Top 5 Wednesday: Book Trends I’m Tired of Seeing

Top 5 Wendesday is hosted by Samatha. The guidelines and topics can be found on the Goodreads group.

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This weeks’ topic  are the trends in books and publishing you are tired of seeing . It may be a certain kind of cover, or a trope seen too often in a genre.

1. Whitewashed covers

“Tired of” is too mild – this is completely unacceptable and offensive. Not many books have a POC main character, and then, when one finally does, the cover shows a white person anyway. You can find many examples of this HERE.

2. “The next xy!”

Publishers do this all the time… Every book is a “new” something. So now we have many new Harry Potters and Twilights, Girl in the Train was advertised as new Gone Girl etc. I think that’s very annoying, and often misleading. Also, quite unfair to the new book and author.

3. Insta-love

Now, when it comes to tropes, I think a lot of them can actually be done in a good way. It really depends on how the author handles the trope. But the thing I can’t stand is insta-love. No, I do not believe in love at first sight. Attraction – yes – and that can, with time, turn into love. But WITH TIME. You cannot love a person you don’t even know. That’s more of an obssession in my opinion. Sexual attraction and/or sexual tension can be strong feelings, and can be addressed in books, of course, but they are not love. I personally love books in which relationships are slowly developed, and not only romantic ones – frienships can also take time to develop. The only time insta-love worked was in Up. 😛

4. Who cares about friendship?

This is something I’ve noticed, but you may not agree. Books often focus on a romantic relationship, even when it’s just a minor part of the book. Friendships are quite neglected. People always talk about their “ships” and which characters they want to end up together. But what about friendship? Especially male and female friendships – I believe in them and would like to see more of them in books.

5. It’s destiny!

This can be related to the insta-love trope (we were destined for each other!) and more frequently to the Chosen One trope. In my opinion, destiny is not a good enough explanation for anything (to he honest, I’m not a big believer in destiny in general, so this might be just my personal preference). It feels a bit awkward to me if a character does someting because s/he was predestined to. Also, it’s been done so many times. I think life is strange and weird, and that’s what makes it interesting. I believe we all make our own paths in life. Or at least I want to believe it.

So, those are the things that annoy me. Hopefully they weren’t too controversial. 😉 Anyway, I’d like to hear what you think!