Top Ten Turn-offs When it Comes to Books

Welcome to another TTT! Today’s topic, Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book, is the opposite of last week’s topic and I thought it would be fun to do them back-to-back like this. What are some of your dealbreakers or turn-offs when deciding whether or not to read/finish a book? Maybe it’s a genre you don’t like, an author who has burned you in the past, trigger warnings, subject matter, writing style, etc. You can also include reasons you might DNF a book, which I’m including in my list as well. Don’t feel like you have to name author names or book titles unless you want to! I’m going to keep this general because I never want to hurt feelings!

1. Certain trigger warnings. 
I find myself looking for trigger warnings a lot more than I used to because I keep accidentally stumbling upon upsetting content in books I never would have expected to see that kind of content in. Animal abuse/death is probably my biggest dealbreaker, but there’s several others that I just won’t read.

2. If a book is described as heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, or heartrending.
Leave my heart alone! Oh, and “harrowing” and “tear-jerker” aren’t great for me either!

3. First-person present-tense.
It’s my absolutely least favorite, but I’ll do it for a story that sounds too hard to pass up or is written by an author I really love.

4. Enemies to lovers trope. 
Ok, so this one isn’t always the case and is not a true dealbreaker for me. I’ll read enemies to lovers if it includes another trope I love, like fake dating or forced proximity. I’ll also read this trope if it’s by an author I love, or if I can tell it’s not going to be a book filled with toxic hatred. I can’t stand it when characters spend the bulk of the book being mean to or yelling at each other.

5. Sad subject matter with no hope.
This one has evolved for me a little. I used to shy away from all sad books (and I still do with most contemporary fiction), but then I fell in love with historical fiction (mostly WWII). Many, if not all, WWII fiction novels have sad moments. It’s the lack of hope and the lack of goodness in a sad story that will make me set it aside. If there’s no good characters, no light moments, and no hopeful messages then there’s nothing for me to take away from the story and what’s the point of that?

6. Inaccuracy/lack of research.
If a place I’ve been to is incorrectly described, a historical period was clearly not researched, or an aspect of a culture or religion that I’m a part of is inaccurately portrayed then I usually won’t finish the book.

7. Too many pop culture references. 
Books don’t age well when these are included too often, and it pulls me out of the story!

8. Curse words from this world in fictitious worlds. 
If I’m reading a fantasy or sci-fi novel that does not take place on Earth (or on the Earth we all know), it irks me to no end when the author has the characters throwing around f-bombs. But then again, I also cringe when I read made-up curse words that substitute for ours. lol. So maybe there’s no hope for me!

9. Excessive character descriptions.
Yes. He’s hot. She’s hot. His eyes are green like the forest, like the grass, like an emerald, like the skin of a watermelon. I get tired of it!

10. Ugly covers. 
This isn’t a dealbreaker for me, but it’s definitely a speed bump. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (and I’ve read amazing books with ugly covers), but there are SO many books out there with beautiful covers and I absolutely know that I will always pick those up first in a bookstore.

What are some of your turn-offs or dealbreakers when it comes to books?