5 Things I Hate In YA Books W/ GIFS

This post is in response to Lala @ BooksandLala's 5 Things I Hate In YA video. She mentioned some great pet peeves in her video, so don't forget to check it out. I figured, the only way for people to truly understand my love for YA is to take in account of what I'm not looking for in a YA book. 
DISCLAIMER: Before you read this, take into consideration than you and I have different reading tastes. My choices might be completely different from yours, that's fine! If you don't agree with something, simply keep it to yourself or leave. Please don't lash out at me :( Also let me know some of the concepts or themes you hate in YA. Some parts are highlighted for the sake of spoilers. Enjoy!

1. The Flawless Character

This gif explains the mentality of more than 50% of the YA characters I normally read about. Imperfections are perfect. As cheesy as that sounds, I believe that "perfect characters" have kind of become a cliche in YA literature. Authors think that if they make their characters too perfect, readers will call them out. But, on the other hand, if they make their characters flawed readers will also think their characters are annoying for that reason. I feel like it's important to find that balance of flaws. However some authors just miss the mark completely. 
Flaws are what make the character so interesting. I personally love reading about a character's flaws more than what makes them great. Imperfections are what make a person human. The same thing goes for characters that are super cocky and over confident. Now that just annoys me. Some examples include:

2. Lack of Diversity 

Diversity is a very controversial topic. It's kind of a raw and hard topic to touch upon but I will do my best for the sake of this post. I do consider myself apart of the minority. I don't get upset that my ethnicity and other minorities aren't expressed as much as the majority. I guess you could say I'm just disappointed that we're under-represented or misrepresented. What's up with all these stereotypes and labels? I don't feel like saying more because I know I'll start going on a rant and bashing some of my favorite authors *sniffles*
I'm not only talking about diversity in race and ethnicity. What about characters with physical and mental disabilities? One of my top books of 2015 was a book about a disabeled character in Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom. Parker Grant is blind but hell, she can see right through anyone. She's also more interesting that most of the YA characters I've ever read about because of her ability to hop over obstacles, and she's blind!! Here are some books that embrace diversity:

3.  Insta-love

WHY DOES THIS EVEN EXIST?? Do authors think insta-love is favorable? It pisses me off when a book has so much potential to be superb but is ruined by a smidge of insta-love. What does insta-love bring to a story?? Absolutely nothing. It doesn't tell us anything about their relationship or why these two people are in love. It basically means two people falling for each other based off of attraction, which is so not romantic. 
Don't get me wrong. Insta-love doesn't make a book bad. Like I stated above it doesn't add anything to the story and it just annoys some readers, including me. I'm gonna stop before I break my keyboard from this fuming anger... Books with insta-love: 
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4. A person with powers that make him/her invincible 

You guys have probably never heard of this one before. This is my favorite qualm to talk about in YA literature, especially with books that include supernatural creatures, superpowers or even creative magic systems. Do authors feel like they have an obligation to make one species or character significantly better than everyone else? There probably will be one person that has a greater power than everybody else but saying this character is "the most powerful warlock in the world" or "the most pure person left alive" (ahem ahem I'm looking at you Tris from the Divergent series. 100% pure my foot!) doesn't really make this character so much better than the author claims him/her to be. It annoys me that they are even classified like this!
It's bad enough that we already have some YA supernatural books claiming that they there is a species of the oldest vampires that rule over all the other vampires. That just doesn't make sense to me because wouldn't the modern species of vampires have evolved so much from the old vampires?Does anyone else think about that, or is it just me? Books that fall have "invincible" characters:

5. Flip-flop love

Oh yes, Selena. We're so sick of the same old love as well! Sure, all characters have their right to love whoever they choose. We have no say in that. But when authors decided to flip flop between two different characters and make the one person indecisive between the two, there's going to be hell. LIKE SERIOUSLY MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND. Take the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi  for example. Juliet was dating Adam and yet, thinking of Warner all the time. She was with Adam when she knew in her heart that she loved Warner. Also Tahereh Mafi just had to make Adam seem like a total asshole when Juliet broke up with him. 
I'm not only stating this reason because my OTPs never prevail. It's a simple fact that if you love someone else, let the person you're dating know and let them go! Don't make your main character indecisive, especially when it comes to love. Books that feature flip-flop love:

YA isn't perfect. Neither are we. Let me know what you HATE in YA? 



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24 comments

  1. I hate some of these too. And the flawless character never gets talked about it seems. That really can annoy me when the character is so PERFECT. It makes me roll my eyes and it can really bring a book down. Great post! Love the GiFs!

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    1. Thanks so much girl! I really needed to get this post out of my system!

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  2. I really hate insta love, and love triangle in general. I don't get why every book has to have romance element in them?? What does romance has to do with anything in a fantasy book? (except to make the stakes even higher I bet). I love love triangle, if it's done right. I personally loved TID, but what brings Shatter Me series down in my opinion is the romance. It's like a triangle from hell! And I don't like how Tahereh switched the characters of Adam and Warner. It's just too convinient. Love this post!<3

    Tasya // The Literary Huntress

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    1. I think the thing that classifies some books into the YA genre is its attention to romance. YA books tend to have the cheesiest and most abundant romances. You've got that right! Juliet just needs to stop playing with her pokerface ughh omg

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  3. Ahahaha! This is seriously so great, Alex. I COMPLETELY agree with you on these points. And although I've come to love Celaena, I definitely understand where you're coming from...she's the queen of over-the-top cocky/confident. It can be a bit too much.

