Top Ten Tuesday #25

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is bookish things we want to quit, such as book series that we don’t want to finish, bookish things we want to quit/have quit, book tropes that we don’t want to read about anymore. I’ve decided to go for the book tropes that I don’t want to read about anymore, as there are lots of tropes in YA books that I am tired of and would like to see less of, most of them romance related. Romance in YA books really peeves me off sometimes!

1. When romance takes over the plot of the book-This doesn’t happen in every YA book, in fact I can think of lots where romance is just a side plot, but it does happen and it’s so annoying because romance isn’t even the most important part of the book. It’s fine when a book is primarily billed as a romance, but when it is billed as something else and you get lots of romance, it really sucks.
2. Boys and girls can’t be friends-Why is it that boys and girls in books can barely ever just be friends? There are some great male-female friendships in books, don’t get me wrong, but the trope of the best friend of the girl having been secretly in love with her for years is seriously overdone Take The Hunger Games, Gale has been in love with Katniss for years and of course has never told her. Or even Hermione and Ron in Harry Potter, they’re best friends first, yet of course they end up falling in love and there’s hints that Ron is in love with Hermione throughout the series. It is nice when boys and girls start off friends and then it develops into romance (eg Percabeth), but sometimes it would be nice if guys and girls in books could be just friends.
3. Love Triangles-I hate them! Seriously, there doesn’t seem to be a single YA book these days that doesn’t have a love triangle! What happened to girls just having one love interest and this relationship being very well developed? Also the large majority of them seem to be girls dithering over two guys, which I hate, why does it only have to be one girl dithering over two guys, yet you rarely ever seem to get the guy who has to choose between two girls? I’m just so tired of seeing them! Get rid of them already!
4. Insta-love-It’s so unbelievable that a character would just see another character for the first time and think, “Oh my gosh, I love him”. Call me cynical but I really don’t believe in love at first sight, I think you have to get to know someone before you fall in love with them. Insta-love is a crappy excuse for not developing a relationship between two characters properly and I hate it. I want to see what these characters have in common, why they fall for each other and that can’t really happen if they’re just saying “I love him/her” after only one glance.
5. Parents/families are either crappy or never around-Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind the absent family trope sometimes, in some cases it makes sense for the hero not to have a family, but this seems to happen all the time in YA books, families are either absent or when they are present extremely crappy. I get so happy when I read YA books that have characters with great parents because it happens so rarely.
6. Books written in female POV-Don’t get me wrong, I love strong, kickass girl characters, that’s one trope that I can’t get enough of, but it would be nice to read some more YA books which were written in guy’s POV’s. I always find it really refreshing when I read books with guy’s POV’s because I’m so used to reading books in female POV’s.
7. The main character with low self esteem who is actually beautiful but doesn’t think she is until a guy tells her she is-I hate this trope so much! Either have a girl who really is plain, or have a girl who has confidence in herself, her looks and doesn’t need a guy’s approval to boost her self esteem, personally, I prefer the latter one.
8. Girls can’t be friends with other girls-I need more positive female friendships in my books! I didn’t really think about this one before writing this list, but I can’t think of very many books that show positive female friendships. Most girls seem to see each other as rivals and are catty and bitchy towards each other, I would love to see more books with girls who have supportive, loving female friendships. I can think of a few but there needs to be a lot more positive female friendships and a lot less catty in-fighting.
9. The Trilogy-This is more specific to dystopian novels, but why do they all have to be trilogies? That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the good ole trilogy, but what’s wrong with a longer series or heck, the good old stand alone novel? I hate when authors expand what would have been a perfectly fine stand-alone into a trilogy! Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you should!
10. The Whiny Heroine-Seriously? How many more books do I have to read with a girl whining about how she can’t choose between these two amazing guys that like her or that her life completely sucks etc. You have more important things to focus on, so stop whining and get on with it!

What tropes are you tired of seeing? Do you agree with any of these? What did you choose for your topic this week? Let me know!

I will be back with another Top Ten Tuesday next week, the topic is top ten author duos you’d like to see write a book together, I can’t think of many right now, but I’ll take the week to think about it and see if I’ve come up with more by next Tuesday, otherwise I’ll choose a different topic! Tomorrow I will have another Wishlist Wednesday for you all, so make sure to check that out.