Authors/Books That You Wouldn’t Recommend
Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:50 am
I figured there needed to be a thread dedicated to this topic. Over the years I’ve read a lot of books that I like and love but there are unfortunately those books that I can’t finish or do finish but end up hating or shaking my head wondering what the heck the author was thinking.
So let us know what authors and/or books that you wouldn’t recommend and why wouldn’t you recommend them.
I’ll get the ball rolling. I mostly read romance so these books/authors are romance…or are supposed to be.
Possible Spoiler Warning: If you haven't read any of the author's/books below be warned that some of the storylines/information are spoiled. So if you don't want to know about some of the things that happen don't go further.
Author
Diana Palmer: To be fair I’ve only read 5-6 of her books and she has written at least 100 but I won’t be a reader of hers anymore. The books that I’ve read have pretty much the same storyline. Older guy, younger woman (don’t really mind that though), hero is an absolute a-hole to the heroine, hero does nothing or very little to apologize, heroine has a good friendship with another guy, so much so that I’m rooting more for the heroine and friend to get together; heroine has little to no backbone and at the very end takes the hero back.
I love romance novels and it can be such fun when the two main characters are butting heads but with DP’s main characters it is not just butting heads or even denying their attraction. In the 5-6 books I read the hero is down right mentally and emotionally abusive toward the heroine.
I can not recommend an author that has so many scenes in multiple books where I’m in shock that the heroine of the novel didn’t knee the hero in the nuts and never let him touch her again. The way DP has her hero’s treat her heroine’s is unacceptable to me and definitely not enjoyable.
Books
Now I like most of the Linda Howard books I’ve read. However there are two that I wanted to throw at the wall and erase the two-three hours it took to read each one.
Sarah’s Child by Linda Howard
Similar to the reason as to why I didn’t recommend Diana Palmer. The hero in this book was a prick to the point where I wanted Sarah to leave and never come back. Plus the way Sarah allowed her husband (the supposed hero) to treat their child did not endear me to either the hero or the heroine. If any man, I don’t care if I’m married to him or not, said that he didn’t want to see that child (his child too) at all when he got home and he wanted me to be available to him to take care of his needs first before the baby’s needs and he didn’t even want to hear the baby cry I would have told him one of two things, either I’m leaving or he’s leaving. Either way I’m making sure he’s out our lives. So I hated both hero and heroine, neither were characters I could root for. It’s been a while since I read the book but my hatred of the book was strong.
An Independent Wife by Linda Howard
In the heroine’s past the hero (her husband) was an a-hole to her. Didn’t really mind that part since it was supposed to be in the past. I would have been able to accept it if the hero acted differently from his past self. A few years later (no more than ten) the hero is the boss or manager of the paper she works at. Once he realizes who she is, since she’s changed since he last saw her, he begins to take away her independence and things that she loves. She loves working at the paper but because her husband (I don’t think they ever divorced) doesn’t want her going to certain places to get the scoop for these stories, saying basically that he’s concerned for her welfare, he fires her. She had started writing a story sometime during the novel and I think the husband took that/hid it from her. He moved her out of her home and into his home without even consulting her. She just went to her house and all her things were moved and the landlord said your husband took it to his place. Everything she loved, everything she wanted, everything she had worked for was being taken away from her and to me that’s not a romance.
Fire Song by Catherine Coulter
I could barely finish this one. I don’t remember much of it; I haven’t read it in about 3 or 4 years. However this is what I do remember, the “hero” had raped a woman in a previous book possibly getting her pregnant…I don’t know about anyone else but that’s not what I look for in a hero...call me crazy. He forces his now wife (the heroine) to also have sex him, treats her like crap during most of the book, thinks she’s having an affair with a friend of his or someone that he knows (now why would she do that, he’s just such a great catch ::eyeroll:: ), the heroine walks in on him and his mistress screwing, and the “hero” believes the mistress over his wife many times (this last one I’m not 100% on, I might be mixing up my books). So many things in this book ticked me off that I’m in shock I finished it.
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Books go into my crap pile when either the heroine or the hero treats the other badly. I don’t mind arguing, I don’t mind if they dislike each other for a portion of the book, I don’t mind if they get angry at each other and say something mean. That doesn’t make me hate a book, character, or make me stop reading it. However when either of their behavior starts to become abusive, in whatever way, emotionally, mentally, or physically it turns me off completely.
