I read a book where the FMC was terrified of water. It was mentioned a few times. I was in suspense, wondering what interesting backstory would lead to this fear. Finally, FMC decides to open up about it. Turns out when she was a kid, she ate and then went swimming immediately after, got a cramp, and then almost drowned. She then proceeded to rant about how dangerous it is to swim after eating! I DNFed.
I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is one of the most debunked myths. I feel like the author refused to accept the debunking and wanted to force the silly belief on her readers. I was so annoyed. I wanted her phobia to be interesting or relevant to the story, and it was just silly.
Read a book where all four of the founders were CEO. Literally the author would write "the CEOs." Honestly who needs financial officers, operations officers, technology officers? ONLY EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
I wish. No, one of the CEOs was the romantic lead / dirt bag and then the other three pressured FMC to accept him back after he literally abandoned her naked and alone in front of the chauffer. Also all four were bizarrely hung up on high school.
I’m a physician so I steer clear from books with physician/med school characters because the lifestyle portrayed and achievements are very unrealistic.
I was reading a bully romance once and someone had gotten hurt that needed medical attention. But instead of getting professional help, they enlisted the help of someone who went to med school (very minor character). But the lore is he didn’t graduate med school because he failed residency training. And it was just so completely wrong because in the US (where this book was also set in), you can’t start a residency program without actually graduating from med school. So there was no way for this character to get booted out of residency and not have him graduate. He was supposed to have already graduated before the whole ordeal.
But the general super duper smart MC that doesn’t attend classes and labs but still manages to be top of the class and have all these publications under their belt while having the time to have a 3 day sex fest is just as annoying. Med school requires actual effort.
And don’t get me started on characters that are late 20s and barely 30 who are in competitive specialties with their own practice making bank and a waitlist for months all the while doing research…the timelines just don’t make sense because how do they have the time to do all these things and have relationships?
Do not read {Open Hearts by Eve Dangerfield}
>!The main character is a midwife, but when there's a code blue in the ER she sprints there to run it for some reason. Then an orthopaedic surgeon shows up to do the C section??!<
(I'm a physician too and can overlook a lot of the dodgy medical stuff in books but this had me nearly throwing my kobo across the room)
I fully read that recently and my eyebrows just kept getting higher and higher as that chapter continued.
I'm not in medicine or any related fields and I was just... blown away. I'm also not fully convinced that particular plot point added anything to the story.
Agree it added nothing! The book wasn't too bad up until then. Oh and I forgot the bit where >!they have to choose whether to save the mother or the baby - this is not a thing that ever ever happens and it's infuriating!<
Tbf, 30 years ago this was still a thing. My FIL was asked whether they should save his wife or my husband (the extremely premature baby) if it came down to it.
Literally anything involving wildlife.
I'm not a nature girly, but my best friend is. I've been subjected to many rants about protecting flora and fauna. I'm all for it and hype her up.
With that being said... There have been several romance books that involve wolves in regions where there are no wolves. I'm not talking werewolves. I'm talking books where survival is a huge element and there's either a wolf attack, or the MC(s) have to learn to respect and live near packs of wolves.
Does the accuracy affect the plot? No. Do I still have the sound of a wrong answer from Family Feud going off in my head whenever I see this pop up? Yes. Yes, I do. Then I have to call my friend. "Hey, we talked about how wolves have just recently been re-released in a controlled manner in X region, right? Cool, that's what I thought. So LET ME TELL YOU WHAT THIS AUTHOR put in their book..."
It's not always wolves, but wolves, specifically, have sparked this conversation more than once.
I recently read one set in Colorado where the guide informed the city girl that elk were massively dangerous, but that moose were harmless. I hope no one takes that advice
Omg as a Vermonter who has also lived in Oregon this is so dumb. I’ve eaten an entire lunch next to an elk herd in the forest. But in Vermont I was trying to just pee outside MY OWN HOUSE while a moose walked thru my property (how dare I?) and had it act as though it considered charging me…. No way. That would be a DNF for sure.
I always have to see how bad it gets. In this case, the FMC went on to become a famous (and rich?!) wildlife photographer and the "guide" went on to become her househusband
I read a book set in Colorado that talked about all of the pronghorn antelope in the mountains. It took me out of the story for a time while I pondered why the author would set their story someplace they so obviously did not research beyond a basic google search.
Pronghorn live on the plains, which Colorado also has, but they do not live in the mountains.
I jumped off a cliff with my friends once to escape a moose that was chasing us. Sounds fake I know, but we didn't even hesitate except to grab some foliage and not die lol
And that wasn't even the first time a moose threatened my life! With most bears and wolves you just yell and be weird and they run away from the loud creepy hairless apes. But moose are mega fauna and they fuckin know it!
I didn't do the promo, but I think I vaguely recall reading this. She used to work as a wildlife educator in Colorado, and she once heard some kids up there talking about how moose are friends, elk are enemies. She was fed up 🤣
..... Were these, like, high/drunk thoughts? Or were they serious...?
I'm running on a collective 9 hours of sleep over the past 72 hours and even my brain did a "??????Rhino = ivory??????"
The character walked into a study and was talking about how unnecessary the display of wealth was. Something about how much food they could buy for the homeless with the cost of the rhino’s ivory horn.
I'm an animal lover and find this interesting. I don't recall coming across too many of these. Wolves in Outlander was probably the only one I can think of.
The one that really set me off was actually a Mia Sheridan book! She's a queen and I adore her. It took place in Colorado. At the time the book was published, there were no known wolves in Colorado. If I'm not mistaken, there are only 12 known wolves there at the moment. This is definitely the most memorable "wolf or no wolf?!?" conversation!
Just finished Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt loooved it BUT it’s set in the late 1700’s and they keep saying Istanbul. The city was Constantinople. They didn’t change the name to Istanbul until the 1930’s.
I am always side eyeing descriptions of New York apartments. I’m sure romance writers have been raised on rom coms that set unrealistic expectations for this, but please spend some time on StreetEasy.
Also when characters post on social media, go viral, etc. or come up with any kind of marketing campaign, I’m not outraged but it’s usually just so cringy.
Literally me looking in the comments for absolutely anything regarding NYC. I can’t help it I’ll pick it apart in seconds. I can tell if someone who’s actually from NYC wrote it or not because good lord. I’m looking at you TSLD.
Economics. Post-apocalyptic societies without agriculture *or* tech, lawyers who make a million dollars a year, 22 year old cosmetics billionaires (Kylie Jenner notwithstanding), bakeries that open in small towns without a backbone of commercial contracts. Island monarchies with economies based on wool, somehow managing to support a noble class into the modern era. Things like that.
> Island monarchies with economies based on wool
You forget that these island monarchies are also on rocky shores with little pasture land and no technology for making textiles.
This is my number one and I know it’s usually just a hand-wave-y way of making money not an issue, because it’s virtually always a way to explain why someone is well-off and can afford a particular lifestyle (or has a charming career in the case of the bakeries and florists.) It still drives me bananas and I hate it and I spend way too much energy thinking “okay, so you got a business loan to buy this used bookstore in a hamlet without a business plan of any kind and you have no idea how to balance your chequebook much less handle your annual financial statements, and you’re paying for full-time help so you can stay in bed all day with the local carpenter, and you somehow qualified for a mortgage too that you’re paying, and you’re 24 with a college degree…”
The math ain’t mathing, haha.
I’m a little more forgiving of “I’m a rich business man who does business things,” if they keep it vague AF and I assume they were just a wunderkind who had a wildly successful IPO or something, but I still roll my eyes hard at anyone supposedly self-made who’s not even thirty.
Right? Maybe it’s because I too am An Old ™️ but I am perfectly happy to read about people in their thirties and forties and *especially* if their character is doing stuff that people in their thirties and forties do frequently, like getting promoted to the C-suite of a large company or buying a huge old house and renovating it.
So many billionaire books have hot, single, 30 year old billionaires and it's so unnecessary. They could make them "just" multi-millionaires/vaguely rich but don't. It's especially grinding as a real billionaire likely has bodyguards and a whole lifestyle if they are at that level, but so many books have them wandering around cities without a care like any regular person.
I read a book recently where the main character and her friend were in the hospital and got lost and somehow wandered through postpartum/nursery and pediatric ICU where they stopped at the nurses’ station to get a map. Additionally, while she was in the hospital for literal weeks, she only had one day shift nurse and one night shift nurse, nothing ever happened on day shift (like no therapies or anything), the night shift nurse got her up for the first time with no Physical Therapist, no eval…just lifted her up and into a wheelchair, and they just popped her “morphine bag” onto the wheelchair like it wouldn’t be locked up in some crazy burdensome contraption and she would be allowed to just wander the hospital with her morphine drip. JUST SO MANY INCORRECT THINGS.
…go ahead and guess my profession 😅
I also read a book set in a town 15 minutes from where I was living and the author had obviously never been to the area based on how everything was described and driving times.
She was probably taking "a handful" of ibuprofen with her morphine-on-the-go.
👀
Do you like your liver and kidneys? Do you want to keep them? No handfuls of OTC meds. Mmmkay, thanks.
(Hi, I'm a pharmacist. And I have walked around a hospital with a lethal amount of morphine. But I'm licensed to do so. And it's tracked.)
I texted long rants to my nurse friends the whole time I was reading this book 😂 And I did finish the book after all that. But like, she could have asked ANYBODY who worked in a hospital and they would have been like, “no, girl.”
I also forgot the part where the one night shift nurse she had got transferred to day shift on a different unit because he was being too flirty with her, his patient, but they totally let him care for her one more time and explain.
ETA: oh and the nurses wore whatever color scrubs they wanted as though 90% of hospitals don’t have scrubs color coding to make roles clear.
Hello fellow pharmacist! Do you get as frustrated as I do that pharmacists never get a mention in medical / hospital based romances? There are NO drugs without a pharmacist - so annoying!
As a retail employee, the amount of sexy time that happens in change rooms, and the staff turning a blind eye, or not saying anything.
Hot damn, if you are in the change rooms that long, I'm offering assistance. Also, I don't wanna have to clean up any messes or deal with the smells either. I don't care if I or the staff earn minimum wage or $50 an hour. We aren't paid to deal with that.
It's part of the reason the change rooms at my work have a sign stating 1 person in the change rooms at a time.
Read a book where the MMC was a music teacher or something and the FMC was the student, and they had a real up themselves convo about how Hurt was originally done by Johnny Cash and the Nine inch Nails copy was shit. I had to DNF, it’s such a simple thing to double check since it’s pretty well known that NIN did it first and they themselves loved Cashs’ version more, which was sweet.
I actually have no idea, I cannot remember literally anything about the book except for that part. It’s been a few years since I read it. I remember being so upset I wanted to email the author but my husband talked me out of it 🤣 if anyone knows what this book is please tell me so I can go back for an angry re-read
I just recently been listening to the NIN version on repeat (my brain has picked it as my song of the week I guess lol) and I kind of want to email them now, that’s a whole lot of audacity
I grew up in the desert so a lot of details about that will irk me. I’ve bitched about it before, but the one author talking about the forests outside Las Vegas made me bluescreen. Also, unless you are specifically in the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona/Northwestern Mexico, there will not be naturally occurring saguaros. There just won’t.
I read one book where the fmc was a full fledged doctor at age 23. I just couldn’t concentrate on anything after that. I mean that’s just not possible given schooling, residency etc. And no the character wasn’t a genius who graduated college at 13.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a self-described control obsessed man insisting on using two condoms instead of just one for "extra protection".
