It's not me, it's you!
Sometimes a book fails to grab you...or sometimes it grabs you, struggles to hold on and then you are forced to just let go! Either way, you will find yourself on occasion "breaking up" with a book or series. That's what this meme is all about.
We were inspired to participate by Lori at Pure Imagination who was in turn inspired by Carla at The Crooked Shelf...and thus, Book Breakups is born! We thought this was a very cool idea and are going to make it a regular post so we hope to have a button ready for it next time :)
This week, Isalys is breaking up with:
Black Dagger Brotherhoodby J.R. Ward
Let's settle down now...I'm sure most of you just fell out of your chairs, but get it, dust yourself off and let me 'splain. I loved this series, I really did...but somewhere along the way, J.R. Ward just lost me. Let me break it down for you:
1) The Heroines: I love strong female leads! Women that are feminine, yet can still hold their own against the strong male leads. I felt that most of the female leads in these books were either too weak {Marissa} or too "butchy" {Xhex}. I didn't feel that I, as a woman, could connect or relate to any of them. Bella from book # 1 was the exception.
2) The M/M Vibe: This is not a personal attack on homosexuality or in any way related to my views on the subject, but it's not something I'm entirely comfortable with reading either. I have read several books with gay & lesbian characters, but they are fun & playful and the kind of character you can see yourself being friends with. In this series, it's much more sexually intense. The way I see it, these books were written by a woman for women...why would I want to visualize two guys going at it? Not a turn-on for me, sorry!
3) The Lessers: Granted, these are the bad guys and they are critical to the plot and storyline. It's important to know what is going on, however, I don't want to be in their heads ALL the time. The narrative throughout the books flipped back and forth too much for me. Some of the scenes from the Lessers POV seemed inconsequential and I was oh-so-tempted to skip them altogether. Besides, some of those guys were just downright irritating (Ex, Mr. O *grrrr*)!
4) Too many stories in one book: I feel like Ward tried to tell us too much in one book. We were being led through a maze of drama between the main characters, the Lessers and the many secondary characters. It is important to set up the storyline for the following BOOK, but I only want a taste...not a mouthful!
I don't think it's fair for me to say that I'm so much as "breaking up" with the Brotherhood...it's really more along the lines of "taking a break". I have gotten half way through the series and I am curious to find out what happens with some of the characters...I'm just not in a hurry to!
Yeah, I had similar feelings about the BDB a while ago, so I've got some books sitting in my TBR boxes until I feel like going back to the series.
ReplyDelete~Lindy
I feel exactly the same way you do. I don't like the female characters except for Bella and Mary. There are way too many stories going on. I feel like she loses focus of who the stories are really suppose to be about. I can say the last one I read Phury's story, only half the book was about him and his heroine. The other half was narrated by other people. The constant switching is really choppy.
ReplyDeleteI don't mined the m/m except that it doesn't happen in this novel. Why built this tension then have it lead to nowhere? The whole thing was pointless. I don't like her writing style or her plots.
And what was with Jane? I hated that ending!
awesome post, such a great idea! book break ups are the hardest, especially when you really want to love the book.
ReplyDelete- Amanda
Oh Em Geeeee! I'm in a bad romance!
ReplyDeleteNow I wanna break up, too! But it's one of those relationships you just can't get out of no matter how hard you try! *sighs*
But yeah, all your points were great! I remember swearing off the books after how mad I got that V's shellan turned up to be a ghost! WTH!!! It still haunts me (pun intended). Yet, I still read on.
And about the M/M relationships... I'll admit that I'm a Team Qhuay! But GRRRRRR! Either dive in and do it already or stop with the tension. Enough with dangling us on the edge! Not cool.
I really like this new feature. Can't wait to grab the button and see what is next!
Thanks!
I cant do it. I cannot do a book break-up... But I do agree, she did lose the edge somewhere. I discovered JR with V's book, so I had no clue abt the background built up in Butch's book. I LOVED the m/m twist in the beginning which out-of-nowhere flipped into m/f. and I loved going back and discovering the previous books. But with Phury and Rhev, she started losing me... I simply hated the whiny-Phury and badass-that-never-was-Rhev. Thankfully, JM's book hit the mark and brought me back into the fold, so no break-up for me... Just Yet!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel ya, doll. I'm not into reading m/m sex scenes.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe your breaking up with JR Ward but I understand you brought up some great points my friend and there are a few series i want to break up with.......
ReplyDeleteJust started this series, but I definitely see what you mean about the weakish female characters and the Lesser POV. I'm going to continue the series, but I get your point! Lol
ReplyDeleteI have never read J.R. Ward (gasp), but I might some day.
ReplyDeleteI just "broke up" with Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton. Hamilton is a great writer, but the premise of this book is so ridiculous.