❌ MY BOOK TURN OFFS 😡

[@HannahReadsFiction]

What has irked me the most lately is that we don’t have book synopsis’ on the back cover anymore 😢 all we get are blurbs or reviews and I’m like, I just want to know what the plot is!

[@yumgumgrl76]

The synopsis’ are usually on the dust jacket when you first open it up! (On hardbacks)

[@HannahReadsFiction]

@@yumgumgrl76 Yeah I know, I just miss the days when it was on the back cover all the time lol.

[@Hadeshy]

Or you have a very short passage from the book. Like. The few starting lines of chapter 4. And I'm like "That's great, but I could've read that by reading the book. Right now I want to know what it's about."

[@HannahReadsFiction]

@@Hadeshy Right?? So annoying.

[@quasi8180]

@@Hadeshy i hate it sooo much

[@naastyaaaaaaaaa]

Totally agree about the plot twist turn off. Like, if you're tellin' me this book's all about the UneXpecTed plot twist, you've basically already spoiled the entire thing...

[@kanashiiookami6537]

Yup because then I'm going to be analysing everything to see if it's foreshadowing for the twist.

[@melaniew.9388]

I totally agree with the marketing take. Since social media has such an impact on the bookscene, I got really hesitant to pick up hyped books and annoyed by frequently shared covers, even if they're actually beautiful...

[@winterwonderbookland3679]

Ok, I’m with you on the “second book is much slimmer than the first book” BUT consider: books that continuously get a lot thicker as the series progresses … this is scary because big book fear is real 👀

[@mickb.8925]

I actually enjoy that, because the start of the series is easy with a short first book and by the time the bigger book of the series comes out, I'm already invested enough to pick it up!

[@ro.demigodcos]

Arc of the scythe is like this, first book was like 450, second 520, and the last is something between 600 and 700 I think. Ahh

[@AndrewHalliwell]

A slimmer second seems to make sense to me. The first has the initial world building as well as the plot to take into consideration. By the second book, it should be obvious how things work, no need to go over all that again.

[@HP-ej3bo]

The subtle knife is a book that is shorter than the first one, but I love that because it's the perfect length. It shows up, tells its story and then goes away.

[@MarcelleLeiturasPreguicosas]

Yes, came to say this! TSK is shorter than TGC, but it adds so much, and the plot is in Will's world, so I think that's why is shorter, there's less things to explain. But TAS is like the biggest by FAR. Pullman doesn't care about Jesse's turn offs, LOL. I love this trilogy so much, can't wait for the ending of the tv show.

[@Maggie_mccann]

● If it's Colleen Hoover:🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ ● If it's a book that's been turned into a movie/show and the only covers you can kind have the actors on them: 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️ give me the og cover

[@wyatt778]

Exactly. Why should I care about the actors when I can just watch the movie/show after I read the book?

[@Maggie_mccann]

@jack also, I like to image what the characters look like myself, if an actor is on the cover I can only imagine them!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

The worst thing a good book can do is end! I hate it when they do that!

[@jessethereader]

TEA

[@alexleigh3030]

Totally agree with the tropes take. And when people announce the plot twist. Also I loved the sound of music reference lol

[@Mauvelipstick]

Omg, you are going to love "I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy! Totally worth the hype!

[@barboratrnkova5783]

Hi Jesse, kind of off-topic, I just wanted to let you know, that I feel like there has been a certain shift in your content lately and I really appreciate it! There's something very unique in your videos that makes me happy everytime I watch one of them. Thank you for what you've been creating, it is a really comfy corner of the Internet 🥰☺.

[@erinmariecece]

Totally agree, I’m loving the new content!

[@BrilliantCookiebaker]

1:45 I actually have: the Simon Snow trilogy. Wayward Son is significantly slimmer than both Carry On and Any Way the Wind Blows and yet everything that happens in it is instrumental to the themes of the Simon Snow trilogy such as dismantling the chosen one trope. The way Simon copes (or doesn't cope) with his trauma in Wayward Son is crucial for his character arc and only through that can he progress to the somewhat better place he's in in Any Way the Wind Blows. I could probably write an essay on this trilogy (don't get me started) but I'll leave it there.