    Julia Anne @ Peach Print

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    1. Thanks so much Julia! Celaena has grown so much since the first book. I'm so proud of the character development that she's gone through and definitely I just don't like much in the first book. Thanks for reading and visiting :D

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  4. I don’t like flawless characters, either. A person can’t be super-model-beautiful, kick-ass, funny, confident, sexy, and supremely intelligent all the time. I like characters who make mistakes and have flaws.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. Love your thinking! You said it better than I did :)

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  5. Flip flow love makes me sooo uncomfertable reading about :( oh and flawless character makes me question my self too much

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    1. Oh now that you mention it, it really does make me question if I'm good enough for this world LOL! We have to keep in mind though, however sad it may be, that these are fictional characters.

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  6. I totally agree with you! There gradually seems to becoming more racial diversity and more representation of mental illness, but physical disability is something I think YA is really lacking. I haven't read Not If I See You First (the plot doesn't really appeal to me tbh), but I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and that it represented blindness well. The flip-flop love in Shatter Me can be really annoying too!

    Amazing post, Alex. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! :D
    Denise | The Bibliolater

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    1. That's alright Denise! I totally understand if it doesn't appeal to you :D Ughhh tell me about it! The Shatter Me series is always one that I'll rant about... in everyone of my videos haha.

      Thanks so much for reading :D

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  7. UGH I HATE ALL OF THAT TOO!!!!

    :D Great post!! Hope you're well cutie! I'm enjoying the rest of my "whole week" of spring break. LAME! haha! But getting lots of reading in :)

    Dee

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    1. Hey Diamond!! LUCKY I'm not on spring break yet :( :( I still have a whole month till spring break ughhh just come already!!! I'm so glad you're reading a lot more though. I've basically just faltered in my reading speeds and idk, I'm not reading as much anymore. Can't wait to talk to u more on my spring break.

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  8. First off, your graphics, your gif usage, and just this whole post is so ON POINT. I mean #goalsss <3

    Just so much YES to everything you listed. Flip flop love is so incredibly annoying. & What you said about Shatter Me: PREACH GIRL. PREACH. Those are my thoughts exactly. (I mean, was it really necessary to completely change Adam in the last book?! Like NO. He was my fave. *smh*)

    Also, as a minority myself, I have so many feelings when it comes to diversity (I legit make like speeches in my head during class about it lol & also just made a post on diversity). I've never come across a book with my own ethnicity being misrepresented, but I'm definitely seen it with other races/ethnicities and even that bothers me. But if you asked me to name books with Mexican MCs, I legitimately can only name Aristotle & Dante, Mexican Whiteboy, and Joyride. Just THREE. :| I would love if YA had more characters I could relate to/other minority groups, as well as characters with mental/physical illnesses because those people need to be able to relate with MCs.

    ((^Omg sorry about the rant lol))

    -Cari @ MyAddictionBooks

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    1. Thanks so much Cari! The change with Adam was so abrupt and it happened so fast that I WAS JUST BLOWN AWAY AND LIKE ALMOST DIED.
      No I loved the rant. Let it all out! It's so nice to see someone who's just as passionate as I am. I can think of some books that include some sort of Asian ethnicity but they don't automatically pop into my head. Wish things were different :(

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  9. okay for the diversity thing... i'm kind of confused. do you hate diversity? [going by the post title.] just let me know because i'm really confused about that. i don't Looove diversity where i's the only thing i'll read but i definitely signal boost it more than others because marginalized voices must be heard!

    ugh instalove. when it's to prove a point that things are meant to end in disaster, i like it. it's unique. however, i don't see that often ugh

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    1. Nova, you savior. I totally worded that a little weirdly. I meant a lack of diversity. Insta-love needs to be represented in a certain way or else it just isn't great. It's terrible! It makes me feel like attraction is the only thing love is based off of. Ughh it annoys me!

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  10. "Wouldn't the modern species of vampires have evolved so much from the old vampires?Does anyone else think about that, or is it just me?" LOOOOL. Just you dear, but thank you for pointing that out and YOU ARE SO RIGHT. Damn Volturis, how could they rule the world instead of the Cullens? Maybe they are like wine? More aged the better? *snort*
    Well, I hate corny dialogues. And I HATE when a character goes off-character. Does that make sense? Like when your favorite brooding book boyfriend starts being corny. Or when a villain turns into a corny villain. Um, NOPE. So yeah, my pet peeve in YA is corny stuff.

    Melissa @ The Reader and the Chef

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    1. Melissa... that analogy is so on point (the wine one :3).
      Eww bad boys becoming corny?? That's worse than insta-love :P I hope that YA learns from this post hmppff

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  11. YES to all of these things! I think the love triangles/flip flop are the WORST! And I can't stand that the heroine is always flawless and so beautiful but no one has ever noticed before?! Totally ridiculous

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  12. I loved Red Queen but this post is funny! I am not for flawless characters. Nobody is not flawless. Sheesh!

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    1. Exactly. We have all flaws. Let's embrace dem <3

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