Speak Up!  Pet Peeves in Reading Romance
Author: Mary Varble
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: June 2005

Janice Lynn:
I think one of my biggest pet peeves is a rushed ending.  I've invested all this time getting to know the characters and hoping they get together and whammo they get together and I turn the page to find out there's nothing else there. Like someone forgot to include the last chapter.

Trish Milburn:
Weak and whiny heroines bug the crap out of me. It's okay for a heroine to show vulnerabilities, but she has to be strong too. I don't like to see dependent women or ones who do stupid things that make me want to scream at them. Contrived conflict is also a pet peeve. If it's something the hero and heroine can just sit down and talk out in one conversation, it's not conflict. It's bickering.

Teble Brewer:
The top three major pet peeves I have are:

(1) A heroine who is TSTL. You know the type...these ladies who KNOW there's a killer out to get them, they HEARD the big strong alpha dude tell them to lock the door and stay inside, yet they INSIST on going outside in their skimpy negligee after midnight to investigate the strange sounds coming from the dimly lit back yard. ARGH! Let the killer get 'em, I say!

(2) A conflict that could be easily resolved if only the two stubborn characters would just TALK to each other and explain what really happened, but instead stretches on through a third of the darn book.

(3) POV head hopping. Now that I actually know what it is <g>, it jerks me right out of the story every time.

Jody Wallace:
ALPHASS HEROS AND TSTL HEROINES

Mary Varble:
The thing that bugs me the most is page after page of back story in the first chapter. Dialogue that isn’t realistic for the individual character is another pet peeve.

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