[@lucyreads5540]

I agree with this 100%. And I can probably also write an essay on the trilogy 🙂

[@carahamelie]

a huge turn off for me is a cover trend. Three 1950's women walking away from the camera, a thriller with bright colored block writing on some sort of bland background photo, colorful shapes and blobs with bold text, and honestly.... charlie bowater, which is saying a lot because I used to love her book covers, but now they are starting to feel generic and I never pick them up. I completely understand why they do this... but I am always turned off but it. ALSO... any book where the authors name is way bigger than the title. I instantly get a generic vibe and never even read the back.

[@AliensIntheSky]

Dune is my all-time favorite series and the second book is WAY smaller than the first...it's actually the smallest in the six-book series. Each book is roughly 700 pages, but the second one is about 200. Although it is a little bit of a filler, it connected the first to the third and had a lot of important events happen within it.

[@RaptorsCantSwim]

I was also thinking about Dune. :)

[@nicolegugino8999]

Love the Sound of Music! And one of my book turn offs is a book being described as an existing popular book meets another popular book but it's really a stretch as to how it's related. It makes me compare it the whole time I read it.

[@kanashiiookami6537]

Problem is that those comp titles you're talking about is what agents/editors/publishers force on writers. Like, you write a book, but you can't submit it to an agent without finding something to comp it to. Be it story, inspiration, writing style, etc. You are required to do that just to prove you know the market and where your book will be shelved in a store. If you don't, and if your comps aren't current (within the last 5-10 years), they figure you're an amateur or are bad at following rules (yes, comp titles are in the rules) and therefore are more likely to pass. I hate it to, btw. Finding comp titles that others can relate to is the worst, but having them pushed on you by a published book sucks just for the same reasons you mentioned.

[@melissajackson4173]

Do I love a footnote in a story? You damn right I do. I don’t read many books with footnotes, but when their there….I feel like it’s just that little bit more to love.

[@RaptorsCantSwim]

I was immediately thinking about Good Omens when the subject of footnotes came up. And Good Omens is one of my all-time favorites, so I agree with you ;)

[@atari947]

i would suggest the Argentinian writer Luis Borges. He made great use of them in his fiction about fiction.

[@books_with_clementine]

The ruin of kings (and the overall series) is a perfect example of a book with footnotes that is not just filler or annoying. The footnotes are actually from another character reading the story of someone and adding their comments. There’s not too many, they usually are funny or sarcastic, or they also are foreshadowing future events…

[@naastyaaaaaaaaa]

Oh, I LOVED The Illuminae Files too!❤️ The second book is the only one I read where it's basically 30% build-up and 70% climax. MOST OF IT IS CLIMAX. But yeah.. Good ol' days..

[@emmal7510]

Other than Terry Pratchett and House of Leaves, I don't remember running into footnotes in fiction that isn't really old and/or translated.

[@michellehanson984]

"Dr Strange and Mr Norrell" has a whole bunch of them

[@Xatalla]

Same, and those are pretty much the only ones I like, otherwise I'm with Jesse on this one

[@nicolegugino8999]

The Nevernight trilogy by Jay Kristoff and Babel by RF Kuang have footnotes.

[@TheSoundOfGeorgia]

Jesse mentioning Sound of Music seriously made me so happy. It's my fave too. My least faves are: 1.the misunderstanding-don't-talk-for-fifty-pages. They're in 99% of romance books and they aggravate me to no end. I don't always end up hating the entire book because of it, but that does happen a lot. I've only read one single book where I felt it worked and was justified. and 2. YA High Fantasy in general. 99% of them are the same. You've read ACOTAR? Then you've read Snow Like Ashes. And Shadow and Bone. (And the title is _____ of ______ and _____)

[@nymeriayenneferroisin2697]

I love Snow like Ashes more than ACOTAR though. I struggled with ACOTAR.

