For What It's Worth


Thursday, January 31, 2019

Tell Me Something Tuesday


Tell Me Something Tuesday is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging.

Question: What things turn you off in a book blurb

Answer: 

I’m in a bit of a time crunch with THE BIG MOVE coming but I wanted to answer this weeks question because it was suggested by one of my best blogging buddies – Roberta from Offbeat YA
So I’ll keep it quick….

  1. LOVE TRIANGLES
  2. New/awkward girl in town meets loner/usually angry hot boy.
  3. New/awkward girl all of sudden has special secret powers and is the only one who can solve anything - thereby becoming a boy magnet. lol
  4. Blurbs that compare a book to the best seller of the moment.
  5. Anything that promises to make me cry or rip my heart to shreds
  6. Rich kids in secret societies/boarding schools that do awful things things to people
  7. Romances that sell the hero as an asshole but he’s good in bed/so hot the heroine can’t resist him
  8. Super twisty plots that are the start to a series. I can handle one book but when it drags out over 3+ – I’m out.

Are there any thing you read in a blurb that make you run for the hills?

40 comments:

  1. I don't like book comparisons either.

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    1. They rarely live up to the comparison - either in content or quality.

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    1. I have 0 patience for twists that keep coming over YEARS lol

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  3. I totally misinterpreted Roberta’s question. Still you hit upon a few of my peeves such as comparisons.

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    1. You had a lot of great ones though!

      yeah -t he comparisons always work against the book IMO

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  4. so funny thing.. I think many of these are in Twilight :) and I enjoyed that series! LOL I think I roll my eyes at these tropes now because they have been overused :)

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    1. Yes! I LOVED Twilight back in the day but I have little tolerance for it now. IT's rarely done in an innovative way and it's just OMG nooooooo now lol

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  5. Book comparisons usually leave me cold - and I think from a marketing standpoint they can really backfire. If I see a book compared to one I didn’t like, I’m not picking it up. Without the comparison I might have given it a chance. And possibly liked it since often the comparisons are off-base, anyway.

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    1. Yes Tanya!!!! I said this above - but i think it really works against the book you're trying to pitch. It's either NOTHING like the compared book or it's quality is so bad and it gives me trust issues lol

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    1. They were both so overdone. Both seemed to fade away for a few years but I see them creepign back in - albeit with kick ass heroines but still.

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  7. Quote: "I wanted to answer this weeks question because it was suggested by one of my best blogging buddies".
    😃 😊 😘

    Short, sweet and witty LOL. Of course, No.7 didn't occur to me since I don't read romance/YA contemporaries involving romance, but it's an awful, harmful trope that needs to go away yesterday. No.2,3 and (more or less) 6 are on my list too...and I didn't include comparisons, but yep - they are useless at best, annoying in general, detrimental to the book sometimes. I wish that publishers read our posts/tweets and finally saw that...

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    1. The comparison thing is interesting to me. Almost every hard core reader/blogger is annoyed by them but every casual reader I know likes them - and the best seller lists/mainstream publication reviews.

      I guess the causal reader wants a quick rec while we want as much unbiased info as possible to make a decision and not waste time/money?

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  8. I totally agree! 🙌🙌🙌

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  9. I certainly agree with the first seven you mentioned! That's why I stopped reading YA books!

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    1. I see it a lot in romance too. I've learn to read more varied so that I'm not hitting the same tropes each time.

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  10. It's not anything as specific as what you stated, but really long blurbs scare me, because they either reveal too much or seem to have no focus. I also detest those blurbs that say nothing. Usually they are written from one of the characters POVs and they basically do not inform me, not one iota, as to what the book is about.

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    1. I actually like detailed blurbs (but I also don't mind spoilers) the more info the more I can tell if it's for me but I do get where that would be an issue for most readers.

      The character ones are unreliable too!

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  11. Hard agree with number four! I think books were compared to The Six of Crows for two years.

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    1. I've only seen one or two out of 100 comparisons be accurate.

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  12. Ha ha love these. Especially #4. It's amazing how a book takes off and all of a sudden EVERYTHING is just like it *rolls eyes*

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    1. It's like any book that makes you cry must be compared to a John Green novel regardless of topic or quality. And the Gone Girl comparisons were big for awhile.

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  13. cosign with that list ...but add cheating to the list . I don't like reading about it. :(

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    1. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! That's a big one for me too.

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  14. Oh man I forgot to add the whole comparing thing too. I hate that!

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    1. It's always wrong or sets up and newbie author for failure IMO.

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  15. Yeah, I'm with you on some of these, particularly the one where they compare the book to another bestseller or writing of a best-selling author. That screams desperation and I almost guarantee they'll fall hideously short of whatever they're aspiring to...

    One thing that almost guarantees I'll avoid a book is overt religiosity in the blurb or emphasising that it's a 'clean' romance. They both make me twitchy.

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    1. Oh yes! I've been getting a few of those pitches lately. While I don't mind romances without sex - I dislike that term and the connotations that come with it.

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  16. I actually don't mind a love triangle if it is handled well! So it's not a major turn off for me but I do agree with all of the others! I hate when the girl is basically a magnet for all the guys for whatever reason - be it superpowers or something else. And ugh, I hate mean guys who are 'good in bed' as if that redeems them!! I actually don't mind long series though, so maybe excepting that last one as well.

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    1. I don't mind long series exactly but more when they have a lot of twists and turns that leave you hanging. It feels like things will NEVER get resolved or that whatever you read in any given book is a lie. I'm super impatient lol

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  17. Love Triangles is the biggest turn off for me or a story that is high on the angst between the couples like those that hate each other and are so mean to each other and that is just not the type of books that I like.

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    1. I do love hate to love lol but the payoff has to be worth it. But more deep differences rather than being mean or petty.

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  18. Pretty much all of those would make me skip that book. I especially hate #4.

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    1. Yup. It's almost always inaccurate and then you can't trust blurbs at all.

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  19. I'm with you on the first three. It really does turn me off, because even if the book is super original, it doesn't sound like it will be and I don't have time to find out! LOL

    -lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I think there was just SO much of it for a few years that I'm over it. It would have to come highly recommended by someone I trust to give that trope a try.

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  20. The words playboy and virgin. It's why I stopped reading new adult a few years ago, it just seemed as though everyone was coping the Jamie McGuire template of big tough guy with toxic masculinity meets virgin and is awarded man of the year. I hope the packing is going well darling! Been watching Twitter and Instagram for updates.

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    1. Oh! That's a GOOD one. I'll avoid that too.

      the packing is...going lol

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