So let us know what authors and/or books that you wouldn’t recommend and why wouldn’t you recommend them.
I’ll get the ball rolling. I mostly read romance so these books/authors are romance…or are supposed to be.
Possible Spoiler Warning: If you haven't read any of the author's/books below be warned that some of the storylines/information are spoiled. So if you don't want to know about some of the things that happen don't go further.
Author
Diana Palmer: To be fair I’ve only read 5-6 of her books and she has written at least 100 but I won’t be a reader of hers anymore. The books that I’ve read have pretty much the same storyline. Older guy, younger woman (don’t really mind that though), hero is an absolute a-hole to the heroine, hero does nothing or very little to apologize, heroine has a good friendship with another guy, so much so that I’m rooting more for the heroine and friend to get together; heroine has little to no backbone and at the very end takes the hero back.
I love romance novels and it can be such fun when the two main characters are butting heads but with DP’s main characters it is not just butting heads or even denying their attraction. In the 5-6 books I read the hero is down right mentally and emotionally abusive toward the heroine.
I can not recommend an author that has so many scenes in multiple books where I’m in shock that the heroine of the novel didn’t knee the hero in the nuts and never let him touch her again. The way DP has her hero’s treat her heroine’s is unacceptable to me and definitely not enjoyable.
Books
Now I like most of the Linda Howard books I’ve read. However there are two that I wanted to throw at the wall and erase the two-three hours it took to read each one.
Sarah’s Child by Linda Howard
Similar to the reason as to why I didn’t recommend Diana Palmer. The hero in this book was a prick to the point where I wanted Sarah to leave and never come back. Plus the way Sarah allowed her husband (the supposed hero) to treat their child did not endear me to either the hero or the heroine. If any man, I don’t care if I’m married to him or not, said that he didn’t want to see that child (his child too) at all when he got home and he wanted me to be available to him to take care of his needs first before the baby’s needs and he didn’t even want to hear the baby cry I would have told him one of two things, either I’m leaving or he’s leaving. Either way I’m making sure he’s out our lives. So I hated both hero and heroine, neither were characters I could root for. It’s been a while since I read the book but my hatred of the book was strong.
An Independent Wife by Linda Howard
In the heroine’s past the hero (her husband) was an a-hole to her. Didn’t really mind that part since it was supposed to be in the past. I would have been able to accept it if the hero acted differently from his past self. A few years later (no more than ten) the hero is the boss or manager of the paper she works at. Once he realizes who she is, since she’s changed since he last saw her, he begins to take away her independence and things that she loves. She loves working at the paper but because her husband (I don’t think they ever divorced) doesn’t want her going to certain places to get the scoop for these stories, saying basically that he’s concerned for her welfare, he fires her. She had started writing a story sometime during the novel and I think the husband took that/hid it from her. He moved her out of her home and into his home without even consulting her. She just went to her house and all her things were moved and the landlord said your husband took it to his place. Everything she loved, everything she wanted, everything she had worked for was being taken away from her and to me that’s not a romance.
Fire Song by Catherine Coulter
I could barely finish this one. I don’t remember much of it; I haven’t read it in about 3 or 4 years. However this is what I do remember, the “hero” had raped a woman in a previous book possibly getting her pregnant…I don’t know about anyone else but that’s not what I look for in a hero...call me crazy. He forces his now wife (the heroine) to also have sex him, treats her like crap during most of the book, thinks she’s having an affair with a friend of his or someone that he knows (now why would she do that, he’s just such a great catch ::eyeroll:: ), the heroine walks in on him and his mistress screwing, and the “hero” believes the mistress over his wife many times (this last one I’m not 100% on, I might be mixing up my books). So many things in this book ticked me off that I’m in shock I finished it.
----------------------------------
Books go into my crap pile when either the heroine or the hero treats the other badly. I don’t mind arguing, I don’t mind if they dislike each other for a portion of the book, I don’t mind if they get angry at each other and say something mean. That doesn’t make me hate a book, character, or make me stop reading it. However when either of their behavior starts to become abusive, in whatever way, emotionally, mentally, or physically it turns me off completely.