[@TheSoundOfGeorgia]

@@nymeriayenneferroisin2697 I think the read ACOTAR was my favourite was because it was the first one I read, so at the time it didn’t feel so recycled, because for me, it wasn’t.

[@blueturtle3623]

I just want you to know that you are typically responsible for pulling me out of book slumps. Thanks, man.

[@SerenaRosetail]

Anyone else wish they lived in the same town as Jesse so we can talk about different books? Cause I do

[@catcarstairs8179]

What a delightful video! I really enjoy the chit-chat style vids you're making lately. I also love how you wore red to explain all your red flags with books. ;) And your Sound of Music reference did not go unnoticed!! I can understand the "shorter sequel" one, because more often than not a shorter sequel means a less enjoyable book. However, the exception to that (at least in my opinion 😁) is The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien. It's the second and shortest book of The Lord of the Rings, and also my favorite. I know technically LOTR is all one book, but, well, you know what I mean. 😂 The "marketed by tropes" one is a big stipulation for me, too. I want to experience those tropes at work while I'm reading, not already expecting them to be in the book before I read it. Some of my least favorite tropes have been done really well in certain books that I might not have picked up had I known it involved them. Usually I'm turned off by any book involving Fae, but three of my friends are begging for me to read The Cruel Prince, so it appears it's inevitable. (Lol.) This comment is already really long, but I want to know- How are you doing Jesse? Is there any way I can pray for you? Remember that you are LOVED! Hoping you have a blessed day!! 💜

[@elizabethcastro4158]

Please, do read the Cruel Prince!! I absolutely loved it!!

[@catcarstairs8179]

@@elizabethcastro4158 Hahah, now that's four people telling me to read it! 🤣

[@naastyaaaaaaaaa]

HILLLLSSS ARE ALIIIVVEEEEEEE WITH THE SOUND OF MUUUUUUUSIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCC!... You're not alone, Jesse, you're not alone.😏

[@emmerzk93]

For me it’s weird names. I like an interesting name and have chosen some good ones, at least I think😅, for my books without making them unreadable, clunky, or just ugly to look at 🤣 mainly thinking of character names but this can also apply to countries/towns/cities, etc. Re: Illuminae, I actually put this series off for years because I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it with the different format. I thought it might be confusing or distracting. Last year I listened to the audiobooks and they’re soooooo good with a full cast and sound effects. Maybe now that I know the story I could try to read the hard copies, but the AB was fun

[@WhimsicalNarratives]

Love a Sound of Music moment! - For me my book turns offs include weird format books like ones that are instant messages and emails I just struggle with conversation in that form and then checklist books (books that put the kitchen sink of popular topics, controversial topics, tropes etc…all in one book - I feel like the real story gets lost because they are trying toooo hard to hit every demographic they can)

[@jennawoods9465]

I recently read “Under the Whispering Door” by TJ Klune and I think you would LOVE it!! It’s about death, but told in a really unique and beautiful way. It made me think and feel sooo much! I also recommend his book “House on the Cerelean Sea”. There is a touch of fantasy and again, beautiful life messages. I’ve had a really great experience reading both these books and think you would as well. 😊

[@daniellewilliams1459]

Hey Jesse, my turn offs are usually when a book is repetitive and keeps talking the same issue, when a character thinks they know everything it honestly makes me so annoyed, I agree with you seeing the same book everyday annoys me as well, and I agree with you as well people shouldn’t ruin it for others especially when it’s a good plot twist, and I would say the other turn off would be a characters perspective changes every paragraph.

[@ayeshahabib9626]

kzbin.info/door/8agRIoB7iWuWT4NJlMV66A

[@wyatt778]

I make a character think they know everything on purpose to show it’s a flaw of their’s. Because I remember when I was younger, I used to think I knew it all 😂

[@lightquest2]

I thought i was alone in hating the trope marketing tactic 😭🥴 I miss the old era of book marketing

[@DannyHidalgo]

My biggest book turn off is when the main conflict in the book can be resolved by the people fighting just having a conversation and talking it out. Drives me crazy.

