Top Ten Tuesday - Things I Dislike When it Comes to Romances in Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Here at We Live and Breathe Books, the bloggers rotate so that two of us choose five books each week. This week's topic is...

Things I dislike when it comes to
romances in books!

Noor's Picks

1. Instalove - Who didn't see this coming as my number one romance pet peeve? I really like romances in books. I love the love triangles and the gut-twisting uncertainty and the Murphy's Law that always seems to apply. And I feel like that gets taken away with instalove plots. I feel like I'm stripped of my right to enjoy a good, agonizing, journey. It's annoying and takes away from the story and I just think it could be so much more. Being drawn to someone at first glance is fine but up and falling in love with them doesn't happen. 
2. Inappropriate adjective use - I think the best example of this is how in Twilight, Stephenie Meyer uses five million different terms to describe Edward's golden eyes. I hate when author's harp on a character's one defining feature but then try to play this game with themselves where they won't use the same word to describe that feature twice. Also, it won't even be a distinct feature, like a lighting bolt shaped scar or something. It'll just be something normal, like red hair, but it'll never be red hair, it'll be "sun-kissed auburn locks" or something
3. Perfection - I don't like when the love interest is too perfect. You can't have chiseled abs and also be really kind and also intelligent and humorous and play guitar and just the whole package deal. There needs to be something that makes you human (even if you're not actually a human character). My favorite characters are always the ones that have made mistakes or that have rough edges to them that just are parts of them that loving them encompasses. Being perfect in every way just in't fun. 
4. Stalking - Wow I'm just gonna follow you around and track your every move and whenever I approach you about it you're gonna think it's sexy and alluring and not at all weird. And then it's going to turn into a relationship and I'm going to be weird and controlling and angry all the time. It's gonna be great!
5. "You're not like other girls" - That dumb trope where the girl wears glasses and likes to read and is occasionally snarky and hates makeup and shopping and describes herself as plain and mousy but is actually really hot and thinks the guy won't pay her any attention but for some reason she's so much better for not being feminine and like also in order to be a badass female character she has to be everything "awesome" and "cool" and can't show weakness and must also reject anything seen as traditionally girly like bruh that's really lame and I'm not about it.

Amrutha's Picks

1. Stereotypes - Oooooh there's a bad boy look at him with his leather jacket and family problems, I'm so attracted to him, screams the blonde-haired-blue-eyed-peppy-cheerleader with an undying secret of her own. Like what. This trope is interesting approximately 0.01% of times, and there are so many others like it. 
2. Girls that make other girls look bad - In the sense that they just make girls as a gender look like a pathetic lot that need to be rescued by the man of their dreams. Books that are written in a way that include women looking weak and in need of emotional support and men looking like they not only have the perfect six pack and are valedictorian, but like they can support a crying girl and beat up that girl's ex-boyfriend all at the same time. 
3. 0 Character Development - UGH THIS IS THE LITERAL WORST. I think my number 1 worst thing is Insta-love, but because that's in Noor's picks, I thought I'd include the second worst thing a romance novel can have -- or not have, rather: character development. Are you seriously telling me that after all this couple/friends/people-who-hate/loved-each-other has undergone together, neither of them change even a little bit? THEY JUST GET TOGETHER AND THAT'S ALL? That literally makes no sense to me and just makes the book so pointless and just why do this when you could write a book where characters evolve to be better people because of those around them and what they experience throughout the course of the novel. 
4. Physical Attraction Only - There is so much more to a romance than physical attraction. Focusing on the blue-ness of his eyes or the chiseled nature of his abs or how his hair falls oh so casually when he runs his hands through it is nice and all, but what about the substance of his character? Why does that not seem to matter anymore? 
5. When a character's life revolves around their S.O. - Characters who live only for their significant others are the worst kind of characters because they don't do anything except for react to what their significant other does. Like, do things for yourselves friends, and romance will come to you, don't do it the other way around. 

What do you dislike in book romances?

Let us know in the comments!