Literary Pet Peeves

We've all got 'em.  Sometimes they completely ruin a book for me, sometimes I'm able to deal with it anyway.  If you ever see any of the stuff I talk about in one of my stories, please let me know asap so that I can remove it.  LOL

I've already talked about my issues with the life-threatening danger angle.  I've come to realize that what really bothers me is when the danger makes the characters realize that they love each other, I'm okay with it when it's the motivation for them actually saying the words because they were too scared to before. But it's still a pet peeve if they were about to lose each other due to neither of them saying it and then suddenly their entire relationship is fixed because she (it's always the girl) almost dies and suddenly they're saying it and everything's okay now.  The fact that they couldn't say it without that makes me rather skeptical of their emotional maturity.  Just saying.

Another pet peeve is when two characters have broken up and the woman hasn't had a single lover since the break-up and the guy's been a big playboy.  Ugh.  If both of them have been celibate and he's just been on lots of dates that make it look like he's been a playboy then that's one thing, but the whole "I'm a highly sexed male and it was just filling a need, it meant nothing so don't worry about it" b.s. gets on my nerves.  Especially when the woman doesn't get to play either.  Nothing makes me angrier than double standards when it comes to crap like that.

I'm also not a fan of the she's a virgin, he's had sex with half the female population but somehow she's totally different thing but he's still not going to commit.  Granted, there's something to be said about not falling into bed with a guy immediately.  After all, if you give yourself away cheaply and quickly then that's how you will be seen, especially by him.  So when these alpha males who are used to women throwing themselves at them come across a woman who won't and is innocent, it makes sense that he would see her in a different light, but then half of the storylines still have him only seeing the heroine as a temporary lover until she gets pregnant with his baby.  COME ON.  Either she's different or she's not.  (Can you tell I've been reading a lot of Harlequin lately?)

Secrets tearing a couple apart.  This is something that drives me absolutely nuts, especially because everyone is always so forgiving of their partner keeping secrets.  B.S.  If you're in a committed couple then certain things need to be said and your loyalty is supposed to be to your partner above other people.  Especially since the majority of these books seem to have the couple being married and keeping secrets.  And I'm not talking about hiding emotions, that's totally understandable especially when you're not sure where the other person stands - but something like your ex-girlfriend not really being your ex-girlfriend and it all being a cover up for something else.  Especially when you're still hanging out with your ex-girlfriend and yet refuse to tell your wife ANYTHING about the relationship - even after inviting said ex to the wedding and wife getting super upset.  And when the wife finds out the truth - from the "ex" - she immediately feels bad for making a scene. Um... wtf.  No woman, you stand up for your guns!  He shouldn't have hid something like that in the first place!  So much emotional anguish that could have been prevented if he had just made some kind of explanation!  Yeah, emotional angst in a book can be a good thing, but not when it's to that extent over something that stupid.  Then it just makes me angry as a reader.

They're all gay!  Seriously.  Or somehow related to the heroine.  Apparently having straight male friends is a big no-no.  UGH.  Yeah it's okay to have a cousin or brother that you're close to, or a gay male friend, that the hero gets jealous over... but it's okay to have straight male friends too.  Because the hero should TRUST the heroine.  And I'm not talking about the straight male friend who is actually secretly interested in the heroine and then shows his true colors when she starts getting involved with the hero and is therefore kicked out of her life.  Little hint... in Stronghold, Angel lives with three dudes.  All straight.  Is Adam going to be jealous? Sure.  Is he going to have to learn how to deal with it?  Hell yes he is.  Cuz he's a real man.  Not a whiny, insecure wanna-be alpha who can't handle his woman having male relationships outside of him unless the guy is either gay or related.  Just saying.

So yeah.  Those are some of the things getting on my nerves lately.  Things I would like to avoid in my own work.  Which I am working hard on... think I'm about halfway through the next chapter of Marriage Training and I've been getting a great deal of work done on Dealing With Discipline, which is going to be much longer and more involved than Birching His Bride, I can already tell.  Things are getting even more complicated than i originally outlined and it's getting rather exciting!