[@leonajeanlunn4302]

Omg yes I hate when people tell me there's a big cliffhanger cuz then I go crazy with guesses and get so disappointed 😔

[@kaiju_k5042]

Also that's such a spoiler too, I'd love to read the cliffhanger myself and enjoy the surprise, not be told that it exists before I even buy the book :(

[@winterwonderbookland3679]

I lived for your Sound of Music reference lol. This is a very basic one but I hate when there’s just blurbs instead of a description on the back of a book like, I just wanna know what it’s about, I don’t care that it’s “luscious, exuberant” and that xy author couldn’t put it down 🥲 Makes me be like now I don’t even WANNA know what it’s about 💁🏼‍♀️ Omg also the oversaturation thing is so true! Especially on booktok I feel like it’s always the same five freaking books in every video!

[@pamelakibildis1177]

Great Video Jesse And I love Sound of Music too great movie and I honestly can’t stand books that I constantly see everywhere and it’s the same book once is enough for me Lol 😂 Take Care Jesse

[@livslibrary]

Literally nodded my head & said same to all of these. 😂

[@withlove_nikki]

I've been thinking about why being marketed by tropes bothers me so much now where in fanfic it's all I need and - with fics, I'm already familiar with the characters and maybe even the world, if it's canon-compliant, and the tropes are just like, the ~flavor~ this fic will take on. but with original fiction, I'm getting to know these things for the first time and so it's not as exciting to see someone say "this book includes this trope" also, slightly related to the book being hyped up a bunch and not knowing the description but I don't like when a book is hyped the exact same way every time. like Gideon the Ninth for example. everywhere from booktube to booksta to the staff recs at B&N say the same thing: "lesbian necromancers in space". and that's it. and I need more than that?? like it's fine to include that part of the pitch in the description, but when that's the only pitch I get? it's sort of like the trope thing to me; that's nice and all, but what else?

[@memesfusioners5909]

Just finished your another video perfect timing

[@i_dont_know_who_i_am_93]

1:39 THE SIMON SNOW TRILOGY!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, THE SIMON SNOW TRILOGY!

[@SelenicSoul83]

'if I get lost while reading the description' was me with the Jujutsu Kaisen anime. I only ended up watching it because my brother recommended it, and I liked it well enough but as expected I got hopelessly lost in the worldbuilding.

[@waffle_fries9322]

It's been wayyyyy to long since ive watched one of his videos and ik this is the only thing thats gonna get me through my senior year 😭

[@BabyCatBanana]

I think when the author makes it clear that they think "useless details" are not okay then it just spoils the book for me. "Oh you mean everything you mention in this book will have an effect on the story...oh monsters like to possess things...oh the main character got a locket--LOCKET IS POSSED. Book over by page 3. //// Oh there is a mysterious murderer that seems to be one step ahead of the detective? Oh the detective only tells their bestest friend ever what they're doing....best friend is murderer. Book over by page 10." IDK I hate how this minimalist movement has changed everything -- fast food, houses, toy store, writing -- like...idk useless details might be annoying to some people, but it leaves a bit of mystery. What is world/character building and what has actual plot relevance? Is this locket just a sweet moment to try and make you feel for the mc and their best friend, or is this telling you everything you need to know about the end plot twist.

[@TaigaNatsuki]

Mine are names I can’t pronounce, a language spoken that doesn’t make sense unless you look it up in the back (like The Inheritance Cycle) and bad covers. Because I absolutely judge a book by its cover 😂

[@bangmon1000]

I feel the same way about footnotes that you do. What makes it worse, is when I listen to the audio version of a book with a lot of footnotes. The reader is reading the footnotes. _54 period Ibid period comma P period 66 period_ WHY?

[@alannasama777]

I’m not a nonfiction reader, and Jennette McCurdy’s memoir is fantastic. You should listen to the audiobook of it. She reads it herself.