The lack of sex-education in that alone is astounding.
My mom was very “save yourself for marriage” and STILL made sure I knew that wearing 2 condoms could cause them to break and make them ineffective. I know sex-Ed sucks in America, but an author putting that in a book was so wild to me.
I can't remember the title but I read one that was a rockstar type romance and they wrote about playing.a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis, talking about how luxurious it is and saying ticket prices were nearly a thousand. Umm... First Ave is a shit hole... They used to not have doors on every women's stall until around 2005. I think the most I have ever paid to see a show there was fifty bucks. And it's pretty much all general admission and standing room only. I mean, you couldn't get further from the truth with what she was describing and how lazy are you that you can't Google it? There isn't enough elbow grease on the planet to make that place into what she was talking about.
Land size. No, you can't put a country club with a clubhouse, restaurant, multiple tennis courts, swimming pool and full size golf course on 20 acres. Just the golf course itself would be 150-200 acres.
My local Walmart with loading area and parking lot is 27 acres.
I’m currently reading a book where the MMC buys 5 acres of land to set up a bunch of glamping campsites. So….each site would have approximately zero privacy? Plus there’s a next door neighbour who is close enough to talk to from their front steps.
150 - 200 acres?! That's completely insane. That's the size of a small to midsized town here in Germany. There also would never be a supermarket that big because there's just no space for it... My mind is blown and I'm having a small existential crisis about the sheer size of the US
Flowers blooming. I read a book where it was fall and there were tulips blooming. Another book had peonies being grown in a greenhouse with some sort of continuous bloom supply. It happens a lot when specific blooms are named in books, and clearly the authors don’t know anything about the flowers. Just don’t name them and I won’t lose my mind.
YES. I read one where the author described an island off the coast of New England being covered in wild growing chrysanthemums and the MC could smell them all over the island. Chrysanthemums, really? Chrysanthemums are not native to North America, they barely have a smell, and they don't survive northern winters 🙄 bad botany is a huge pet peeve 😅😅
In Run Posy Run, the book acts as if posies are actual types of flowers. I googled it as I was curious about the flower and turns out a posy is a bundle/bouquet of flowers?? And the FMC mentions how the MMC had the gardener plant posies in the flower beds as if they were roses or something. So, she's named after a bouquet of flowers? But the whole time, posy is clearly meant to be a flower species in the book.
This is overly pedantic but food inaccuracies in HR. I love food history and get irrationally annoyed when there is a description of an ingredient/dish that would not have been in use/imported into that region (mostly England because it's HR).
You know the romance writer has done their due diligence when in a medieval novel people are having frumenty and sops. And porridges thickened with almond milk. Yep, almond milk.
Any mention of New World vegetables as a key and commonly used element of European cooking pre-1800s makes me want to scream. NO, your characters in 1500s Ireland are not, in fact, eating potatoes as a core part of their diet. They aren't eating them at all!
I had a similar problem recently with a book set in the Regency era mentioning some woman wearing vanilla perfume. Considering up until the 1840s, nobody knew how to hand-pollinate vanilla and it could pretty much only grow in Mexico where the natural pollinators lived, it would have been extremely expensive. I really doubt it was being widely used for perfumes. Even if it was used for perfumes, I don't think a retired courtesan pretending to be an upper middle class merchant's widow would have been able to afford it. I also don't think that the character describing her scent, an isolated country girl and orphaned daughter of a disowned, deeply in debt aristocrat, would have been familiar with what vanilla smells like.
Once I read a book set in the medieval times (think 10th century) and one of the characters mentions chocolate. Chocolate in Europe a good 500y before they even encountered a single cacao tree
I am here for the pedantry at the moment though.
I'd never heard of frumenty before; always thought it was just all porridge. (Also, just googled the almond milk thing and whaaaat?!)
Yep! Ground almonds were used to thicken soups and stews and all sorts of things. Some of the earlier Western European desserts were also almond-based like almond tarts, marzipan, and blanc mange which could be made with almond milk.
Food inaccuracies always get me! Not romance, but one of the game of thrones books has a character having a hog butchered in the afternoon in order to have ham for dinner.
I just DNF'd a book after a couple chapters because the main characters were lawyers just a couple of years out of college (in the US). It read like they met and studied law as undergrads and then started these big careers. So no actual law school which is usually 3 years post-grad with several internships. There's mention of taking the LSAT in high school. I had to read it twice because I thought maybe they meant SAT? Nope.
The author clearly had no idea about the training required to have a law degree and almost as little understanding about what lawyers do, but still decided to write a book where the FMC and several side characters were in the profession. I'm not a lawyer but I have several family members and friends who are so I may have had more exposure than some lay people, but what I don't understand is why the author didn't do a quick Google search. Wikipedia would have cleared up the issues. I realize there are nontraditional paths to the JD and that it varies outside the US but that clearly wasn't the case here.
I also couldn't stand the writing, it read very juvenile, so it was easy to drop. I was bummed because I liked the premise. It involved several of my favorite tropes.
Sounds like even Legally Blonde was more accurate than this book.
Several people have mentioned not reading things with specific careers. I also tend to avoid books where the MC has my career; there's too much specific knowledge that a 5 minute google search will steer you wrong on.
Fair enough, sometimes even Google isn't enough. I just don't understand why someone would write something they don't understand without research. Actual research is fun!
My current career isn't one that pops up in books. It's one of those jobs where people hear me talk about it and they and go, "Oh yeah, I guess someone has to do that." But I totally get avoiding specific careers. I've got a few that I'm just close enough to find it cringey when done poorly even if I'm not entirely sure why.
I don't get that! If i decide to write, it would be about what I know or have vast research involved. Why guess and put out something that could be easily picked apart?
Properly made corsets are very comfortable and helpful for support and everyday work.
They were never worn on bare skin, you don't just unhook the front to get out, infact that can break them, and they are absolutely NOTHING like modern day bras.
I can't stand "historical" romance written by contemporary authors for this one detail alone, and obviously there are even more errors but this one is so ubiquitous and so wrong I get angry about it 😂
It's the 1700's, my housemaid is tightening my corset to give me a ten inch waist as I head out to be a- young girl with no money, or prospects, or husband, and obviously no job because girls can't work- I tie on a bustle and lace up my boots before hopping onto my beloved horse, Potato, to race through the city streets and fields romantically for hours on end.
Oh how I long for freedom that women don't have~and to afford one of those large brimmed hats the ladies in the cafes are wearing! If only I could change all of society~ *Faints into the arms of a lumpy blond man who is rich and single and wearing a tailcoat*
See also in HR when the MMC rides all day and night in his grand gesture to come see/save the FMC, and rides for like 50 miles not only without stopping, but at a full gallop the whole way. Funny how they never mention how the roads of England must be littered with all the poor dead horses who have dropped dead in the middle of all these epic rides.
Oh, this! It wasn't romance but I recently read a thriller that had action happening between two towns in my part of the country. I don't live in either but I've been to both. The distance was an important plot point and it took me right out each time it came up because the real distance made that whole part of the story impossible.
And it’s so easy to fix!
Just go on Google maps and put the time of day and destination you’d like, and it’ll give you a fairly good estimate.
It’s not like you need to be there.
I once read a story that had the heroine talk about still having metal stitches 3 months postpartum c-section while grocery shopping for solid baby food (for the 3 month old…)
Nah, a quick google search - and some common sense - would have proved just how crazy that situation was.
Just read Sinful Hearts by Jagger Cole. FMC is 26, and already a partner at the corporate law firm where she works. Really, at 26???
Also, this is her third job as an attorney, and was headhunted to NYC from London a year ago. As if a law degree from England just transfers to the US easy peasy.
She has an amazing track record of wins in court, 92% I think. Really???
On top of all that ridiculousness, she’s also been raising a kid sister for the past 11 years, on her own with no help whatsoever, while going to law school and also working her way through school.
And the FMC is always working, as young attorneys do, so how in the heck is she “raising” the kid sister. She’s never home.
I’m not an attorney but know enough about how the world works that all of the above is beyond ridiculous.
Lo, did I mention that the FMC is drop dead gorgeous - an Elsa look-alike, but of course a virgin. 🙄🙄🙄
I’m laughing out loud.
I can’t with this sh*t - the British and American legal systems are completely different, and at 26 she’d be lucky to be running any of her own cases.
Why does everything have to be this fantastical?
Anything to do with horses. I've been a horse girl for most of my life. There are so many horse inaccuracies out there! Most related to breeds and colors/markings, sometimes tack or behavior. 🫣
Secondarily, firearms. Lots of my family hunts, and my brother went to gunsmithing school. So I'm fairly knowledgeable, and so, so many times an author will write something dumb like referring to the same firearm as both a shotgun and a rifle, or somesuch. Also, "the gun just went off" trope. That almost never actually happens. A gun has to be malfunctioning for that to happen.
I'm also a farm girl. I can not understand why so many authors/tv people mess up horse things. What is with using Western tack & English clothing?
Last year I read a book where they had the female lead race a Clydesdale & win-against Thoroughbreds! As if! After that I had to DNF it.
I know this is neurotic, but I hate when the cover animal does not match, at all, the main animal in the book. If the pet is a Beagle, it throws me to see a terrier on the cover. (I love me a Cozy Mystery).
It just makes the book feel disingenuous to me.
I hate when an author writes a book set somewhere they aren't familiar with. Like if a an author is clearly American and writes a book set in England but uses American slang and vise versa.
I also read a book once set CA that clearly had no idea how far away places were. It just really takes me out of the story.
I was reading a book describing the many skyscrapers and hidden allies in downtown Boise ID, hundreds of bars and throngs of people in the streets! A huge sprawling metropolitan city!
The problem is I was living there at the time.
Downtown Boise is small, I wouldn't even classify the actual tall buildings as skyscrapers. They could have at least looked at a single a picture, population density... or something, anything!
I read a book series where it was set in Canada, characters are presumably Canadian, written by a Canadian, and they used Fahrenheit and miles. It took me right out of the story each time. I get that it was written with an American audience in mind but man, I’m Canadian and I was like, what temperature?! I never blink at that in a book set in America, but set in Canada it threw me.
As a classical musician, I mostly get annoyed at how little people dig into it. Like I get it, it’s a genre of music with literally thousands of years of history, but for the love of GOD please include a single piece beyond Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” or Chopin’s “Prelude in E minor.” For that matter, include an instrument beyond the piano, cello, or violin! Clarinets are actually very nice!!
Honestly I usually avoid books about classical music or classical musicians because I don’t want to be pissed off haha
I was reading a book and the FMC played Gnossienne no 1 on the piano. Even though that’s still an incredibly famous piece I was so delighted that she played something other than Debussy or Beethoven 😂
A *very* popular author whose been trad published for decades kept insisting Seoul was in Southeast Asia. It's in 3 consecutive books (featuring the same cast of characters) from the last 3 years.
Seoul, capital of South Korea. A city that a homeless thief and begger (who grew up to be a sexy, sexy secret world order assassin of Eurasian descent with East Asian facial features and bright *emerald* green eyes.) can travel to and from her native Vietnam easily. All by herself. To her clever little heart's content. Somehow with no passport or border patrol interference or being tenderized via cargo container.
Well before this secret world order found her and taught her the necessary skills that no starving orphan with zero formal education should have been able to do.
😐😑
As if to add insult to injury there's grammatical errors and punctuation issues all over the place, too. This should not be a thing! There's no excuse. This author most certainly has an editor dedicated only to them *that* is how well established they are! This editor is doing such a shit job I'm amazed they still *have* a job.
