And I wish authors would stop!
There are certain things that I read in books that make me say, “Grrrr!!!!” and makes me feel like writing a long complaint to the author. I *always* refrain. Well, as far as I remember I have always refrained. I think I have just imagined doing it so many times that it is almost like a memory. BTW, that is a real phenomenon – look it up! Memory is a facinating subject and nothing like most of us think.
Back to my irritation list –
Calling the part of a handgun that feeds the rounds into the chamber of the weapon a ‘clip’. It is not a clip. It is a magazine. Like seriously – go look up gun parts! A clip and a magazine are two entirely different things.
The use of the word bemuse. Several authors tend to use bemuse and amuse interchangeably. The primary meaning of bemuse is “puzzle, confuse, bewilder”. If your heroine does something the hero chuckles at, he is not bemused. He is amused. Now I know that some will use the whole ‘language evolves overtime and word usage changes or adds to standard definitions’ argument to say that bemused also now means “wryly amused”, but REALLY??!!! Are we just going to accept that we can just be wrong enough times that our wrong becomes correct? We may as well accept irregardless and intensive purposes since people are always using those if we go by this logic. This makes the whole of my insides clench in frustration and mild fury. I have actually had to put books down and walk away for a bit. I’m a book finisher, so I generally always go back but still. It’s the principle.
Cliffhangers that aren’t identified in the blurb/back matter. Look. I know that there are cliffhanger endings in many contemporary series. But please, for the love of all that is holy, put that it is not a standalone in the blurb. If a book has a cliffhanger, I need to be prepared. The last time I read a book that unexpectedly had a cliffhanger ending, I felt like the author violated my trust. I didn’t pick the next book up. I was so irritated and let down by the book. I require a happy ending and cliffhangers rarely provide that. I need to know in advance that I need the second (and/or third) to find the ending that provides me with the ultimate satisfaction of the HEA. I don’t want to be surprised at 9:30 right before it’s time to sleep.
Is there anything that irritates you? Let me know in the comments!
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Jessica Reads Smutty Books 