[@erinmariecece]

The troupe thing get me so annoyed some times because so many books now are marketed as “enemies to lovers” to chase after the popularity of that troupe, when really they are more like rivals to lovers or just simple miscommunication. If the “enemies to lovers” couple is together after 100 or less pages, then they were never enemies. I NEED SLOW BURN.

[@anthonycurrie5065]

I loved the footnotes In Babel! When books don’t have blurbs... or is described as a blend of blank and blank

[@lumielle3116]

Totally agree with the tropes turn off! I think with some tropes it's ok, but I'd still rather know what the book is actually about. But last year I've read a review, which was labeled "non-spoilery" for a book I maybe wanted to read and it sounded great. But the review also listed some tropes and one of them was betrayal. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?! I ended up reading the book and I really enjoyed it, but this took so much from my reading experience because I was thinking about who could betray who all the time and so it was no surprise at all when it finally happened...

[@bash6142]

Honestly same… to everything

[@marianamauricio]

yessss!! omg books nowadays being marketedsolely by tropes is soooo annoying!

[@wordstowordlessthings]

A third issue with tropes - a book should not be simple enough that it can be fully described by tropes. It's not fanfic with established characters/worlds. So either they market with tropes and the book *is* just one-dimensional like you said, or it *isn't* and they've turned off a good chunk of people by describing it with tropes that are only part of the overall experience.

[@mrsunshine_]

me looking to my bookshelf, confused about the 'small second book' comment: :/ ? the second school for good and evil staring into my soul: 👁 👄 👁

[@leonajeanlunn4302]

Yesss Jesse active era 🔥 🔥 🔥

[@jessethereader]

LOL

[@lauren7713]

The footnotes in Nevernight were hilarious

[@oliverharris60]

Ooh Babel has footnotes and sometimes I mind them and sometimes I don’t. I’m hoping in Babel’s case I’ll find it adds to the story!

[@lostmymindinbooks]

I'm absolutely loving the Babel footnotes - for ke, they add a lot (some could have just been put into the regular running text though)

[@readingbystarlight5567]

YES!! 100% agree with all of these!

[@ChemicalPenguinn]

I'm with you on the footnotes, but in Babel by R F Kuang they actually didn't. They were just there to add a little more information and overall weren't that important.

[@lucijatadinac9667]

I LOVE footnotes. I especially like when they are like half a page, makes me feel like I learned something important, but on accident

[@mikmik6158]

when book blurbs/ synopsis have "this book/show meets another book/show" because most of the time it's not true lol (like the last airbender meets harry potter type of blurb)

[@kanashiiookami6537]

The comp titles you're talking about aren't actually supposed to mean "this book is exactly like a mesh of these two things" they're comparative titles in terms of the adventure or the writing style or some aspect of the story. Also comp titles are "competitive titles" as in what the publisher thinks the book can compete with. (And they're a nightmare for a lot of authors to come up with, but required in order to even get an agent let alone to get published, and in some cases the publisher might change the comps the author came up with just for marketability. So the authors aren't the ones forcing these on the readers but the publisher demands them)

[@Fox_in_Thoughts]

Agree with marketing the book with a trope problem. As a reader, I usually don't pay attention to tropes. I don't read a book because I know it has a trope. I read it because I'm interested in the premise. So, for me, I avoid those types of book recs. (Although I do like recs like that from a writer standpoint because it tells me what names people have given certain tropes :P ) This next thing might be a personal thing, but I don't like when books are marketed as "for readers who like [book I haven't read 1] and [book I haven't read 2]" or "if you like [book I haven't read B] and [book I haven't read C], you will love this book!". I haven't read them. Tell me what it is about.

[@masqueradechick]

I definitely agree that some books are being pushed so heavily over and over on every platform. Like give us a break. I want something NEW not the same few authors and well known books

[@Mauvelipstick]

I love how "Dracula" is an epistolary novel. I so need to read it in its entirety! Jesse, don't ever read "I've Got You're Number" by Sophie Kinsella because it's a romance with a lot of footnotes. You would hate it

[@alicewiegold4425]

What about anything by Terry Pratchett?

