Ten Pet Peeves re: YA

A very long time ago, I posted about my top ten pet peeves in YA.  The ones I listed before are still irritating, but now these are recent trends that annoy me.

1. Eyes (or Romantic Interest) Described as 'Gorgeous.'


This makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I HATE THAT WORD.  It's so damn generalized and frankly also insulting to be called something that has no flavor of what you are.  Am I the only one who feels this way?

2. No Ordinary Beauty


Last time I posted about this too, but it was more in the context of few multiracial romantic interests.  Now, I'm just a tad peeved at how often I read about a romantic interest being perfect or tall or lean or strong or buff or having blue or green eyes or etc. etc.  In other words, romantic interests that exist in about... what 10% of the population or something?  I mean, yes, I read books sometimes to take me into a different reality, but sometimes I really want to read about someone I can believe in, someone who is just an ordinary guy/girl but is so awesome that that's what makes him/her beautiful.  (Yes, yes, I'm a romantic.  What can I say?)

3. Restrictions


By which I mean that YA is inevitably geared towards younger children and it sometimes loses its appeal for me.  I think there are things that it would be fascinating to read about in YA but they're... very curbed and censored...  And no, I can't really turn to adult books, because their "non-restriction" often isn't described in a way that appeals to me.  (Please, New Adult.  Can you work?)

4. Girls in Dresses on Covers


Last time I said photoshopped eyes bugged me.  This time it's girls in dresses.  Seriously though, not only are we enforcing this dry-cut image of what a girl should be but we're also trapping protagonists by having them be the same girl.  Yes, that girl in yet another dress.  That girl who has nothing to define her but her fanciful clothing.  Surely there are better ways of representing the story AND the protagonist than this one.

5. Avoiding Issues that Are Unpleasant


Like insecurities.  To me, this makes the protagonist or character more likable.  I believe more in a character who has flaws which are explored in the story than the character who never stops to think about... pimples... weight...makeup... their appearance, their personality, how others perceive them, how they perceive themselves... Richelle Mead's Bloodlines is a great example of a book with a protag. who didn't do this--who felt more real to me than any others I've read about recently. But I truly cannot think of very many stories which actually point this out.  It may be a bit mundane... but I feel like too many authors take an easy way out by having the protags be beautiful or confident enough to not even think on these issues.  I hate that so much.  Everybody, even incredibly confident people, has something that ticks at them whether it be something which seems superficial--like your appearance--or something that's more fundamental to who you are.  And I want to read about that.

6. The Protagonist Who Catches the Romantic Interest's Eye... for No Good Reason.

Seriously this also makes me want to bang my head against the wall.  Too often girls seem to have no personality... or maybe just nothing unique about them.  Is this an author's technique to make it seem more universally applicable, like we can all put ourselves in that situation?  We're not all cut of the same mold!  I actually enjoy reading about someone who has fire. Also, I don't know about you guys, but hey, if I don't know a guy, he doesn't suddenly approach me and beg me to be his boyfriend (same case with no personality girl).

7. Zombies as the New Vampires.

I heard this one recently... I think it was from the True Blood finale?... but ugh, I sincerely hope this doesn't gain popularity.  Zombies are not something I can get on board with, even if you make them "attractive" paranormal creatures (i.e. Die For Me by Amy Plum).  Too often, zombies are just plain gross... and I know that YA has a lot of dark, edgy stuff, but zombies hold zero appeal.  Death walking? Eating brains? Decaying corpses?  Agh.  I'm not that sure why I can stomach blood drinking more than I can stomach that, but please no zombies!

Also... a more generalized version of pet peeve = Why do we even need one creature / type of story to be the new 'trend?'  (But I get the feeling this is something that will never change.)

8. Romance for the Sake of Romance


Yeah, it's weird to hear this coming from me, but some YA includes romance that shouldn't be there, that doesn't work for the story.  I feel like the author only included it because he/she was told that YA can only be successful with it, but that's not true (i.e. read my review of Witchlanders).  Yes, I do enjoy a good romance, but not when it's forced or when it's more integral to the story than it should be.

9. When the Protagonist Does Something Really, Really Stupid


The most classic case of this, in my opinion,  is in Twilight.  Who runs towards a vampire instead of away from one?  At least in Vampire Diaries, Elena (in the t.v. show) runs away from Stefan.  That seems more like a logical response.  One I can identify with, but I'll stop digging at Twilight.  I feel like this happens a lot in paranormal stories... like they're to imitate Twilight (okay, okay, now I'll stop ;p).

10. The Mary-Sue


Because inevitably, we've all read one of those books that makes you ask, "did the author just write this so he/she could have this kind of adventure?"


Woohoo!  Now, if you count my previous post on Pet Peeves in YA, I'm up to 20 :D.  I welcome any and all opinions, even if I said I hate the word 'gorgeous' and you love it.  So, what do you think?  What are your pet peeves?