We all have them, right?  Something that will just grate on your nerves when you’re reading?

And sometimes they are annoying enough that you just give up reading the book?

Here are a few of mine…in no particular order.

• Branding/labeling

Too many fricking labels/brand names dropped in the span of so many pages.  If I can’t turn three pages without having a ferragamo, a prado, a ferrari, heineken, escalades or cadillacs smacking me up across the face…sometimes two or three times on any one page, chances are I’m going to be so distracted by that, I’m going to be hardpressed to tell you what’s going on in the story. Which means…I’m going to probably stop reading the story.  Unless those clothing, the shoes, the cars or the booze are crucial to the plot?  I don’t need the name brands or labels or the pricey manufacturers.  Really.

• Powers that make no sense

I can suspend disbelief while reading.  Really, I can.  I don’t honestly think a 6 ft tall guy can really turn into a 7 ft werewolf.  I don’t.  Nor do I believe in vampires.  But I want the writer to sell me the story in a believable fashion.  That means… I want any powers to make sense.    Think of it like this…a guy can be a natural athlete.  But that doesn’t mean he walk onto the slopes and automatically win a gold medal in skiing, right?  With no training?  He has to train.  And if he’s never skiied?  He needs to know how.  So if there’s a person with special power in a book and they come by them all of a sudden, one thing that will annoy the hell out of me is if they can suddenly use that special power like a pro within like…oh, say…five pages.   Even fifty.

• Big does not equal sexy

Now I don’t really care what the hero looks like in the book.  As long as he’s given some sort of appeal–I can fill the blanks just fine on my own if you give me some starting points.   I like a smile.  A laugh.  The way he watches the heroine, or the way he moves.  A sense of humor.  How he laughs.  Something.   How he looks definitely plays into it, but big doesn’t translate to sexy.  I actually prefer leaner men myself, so unless there is something else worked into the story about the hero-his mannerisms, his smile, his attitude, humor…something, when I read big, if the writer hasn’t given me something else to help form a picture of the guy…well, I just tend to flash to memories of Andre the Giant.  Which means… I often end up tossing a book aside.

• Overly independent heroines

Actually, this could work for heroes, too, I guess, but for some reason, it seems like heroines are the ones who end up going out and doing something so fricking stupid, in the name of ‘I’m my own person’ or whatever, that in real life, could get them killed, or somebody else hurt.  I’m all for independence.  I’m pretty independent myself-would much rather do things my way that have somebody help me and do it the wrong way, or even have to explain the right way.  I don’t like asking for help, etc, etc, etc.  But if there’s a situation where it’s clear that if I don’t get help, it’s going to A) put my life at risk  B) put somebody else’s life at risk  C) put property/sanity/money/important stuff at risk, well, you can damn well bet I’d ask for help.  Not doing it is stupid.  And I don’t like stupid crap.

So there are some of my reading pet peeves.  What are yours?