[@barbarat444]

About the footnotes - Good omens wouldn't be half as good if it wasn't for the footnotes. Terry Pratchetts footnotes are the best parts!

[@MsLPSFOREVER]

Some books do it well. Others, it's just distracting or doesn't add much to the story.

[@Abby44c]

My turn offs is when there's highly gripping scene coming up but the author is too busy describing the room and the history of the building. It makes me question if they even know what's going on or just wanting add more words to make the book longer. 2nd turn off - when the ending is rushed or it feels like the writer didn't know how end it. It just feels like they just want to publish an book and not really care how it turns out.

[@anotheroneofthecrowd9379]

One of my biggest turnoffs is when the prose is so overtly loquacious and descriptive that it ceases the momentum of the book. An example of this for me is Call Me By Your Name. There was just too many moments in that book that were so needless wordy. I’m like, ok André Aciman, we get it, you can write well, now get to the point. I get people eat that stuff up, but I’m not one of them lol.

[@e-nev]

The one thing that has been driving me NUTS lately is when a book is marketed as a certain trope and it is NOT that trope. I just read Shipped and Love on the Brain recently. Both were marketed as enemies to lovers, and they definitely were not. Both were just an annoying one-sided misunderstanding where the girl is oblivious and can't properly read a guy. Makes me skeptical now every time I read a blurb about a book and they tout a certain trope.

[@ashm4738]

I get turned off books that have descriptions that tell you everything that will happen in the book. So many books spoil the major events in their description. On the other side, what is it with books that provide no description at all? I don't cover buy. I need to know something about it - just not everything. And I also tend to feel annoyed when I'm over-exposed to book titles. I might read them eventually, when the hype dies down, but not usually in the moment unless I catch it before it gets overly hyped. I have other turn-offs when I'm actually reading the book, but those are the ones that stop me from picking one up.

[@melanieklump592]

What about the footnotes in Discworld? Those are usually quite funny!

[@morganmeadowes6861]

I hate love triangles, and I recognise it in almost every book that I read.

[@eliselapuce]

My book turn off : Real people on the cover. I'll go above and beyong to find another cover if I'm really interested. But oof, real people? No. Don't look at me, don't exist in real human form, I don't want it.

[@ronjaemmianniina3152]

Right behind you is the book And I Darken, the first in a trilogy, and the second and third books are smaller. I mean they get smaller by the book. BUT I didn't mind at all cause the books didn't need to be longer. The first one has so much info and the second and third are just BANG badass books!

[@beterybunny234]

I'm always turned off when a book ends with a cliffhanger. I *hate* cliffhangers, and I developed a habit of just..not reading the rest of the series. It often feels like the author either didn't know how to end the first book or doesn't have confidence people will willingly read the second book. It's also so much worse if it's a 'fade to black' cliffhanger (ie protag looses consciousness one way or another)

[@carlatowns6942]

My biggest turn off is when the book is compared to something else. For example, Ace of Spades. Get Out meets Gossip Girl. Drives me crazy.

[@kanashiiookami6537]

Blame the publishers for requireing comp titles to sell a book. It frustrates authors too. Because those are freaking hard to find if you don't write some easy genre fiction like romance or Lee Child/David Baldacci esque action/thriller/whatever those dudes write (only been told they're basically writing each other's stories, they're so similar, but never been interested enough to read them)

[@MsLPSFOREVER]

Honestly, this is more on the publishers than the author. Agents want you to compare your work to something already published so they can (partially) gauge whether it could probably sell or not.

[@MsLPSFOREVER]

@@kanashiiookami6537 same! Like my New Adult could be compared to one book that I can think of and that's really it. I'm sure I can think of others, but it's so hard, and like....what if I want my book to stand alone without too much comparison?

