Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

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This weeks Top Ten topic is …

Top Ten Book Turn-Offs

So I can get ten in total, I’m going to split this list into ones that mean I don’t pick up and book and ones that mean I stop reading a book. I could probably do ten for each BUT I would have had to write this post a couple of weeks in advance.

Five Turn-Offs That Mean I Won’t Pick Up A Book

1. Second Person Narration. I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand second person narration. I’m sure there are some truly excellent examples of it and brilliant stories told in this format but it is not for me.
2. The new [insert book name here]. You can see me moan about it more here, but let’s just say I almost certainly won’t be reading that book.
3. The cover. I’m sorry, but it’s true. If I don’t like the cover then I won’t pick up the book. I know I’m probably missing out on a lot of great stories this way, although maybe not because I will give it a go if a blogger I follow likes it, but the cover of a book is important to me. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but it has to tell me something about the book: I need to get a feel for what the story might me like.
4. Author behaviour. I don’t want to buy (and therefore support) author’s whose political views or behaviour I completely disagree with. If I hear that an author believes X or has said Y then I just won’t pick up their books. Yes, it does mean that I have missed out on some potentially good books from what fellow reviewers have said but in my opinion that’s a small price to pay.
5. When every blogger seems to love a book. This might seem odd, but honestly it makes me a little suspicious. Surely there must be at least one person who doesn’t like the book? And, what if I don’t like it – what if it doesn’t live up to the expectations I’ve got after reading all those brilliant reviews? I find it hard to believe I won’t come away disappointed. (There have been some exceptions to this rule though, like TFiOS which I found totally as brilliant as everyone was saying.)

Five Turn-Offs That Mean I Stop Reading A Book

1. When the author writes something that is contrary to the characterization/world-building. I’m sure everyone’s had experience of this at some point. There you are happily reading a book in which the main character acts a certain way, then something happens and said main character goes and does something that is completely out of character to move the plot forward. I’m happy to suspend my disbelief about almost anything, but there has to be a certain logic to it.
2. When the story is vastly different from the book’s blurb. This isn’t always a turn-off, but I hate it when I get suckered into reading something that I wouldn’t have normally picked up. To be fair it rarely happens as I usually read the first chapter just to make sure, but this can be tricky to do when you buy the book online.
3. The romance is too icky-sicky. This is totally a personal thing, but unless I choose to read a romance book I don’t really want to read about an over the top, all glitter and stars, romance because frankly it detracts from the plot. I like subtle romance, especially if it’s not the book’s main genre.
4. Too graphic. I don’t mind a little bit of blood and violence, or heck a bit of torture but I do not want to read about it in graphic detail. It’s why I won’t read horror stories, and I’m careful about the crime books I read.
5. I’m bored. I’m not sure if this really counts as a turn-off, but it’s true. If I find I’m bored when I’m reading a book then I won’t continue it any further.

Those were my Top Ten Book Turn-Offs. What turns you off from a book? Let me know in the comments below, or link back to your Top Ten post so I can see what makes your list.