What book feature turns you away from choosing a book?

[Henry Patrovic]

If it revolves around characters going to school. There are just so many tropes in this genre that have gotten old but are still way too popular.

[Jay Peter]

I am a great fan of cover pictures. I judge books by their cover art.

[Michael Adam Glidden Forteski]

I have a criteria that I try to follow pretty strictly these days: 70% of the books I read are written by women, so one of the features that turns me off from reading a book tends to be if it's written by a man. I know it's silly but we spend most of our lives reading classics and literature written by men, which is why it's vitally important to find that balance today.

[Henry Patrovic]

School settings. I hate the many cliches that are often used in them.

[Wisely Time]

If the picture on the cover would make me embarrassed to be seen with it in public (most romance novels), I used to be turned away from choosing them. This problem has been solved by ebooks

[Emily Meadows]

I do tend to judge a book by its cover! A cheesy book cover can easily keep me from reading the blurb about the book itself.

[Scott Fling]

I generally avoid reading whatever's in vogue at the moment. Therefore I read a lot of lesser known works/authors. It's rare for me to read anything from the NYT bestseller list, though sometimes I read one many years after the buzz has been gratefully silenced.

[Kaylyn_Marie]

A shirtless man on the cover is reminiscent of Fabio for me and immediately turns me off from reading it. I also don't like when the author's name is displayed larger than the title of the book.

[Kaylyn_Marie]

As a fellow spicy reader, I completely agree with this. Ebooks changed the game, now I can read my smut everywhere!

If the picture on the cover would make me embarrassed to be seen with it in public (most romance novels), I used to be turned away from choosing them. This problem has been solved by ebooks

[Alissa Nesson]

I find a lot of the covers of romance novels to he embarrassing to read in public, which is a shame because some of them are a lot better and more intelligent than the covers would have you believe. Their titles can be off-putting as well. I understand that’s what gets your usual romance reader to pay attention, but I wish it were different. Eloisa James wrote an amazing series called the Desperate Duchesses series that I’ve read many times. Honestly. If it hadn’t been one of my first forays into historical romance, I might never have given it a chance. Luckily, I’ve discovered that the UK covers for these books are a lot less embarrassing.

[Jennifer Lissethe]

When they gave away too much about the plot and the role of the protagonists. I have seen it a lot with romances blurbs when authors write a whole paragraph writing the character and his problems and another paragraph about the character they would fall in love with, ending it with a phrase like: What would happen when they meet? It needs to be a very good premise to choose a book like that.

[Linnea Doumas]

I'll be the first to admit I don't exactly have a refined taste in books when I'm just reading to relax and escape, and I mostly read light, uncomplicated books. That being said, I have a ton of things that I refuse to read. I read a lot of romance books but I won't read love triangles or worse, "fated mates," or anything described as spicy/steamy. I don't have qualms with paranormal creatures like vampires or fae, but werewolves/animal shifters/whatever almost always have the most disgusting attitudes towards women so I've pretty much given up on those. I don't care if a bigoted character develops and later changes their attitude, I don't want to read it in the first place.

Honorable mention goes to a few writing style issues I've noticed a lot, since usually I have to read a few pages first before putting them down. Not being able to write tension, for one. And having run-on kind of pacing in the flow of the narrative, almost like stream of consciousness; "She did this. He thought that and decided to do that. Suddenly, this other thing happened." Just reporting events as they happen, no asides or pauses for the character and reader to process things.

[London Baum]

Poorly done covers sometimes but with a kindle I don’t notice those as much. I really don’t enjoy when a book doesn’t have much for a description, but instead has tons of reviews about good it is. Like that’s great but what is this story about, it irks me.

[Koffie Micheal]

When the cover art is dull and the pages are old and browning, i lose interest in the book and the only thing that can make me read it is the blurb