Talk to Me Tuesday #4 - Literary Pet-Peeves

Talk to Me Tuesday is a brand new weekly meme where we will discuss anything (and everything) literary-related in an open forum of honesty. Questions for the next week will be posted one week prior to the post on the Features page. If you'd like to participate in this weekly feature, simply create your post, link back to me, and add your post to the wonderful Mr. Linky below. Have fun, and have at it!

This week's question: Do you have any specific literary pet-peeves in the genres you read and why?

There are so many things about YA literature that I love. I enjoy the no-holds-barred emotional plot lines that authors use to push the boundaries of the genre. I love the amount and vast nature of the sub-genres within YA including contemporary, dystopian, Christian, fantasy, science fiction and more. I love that the YA genre encourages all reading ages and levels to dip their toes into the proverbial waters of literature. All that aside, however, let’s be honest. There are always a few flaws lurking behind the corners or, shall I say, smacking us over the head repeatedly until we beg for mercy.

For me, my biggest literary pet-peeve in YA is the emergence of the love triangle. Good Lord. Really? Girl meets boy. Girl experiences instant love. Boy falls head over heels. Girl meets other boy. Other boy falls head over heels. Manly exhibition of brute force. Grrr! Argghhh! One boy wins! Girl and boy live happily ever after and make babies with strange names…oh…sorry…I went on a tangent. In all seriousness though, Twilight created a phenomenon with its popularity. And yes, I'm glad more people are reading, but no, I'm not glad so many books follow the same mold.

The amount of books with love triangles these days, including my beloved The Hunger Games, is a bit absurd. The only reason I could stomach the love triangle in The Hunger Games is because of the intensity of the action in the book overshadowing the need for a super-sappy subplot drenched in a boring romance. Here’s a thought - if you absolutely MUST do a love triangle…two girls fighting for one guy? But hey, what do I know? I'm just looking for something fresh like true love. Between two people. Now that is is a novel idea.

Here's what some of your fellow book bloggers said were their biggest literary pet-peeves:

Liz from Consumed by Books says, “I hate it when authors throw in so many unbelievable plot twists that their novel reads like a soap opera.”

Amber from Books of Amber says, “At the moment, it’s love triangles. It’s more of an annoying cliché at the moment – there are so many of them in YA literature!”

Nikki from Wicked Awesome Books says, “Insta-love. I hate it. Give me some buildup, some friendship, a little date time, then maybe I can accept that two characters are in love. I want people to get to know one another before they decide that they could die for one another.”

Jess from Tangled Up in Blue says, “When an author’s voice is too forced. Seriously, no one speaks like an English grammar text book.”

Heidi from YA Bibliophile says, “Characters that never grow…they go through the whole book and are the same as they started!”

Yes, there are other things that plague me in YA literature such as authors dumbing down the prose (sorry, we’re just fine reading at a high level, thank you very much), when the tone is overly conversational, or when the plot lags, but for me, it’s the love triangle that takes the cake. I want to see a book step out of the norm because I tend to find a lot of the love triangles formulaic. Again, yes, some work well, but others…well, I’d love to see something break the mold, or better yet – become something new entirely.

Want to weigh in and do your own Talk to Me Tuesday post for this week? Go ahead and link up!