[@kanashiiookami6537]

@@MsLPSFOREVER Exactly. I'm specifically trying to write adult and YA books with underrepresented characters/dynamics in it because I'm sick of not finding anything relatable in fiction. But it makes it impossible to comp because anything I comp for writing is romance ladened because apparently a story can't exist without characters falling in love or getting into things my characters don't. So that's what someone will expect from my work despite comping writing style or immersive fantasy/paranormal aspects of x author.😩

[@MsLPSFOREVER]

@@kanashiiookami6537 honestly, I feel like a lot of readers ARE looking for the opposite nowadays BECAUSE it's all so oversaturated. My middle grade has no real romance/romantic plot, but familial love, and if there is any it's not the main focus, by any means. Some of the characters have significant others, but nothing major comes of it beyond it just being a fact/element of the story (of course these are talking animals so it can only get so deep) My NA DOES have romance, but most of it is: "yes there is a love triangle, but the MC comes to her senses" and "lovers to enemies"

[@styxthistle497]

I'd say my biggest book turn-off (which isn't to do with he book itself btw) is... bad covers. My pet peeve is photographs (especially of people) on book covers, or when the cover is mainly face. I much prefer artsy illustrations. Say what you want about the Interview With the Vampire books, but I LOVE the cover where it's just the title, but the more you look at the letters the more you see the little pictures that make them up. A photograph of a face, on the other hand, looks awkward and is very embarrassing to carry around. As for things in books themselves, I'm not a fan of getting through 200 pages and having about 20 words worth of notes. I hate The Obligatory Kiss Scene, especially when it has nothing to do with the actual story or themes. I also find it awkward when the author over-hypes an event in the book... sometimes it feels like they're putting their writing on a pedestal I find it quite jarring.

[@nirrasin9246]

Plot twist marketing!! Absolutely!!!!!!! That's so annoying 😡😡🤬

[@malaksayed2457]

I agree so much with the tropes one. I'm reading the book from begining to end just to live though the world building and get familiar with the charachters until they become Dear to me.im not reading the book to try and see the trope and then I'm chucking it in the bin and never opening it again. It doesn't work that way 😂

[@snowingonolympus8588]

a big book turn off for me is if something is supposed to be a series but the characters in book one do not crop up until books way later in the series. Like, I'm not just reading a book series for the world building. I'm reading for the characters. If you get me attached to them and their story, why would I take well to you introducing new characters to me? I don't want to read Graceling because of this, and I've never read past book one of the Illuminae Files for this reason as well (though I loved LOVED book one). Same with the Giver series. It just doesn't appeal to me and seems like a lot more work to get through the sequel books wondering what the relevance of book one even was.

[@cecefernandes5657]

I actually do wish more books would use thr Ao3 tag system. It actually helps me a lot but yeah if I don't understand the summary I have no hope😭✋️

[@halfmoon03]

I agree with most of these except the footnote one. I've read some books where the footnotes added a whole new layer to the story! As for my book turnoffs, the biggest one is poor translation. I don't even try to read translations of contemporary english books anymore because the language more often than not comes off SO cringy in my native language, especially slangs and stuff like that. Classics are fine.

[@kristentejera7160]

Haha footnotes can definitely be the worst sometimes

[@mandiconnell3311]

Yes to all of these haha. I also hate instalove, but that’s nothing new

[@unavezms8167]

My bookish turn-off when publisher doesn't consider that a book will ya know be read. Like it's so big, or the font is so small it hurts to read it. Literally not metaforically.

[@dokjayoon]

off the top of my head, some of my book turn offs are: either singing with showing us the lyrics, or just describing the character's amazing singing ability, and mary sue style main characters, or characters who become op but it doesn't make sense! also, there are footnotes in books? Like, non-academic, fiction books?? Σ(°ロ°)

[@themightyquill560]

I agree with your opinion on marketing books based on tropes. Yes I may love that trope, but what’s the context it’s in? I may like the trope, but the story itself may not be something I’m interested in. I also dislike”enemies to lovers” marketing when the trope is done very poorly or it’s just dark perdí if, nota true enemies to libere requiring character development. Oversaturarion can be an iffy one for me. Sometimes it turns me off of a book (or at least makes me decide to only get a library copy in case it’s not worth the hype), and sometimes it makes me want to read it a lot!