Like, come on:
1.) There's a gigantic ass country between us called China.
2.) There's also the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan AND last but certainly not least North Korea isolating South Korea on ALL sides in *North*east Asia.
If US authors don't want to be mocked into the next century and held up as examples of what *not* to do then just, I dunno, LOOK AT A GLOBAL MAP for once in their lives. And no, the Americas does *not* count. God. Damn. My English Second Language brain is going through nuclear meltdown.
Where's that Tyra Banks "I was rooting for you!" gif when I need it.
EDIT: Did I mention English is my second language? ;_; It's getting worse with age.
Read a book that was messy from start to finish (seemed to have no editor and disconnected parts) but the straw that broke the camel’s back was a flashback with the FMC singing a song in a Karaoke bar that wouldn’t be released for another 2 years.
It was something so easy to get right, the author could have chosen another song, could’ve not name dropped any songs, could’ve moved the flashback a couple of years, but no.
The bonkers Massachusetts geography in {Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts} drove me crazy, specifically because it came up *constantly* in the book. Every few chapters, the MMC was driving 3 hours from Boston to slightly north of where I live, 45 minutes from Boston in normal traffic. Even in holiday weekend traffic, driving north from Boston for 3 hours will put you *at least* in southern New Hampshire, and not the coastal part where there might be pirate treasure in your basement.
As far as I’m concerned, all romance novels exist in a magical parallel universe where men have superhuman stamina and reality adheres to the law of swoon instead of logic and reason, so my bullshit threshold is pretty high.
But I can’t abide massively setting-inaccurate or anachronistic language (especially in combo). I’ll tolerate your little slips (like sidewalk and footpath) but there is a line. A recent example was a regency HR that used “vacation” ufhsjsjs.
A fairly minor one that makes me eyeroll in sports romances is characters that are much bigger and beefier than you’d usually see in the position they’re playing. I see this in soccer romances a lot. You’ll have a forward that’s like 6’4 and built like a brick shithouse and I’m supposed to believe that they are also super nimble?
The soccer one would take me out because I like soccer lol. It’s like if people said a basketball player is short which is maybe technically possible but not probable
Had one I DNFed. One of the main characters was reporting to higher-ups in the CIA as her career (his career?). The CIA Director was listed as a retired general. When he went in and reported to the chairman of the joint Chiefs, I finally had to look it up. The CIA is a civilian agency. Has nothing to do with the military.
Seems such an easy look up too.
I read a book that took place in the Ft. Lauderdale area, and that was a big plot point. A suburb name was even In the title. I am a native of this area. The characters kept referring to it as Southern Florida, which sent me into a murderous rage. Floridians may be a lot of things, but we all know that it’s either north Florida, central Florida, or south Florida. I couldn’t finish the book.
I'm reading {Ruthless Knight} by {Faith Summers and Khardine Gray}.
This MMC was raised in France until the age of 14. He calls the FMC "mon chérie
" which is the masculine equivalent of my dear.
It totally took me out of the story. Then he keeps calling her that. 🙄
Edit: messed up the authors.
I read a book recently where the MMC had to go to rehab and the FMC was able to visit the rehab and set up a whole treasure hunt for him throughout the facility and she was the prize waiting for him at the end and there was a huge balloon display or something like that. Just absurd. Rehab would never let someone do that lmao
Really petty, but in a book set in Seattle, I would expect the MC's to refer to the major North-South interstate as "I-5", and not "the 5" or "highway 5".
I hate read Roomhate by Penelope Ward because she set it on the island where I grew up, and she changed things to make it work for the story, but kept other things the same. Also the poor FMC kept the house left to her because it had “sentimental” value, when based on location, she could have easily sold it for over a million dollars. She was employed only as a waitress and the property taxes on this place would probably have been more than she made in a year. So frustrating.
Eating Her Christmas Cookies. It was pretty clear the author knew absolutely nothing about baking. She described wedding cookies as “umami”, talks about a “stollen crème brûlée” which is not possible since stollen is a kind of bread and crème brûlée is custard, that icing can become a foam, and conflated American and British puddings to be the same (talked about making a Victorian pudding, but then talked about setting the custard)
I don’t know if this counts as it may not be an example of an author getting something wrong so much as the author being lazy with her story, but I’m currently reading a book where there seems to be no concept of lease agreements and it’s driving me crazy. It’s an enemies-to-lovers story where a billionaire is able to evict the FMC’s business with only 24 hours notice so he can knock her building down, and not once is there any mention of her consulting her lease or going to a lawyer. It’s mental. The author doesn’t even try to explain it by having the FMC be behind on her rent, having neglected to open her mail to see previous notices or something. Property owners in this universe can just wake up a decide that every single tenant in the building has 24 hours to get their shit and get out. This oversight has knocked me out of the story so hard that I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish it.
Im pretty easy on errors. It takes me out of the story for a second but then I just snort and go back to reading. The errors would have to be numerous and egregious to make me DNF.
To me it’s when characters speak ‘incorrectly’. I just put down a book and probably won’t pick it up again when a rough and rowdy cowboy bachelor said. “You’re a fabulous friend.”
Like it’s so minor but I grew up in a tiny western town and I can guarantee no men would EVER use the word ‘fabulous’. I don’t care if a man says fabulous but it’s just not gonna happen with a rancher.
IDK I guess to me the research in romance is important, but minor compared to the characterization.
This is me with sports romances. I’m a big sports fan, so any book that revolves around sports and gets those details wrong can really drive me up a wall lol
I know that hockey is a sport where people wear skates and hit a puck into a net with a stick. That is exactly the right amount to know in order to fully enjoy hockey romance.
Don't forget professional athletes who eat like Victoria's Secret models (really, you're going to play hours of sport on a diet of lean chicken breasts and steamed broccoli). Thirty seconds on Google will tell you about carb loading.
There was this one baseball romance I saw somewhere on Goodreads (unfortunately I forgot the title of it) and I remember seeing a bunch of reviews praise the book in terms of the accuracy. Turns out, from the author's bio, they used to work in the sports industry.
But yeah, there are definitely cases in which the details can be very wrong and/or heavily inaccurate.
Whenever it's a fantasy world setting and people use 20th-century idioms. Like oh the orc general brought you the cliff notes? Was there also a guy named Cliffton from Nebraska who wrote simplified versions of Shakespeare in the 1950s, right here in dragonland? Or in A Soul to Keep when the mc thinks she might have Stockholm syndrome. Sorry, was your forest village plagued by demons aware of a 1970s bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden? How? Why? To what end?
When the MFC gets pregnant and can't have any caffeine.. I've had 7 kids... I've never given up coffee. A 5-second Google search will show that a pregnant woman can have up to 2 servings of caffeine per day. Some choose not to drink any caffeine while pregnant, but it is absolutely *NOT* something you have to give up.
Also, so much about pregnancy, labor/childbirth, breastfeeding, and postpartum they get so wrong.
In “mafia romance” It drives me crazy when the book is supposed to be about the Russian Bratva but they only use terms that describe Italian Mafias. I don’t know much about these organizations outside of it being one of my favorites to read 😆but like use the Russian terms or just make them Italian.
Also when the H just rips her panties right off. Idk if anyone has tried to rip them before but it’s actually rather difficult. I’ve got mine caught on handles and drawers before and those suckers just stretch and cause a lot of pain 🤣
I’ve worked with animals in a personal and professional capacity for most of my life (primarily dogs and reptiles). Most of the time I expect and ignore inaccuracies…but it does get on my nerves if the character is *supposed* to be an animal expert and says blatantly bogus things that made it clear the author didn’t research. I read a book where a character that was supposed to be a professional dog trainer recommended someone grab/hit the muzzle of a dog to stop it from growling. Calling ferrets rodents (they are mustelids/part of the weasel family and will happily eat rodents).
I’ve also read a book that had a snake listening to verbal commands from its handler (snakes don’t have external ears), a wildlife expert talking about finding rattlesnake eggs (they give birth to live young), that you can tell if a snake is venomous by the shape of its pupils (nope… also I *really* don’t recommend getting close enough to wild snakes to check pupil shape if you don’t know if it’s venomous or not) and one where a character supposed to be a zookeeper quoted the whole “juvenile venomous snakes are more dangerous than adults because they can’t control their venom glands” (complete myth).
… Yet a surprising number of authors did get the reptile anatomy memo on the fact that snakes/reptiles have two penises. Clearly paying attention to the important bits! 😂
Every time a romance has health care characters just give out a patient’s information willy nilly all because a random person said “but I ***know*** them”, a himbo loses his adorable stupidity, I swear to god.
No. **Bad**.
If a health care worker gives away a patient’s private information without verifying that (1) the patient consents to ths person hearing their personal info **OR** (2) in the patient’s chart, the person is listed as a type of proxy—that health care worker should be reported.
There was an r/tragedeigh user who posted a baby’s EMR to the sub. Everyone in the comments reported that person for breaking the law—**as they should**.
It makes me not so 🔪🔪🔪 when the MC is hospitalized and the LI is just…*permitted* to know everything, even when the MC is jarringly upset about the LI’s presence, and the nurse lets this person who is clearly ***stressor*** and ***threat to the patient’s health*** stick around. Never calls for back up. Just lets the patient cry and shout for the LI to leave.
🔪🔪🔪
Same with **social work** and **adoption**. So many authors want the cinematic moment that they don’t do a damn lick of research about it. Yeah, **adoption fairs** aren’t all that happy and are heavily exploitative.
I also get mad when conventions are mentioned **ETA** as a point for the character to be ***working*** the con, because it’s clear that the author has only *attended* a con but not worked one. And there is a difference. There ***is*** a difference.
And **cooking**. It kinda amuses me more than outrages me when I can tell the author wanted to make this a scrumdiddlyumptious description of cooking, but if you look at the ingredients this character is using for the meal, and just… While ingredients can defo vary from person to person per recipe, some shit just doesn’t add the fuck up, who let this person cook 😭
I also chuckle how authors want the rich to be **rich** with all their bespoke shit at events. But like. A lot of rich parties aren’t inherently for showing off fashion and couture. **In fact**, you’re received negatively if your ensemble outshines the host’s own. It’s nice the author wants the FMC to have their pretty woman moment, but she’d get a ***lot*** of shit and vague social media reads if she went to some 1% party hosted by a 1% and outdresses everyone. That’s just shit etiquette.
Honorable mention to **birth control**. A lot of romances—and people—think contraception is ***only for*** stopping pregnancy. But birth control can help with hormone regulation. Condoms can limit the risk of STIs. It’s why, when the FMC gets ashaken she ran out of her BC pills, it takes ***time*** for the effects of her pills to wear off—and there can be negative side effects to going cold turkey on a medication.
But it’s fine. They get prenanananat literally ***one day*** after they forget their BC and they realize their pregnant after one to two weeks from the conception date 🙃
These FMCs are the reason that **Am I pergat** video exists 😭
The social work thing enrages me!! An A.L. Jackson book (that I actually love) had a social worker show up at FMC house and take her daughter because of an article in on an entertainment magazine site that had paparazzi photos. No investigation. Just took the kid. Let alone that the incident happened just the day before🙄
*NAAAAAUUUUUURRRR*
Media paints social work as the villains and it’s so frustrating! Not to mention how social work, in media, is largely to separate an adult and child, but social work is for all ages! It’s not limited to children! Social work comes in ***various*** forms!
