It seems like I've started a lot of books lately and been unable to finish them because they contain my top three literary pet-peeves. They are as follows

1) Isabelle-Swan Syndrome: As soon as a female character declares that she would never been called even pretty (or, worse, says that pretty is the best she could ever be called) I'm immediately turned off.

Especially since this increases the chances that said "not pretty" female character will spend the whole book being lusted after by most men she meets, for better or worse.

2) Smarter-than-thou female syndrome: Hey, I'm all for strong, intelligent female characters. But I don't understand why that means that the female character must be entirely smarter than everyone else. I just

read a historic fiction novel where the female character, despite being poor and (supposedly) uneducated, knows more about geology than anyone else. Despite having grown up as a poor farmer in the midwest.

Is #1 a thing now? Because female characters who are plain or unattractive are good things. But that passive-aggressive Bella Swan thing ...

There are lots of ways to be a smart, strong female character without going straight for book smarts (Katniss's botany knowledge is a great example of this) Why's it always gotta be college intelligence?

Sounds like Mary Sue-ism ...

The word "suddenly". Yes, suddenly is a word that is sometimes needed. But it should be used sparingly. At this point, if the word "suddenly" appears anywhere in the first paragraph, I stop reading the book.

magzkam I think it is the acceptable version of Mary Sue. I understand that since most of us feel very insecure about our looks that it is an easy way to hook a reader by making the character relatable, but

I'm a little burned out by its overuse.

I couldn't finish the 1st chapter of Twilight because I instantly pegged Bella as an unreliable, self-absorbed narrator. Didn't trust her.

Didn't she describe herself via mirror too? Lawd, so many infractions. I hated those books.

See, I admire that you read them, but my new rule is "Life is too short to force yourself to read stuff you don't have to ..."