Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Turnoffs

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created and hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Today's Topic: My Top Ten Book Turnoffs 

1. Gruesomeness - I don't mind the stories in horror books and sometimes even find myself in the perfect mood for a well-written scary story, but I HATE graphic descriptions of gory details.  I personally don't find it at all necessary and will definitely put down a book if it becomes too much.

2. Lack of editing - I have to say that often this applies to self-published books, however I can think of several distinct examples of traditionally published books that NEEDED to be reedited before publication.  One in particular was about 100 pages longer than I thought it needed to be because the verbose author apparently needed to apply descriptors to every person, place, and thing in the book... (ie. - her shimmering, blond locks flowed lightly in the warm breeze, enticing him to reach out a strong hand to touch the soft curls...) 

3. War scenes - I used to say "war books" in general, but I've learned that's not true.  While I hate scenes that actually take place during battles, I don't mind books set in war time, as long as they have a focus outside of the battles.  For instance, I loved Walter Dean Myer's Sunrise Over Fallujah, which actually focuses on a troop of soldiers that follows the fighting to help rebuild in the war torn area... 

4. Eating Disorders - I actually have a really hard time reading books that deal with eating disorders. I know that it's a super important topic and I'm very glad the books are out there for the people who need to read them, but I just get so grossed out in so many ways reading about the issues other people have with food. 

5. Forced Love Triangles - *sigh* This didn't used to be such a problem, but nowadays, most books are being marketed with "Teams." I don't mind a well done love triangle where the heroine, and therefore myself, has a truly difficult time choosing between two guys that truly love her and want the best for her... but come on...when one guy is just being shoved into the equation to create "TENSION..."  No, thank you.  I'd rather have straight out love or none at all. 

6. ...Which brings me to... "Bad" (and sometimes Abusive!) Love Interests - As a fan of the Good Guy Next Door, I'm always sad that in more cases the good guy doesn't actually win the girl. I get extremely pissed at my female characters (*cough, Bella, cough, cough*) if they can't see the decent guy right in front of them because they've been wooed by the enticing "bad guy." I could get rant-y here, so instead, I'm just going to move on. 

7. Animal Cruelty - Defenseless animals being hurt to move the plot along. No. I can't do it.  

8. "Circus Freaks" - Let's just say that I was mentally scarred for life by GEEK LOVE in college and now if a book has circus freaks in it, I pretty much shy away.  It took years for me to be able to read any book set in a circus again... *shudders*

9.  Mean Girl Main Characters - Generally, I can't stand it when the main character is one of the "mean girls." That's not to say that I don't read books where it's not occasionally a facet of who they are, or that they hang out with the alpha chicks, but I tend to need to sympathize with my MCs to an extent and having never been one of the mean girls, that doesn't work for me.

10.  Being Too Heavy to Comfortably Carry - Thank goodness for my Nook, because now I can happily read those 800 page novels that used to make me crazy.  I read in bed a LOT and there's nothing worse than having a 800 pager slowly breaking your sternum as you try to rest it on your chest at night... LOL.

Well, that's all I could think of at the moment.  What are YOUR top ten book turnoffs?

Hunger Celebration - ARC Giveaway

Hunger
by Jackie Morse Kessler
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, book one

Wayyyy back in May, I blogged about my love for Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler (see my review here). I was lucky enough to snag an ARC from BEA 2010. Well, it was officially released last Monday, October 18th.

To help celebrate Hunger's release I'm going to do a giveaway of my ARC. If you'd like to see what all the fuss is about and read Hunger for yourself, please leave a comment with your email address in it. On Monday, November 1st, I will choose a winner using random.org and email them to get their mailing address (only within the U.S. this time, sorry!). If the winner does not contact me back with their address by Friday, November 5th, I will choose a new winner.

Good luck everyone! Don't forget to read Hunger, then like me you'll be drooling over the upcoming sequel Rage!!

Hunger

Hunger
by Jackie Morse Kessler

Full disclosure: ARC received at BEA 2010 from Publisher
Publication date: October 18, 2010

"Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world."

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home—her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power—and the courage to fight her own inner demons? (description taken from Amazon.com)

Lisabeth, or Lisa, battles herself every day. She hears the Thin Voice that tells her she will never be thin enough, never pretty enough. Lisa is anorexic. She has become so sick that she might die...unless she becomes Famine instead.

When Lisa accepts she never imagines what she will be required to face as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. She never expected to meet Death (pretty cool), Pestilence (nicer than she would have thought, but icky) and War (a total B-word that wants to kill her). She never thought she would learn to master her own actions...

I don't want to spoil this for anyone so I won't give away any more of the plot. This was an excellent book. It does deal with an eating disorder, which always grosses me out and I generally avoid books like this, but it's only part of the focus of the book so the icky parts are fairly minimal. It's handled VERY well.

The idea of a teen girl becoming one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...awesome!! The plot works out really well and Lisa is an emotionally complex character that I wanted to shake and hug at the same time.

Keep an eye out for this one!