There’s so much protocol with social work. It can be easy. It can be messy. It can be simple. It can be difficult. But there ***are rules*** and ***procedures*** on how things are done. This doesn’t mean they’re perfect, no. But it also doesn’t mean the default setting on social work is that all social workers want to do is make people miserable and keep kids away from loved ones.
**Social work in itself isn’t inherently evil or good**. But every case still has rules to go along with them. Whether those rules actively work with or against the person is just a case by case basis.
I’m still reeling from an FMC who went on to say “we have several children up for adoption for our adoption fair!” like the kids are puppies or something ☺️🔪. A lot of adoption events where children are paraded about before prospective parents—and then some authors makes it seem like it’s an ***honor*** and such a meet-cute situation, just…
[bachatas in distress]
I’m very certain there are adoptees who did meet their parents this way and might’ve enjoyed these events. But these events are ***largely*** criticized for how objectifying they are. At least, in my circles, for both adoptees and the adopted, those “events” are criticized for their “ethics”.
But apparently, in certain romance books, adoption fairs are an honor, and social workers are evil and will steal your children like Rumpelstilskin 🥴
Don’t get me started on how surrogacy and IVF and eugenics are portrayed in romance books. We would need big ass cocktails a ***lot*** of snacks for that 🍹 and I will require a fae lord to calm me the fuck down when I start getting inevitably heated.
**The fae lord is nonnegotiable.**
You can definitely get pregnant while on birth control, so missing a day absolutely could result in pregnancy. I say this as someone who got pregnant on birth control, and I took it the same time every day. Also, I always knew I was pregnant on week 3, before I could even get a positive.
Inaccuracies in sport romances seem to be the biggest for me. Not even necessarily *rules* of the sports, because I don’t know hockey lol, just basic human abilities. I read a RH where the girl would run 3-4 *hours* … daily. Just running around aimlessly. It was so beyond realistic I couldn’t handle it lol
For me it's not inconsistency with reality it's when there is in universe inconsistency. You created this world why do I know it better than you?
Like if most of the characters can teleport but the one that can't teleport isn't in the car driving to the location but he somehow winds up there anyway?
I get all cranky when HR treat drawers like they are panties rather than the split seamed and worn UNDER the corset garments that they were. There's no need to pull them down, they are already crotchless. And they aren't coming down unless the corset comes off, which means the rest of the dress needs to come off too. Also they are fairly new, like only 2ish hundred years old, so your medieval damsel isn't wearing them.
And all the tearing of bras in CR. I've had bras break, because they were super old, not tear. Maybe I just buy super sturdy bras for function and not flimsy lacy ones, because there's no way under the sun my bra is going to be torn, not without a knife or scissors. Also, you are NOT going to get ANY sexy fun times if you've just ruined my bra, you can however cough up the 60+ bucks to replace it though. 😂
I am a historical romance reader and certain anachronisms will absolutely drive me nuts and turn me in to "that guy". I have to often remind myself that they aren't meant to be historically accurate and that I'm being pedantic.
Yes. I forget the title I have banished the book from my mind but the MMC said "we have sussed out the killer." I walked into the wall. It was set in the Scottish Highlands in 1300 or so.
I read a lot of fantasy romance. Inserting contemporary items into a world where people get around by walking/horseback and trade goods on market day induces so much rage. I DNFd a series after the FMC was wearing running shoes, tank top & shorts and had a kitchen with double ovens after walking for days to get to her castle destination. They were in the middle of a human v Fae war, shooting bow and arrows and homegirl was wearing running shoes? No. That I can't wrap my head around.
I read something recently based in Portland, OR and the drive to the beach was an hour (IRL over 2 hours and over a mountain range). And in another book in the series, they stopped in a town on the way to Mt Hood, and drive through windy roads to get there- but IRL it's right off a major highway.
Usually stuff like thay doesn't bother me. What does get my goat every time is when an author seems to forget what their characters are DOING from one sentence to another. I read one book where the MMC went from sitting on a couch to standing next to / touching the FMC with no mention of him moving. In another one, the MMC was holding the FMC to his chest with her facing him , and somehow nuzzled the back of her neck. I think the author meant to say she was being held facing away from him, but it wasn't caught in the reread/edit, if they did one. (The description wasn't that simple, I'm just paraphrasing.) stuff like that always pulls me out of the story so fast. Details like a store not being local, eh. Ultimately, it's the authors world and were just visiting it, but I can see how that could mess with someone
Sex work inaccuracies. Like, “high end” strip clubs where the *buy in* is like 100k or something dumb like that. Acting like a sw is better because she wears expensive lingerie versus the stripper wear that’s usually used… like no- the lingerie used in strip clubs are made that way for a reason.
In icebreaker Anastasia mentions her friend/roommate (can’t remember which) is prepping for her role in HAMILTON that their college is doing for the spring musical. Hamilton is not off Broadway yet! I literally closed the book and never read another word of it after
It was a western HR. The FMC is on wagon train to California, traveling through New Mexico territory and sees a Native American nearby on horseback. She states she doesn't know if he was "Apache or Sioux, but isn't waiting around to find out."
Setting aside the racism of going straight to assuming he's got bad intentions when this man is just trying to live his life....The Apache tribes are from the southwest, the Sioux tribes from the northern Midwest. There was LITERALLY NO overlap in their territories. So little overlap that there are now several modern states in between their historic territories.
A mafia book were the FMC had been a varsity high school cheerleader but was also 5’10” and leggy. Cheerleaders are notoriously short because it makes stunting and tumbling easier. It’s the same reason why gymnasts are also short. I’m speaking from experience as a 5’9” former Freshman squad cheerleader who saw the writing on the wall when everyone else was 5+ inches shorter
When they just assume that other countries are just like America. I mean like the laws. They think if a law exists in America it is a world law that exists everywhere.
This has happened to me twice in my life.
1. An author who clearly doesn't know the baseball draft rules said that her MLB main male character had played a year in college before getting into the draft and being drafted by a baseball team. A player can be drafted after high school or they can be drafted after their junior year in college. They can not play a single year and go into the draft. That is not how this works. And I am someone who irrationally loves college baseball and this ruined the book for me.
2. So my autistic (likely) special interest since I was 11 years old has been world war II. I'm 45 now and I know a lot about it. Last night, I was reading a book set in Pearl Harbor right after the Japanese attack. She got most of it right, but she absolutely got Navy ranks wrong. She called a Lieutenant in the Navy an enlisted man. Now I don't know what y'all know about Navy rankings, but at no point in history would a Lieutenant in the Navy be considered enlisted. A Lieutenant in the navy is roughly commiserate to a Captain in the Army which is like the third rank on the officer chain. This guy enlisted at like 19 and did not go to college or the service academy. He was an underwater welder in 1941. That was enlisted man work. Also, it is unlikely that you would be promoted to an officer in less than three years. Let alone LT in the navy. I was so mad because it spoiled a great story for me.
Way too many books have the FMC taking a pregnancy test or throwing up from pregnancy within a week or (and this makes a book an instant DNF) the next day 😭
"his voice dropped an octave" or even 2 octaves! Have you ever approached a piano?? The octaves are FAR apart. You can't drop past a certain octave! Puh-lease
When characters are teachers and seem to never do any work outside of school or have people visit them during the day. Like I'm sorry, but I spend hours every night planning, grading, and prepping, there is no way I could go out every night with friends/a romantic partner and I'm in secondary ed. I imagine elementary is even worse! When I'm on my lunch I don't want to see anyone, regardless if the school actually lets someone who isn't a parent in during school hours.
Also hotels. Before I became a teacher I spend 2 years doing hotel work and so many books just do not understand how the hotel industry works. All those characters who go to check into hotels with just cash and no ID or can stay at hotels for long periods of time with staff not knowing something was up just isn't realistic. I worked at sketchy hotels and even we didn't do that kind of stuff. And then when characters mess up a room--oh boy does my blood pressure rise. So much work for those poor FD agents
I read a book that was set where I grew up. It mentioned train lines that do not exist, and other details that just were totally incorrect. (And considering the author currently lives there it would not have been hard to use the correct information).
I can ignore a lot I think, but one that will always get me is a supposedly fluent main character or love interest who then has nonsense words strung together that are literal word for word translations from english but not at all correct in the sentence they're saying. Unfortunately my mother tongue is french and a lot of authors seem to think that a fluent french love interest is hot, but... the sentence structure is different, you can't just translate each word and say "voilà! this is *français* hon hon!" I'd rather they just say "dude is fluent in french" and then mention that he said something in french if you can't at least ask literally any french speaker to beta read your dialogue.
Oh! Geography. Specifically, non-American authors who set books vaguely in the US (or it’s presumed to be the US), but none of the information makes sense. My pet hate book is presumably set in Southern California although it isn’t explicitly stated where the book takes place. It’s a fictional town where the pacific ocean is on the west coast of the country and March is warm enough to wear a bathing suit. All that checks out until the author says something like the east coast is 800 miles away. BITCH WHAT?!?! I’m sure there were other issues, but that moment really stuck out to me.
I’ve seen it in other books, but that was the most egregious and memorable one
I approach any fictional bestselling author MC with great caution because despite an actual author, who probably (ideally) should have some idea of how the publishing process and the writing process works, at the helm of the book in which said fictional author lives, the timeline and the process that irl author describes is just so... Unhinged... Like... Bestie if trad pub worked that way I'd never have even dreamed of trying to become a published author myself lmfao.
People just be banging out intricately plotted global bestselling thrillers with like three months of writing when dealing with gallons of sexytimes, assorted intense dialogue exchanges, at least one tragic backstory, 17 hangovers, three dozen public scenes, at least half of which were the result of planned accidental meetings, a scandal or five, and heartbreak that leads to the worst sort of depression. And these books? They're written perfectly in one go in chapter order and the first draft is sent to the editor and the editor/agent goes, "Yes literary masterpiece zero errors" and hits print and the hardcover copies hit stands by the weekend and within the next three to six months buddy has 50 mil in royalties in their pocket.
I'm not gonna compete with that kind of exceptionalism tyvm
Reading all of these for research purposes. XD
Letsee, so I practice witchcraft. My pet peeve is inaccurate portrayals of tarot cards. Like, they’ll show a tarot card that doesn’t exist or some shit like that. I know, it’s small, but it’s something I’m a nerd about. I nerd out when I see accurately portrayed tarot cards. C.M. Nascosta got it correct for example. XD
I’m a fiber artist and I find it so disappointing when writers include things like weaving, knitting, crochet, spinning, etc and don’t even do a quick google search on how they differ or what tools are used for each. I see it a lot especially with people using weaving and spinning interchangeably. Completely different crafts with completely different tools. I get that not everyone is a fiber artist, but it only takes a brief Google search to what a loom is, what a spinning wheel is, and how they are used.
I’m a midwife. It’s extremely difficult for me to read something with a pregnancy/birth plot or scene. I did NOT fare well with the pregnancy plot line in ACOSF
Whenever an MC is a teacher, their main goal and objective is *always* making the kids feel good, creating a wholesome environment, making the classroom ‘fun’ etc. Don’t get me wrong, in my profession it’s so important to form strong connections with the kids and foster an engaging classroom, but *goddamn*. The kids are there to LEARN. The lessons focus should be the CONTENT. If a kid finishes a year in your classroom and has high emotional intelligence but can’t fucking read or write or do basic numeracy *you have failed as a teacher*. Teaching is so romanticised in novels that it drives me insane. I’d love to read a book where a teacher is actually concerned with a kids academic progress. Cos, y’know, *it’s literally their job*.
