The photo above is the results I got when I did a Google image search for "romance novels"; if you click on the image, you should get transported to the complete search results. The fact is, I will read almost any romance novel with any protagonists in any setting with any heat level, but there are a few writing disasters that will make me want to close the book and add it to my DNF (did not finish) list. I thought I'd share a few of my dealbreakers (in no particular order) with you and see if you want to add any of yours to the comments list.
- when I'm reading a first-person story and the narrator mentions his/her/their own hair color. For example, "I put my chestnut hair into a sloppy bun." Who thinks like that?! Nobody. It's usually necessary, most authors would agree, for the writer to give some sense of what the protagonists look like, but any such details should come from other characters' points of view and/or as part of a more complicated thought. For example, this might work better: "I couldn't wear that shade of brown jacket as it would too exactly match my hair, making me disappear."
- when a character lets out a breath they "didn't know they were holding." Come on, authors! If I'm holding air in my lungs for longer than my regular breathing cycle, I know it. I don't understand how this phrase became so popular in writing, but for the love of oxygenation, please stop using this expression.
Thanks for letting me rant and for reading this far. Now I'll give you the whole truth: I absolutely do stop reading when I see the above issues, but only long enough to notice them. Then, I start right back up again. Life's too short to let a few annoying words deter me from an otherwise fun book. What expressions take you out of a story? Please share your list in the comments.