular genre. (Maybe I am too picky because when I love an UF/Paranormal, I really love it.)
Oh, the big hate for me… Dan Brown. Not romance, obviously, but I hated the Da Vinci Code with a passion so great that there are no words.
The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanne Bourne. I had really high hopes for this one. In fact, it started off sooo well. Blind heroine who is a superspy kicks the hero’s ass. Awesome! (I especially enjoyed the ass-kicking because the hero was a brooding bore.)
Then she gets her sight back, meets whatshisface again, doesn’t recognize him, and wanders around the English countryside with him, babbling all her secrets. It’s like her sight is restored at the cost of her IQ. Horrible.
Also vampirey, brotherhoody stuff by Sherrilyn Kenyon and J.R. Ward. Huge, testosterone poisoned males. Ugh.
This one is beloved in fantasy circles, though I can’t for the life of me understand why. Largely devoid of fantasy, unlikeable characters. Total DNF.
Skipping ahead to say I couldn’t stand Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm. It was beautifully written and I love Jervaulx, but Maddy was a hypocrite. (My religion won’t permit me to lie even to save someone’s life—but when the lie is what other members of my religion want to hear it’s totally OK!) It annoyed me to no end.
Now back to read the rest of the comments.
Readings these comments is so soul-cleansing! I thought I was the only one who hated some of these revered books. I’m reading Dragon Bound right now, and meh… Like the premise, but not a keeper. Nothing original in there beyond the opening hook. Soulless was the most grating read I’ve ever forced myself to get through. I think I have an aversion to stupid sex in the face of imminent danger.
Could not finish In Death, even though I like dark and gritty books. Eve just gave up so quickly. I hate the premise of ‘I’m so strong and independent and committed to my job as a cop… and I guess I’ll give all that up for hot sex with a suspect.” A lot of Rom Suspense (Linda Howard, Laura Grifin) is guilty of that. Drives me up the frickin’ wall.
I read Spellcast by Barbara Ashford, which got rave reviews in the blogosphere but I thought the writing was technically atrocious and characters utterly unrelatable. Almost chuck-against-a-wall worthy.
I have noticed with UF and PNR I almost never like the first book in the series. Info dumping is not my cup of tea, but once I slog through, as with Dead Witch Walking, I’m often glad I did. I struggled with the first Psy-Changling book but man do the next nine knock my socks off. Singh’s Angel books, though, not so much. Uber-alphas and weak heroines are not my favourite trope.
Zoe Archer’s Scoundrel. I tried, twice, because of all the raves, but I couldn’t stand the heroine and the bad guys were just EBIL and sexist, not interesting at all.
Jim Butcher, and if earlier posts here are any indication, I may be the only person on the planet to feel that way.
Nalini Singh’s books. I read the first Psy books, but could never remember who the characters were because they all read the same. And the angel series, or whatever it is, I don’t understand the attraction at all.
Also, any book in which a character sneers or chuckles. Yeah, I’m weird, but those two words drop me right out of what I’m reading.
I would like to add that even though I couldn’t stand these books, I completely respect the mad love for them and their authors that other readers have. Such is what makes the world go round, y’all.
Man, I am delighted to find that I’m among friends with my hatred for Outlander. I would have found a way to kill Jamie, I’m sorry. It might have taken me some time, but he’d be dead.
Other highly recommended stuff I’ve really disliked:
– Gail Carriger’s Soulless: wooden writing; stock characters – reminded me of a puppet show more than a novel
– most Kelley Armstrong, except for Bitten and No Humans Involved: I know Bitten is controversial, but I don’t really read it as a romance and I think that it gets at the heart of how f’d up love can be. But if I were reading it as a romance, probably wouldn’t feel the same way. Other than these two, I find her plots to be pretty uninteresting.
– On the non-romance front, but because it was mentioned here, The Name of the Wind: I’m sorry, but I own both the complete Earthsea series and the complete Book of the New Sun; why would I read that piece of crap when I could read the (far superior) books that it’s ripping off?
– And also on the non-romance front, I thought The Corrections was a self-indulgent piece of crap, and I hate Philip Roth. SO THERE, literary establishment.
I hesitate to say that I disliked it (and it’s not really romance), but I struggle a lot with the ending of Lilith Saintcrow’s Dante Valentine series, and whether I think that it’s a bad ending, or just a horribly realistic one that I, due to certain issues leading to personal identification with the heroine, would have liked to see come out differently. I’m actually kind of afraid to pick up the Jill Kismet books as a result.
And, since I’m being long-winded, I think that the Black Dagger Brotherhood books are crap, but I’ve read most of them in order to find choice bits to mock on my livejournal. SO MUCH MATERIAL.