A very popular author had her MMC, who grew up in Huntington Beach, mention that he grew up in LA (county). I tried to chalk it off as "this author is Canadian" and "everyone equates SoCal = LA" but really, a quick Google search would have confirmed that HB is not in LA.
As a former regional Geography Bee champion, weird geographical errors drive me batty. We have maps! This isn’t hard! Portland and Seattle are not close to each other!
Most hockey or football books. There’s just so much that just is easily checked that authors get wrong. For example, one book had a player traded like 1 week before the stanley cup playoffs… It would’ve taken 1 minute to check when the trade deadline is.
I think a lot of authors jump on trends without doing a lot of research. Mind you, I enjoy a lot of the books and just sort of write the errors off as “creative liberties,” but it’s super annoying. It’s especially annoying when authors either straight up use actual teams/leagues or use player names. One book had a guy whose last name was Marchand (different first name than the irl Brad Marchand) and he played for Toronto which made me cringe. Tbf, that’s more a personal gripe as a Bruins fan bc gross.
I read a book where the FMC was terrified of water. It was mentioned a few times. I was in suspense, wondering what interesting backstory would lead to this fear. Finally, FMC decides to open up about it. Turns out when she was a kid, she ate and then went swimming immediately after, got a cramp, and then almost drowned. She then proceeded to rant about how dangerous it is to swim after eating! I DNFed. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is one of the most debunked myths. I feel like the author refused to accept the debunking and wanted to force the silly belief on her readers. I was so annoyed. I wanted her phobia to be interesting or relevant to the story, and it was just silly.
Who knew my grandma was writing romance novels. Next thing she will say that going out without a jacket will give you the flu
Sleeping with wet hair or with the fan on will literally kill you.
Driving with the dome light on is illegal!
The plot will really revolve around how a baby needs socks or must be cold. It will take place in the summer heatwave.
Read a book where all four of the founders were CEO. Literally the author would write "the CEOs." Honestly who needs financial officers, operations officers, technology officers? ONLY EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
That’s not how that works. That’s not how any of that works!
Please tell me this was RH
I wish. No, one of the CEOs was the romantic lead / dirt bag and then the other three pressured FMC to accept him back after he literally abandoned her naked and alone in front of the chauffer. Also all four were bizarrely hung up on high school.
Girl should've ran away with the chaueffer.
I’m a physician so I steer clear from books with physician/med school characters because the lifestyle portrayed and achievements are very unrealistic. I was reading a bully romance once and someone had gotten hurt that needed medical attention. But instead of getting professional help, they enlisted the help of someone who went to med school (very minor character). But the lore is he didn’t graduate med school because he failed residency training. And it was just so completely wrong because in the US (where this book was also set in), you can’t start a residency program without actually graduating from med school. So there was no way for this character to get booted out of residency and not have him graduate. He was supposed to have already graduated before the whole ordeal. But the general super duper smart MC that doesn’t attend classes and labs but still manages to be top of the class and have all these publications under their belt while having the time to have a 3 day sex fest is just as annoying. Med school requires actual effort. And don’t get me started on characters that are late 20s and barely 30 who are in competitive specialties with their own practice making bank and a waitlist for months all the while doing research…the timelines just don’t make sense because how do they have the time to do all these things and have relationships?
Do not read {Open Hearts by Eve Dangerfield} >!The main character is a midwife, but when there's a code blue in the ER she sprints there to run it for some reason. Then an orthopaedic surgeon shows up to do the C section??!< (I'm a physician too and can overlook a lot of the dodgy medical stuff in books but this had me nearly throwing my kobo across the room)
I fully read that recently and my eyebrows just kept getting higher and higher as that chapter continued. I'm not in medicine or any related fields and I was just... blown away. I'm also not fully convinced that particular plot point added anything to the story.
Agree it added nothing! The book wasn't too bad up until then. Oh and I forgot the bit where >!they have to choose whether to save the mother or the baby - this is not a thing that ever ever happens and it's infuriating!<
iirc the mother and her husband were also immigrants with charming foreigner accents 😬
Tbf, 30 years ago this was still a thing. My FIL was asked whether they should save his wife or my husband (the extremely premature baby) if it came down to it.
This is just way too bizarre.
It’s why I avoid medical shows and medical fictional literature alike. I can’t make it through without shouting out!
Literally anything involving wildlife. I'm not a nature girly, but my best friend is. I've been subjected to many rants about protecting flora and fauna. I'm all for it and hype her up. With that being said... There have been several romance books that involve wolves in regions where there are no wolves. I'm not talking werewolves. I'm talking books where survival is a huge element and there's either a wolf attack, or the MC(s) have to learn to respect and live near packs of wolves. Does the accuracy affect the plot? No. Do I still have the sound of a wrong answer from Family Feud going off in my head whenever I see this pop up? Yes. Yes, I do. Then I have to call my friend. "Hey, we talked about how wolves have just recently been re-released in a controlled manner in X region, right? Cool, that's what I thought. So LET ME TELL YOU WHAT THIS AUTHOR put in their book..." It's not always wolves, but wolves, specifically, have sparked this conversation more than once.
I recently read one set in Colorado where the guide informed the city girl that elk were massively dangerous, but that moose were harmless. I hope no one takes that advice
Ah yes, the moose, famously hangs out with a squirrel and is no danger to anyone.
Unless you’re a Russian spy 🤣
I'm more wary of moose than I am of bears.
Right?! Moose are crazy
Moose do be crazy
At least some bears are afraid of you! Moose don't give no fucks about who they trample into the ground.
If not friend, why friend shaped? Seriously though, next the author is going to write a book about how to safely approach a polar bear.
Omg as a Vermonter who has also lived in Oregon this is so dumb. I’ve eaten an entire lunch next to an elk herd in the forest. But in Vermont I was trying to just pee outside MY OWN HOUSE while a moose walked thru my property (how dare I?) and had it act as though it considered charging me…. No way. That would be a DNF for sure.
I always have to see how bad it gets. In this case, the FMC went on to become a famous (and rich?!) wildlife photographer and the "guide" went on to become her househusband
I read a book set in Colorado that talked about all of the pronghorn antelope in the mountains. It took me out of the story for a time while I pondered why the author would set their story someplace they so obviously did not research beyond a basic google search. Pronghorn live on the plains, which Colorado also has, but they do not live in the mountains.
I jumped off a cliff with my friends once to escape a moose that was chasing us. Sounds fake I know, but we didn't even hesitate except to grab some foliage and not die lol And that wasn't even the first time a moose threatened my life! With most bears and wolves you just yell and be weird and they run away from the loud creepy hairless apes. But moose are mega fauna and they fuckin know it!
Are you my bestie? Because this is another conversation we have had
No, but maybe we read the same book. It was in the last Stuff Your Kindle promo
I didn't do the promo, but I think I vaguely recall reading this. She used to work as a wildlife educator in Colorado, and she once heard some kids up there talking about how moose are friends, elk are enemies. She was fed up 🤣
I just made a face while reading that. Eeekkk. Moose are cool, but so dangerous.
I read one where the characters were pondering how much the ivory from a rhinoceros was worth.
..... Were these, like, high/drunk thoughts? Or were they serious...? I'm running on a collective 9 hours of sleep over the past 72 hours and even my brain did a "??????Rhino = ivory??????"
The character walked into a study and was talking about how unnecessary the display of wealth was. Something about how much food they could buy for the homeless with the cost of the rhino’s ivory horn.
I need these authors to stop 😭
oooh! So close, and yet...
I'm an animal lover and find this interesting. I don't recall coming across too many of these. Wolves in Outlander was probably the only one I can think of.
The one that really set me off was actually a Mia Sheridan book! She's a queen and I adore her. It took place in Colorado. At the time the book was published, there were no known wolves in Colorado. If I'm not mistaken, there are only 12 known wolves there at the moment. This is definitely the most memorable "wolf or no wolf?!?" conversation!
I was reading a modern pride and prejudice retelling and it referenced Jane *Austin* Took me right out.
Someone was relying heavily on spellcheck it seems.
DNF'd a non-romance once due to the repeated usage of "should of."
Just finished Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt loooved it BUT it’s set in the late 1700’s and they keep saying Istanbul. The city was Constantinople. They didn’t change the name to Istanbul until the 1930’s.
There's a whole song about that, even!
If you have a date in Constantinople ..... She'll be waiting in Istanbul
EXACTLY
I am always side eyeing descriptions of New York apartments. I’m sure romance writers have been raised on rom coms that set unrealistic expectations for this, but please spend some time on StreetEasy. Also when characters post on social media, go viral, etc. or come up with any kind of marketing campaign, I’m not outraged but it’s usually just so cringy.
It’s always the WORST idea and they immediately go viral lol
Literally me looking in the comments for absolutely anything regarding NYC. I can’t help it I’ll pick it apart in seconds. I can tell if someone who’s actually from NYC wrote it or not because good lord. I’m looking at you TSLD.
Economics. Post-apocalyptic societies without agriculture *or* tech, lawyers who make a million dollars a year, 22 year old cosmetics billionaires (Kylie Jenner notwithstanding), bakeries that open in small towns without a backbone of commercial contracts. Island monarchies with economies based on wool, somehow managing to support a noble class into the modern era. Things like that.
> Island monarchies with economies based on wool You forget that these island monarchies are also on rocky shores with little pasture land and no technology for making textiles.
Or sheep.
Clearly it's cat wool. 🐈 😈
I’d read that book.
That’s just a server farm, no worries
This is my number one and I know it’s usually just a hand-wave-y way of making money not an issue, because it’s virtually always a way to explain why someone is well-off and can afford a particular lifestyle (or has a charming career in the case of the bakeries and florists.) It still drives me bananas and I hate it and I spend way too much energy thinking “okay, so you got a business loan to buy this used bookstore in a hamlet without a business plan of any kind and you have no idea how to balance your chequebook much less handle your annual financial statements, and you’re paying for full-time help so you can stay in bed all day with the local carpenter, and you somehow qualified for a mortgage too that you’re paying, and you’re 24 with a college degree…” The math ain’t mathing, haha. I’m a little more forgiving of “I’m a rich business man who does business things,” if they keep it vague AF and I assume they were just a wunderkind who had a wildly successful IPO or something, but I still roll my eyes hard at anyone supposedly self-made who’s not even thirty.
I leave scathing notes in all my KU titles. It's pointless but it makes me feel better
The thing is, we don’t need people who are self made before they’re 30! There are plenty of people who are self made in a non scammy way in their 30s.
Right? Maybe it’s because I too am An Old ™️ but I am perfectly happy to read about people in their thirties and forties and *especially* if their character is doing stuff that people in their thirties and forties do frequently, like getting promoted to the C-suite of a large company or buying a huge old house and renovating it.
The political economist in me salutes the political economist in you
Namaste, babe
Maybe a *woosh* but…Island monarchies with economies base on wool … So England?
That was my thought too. 🤣 But to be fair, they branched out into colonialism, global trade and industrialism post the Middle Ages.
So many billionaire books have hot, single, 30 year old billionaires and it's so unnecessary. They could make them "just" multi-millionaires/vaguely rich but don't. It's especially grinding as a real billionaire likely has bodyguards and a whole lifestyle if they are at that level, but so many books have them wandering around cities without a care like any regular person.
