My Romance Novel Pet-Peeves
1.Rakes with no reason d' etre-just sleazy men sleeping with anything in a skirt. And the heroine is just panting for them. Did it ever occur to the heroine that it's really gross that this guy slept with half the ton, or town?
2.Really mean heroes who treat heroines like crap. Uber-alpha hero.
3.Stupid, silly heroines who mindlessly go from one scrape to another. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men are, and even if we need to be saved, it doesn't have to be because we need a keeper.
4.Transplanted modern-day heroes and heroines in a period piece. Please try to make the dialogue and behavior fit the period!
5.Rape between hero and heroine (Seduction is okay).
6.The Secret Baby. So tired!
7.When the characters think they just want to sleep together and never envision a future until practically the end of the book.
8.Adultery--The big no-no! Instant wallbanger if one of the characters cheat on the other! I grit my teeth if the hero is an inveterate cuckolder of other men. For instance in historicals, the rake who sleeps with other men's wives because they are available.
9.Meaningless sex scenes that don't complement the story.
10.Heroines who decide they're going to have an affair just to do it and then get married to the boring guy or go back to being sedate.
11.Fling books! The characters get together to get it on! Yuck.
12.Sleazy characters who have no respect for their bodies (rakes, slutty heroines who sleep around, etc.) Promiscuous characters of any types!!!
13.Cardboard thin suspense plots. Just write a straight romance.
14.When the book about the character you've been waiting for with bated breath is a disappointment after the author got you to fall in love with that character in the previous book.
15.When the character you love and have been dying to read their book is paired up with a love interest that is decidely inferior.
16.When the next book in the series comes out in hardcover :(
17.When historical authors stop writing historical books and go to...Romantic suspense, women's fiction, paranormal, or chick lit! Ugh!
18.When the hero believes everything the sleazy, evil ex-mistress tells him but thinks the sweet, innocent heroine is a gold-digging bimbo. Sorry, read too many Harlequin Presents.
19.When the hero is a total prick to the heroine but she still wants to sleep with him and manages to fall head over heels for him.
20.When the author doesn't write a book about the character that you really want to read a book about.
21.When the epilogue to your book has the death of the most-beloved character. That's the absolute worst!!!
22.When the epilogue to your book doesn't feature happy ever after with children or a pregnancy! I'm sorry but that's definitely part of the fantasy to me. I love children.
23.When the author sets you up to love a secondary character like they're going to get their own story and then kills them off or makes them evil so you don't want to read their story anyway.
24.When the hero and heroine break up in the middle of the book and sleep with other characters! Makes for instant wall-banger.
25.When the hero/heroine doesn't believe in the hero/heroine and they turn away from the character and believe everyone else. Especially when they should know the character better then that.
26.When the plain Jane or plump character gets a makeover or loses weight and then the hero notices her! I hate that!
27.When you buy a book and it turns out that it's paranormal and you really didn't want to read a paranormal book.
28.Anything with a heroine/hero who is a practicing witch.
29.Buried New Age elements in a storyline. Sorry I hate that stuff!
30.When one of the characters never says I love you, or they do something really awful but don't apologize adequately for it.
31.When the sheltered, virginal heroine decides to sleep with the hero just to know what sex is about without any concerns for propriety, accidental pregnancy or respect of her chastity and then refuses the susequent marriage offer.
32.When the hero tries to make the heroine his mistress because marrying her is out of the question when it really isn't.
33.When the hero/heroine doesn't respect the hero/heroines dreams or beliefs and forces them to conform to their image or expectations. That's so not right!
34.Shallow hero or heroine who doesn't grow or change for the better.
35.Slave-owners who are cast as the hero and heroine who blithely own human beings and don't realize the inherent wrongness of it.
I think that's most of my pet peeves...
1.Rakes with no reason d' etre-just sleazy men sleeping with anything in a skirt. And the heroine is just panting for them. Did it ever occur to the heroine that it's really gross that this guy slept with half the ton, or town?
2.Really mean heroes who treat heroines like crap. Uber-alpha hero.
3.Stupid, silly heroines who mindlessly go from one scrape to another. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men are, and even if we need to be saved, it doesn't have to be because we need a keeper.
4.Transplanted modern-day heroes and heroines in a period piece. Please try to make the dialogue and behavior fit the period!
5.Rape between hero and heroine (Seduction is okay).
6.The Secret Baby. So tired!
7.When the characters think they just want to sleep together and never envision a future until practically the end of the book.
8.Adultery--The big no-no! Instant wallbanger if one of the characters cheat on the other! I grit my teeth if the hero is an inveterate cuckolder of other men. For instance in historicals, the rake who sleeps with other men's wives because they are available.
9.Meaningless sex scenes that don't complement the story.
10.Heroines who decide they're going to have an affair just to do it and then get married to the boring guy or go back to being sedate.
11.Fling books! The characters get together to get it on! Yuck.
12.Sleazy characters who have no respect for their bodies (rakes, slutty heroines who sleep around, etc.) Promiscuous characters of any types!!!
13.Cardboard thin suspense plots. Just write a straight romance.
14.When the book about the character you've been waiting for with bated breath is a disappointment after the author got you to fall in love with that character in the previous book.
15.When the character you love and have been dying to read their book is paired up with a love interest that is decidely inferior.
16.When the next book in the series comes out in hardcover :(
17.When historical authors stop writing historical books and go to...Romantic suspense, women's fiction, paranormal, or chick lit! Ugh!
18.When the hero believes everything the sleazy, evil ex-mistress tells him but thinks the sweet, innocent heroine is a gold-digging bimbo. Sorry, read too many Harlequin Presents.
19.When the hero is a total prick to the heroine but she still wants to sleep with him and manages to fall head over heels for him.
20.When the author doesn't write a book about the character that you really want to read a book about.
21.When the epilogue to your book has the death of the most-beloved character. That's the absolute worst!!!
22.When the epilogue to your book doesn't feature happy ever after with children or a pregnancy! I'm sorry but that's definitely part of the fantasy to me. I love children.
23.When the author sets you up to love a secondary character like they're going to get their own story and then kills them off or makes them evil so you don't want to read their story anyway.
24.When the hero and heroine break up in the middle of the book and sleep with other characters! Makes for instant wall-banger.
25.When the hero/heroine doesn't believe in the hero/heroine and they turn away from the character and believe everyone else. Especially when they should know the character better then that.
26.When the plain Jane or plump character gets a makeover or loses weight and then the hero notices her! I hate that!
27.When you buy a book and it turns out that it's paranormal and you really didn't want to read a paranormal book.
28.Anything with a heroine/hero who is a practicing witch.
29.Buried New Age elements in a storyline. Sorry I hate that stuff!
30.When one of the characters never says I love you, or they do something really awful but don't apologize adequately for it.
31.When the sheltered, virginal heroine decides to sleep with the hero just to know what sex is about without any concerns for propriety, accidental pregnancy or respect of her chastity and then refuses the susequent marriage offer.
32.When the hero tries to make the heroine his mistress because marrying her is out of the question when it really isn't.
33.When the hero/heroine doesn't respect the hero/heroines dreams or beliefs and forces them to conform to their image or expectations. That's so not right!
34.Shallow hero or heroine who doesn't grow or change for the better.
35.Slave-owners who are cast as the hero and heroine who blithely own human beings and don't realize the inherent wrongness of it.
I think that's most of my pet peeves...
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