It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life and me)
Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.
If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.
*I'm late!!! lol But only by a day so I'm sneaking in with this weeks topic.
Question: Has a book by a favorite author ever badly disappointed you?
Answer: Of course! If you follow any author long enough, there are going to be a few duds. It's how it disappointed me that decides whether I will read the authors books again.
Annabeth Albert was always an auto buy author for me going back to her small pub, Portland Heat, M/M romance series days. But then her books started missing the mark for me. I wasn't connecting to the couples/stories and they were getting a little too much about kinks for my tastes. But that's fine - those reasons are a matter preference - not writing. I'm just more cautious now and read reviews before buying instead of an auto pre-order but I will still at least check out every new release and see if it's a better fit.
Authors switching up genres might be another reason to be disappointed but I won't rule them out and I might even give the new genre a go - Stacey Kade (YA, NA, paranormal YA) writing an adult sci-fi, horror as S.A. Barnes (Dead Silence) right now is a good example. I generally like her writing style and characters and follow her wherever she goes but there was a cozy mystery series that missed the mark for me.
Now - if you burn me on something I consider important or botch a series ending then that's different.
J.R. Ward (the Black Dagger Brotherhood series & now it's spin offs) - I was a HUGE fan of that series but it was just getting too wild for me - stretching out potential pairings over several books, the main couple not getting enough time for their own books and the constant brand name dropping annoyed me. So I quit that one years ago.
Eloisa James was a favorite historical romance author. I loved everything - the new books, her backlist and then I hit The Ugly Duchess, book #4 from the Fairy Tales series. There's (major) cheating SPOILER -> the hero gets mad at the heroine in a mild fight, throws a hissy fit and takes off for 7 years to become a pirate and happily bang his way across the 7 seas (& several encounters are described, he sees one woman multiple times, then has the nerve to come back and be pissed that she is able to remarry after the 7 years. <- END SPOILER Nope. nope. NOPE. So I no longer trust the author. I don't want to read romances with cheating. That's just my thing but it's a big thing to me so I'm holding a grudge and haven't read her books again since 2012 lol
Series ends that suck (IMO)
The biggest disappointment ever for a series to me was Mockingjay. I was SO invested in all the carefully laid out plotting from the first two books and yes, I got really caught up in the hype and speculations of what would happen. It's not even that it was a bad book. It's a pretty solid look at the effects of war, PTSD and other things. It just didn't have anything to do with the first two books. The writing style drastically changed - the conclusion to several plots threads were just dropped or handled badly and so many characters had a complete about face. That book hurt me. That's when I quit reading most series/especially trilogies and I would never trust the author to deliver on one again so that's that for Suzanne Collins. I'm sure she's devastated by the loss lol
On a similar note - Allegiant by Veronica Roth was my break up book with the author. What even was that book???? I think Roth fell in love with Four and forgot everything and everyone else and went with his story over Tris and the whole thing was a mess & that's not even getting into the BIG thing that happened.
Have you ever been disappointed by a favorite author? Do you give them another chance? What are your deal breakers?
I'm trying to figure out if I have a favorite author lol! I've definitely been disappointed by lot of authors, and that's mostly been their style changing or my interests changing.
ReplyDeleteI don't anymore. I just read what hits me at the moment and it's very rarely the same author.
DeleteThere were parts I liked about Allegiant, but the BIG thing was a let down. There were unnecessary deaths too. Maybe that's why I don't read series any more.
ReplyDeleteSame! It's not even so much what happened but that it in no way went with the narrative Roth built over the previous books.
DeleteI have trust issues now and don't want to be hurt anymore. That's why I dropped series. Lol
Sometimes a book in a series will not be as good as the other books.
ReplyDeleteThey can't all be winners lol Especially with long running, romance type series. Not every couple is for every reader.
DeleteYeah I think you're bound to have disappointments if you read enough books by any author. But as long as it's not just book after book after book that starts to disappoint me, and they don't do something that completely breaks my trust, I'll give them more chances. But I'm more of a book-by-book decision person anyway rather than an auto-buy-author person.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same. I won't quit an aptitude over one bad book unless it's something that fundamentally breaks my trust.
DeleteAnd I don't really have favorite authors anymore either.
I bounce around too much now.
So boring
ReplyDeleteIt's true. I'm very boring.
Deleteoh yes this has definitely happened to me as well. I have struggled with J.R. Ward as well, her earlier books in the BDB were so good, but then the plot lines becoming so much more complex has made it more of a struggle. Kristen Ashley is another one where I have struggled with her more recent releases as her writing has become more political soap boxy and I miss her classic style. Sarah MacLean is another one where I can't read her anymore either especially after her most recent release. But good thing about books....is there are always plenty of other authors to read haha
ReplyDeleteGreat topic you have here.
Writers & readers evolve. Sometimes they're just not the right fit anymore.