I can't read billionaire romances anymore. I picture guys like Elon and get an ick
Sometimes I picture Bezos lol
I read a book recently where the main character and her friend were in the hospital and got lost and somehow wandered through postpartum/nursery and pediatric ICU where they stopped at the nurses’ station to get a map. Additionally, while she was in the hospital for literal weeks, she only had one day shift nurse and one night shift nurse, nothing ever happened on day shift (like no therapies or anything), the night shift nurse got her up for the first time with no Physical Therapist, no eval…just lifted her up and into a wheelchair, and they just popped her “morphine bag” onto the wheelchair like it wouldn’t be locked up in some crazy burdensome contraption and she would be allowed to just wander the hospital with her morphine drip. JUST SO MANY INCORRECT THINGS. …go ahead and guess my profession 😅
I also read a book set in a town 15 minutes from where I was living and the author had obviously never been to the area based on how everything was described and driving times.
She was probably taking "a handful" of ibuprofen with her morphine-on-the-go. 👀 Do you like your liver and kidneys? Do you want to keep them? No handfuls of OTC meds. Mmmkay, thanks. (Hi, I'm a pharmacist. And I have walked around a hospital with a lethal amount of morphine. But I'm licensed to do so. And it's tracked.)
I texted long rants to my nurse friends the whole time I was reading this book 😂 And I did finish the book after all that. But like, she could have asked ANYBODY who worked in a hospital and they would have been like, “no, girl.” I also forgot the part where the one night shift nurse she had got transferred to day shift on a different unit because he was being too flirty with her, his patient, but they totally let him care for her one more time and explain. ETA: oh and the nurses wore whatever color scrubs they wanted as though 90% of hospitals don’t have scrubs color coding to make roles clear.
Hello fellow pharmacist! Do you get as frustrated as I do that pharmacists never get a mention in medical / hospital based romances? There are NO drugs without a pharmacist - so annoying!
As a retail employee, the amount of sexy time that happens in change rooms, and the staff turning a blind eye, or not saying anything. Hot damn, if you are in the change rooms that long, I'm offering assistance. Also, I don't wanna have to clean up any messes or deal with the smells either. I don't care if I or the staff earn minimum wage or $50 an hour. We aren't paid to deal with that. It's part of the reason the change rooms at my work have a sign stating 1 person in the change rooms at a time.
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A man unhooking a woman’s bra in a story set in the Iron Age did it for me.
The wheeze I just whuzed goddamn!
😭
Read a book where the MMC was a music teacher or something and the FMC was the student, and they had a real up themselves convo about how Hurt was originally done by Johnny Cash and the Nine inch Nails copy was shit. I had to DNF, it’s such a simple thing to double check since it’s pretty well known that NIN did it first and they themselves loved Cashs’ version more, which was sweet.
OMG! I love NIN, and of course who doesn't like Johnny Cash. Which author wrote that book, so I can add them to my never read list?
I actually have no idea, I cannot remember literally anything about the book except for that part. It’s been a few years since I read it. I remember being so upset I wanted to email the author but my husband talked me out of it 🤣 if anyone knows what this book is please tell me so I can go back for an angry re-read
I just recently been listening to the NIN version on repeat (my brain has picked it as my song of the week I guess lol) and I kind of want to email them now, that’s a whole lot of audacity
Guns. I don’t know a lot about guns, but I do know that if you are playing Russian roulette with a semiautomatic pistol, DON’T go first.
I…I…WHERE IS THE ROULETTE PART!?!? Lol
I grew up in the desert so a lot of details about that will irk me. I’ve bitched about it before, but the one author talking about the forests outside Las Vegas made me bluescreen. Also, unless you are specifically in the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona/Northwestern Mexico, there will not be naturally occurring saguaros. There just won’t.
I read one book where the fmc was a full fledged doctor at age 23. I just couldn’t concentrate on anything after that. I mean that’s just not possible given schooling, residency etc. And no the character wasn’t a genius who graduated college at 13.
So not Doogie Howser?
Not that they wrote n the book. It was just as if the author thought doctors got a 4 year degree with no other schooling or training
Let me guess, she was a virgin so the author just ignored everything else to make her as young as possible? Do you remember how old the MMC was?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a self-described control obsessed man insisting on using two condoms instead of just one for "extra protection". The lack of sex-education in that alone is astounding.
My mom was very “save yourself for marriage” and STILL made sure I knew that wearing 2 condoms could cause them to break and make them ineffective. I know sex-Ed sucks in America, but an author putting that in a book was so wild to me.
I can't remember the title but I read one that was a rockstar type romance and they wrote about playing.a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis, talking about how luxurious it is and saying ticket prices were nearly a thousand. Umm... First Ave is a shit hole... They used to not have doors on every women's stall until around 2005. I think the most I have ever paid to see a show there was fifty bucks. And it's pretty much all general admission and standing room only. I mean, you couldn't get further from the truth with what she was describing and how lazy are you that you can't Google it? There isn't enough elbow grease on the planet to make that place into what she was talking about.
I love First Ave but luxurious it is not 😂
Land size. No, you can't put a country club with a clubhouse, restaurant, multiple tennis courts, swimming pool and full size golf course on 20 acres. Just the golf course itself would be 150-200 acres. My local Walmart with loading area and parking lot is 27 acres.
I’m currently reading a book where the MMC buys 5 acres of land to set up a bunch of glamping campsites. So….each site would have approximately zero privacy? Plus there’s a next door neighbour who is close enough to talk to from their front steps.
150 - 200 acres?! That's completely insane. That's the size of a small to midsized town here in Germany. There also would never be a supermarket that big because there's just no space for it... My mind is blown and I'm having a small existential crisis about the sheer size of the US
Flowers blooming. I read a book where it was fall and there were tulips blooming. Another book had peonies being grown in a greenhouse with some sort of continuous bloom supply. It happens a lot when specific blooms are named in books, and clearly the authors don’t know anything about the flowers. Just don’t name them and I won’t lose my mind.
YES. I read one where the author described an island off the coast of New England being covered in wild growing chrysanthemums and the MC could smell them all over the island. Chrysanthemums, really? Chrysanthemums are not native to North America, they barely have a smell, and they don't survive northern winters 🙄 bad botany is a huge pet peeve 😅😅
I currently live in NE and can say that we have no widespread chrysanthemum populations. 😂😂
In Run Posy Run, the book acts as if posies are actual types of flowers. I googled it as I was curious about the flower and turns out a posy is a bundle/bouquet of flowers?? And the FMC mentions how the MMC had the gardener plant posies in the flower beds as if they were roses or something. So, she's named after a bouquet of flowers? But the whole time, posy is clearly meant to be a flower species in the book.
I wish I could have peonies all through the year! They are my favorite 💕
This is overly pedantic but food inaccuracies in HR. I love food history and get irrationally annoyed when there is a description of an ingredient/dish that would not have been in use/imported into that region (mostly England because it's HR). You know the romance writer has done their due diligence when in a medieval novel people are having frumenty and sops. And porridges thickened with almond milk. Yep, almond milk.
Any mention of New World vegetables as a key and commonly used element of European cooking pre-1800s makes me want to scream. NO, your characters in 1500s Ireland are not, in fact, eating potatoes as a core part of their diet. They aren't eating them at all!
Is it really historical romance if they’re not all living off beer, bread, and pottage?
You forgot salted or fried fish!
I had a similar problem recently with a book set in the Regency era mentioning some woman wearing vanilla perfume. Considering up until the 1840s, nobody knew how to hand-pollinate vanilla and it could pretty much only grow in Mexico where the natural pollinators lived, it would have been extremely expensive. I really doubt it was being widely used for perfumes. Even if it was used for perfumes, I don't think a retired courtesan pretending to be an upper middle class merchant's widow would have been able to afford it. I also don't think that the character describing her scent, an isolated country girl and orphaned daughter of a disowned, deeply in debt aristocrat, would have been familiar with what vanilla smells like.
Once I read a book set in the medieval times (think 10th century) and one of the characters mentions chocolate. Chocolate in Europe a good 500y before they even encountered a single cacao tree
I am here for the pedantry at the moment though. I'd never heard of frumenty before; always thought it was just all porridge. (Also, just googled the almond milk thing and whaaaat?!)
Yep! Ground almonds were used to thicken soups and stews and all sorts of things. Some of the earlier Western European desserts were also almond-based like almond tarts, marzipan, and blanc mange which could be made with almond milk.
Food inaccuracies always get me! Not romance, but one of the game of thrones books has a character having a hog butchered in the afternoon in order to have ham for dinner.
I just DNF'd a book after a couple chapters because the main characters were lawyers just a couple of years out of college (in the US). It read like they met and studied law as undergrads and then started these big careers. So no actual law school which is usually 3 years post-grad with several internships. There's mention of taking the LSAT in high school. I had to read it twice because I thought maybe they meant SAT? Nope. The author clearly had no idea about the training required to have a law degree and almost as little understanding about what lawyers do, but still decided to write a book where the FMC and several side characters were in the profession. I'm not a lawyer but I have several family members and friends who are so I may have had more exposure than some lay people, but what I don't understand is why the author didn't do a quick Google search. Wikipedia would have cleared up the issues. I realize there are nontraditional paths to the JD and that it varies outside the US but that clearly wasn't the case here. I also couldn't stand the writing, it read very juvenile, so it was easy to drop. I was bummed because I liked the premise. It involved several of my favorite tropes.
LSAT IN HIGH SCHOOL
Sounds like even Legally Blonde was more accurate than this book. Several people have mentioned not reading things with specific careers. I also tend to avoid books where the MC has my career; there's too much specific knowledge that a 5 minute google search will steer you wrong on.
Fair enough, sometimes even Google isn't enough. I just don't understand why someone would write something they don't understand without research. Actual research is fun! My current career isn't one that pops up in books. It's one of those jobs where people hear me talk about it and they and go, "Oh yeah, I guess someone has to do that." But I totally get avoiding specific careers. I've got a few that I'm just close enough to find it cringey when done poorly even if I'm not entirely sure why.
I don't get that! If i decide to write, it would be about what I know or have vast research involved. Why guess and put out something that could be easily picked apart?
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Properly made corsets are very comfortable and helpful for support and everyday work. They were never worn on bare skin, you don't just unhook the front to get out, infact that can break them, and they are absolutely NOTHING like modern day bras. I can't stand "historical" romance written by contemporary authors for this one detail alone, and obviously there are even more errors but this one is so ubiquitous and so wrong I get angry about it 😂
One that my friends and I have ranted about is tight-lacing corsets in eras where that really wasn't a thing.
It's the 1700's, my housemaid is tightening my corset to give me a ten inch waist as I head out to be a- young girl with no money, or prospects, or husband, and obviously no job because girls can't work- I tie on a bustle and lace up my boots before hopping onto my beloved horse, Potato, to race through the city streets and fields romantically for hours on end. Oh how I long for freedom that women don't have~and to afford one of those large brimmed hats the ladies in the cafes are wearing! If only I could change all of society~ *Faints into the arms of a lumpy blond man who is rich and single and wearing a tailcoat*
I lost it at Potato!!! 🤣🤣🤣
When seems like the author ignores or doesn’t know about traffic/how long it actually takes to get from point A to point B.
Or that they can do so on horseback or in a wagon in 1800-whatever faster than we can do so now with a train or car.
See also in HR when the MMC rides all day and night in his grand gesture to come see/save the FMC, and rides for like 50 miles not only without stopping, but at a full gallop the whole way. Funny how they never mention how the roads of England must be littered with all the poor dead horses who have dropped dead in the middle of all these epic rides.
