The Nope Book Tag

Thank you to Karen Jo at Sincerely Karen Jo for tagging me! I completed this tag last year (see my past Nope Book Tag here), so I’m excited to see what new answers I have from my reading list this year. Here are my answers to The Nope Book Tag (any book with a review will be linked to the book’s title):

• Nope Ending: A book ending that made you go NOPE either in denial, rage or simply because the ending was crappy.

I actually enjoyed The Hating Game, but one aspect of the ending of this book really irked me (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD). Basically, the two main characters of this novel are competing for a higher position in their company. However, at the end of this book, the male character backs out to take a job at a new company, so we never see who actually earned the job. It irritated me that it was basically like, “Oh, you get the job now since I’m not in the running.” I would have much preferred to see who actually got the job in the end and see the other character respect that their love interest earned the position.

• Nope Protagonist: A main character you dislike and drives you crazy.

I really disliked both the main character and love interest in this story, Tia and Will. Tia is the girl every guy wants and is super intelligent, even though all of her actions make her seem lazy and irresponsible. Will angered me even more. He is presented as charming, flirty, and a golden child. However, he blames Tia for all the negative attention he receives for getting Biggest Flirts with her… even though he continues to flirt with her even when he has a girlfriend! It was really hard to get through this story when I couldn’t get behind either character.

• Nope Series: A series that turned out to be a huge pile of nope after you’ve invested all of that time and energy on it.

The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite series, unfortunately the graphic novel series Wires & Nerve which follows Iko was a bit of a flop for me. I felt like it didn’t add anything to the story and kept using the same situations over and over in each book. Additionally, some of the characters seemed a little off to me in their characterization within these two graphic novels.

• Nope Pairing: A ship you don’t support.

From Twinkle, With Love definitely does not have one of my favorite ships of the year because I felt like the characters were just put together because they were the two main leads. Twinkle rubbed me the wrong way a few times and I felt like Sahil was a carbon copy of Rishi, but with less vibrancy. I didn’t believe their romantic connection and the book was overall too dramatic for me to invest in their relationship.

• Nope Plot Twist: A twist you didn’t see coming and didn’t like.

I saw this plot twist coming, but I didn’t like it. I felt like I’ve seen this story so many times, so there really wasn’t an element of surprise.

• Nope Genre: A genre you never read.

I don’t really read autobiographies, possibly because I’m not really into long non-fiction books. I feel like many autobiographies revolve around celebrities or political figures which I’m not interested in reading about outside of news articles.

• Nope Book Format: A book format you hate and avoid buying until it comes out in a different edition.

I haven’t experienced an audio book, so I would say that would be my least preferred format. I’m somehow who likes to drift off into thought when I’m listening to anything, so I don’t think I’d be very successful following along to this format.

• Nope Trope: A trope that makes you go nope.

It’s not necessarily a trope I hate, but I’ve seen it so much recently that I’m kind of over it. The bad boy trope has been played up a lot recently and I think it’s because “the boy with a troubled past” character is easier to create depth and a more twisted backstory. At the same time, I feel like this isn’t really revealed into later books in a series. As a result, the bad boy character does a lot of questionable and often harmful things to the main character. Cardan does a lot of messed up things to Jude in The Cruel Prince. I understand that he has a rough past, but some of his actions towards her made me feel extremely uncomfortable and I don’t know if I continue the series how I could see him as a potential love interest. You can have a “bad boy” who isn’t abusive (for example, Owen in Just Listen by Sarah Dessen).

• Nope Recommendation: A book recommendation that is constantly pushed at you, that you simply refuse to read.

I actually read a little bit of this book before my sister constantly recommended it to me. However, I don’t think I will ever pick this up. I know a little bit about this story and it just doesn’t seem like something I could power through when there are so many other books out there than I am interested in reading.

• Nope Cliché: A cliché or writing pet peeve that always makes you roll your eyes.

Cheating! I dislike how cheating is often used to cause drama in a book and I especially dislike when there’s an attempt to justify it which is exactly what happened in Perfect Couple. Often times, I find the main character or her potential love interest have one-dimensional and shallow significant others to justify their secret relationship. Um, no. I don’t care if Harper’s boyfriend was an annoying hipster or Brody’s girlfriend was the popular mean girl. They still should have broken up with them before starting their own relationship.

• Nope love interest: A love interest that’s not worthy of being one.

I actually didn’t mind Textrovert… until the ending. The love interest in this book, Talon, is a popular high school football player who has issues with his father. Typical, but something I could tolerate. Then, (SPOILERS AHEAD) it is revealed that he sent sexual pictures of his ex-girlfriend to other guys as revenge. The bullying this girl faced literally forced her to move TOWNS away. Readers even have to listen to multiple people give speeches on how “he’s changed” and “he’s a good guy now” despite everything in the story suggesting otherwise based on how he presents his relationship with Keely to others. Sorry, but that’s not a character that I can get behind.

• Nope Book: A book that should not have existed. 

I wouldn’t say The Summers shouldn’t exist, but it just wasn’t a book that I really enjoyed. It’s very similar to other books on the market that I enjoyed more, so it’s just another book to me.

• Nope Villian: A villian you would hate to cross. 

In Ace of Shades, there’s something called The Shadow Game. Basically, you play with cards and pretty much everyone dies. Sounds like a place that I don’t want to visit!

• Nope Death: A character death that still haunts you. 

SPOILERS AHEAD. I actually didn’t mind this book until the ending. Then, it didn’t one of my LEAST FAVORITE TROPES… EVER! One of the main characters in this series dies… but comes back without memory of any of the events in this series. UGH, THIS MAKES ME SO MAD! I call it the Cinderella III “plot twist” where it makes like the original story never happened (I literally was yelling at the screen when I watched Cinderella III when this happened) which makes me SO ANGRY.

 

I nominate…

Grace @ Nocturnal Book-a-holic

Amy @ Bookish Heights

Rose @ Dreams That Are Answered

 

What books/tropes make you go NOPE?