DeleteThere's a question now. I suspect that more of us than we might expect have been disappointed by a favourite author. A huge fan of Philippa Gregory ... if not exactly disappointed, I have felt that some of her books were so much weaker than others. I do however have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Joanne Harris as I LOVE some of her work and yet others, to say that I've been disappointed is a bit of an understatement.
ReplyDeleteI think it's more rare for am spirit to hit the mark every time over a long career. There will always be one or two misses
DeleteAs long as they don't do something too drastic, I'll continue to read them.
I have a few love/ hate authors too lol
Yep, I was also disappointed by Mockingjay and Allegiant. I say my favorite authors are Stephen King and Margaret Atwood, but they've both written some unbelievably terrible books, so I'm not sure if they're actually my favorite authors. :)
ReplyDeleteFor me, if you can't stick the landing for a series it's hard for me to reinvest in the next one.
DeleteBut one bad book won't deter me.
Wiki hasn’t been disappointed by a favourite author? I remember I used to love Jill Shalvis books and then a couple of years ago one of her releases just didn’t hit for me and I took a break from her. I adore Jennifer Crusie (why has she not published anything lately?) but there are a couple of her older releases I didn’t like. You’re definitely right about series Enders, they can make or break for me. Mockingjay was fine, but not as powerful a series ended as I might have hoped, but he Divergent series was a hot mess by the end and it was so disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI took a break from Shalvis too but I tried a few of her newer releases and loved them.
DeleteSeries endings are a real deal breaker for me. If you can't get them right I have a hard time making another commitment to the author.
Agreed. I think sooner or later a favorite author is going to write something that doesn't hit the mark. They're not infallible and they can't please everyone all the time.
ReplyDeleteI think what happens for me more often than not is that my tastes change. I used to love Mary Higgins Clark but I think I grew out of her formulaic stories and wanted more sophisticated thrillers and mysteries. There are still a few of Clark's books that I love. I just stopped reading her later work.
Yeah, I think I quit most authors because I've either evolved or too much repetition.
DeleteIt has to be something like the above examples for me to truly quit an author though and not give them another shot.
I love how you titled this post "Trust issues" LOL. And I had to chuckle at a few of your statements/plot descriptions (see Spoiler).
ReplyDeleteYeah, if it's a genre thing, I might not even follow the author on their new path, so I'm sure to avoid disappointments...most of the times, I read by genre, or I decide what to read on a case-by-case basis. But sometimes it's not a genre thing, like my recent experiences with Ilsa J. Bick and A.S. King demonstrate. Some books just bring certain tropes or narrative styles to the next level, that is, past my tolerance threshold. I will try them again later in that case, but I'll revert to reading an excerpt and a few reviews first.
I mean, I will try those authors again later, of course.
DeleteOh, and I forgot! The new header! LOL. I especially love the use you make of Figgy's character and his appropriately disdainful balloons 😂.
DeleteI've tried a few who switch genres and it doesn't always work but sometimes it does!
DeleteBut I'm mostly like you, one bad book won't lose me as long as it doesn't break my trust. There's going to the occasional dud.
Honestly, the Figment thing was a one off but now it's my favorite thing to come up with. It's SO Figgy lol
Oh that James one would make me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad
ReplyDeleteYeah, it made me SO mad. It was even worse than I neurotic described it.
DeleteBut but but. Mockingjay was great! GAH I guess we can still be friends even though we disagree 😂 But yeah definitely feel you with Allegiant, and that does make me hesitant to read her series going forward! A standalone I can live with, I can think of a few authors whose work I have loved and then a real stinker comes along, which is fine- as long as it doesn't ruin a bunch of characters I am invested in! Like the spoiler example you shared, I would be so mad!
ReplyDeleteHa! I didn't so much dislike it Mockingjay, as much I felt it that it was totally disconnected from the first two.
DeleteIf it was a stand alone about the effects of war I would have liked it a lot more.
But thank you for still being my friend lol
I get what you mean about Annabeth Albert. I definitely have some that I like more than others, but I do read pretty much everything she writes. LOL I think I'm a bit behind though. I feel like I'm behind on a lot of things, really.
ReplyDeleteLauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net
I had such a good run with her - years before a few misses started. I still really like her though - I just read one by her a month or so ago and enjoyed it.
DeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly on every point. You're going to have authors miss the mark if you read them for years. No one is going to always meet your expectations - and especially with things like genre changes. But BOY do I hear you on disappointing series endings. I don't think I've ever "broken up" with an author over it, but it's definitely resulted in some more cautious investment in their books/series. I also struggle with authors that I loved some of the books in their series and it was supposed to end on like book 3 and then it's so popular that they decide to write more and just spoil the whole thing. The Selection Series by Kiera Cass comes to mind. So disappointing.
ReplyDeleteOooh yeah - that's a good one too. When a series has an ending I expect tit o be the end. They rarely have anything more to say - it's just milking it for more $$
Delete