[@saraangel6696]

I got really into the passe miroir series and when i got to the third book, it was slimmer (but it’s 4 books) so i thought “weird, a filler book”, but they had only changed the quality of the paper so it was thinner (and made the font slightly smaller) and the book was actually a good 100 pages LONGER

[@blueturtle3623]

I think the reason Illuminae works is because the story would still be super interesting if written in a traditional format. Im reading it right now and in the beginning I had a bit of a tough time, but only because I had a hard time keeping track of where the characters were and who knew who from where. About a hundred pages in, I got it down. The format made it easy to go back and look because the page i was looking for stuck out among the others. I also think every book should adopt "Page X/Y" on the bottom of every page. That was great.

[@thegirlonfiredolls]

agree with all of these, different covers and heights of books too.

[@afafnj]

He be spitting FACTS

[@saltairtherustonyourdoor9944]

Yes!!! a new video!!

[@little.prince]

For the slimmer middle book of a trilogy, The Vanishing Stair was my favourite in the Truly Devious trilogy and I believe it’s the shortest, although I still think it should’ve been a duology.

[@RaptorsCantSwim]

I have a strange one. When I see writers describe their work as "evil" or themselves as authors as "evil" or talk about how they "just want to rip the heart out of the reader" or "just want the reader to suffer," I am one hundred percent deterred. I have never read a book by one of these self-proclaimed "evil" writers and found it satisfactory. It becomes clear that they throw triggers and death into their work just for shock value and to be "edgy." It reads like a cringe attempt at being "cool," and it just doesn't work for me. It's different, of course, if it is a reader who describes a book or the author of a book as such, but if I'm catching an author saying it about themselves... Bleh!

[@musicandloveismylive]

When reading the synopsis immediately starts off with an historical date.

[@sydthebookdragon]

The trilogy that I love is The Unwritten Library series by A.J. Hackwith. The books were all about the same size though, I think.

[@Litera_Trotter]

Book with footnotes. May I suggest you Jose Carlos Samoza's The Athenian Murders. The main text and footnotes tell two different stories. A metafictional whodunnit of sorts.

[@zelpazz]

0:48 that's actually so true. I was surprised when reading Thunderhead (second book of the Scythe trilogy) and how good it was and how I think it's my favorite. I loved scythe and then it just got even better somehow? But now when you gave that point, thunderhead IS bigger than the first. Every other second book in a series I've though was not as good as the first have been smaller. - I definitely thinks there's a truth to your statement there!

[@kaylacook1522]

My book turnoffs: WW2 anything, insta-love, multigenerational sagas (even though one of my favorite authors writes almost exclusively in that), and any high school romance where the MC's main arc/personality revolves around their love interest. Also if the cover just has a picture of a person on the cover (think every early 2000s ya book cover)

[@jordanreadsalot]

i have issues with footnotes as well and heads up if you wanted to ever read the series a Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons the 3rd perspective is told in Footnotes which are on every page i DNF at page 255/500

[@erinmcglone3167]

For me, it’s the 15-17 year old protagonists. Like, they are out conquering kingdoms and here’s me at 20, struggling to catch my bus on time

[@bashby97]

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, P.S I Still Love You is my favourite in the trilogy (and one of my favourite books ever!) however the third book, Always and Forever, Lara Jean was just unnecessary. Should’ve been a duology

[@kanashiiookami6537]

The author probably got contracted for a three book deal and had no choice but to come up with something.

[@bashby97]

@@kanashiiookami6537 yeah that’s definitely what happened! i think it was meant to be a standalone, then she was wrote the second one, then three years later she released the third! i just think the third didn’t add anything in my opinion

[@christinaglahn8036]

My pet peeve is when the blurb says something like "X and Y have the perfect life!" Makes me want to put the book down right away.

[@bookishbutterfly]

Hello! Just found your channel, agree 100% about tropes

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

The only time I’ll read a book with footnotes is if I read it on audiobook and it just sounds like part of the book 😂

[@soniareppe]

Yes😂 the footnotes! Annoying