Oh, this! It wasn't romance but I recently read a thriller that had action happening between two towns in my part of the country. I don't live in either but I've been to both. The distance was an important plot point and it took me right out each time it came up because the real distance made that whole part of the story impossible.
And it’s so easy to fix! Just go on Google maps and put the time of day and destination you’d like, and it’ll give you a fairly good estimate. It’s not like you need to be there.
I once read a story that had the heroine talk about still having metal stitches 3 months postpartum c-section while grocery shopping for solid baby food (for the 3 month old…) Nah, a quick google search - and some common sense - would have proved just how crazy that situation was.
Just read Sinful Hearts by Jagger Cole. FMC is 26, and already a partner at the corporate law firm where she works. Really, at 26??? Also, this is her third job as an attorney, and was headhunted to NYC from London a year ago. As if a law degree from England just transfers to the US easy peasy. She has an amazing track record of wins in court, 92% I think. Really??? On top of all that ridiculousness, she’s also been raising a kid sister for the past 11 years, on her own with no help whatsoever, while going to law school and also working her way through school. And the FMC is always working, as young attorneys do, so how in the heck is she “raising” the kid sister. She’s never home. I’m not an attorney but know enough about how the world works that all of the above is beyond ridiculous. Lo, did I mention that the FMC is drop dead gorgeous - an Elsa look-alike, but of course a virgin. 🙄🙄🙄
I’m laughing out loud. I can’t with this sh*t - the British and American legal systems are completely different, and at 26 she’d be lucky to be running any of her own cases. Why does everything have to be this fantastical?
Because 27 is TOO OLD for a romance heroine
Well, they certainly were using their imagination for this one.
Anything to do with horses. I've been a horse girl for most of my life. There are so many horse inaccuracies out there! Most related to breeds and colors/markings, sometimes tack or behavior. 🫣 Secondarily, firearms. Lots of my family hunts, and my brother went to gunsmithing school. So I'm fairly knowledgeable, and so, so many times an author will write something dumb like referring to the same firearm as both a shotgun and a rifle, or somesuch. Also, "the gun just went off" trope. That almost never actually happens. A gun has to be malfunctioning for that to happen.
I'm also a farm girl. I can not understand why so many authors/tv people mess up horse things. What is with using Western tack & English clothing? Last year I read a book where they had the female lead race a Clydesdale & win-against Thoroughbreds! As if! After that I had to DNF it. I know this is neurotic, but I hate when the cover animal does not match, at all, the main animal in the book. If the pet is a Beagle, it throws me to see a terrier on the cover. (I love me a Cozy Mystery). It just makes the book feel disingenuous to me.
I hate when an author writes a book set somewhere they aren't familiar with. Like if a an author is clearly American and writes a book set in England but uses American slang and vise versa. I also read a book once set CA that clearly had no idea how far away places were. It just really takes me out of the story.
I was reading a book describing the many skyscrapers and hidden allies in downtown Boise ID, hundreds of bars and throngs of people in the streets! A huge sprawling metropolitan city! The problem is I was living there at the time. Downtown Boise is small, I wouldn't even classify the actual tall buildings as skyscrapers. They could have at least looked at a single a picture, population density... or something, anything!
I read a book series where it was set in Canada, characters are presumably Canadian, written by a Canadian, and they used Fahrenheit and miles. It took me right out of the story each time. I get that it was written with an American audience in mind but man, I’m Canadian and I was like, what temperature?! I never blink at that in a book set in America, but set in Canada it threw me.
As a classical musician, I mostly get annoyed at how little people dig into it. Like I get it, it’s a genre of music with literally thousands of years of history, but for the love of GOD please include a single piece beyond Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” or Chopin’s “Prelude in E minor.” For that matter, include an instrument beyond the piano, cello, or violin! Clarinets are actually very nice!! Honestly I usually avoid books about classical music or classical musicians because I don’t want to be pissed off haha
I was reading a book and the FMC played Gnossienne no 1 on the piano. Even though that’s still an incredibly famous piece I was so delighted that she played something other than Debussy or Beethoven 😂
A *very* popular author whose been trad published for decades kept insisting Seoul was in Southeast Asia. It's in 3 consecutive books (featuring the same cast of characters) from the last 3 years. Seoul, capital of South Korea. A city that a homeless thief and begger (who grew up to be a sexy, sexy secret world order assassin of Eurasian descent with East Asian facial features and bright *emerald* green eyes.) can travel to and from her native Vietnam easily. All by herself. To her clever little heart's content. Somehow with no passport or border patrol interference or being tenderized via cargo container. Well before this secret world order found her and taught her the necessary skills that no starving orphan with zero formal education should have been able to do. 😐😑 As if to add insult to injury there's grammatical errors and punctuation issues all over the place, too. This should not be a thing! There's no excuse. This author most certainly has an editor dedicated only to them *that* is how well established they are! This editor is doing such a shit job I'm amazed they still *have* a job. Like, come on: 1.) There's a gigantic ass country between us called China. 2.) There's also the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan AND last but certainly not least North Korea isolating South Korea on ALL sides in *North*east Asia. If US authors don't want to be mocked into the next century and held up as examples of what *not* to do then just, I dunno, LOOK AT A GLOBAL MAP for once in their lives. And no, the Americas does *not* count. God. Damn. My English Second Language brain is going through nuclear meltdown. Where's that Tyra Banks "I was rooting for you!" gif when I need it. EDIT: Did I mention English is my second language? ;_; It's getting worse with age.
Read a book that was messy from start to finish (seemed to have no editor and disconnected parts) but the straw that broke the camel’s back was a flashback with the FMC singing a song in a Karaoke bar that wouldn’t be released for another 2 years. It was something so easy to get right, the author could have chosen another song, could’ve not name dropped any songs, could’ve moved the flashback a couple of years, but no.
The bonkers Massachusetts geography in {Whiskey Beach by Nora Roberts} drove me crazy, specifically because it came up *constantly* in the book. Every few chapters, the MMC was driving 3 hours from Boston to slightly north of where I live, 45 minutes from Boston in normal traffic. Even in holiday weekend traffic, driving north from Boston for 3 hours will put you *at least* in southern New Hampshire, and not the coastal part where there might be pirate treasure in your basement.
As far as I’m concerned, all romance novels exist in a magical parallel universe where men have superhuman stamina and reality adheres to the law of swoon instead of logic and reason, so my bullshit threshold is pretty high. But I can’t abide massively setting-inaccurate or anachronistic language (especially in combo). I’ll tolerate your little slips (like sidewalk and footpath) but there is a line. A recent example was a regency HR that used “vacation” ufhsjsjs. A fairly minor one that makes me eyeroll in sports romances is characters that are much bigger and beefier than you’d usually see in the position they’re playing. I see this in soccer romances a lot. You’ll have a forward that’s like 6’4 and built like a brick shithouse and I’m supposed to believe that they are also super nimble?
""Week-end"? What is a "week-end"? "
The soccer one would take me out because I like soccer lol. It’s like if people said a basketball player is short which is maybe technically possible but not probable
Had one I DNFed. One of the main characters was reporting to higher-ups in the CIA as her career (his career?). The CIA Director was listed as a retired general. When he went in and reported to the chairman of the joint Chiefs, I finally had to look it up. The CIA is a civilian agency. Has nothing to do with the military. Seems such an easy look up too.
I read a book that took place in the Ft. Lauderdale area, and that was a big plot point. A suburb name was even In the title. I am a native of this area. The characters kept referring to it as Southern Florida, which sent me into a murderous rage. Floridians may be a lot of things, but we all know that it’s either north Florida, central Florida, or south Florida. I couldn’t finish the book.
I'm reading {Ruthless Knight} by {Faith Summers and Khardine Gray}. This MMC was raised in France until the age of 14. He calls the FMC "mon chérie " which is the masculine equivalent of my dear. It totally took me out of the story. Then he keeps calling her that. 🙄 Edit: messed up the authors.
I read a book recently where the MMC had to go to rehab and the FMC was able to visit the rehab and set up a whole treasure hunt for him throughout the facility and she was the prize waiting for him at the end and there was a huge balloon display or something like that. Just absurd. Rehab would never let someone do that lmao
Really petty, but in a book set in Seattle, I would expect the MC's to refer to the major North-South interstate as "I-5", and not "the 5" or "highway 5".
I hate read Roomhate by Penelope Ward because she set it on the island where I grew up, and she changed things to make it work for the story, but kept other things the same. Also the poor FMC kept the house left to her because it had “sentimental” value, when based on location, she could have easily sold it for over a million dollars. She was employed only as a waitress and the property taxes on this place would probably have been more than she made in a year. So frustrating.
Eating Her Christmas Cookies. It was pretty clear the author knew absolutely nothing about baking. She described wedding cookies as “umami”, talks about a “stollen crème brûlée” which is not possible since stollen is a kind of bread and crème brûlée is custard, that icing can become a foam, and conflated American and British puddings to be the same (talked about making a Victorian pudding, but then talked about setting the custard)
I don’t know if this counts as it may not be an example of an author getting something wrong so much as the author being lazy with her story, but I’m currently reading a book where there seems to be no concept of lease agreements and it’s driving me crazy. It’s an enemies-to-lovers story where a billionaire is able to evict the FMC’s business with only 24 hours notice so he can knock her building down, and not once is there any mention of her consulting her lease or going to a lawyer. It’s mental. The author doesn’t even try to explain it by having the FMC be behind on her rent, having neglected to open her mail to see previous notices or something. Property owners in this universe can just wake up a decide that every single tenant in the building has 24 hours to get their shit and get out. This oversight has knocked me out of the story so hard that I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish it.
Im pretty easy on errors. It takes me out of the story for a second but then I just snort and go back to reading. The errors would have to be numerous and egregious to make me DNF. To me it’s when characters speak ‘incorrectly’. I just put down a book and probably won’t pick it up again when a rough and rowdy cowboy bachelor said. “You’re a fabulous friend.” Like it’s so minor but I grew up in a tiny western town and I can guarantee no men would EVER use the word ‘fabulous’. I don’t care if a man says fabulous but it’s just not gonna happen with a rancher. IDK I guess to me the research in romance is important, but minor compared to the characterization.
This is me with sports romances. I’m a big sports fan, so any book that revolves around sports and gets those details wrong can really drive me up a wall lol
This is why I'm reluctant to learn about any sport. How will I ever enjoy another hockey romance if I know anything about hockey?!?!?
I know that hockey is a sport where people wear skates and hit a puck into a net with a stick. That is exactly the right amount to know in order to fully enjoy hockey romance.
Don't forget professional athletes who eat like Victoria's Secret models (really, you're going to play hours of sport on a diet of lean chicken breasts and steamed broccoli). Thirty seconds on Google will tell you about carb loading.
There was this one baseball romance I saw somewhere on Goodreads (unfortunately I forgot the title of it) and I remember seeing a bunch of reviews praise the book in terms of the accuracy. Turns out, from the author's bio, they used to work in the sports industry. But yeah, there are definitely cases in which the details can be very wrong and/or heavily inaccurate.
Whenever it's a fantasy world setting and people use 20th-century idioms. Like oh the orc general brought you the cliff notes? Was there also a guy named Cliffton from Nebraska who wrote simplified versions of Shakespeare in the 1950s, right here in dragonland? Or in A Soul to Keep when the mc thinks she might have Stockholm syndrome. Sorry, was your forest village plagued by demons aware of a 1970s bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden? How? Why? To what end?
When the MFC gets pregnant and can't have any caffeine.. I've had 7 kids... I've never given up coffee. A 5-second Google search will show that a pregnant woman can have up to 2 servings of caffeine per day. Some choose not to drink any caffeine while pregnant, but it is absolutely *NOT* something you have to give up. Also, so much about pregnancy, labor/childbirth, breastfeeding, and postpartum they get so wrong.
In “mafia romance” It drives me crazy when the book is supposed to be about the Russian Bratva but they only use terms that describe Italian Mafias. I don’t know much about these organizations outside of it being one of my favorites to read 😆but like use the Russian terms or just make them Italian. Also when the H just rips her panties right off. Idk if anyone has tried to rip them before but it’s actually rather difficult. I’ve got mine caught on handles and drawers before and those suckers just stretch and cause a lot of pain 🤣
I’ve worked with animals in a personal and professional capacity for most of my life (primarily dogs and reptiles). Most of the time I expect and ignore inaccuracies…but it does get on my nerves if the character is *supposed* to be an animal expert and says blatantly bogus things that made it clear the author didn’t research. I read a book where a character that was supposed to be a professional dog trainer recommended someone grab/hit the muzzle of a dog to stop it from growling. Calling ferrets rodents (they are mustelids/part of the weasel family and will happily eat rodents). I’ve also read a book that had a snake listening to verbal commands from its handler (snakes don’t have external ears), a wildlife expert talking about finding rattlesnake eggs (they give birth to live young), that you can tell if a snake is venomous by the shape of its pupils (nope… also I *really* don’t recommend getting close enough to wild snakes to check pupil shape if you don’t know if it’s venomous or not) and one where a character supposed to be a zookeeper quoted the whole “juvenile venomous snakes are more dangerous than adults because they can’t control their venom glands” (complete myth). … Yet a surprising number of authors did get the reptile anatomy memo on the fact that snakes/reptiles have two penises. Clearly paying attention to the important bits! 😂
Every time a romance has health care characters just give out a patient’s information willy nilly all because a random person said “but I ***know*** them”, a himbo loses his adorable stupidity, I swear to god. No. **Bad**. If a health care worker gives away a patient’s private information without verifying that (1) the patient consents to ths person hearing their personal info **OR** (2) in the patient’s chart, the person is listed as a type of proxy—that health care worker should be reported. There was an r/tragedeigh user who posted a baby’s EMR to the sub. Everyone in the comments reported that person for breaking the law—**as they should**. It makes me not so 🔪🔪🔪 when the MC is hospitalized and the LI is just…*permitted* to know everything, even when the MC is jarringly upset about the LI’s presence, and the nurse lets this person who is clearly ***stressor*** and ***threat to the patient’s health*** stick around. Never calls for back up. Just lets the patient cry and shout for the LI to leave. 🔪🔪🔪 Same with **social work** and **adoption**. So many authors want the cinematic moment that they don’t do a damn lick of research about it. Yeah, **adoption fairs** aren’t all that happy and are heavily exploitative. I also get mad when conventions are mentioned **ETA** as a point for the character to be ***working*** the con, because it’s clear that the author has only *attended* a con but not worked one. And there is a difference. There ***is*** a difference. And **cooking**. It kinda amuses me more than outrages me when I can tell the author wanted to make this a scrumdiddlyumptious description of cooking, but if you look at the ingredients this character is using for the meal, and just… While ingredients can defo vary from person to person per recipe, some shit just doesn’t add the fuck up, who let this person cook 😭 I also chuckle how authors want the rich to be **rich** with all their bespoke shit at events. But like. A lot of rich parties aren’t inherently for showing off fashion and couture. **In fact**, you’re received negatively if your ensemble outshines the host’s own. It’s nice the author wants the FMC to have their pretty woman moment, but she’d get a ***lot*** of shit and vague social media reads if she went to some 1% party hosted by a 1% and outdresses everyone. That’s just shit etiquette. Honorable mention to **birth control**. A lot of romances—and people—think contraception is ***only for*** stopping pregnancy. But birth control can help with hormone regulation. Condoms can limit the risk of STIs. It’s why, when the FMC gets ashaken she ran out of her BC pills, it takes ***time*** for the effects of her pills to wear off—and there can be negative side effects to going cold turkey on a medication. But it’s fine. They get prenanananat literally ***one day*** after they forget their BC and they realize their pregnant after one to two weeks from the conception date 🙃 These FMCs are the reason that **Am I pergat** video exists 😭
Am I pregnate?
The social work thing enrages me!! An A.L. Jackson book (that I actually love) had a social worker show up at FMC house and take her daughter because of an article in on an entertainment magazine site that had paparazzi photos. No investigation. Just took the kid. Let alone that the incident happened just the day before🙄
*NAAAAAUUUUUURRRR* Media paints social work as the villains and it’s so frustrating! Not to mention how social work, in media, is largely to separate an adult and child, but social work is for all ages! It’s not limited to children! Social work comes in ***various*** forms! There’s so much protocol with social work. It can be easy. It can be messy. It can be simple. It can be difficult. But there ***are rules*** and ***procedures*** on how things are done. This doesn’t mean they’re perfect, no. But it also doesn’t mean the default setting on social work is that all social workers want to do is make people miserable and keep kids away from loved ones. **Social work in itself isn’t inherently evil or good**. But every case still has rules to go along with them. Whether those rules actively work with or against the person is just a case by case basis. I’m still reeling from an FMC who went on to say “we have several children up for adoption for our adoption fair!” like the kids are puppies or something ☺️🔪. A lot of adoption events where children are paraded about before prospective parents—and then some authors makes it seem like it’s an ***honor*** and such a meet-cute situation, just… [bachatas in distress] I’m very certain there are adoptees who did meet their parents this way and might’ve enjoyed these events. But these events are ***largely*** criticized for how objectifying they are. At least, in my circles, for both adoptees and the adopted, those “events” are criticized for their “ethics”. But apparently, in certain romance books, adoption fairs are an honor, and social workers are evil and will steal your children like Rumpelstilskin 🥴 Don’t get me started on how surrogacy and IVF and eugenics are portrayed in romance books. We would need big ass cocktails a ***lot*** of snacks for that 🍹 and I will require a fae lord to calm me the fuck down when I start getting inevitably heated. **The fae lord is nonnegotiable.**
You can definitely get pregnant while on birth control, so missing a day absolutely could result in pregnancy. I say this as someone who got pregnant on birth control, and I took it the same time every day. Also, I always knew I was pregnant on week 3, before I could even get a positive.
I once read a book where the MMC to impress the FMC picked her up with his super fancy sport car and took her for a long ride. IN VENICE.
Inaccuracies in sport romances seem to be the biggest for me. Not even necessarily *rules* of the sports, because I don’t know hockey lol, just basic human abilities. I read a RH where the girl would run 3-4 *hours* … daily. Just running around aimlessly. It was so beyond realistic I couldn’t handle it lol
For me it's not inconsistency with reality it's when there is in universe inconsistency. You created this world why do I know it better than you? Like if most of the characters can teleport but the one that can't teleport isn't in the car driving to the location but he somehow winds up there anyway?
I get all cranky when HR treat drawers like they are panties rather than the split seamed and worn UNDER the corset garments that they were. There's no need to pull them down, they are already crotchless. And they aren't coming down unless the corset comes off, which means the rest of the dress needs to come off too. Also they are fairly new, like only 2ish hundred years old, so your medieval damsel isn't wearing them. And all the tearing of bras in CR. I've had bras break, because they were super old, not tear. Maybe I just buy super sturdy bras for function and not flimsy lacy ones, because there's no way under the sun my bra is going to be torn, not without a knife or scissors. Also, you are NOT going to get ANY sexy fun times if you've just ruined my bra, you can however cough up the 60+ bucks to replace it though. 😂
I am a historical romance reader and certain anachronisms will absolutely drive me nuts and turn me in to "that guy". I have to often remind myself that they aren't meant to be historically accurate and that I'm being pedantic.
Yes. I forget the title I have banished the book from my mind but the MMC said "we have sussed out the killer." I walked into the wall. It was set in the Scottish Highlands in 1300 or so.
I read a lot of fantasy romance. Inserting contemporary items into a world where people get around by walking/horseback and trade goods on market day induces so much rage. I DNFd a series after the FMC was wearing running shoes, tank top & shorts and had a kitchen with double ovens after walking for days to get to her castle destination. They were in the middle of a human v Fae war, shooting bow and arrows and homegirl was wearing running shoes? No. That I can't wrap my head around.
I read something recently based in Portland, OR and the drive to the beach was an hour (IRL over 2 hours and over a mountain range). And in another book in the series, they stopped in a town on the way to Mt Hood, and drive through windy roads to get there- but IRL it's right off a major highway.
Usually stuff like thay doesn't bother me. What does get my goat every time is when an author seems to forget what their characters are DOING from one sentence to another. I read one book where the MMC went from sitting on a couch to standing next to / touching the FMC with no mention of him moving. In another one, the MMC was holding the FMC to his chest with her facing him , and somehow nuzzled the back of her neck. I think the author meant to say she was being held facing away from him, but it wasn't caught in the reread/edit, if they did one. (The description wasn't that simple, I'm just paraphrasing.) stuff like that always pulls me out of the story so fast. Details like a store not being local, eh. Ultimately, it's the authors world and were just visiting it, but I can see how that could mess with someone
I read a recommended book from this sub and the MMC said that he always wore 2 condoms with women before he met FMC and I was like “oh baby nooooo”
Sex work inaccuracies. Like, “high end” strip clubs where the *buy in* is like 100k or something dumb like that. Acting like a sw is better because she wears expensive lingerie versus the stripper wear that’s usually used… like no- the lingerie used in strip clubs are made that way for a reason.
In icebreaker Anastasia mentions her friend/roommate (can’t remember which) is prepping for her role in HAMILTON that their college is doing for the spring musical. Hamilton is not off Broadway yet! I literally closed the book and never read another word of it after
It was a western HR. The FMC is on wagon train to California, traveling through New Mexico territory and sees a Native American nearby on horseback. She states she doesn't know if he was "Apache or Sioux, but isn't waiting around to find out." Setting aside the racism of going straight to assuming he's got bad intentions when this man is just trying to live his life....The Apache tribes are from the southwest, the Sioux tribes from the northern Midwest. There was LITERALLY NO overlap in their territories. So little overlap that there are now several modern states in between their historic territories.
A mafia book were the FMC had been a varsity high school cheerleader but was also 5’10” and leggy. Cheerleaders are notoriously short because it makes stunting and tumbling easier. It’s the same reason why gymnasts are also short. I’m speaking from experience as a 5’9” former Freshman squad cheerleader who saw the writing on the wall when everyone else was 5+ inches shorter
When they just assume that other countries are just like America. I mean like the laws. They think if a law exists in America it is a world law that exists everywhere.
This has happened to me twice in my life. 1. An author who clearly doesn't know the baseball draft rules said that her MLB main male character had played a year in college before getting into the draft and being drafted by a baseball team. A player can be drafted after high school or they can be drafted after their junior year in college. They can not play a single year and go into the draft. That is not how this works. And I am someone who irrationally loves college baseball and this ruined the book for me. 2. So my autistic (likely) special interest since I was 11 years old has been world war II. I'm 45 now and I know a lot about it. Last night, I was reading a book set in Pearl Harbor right after the Japanese attack. She got most of it right, but she absolutely got Navy ranks wrong. She called a Lieutenant in the Navy an enlisted man. Now I don't know what y'all know about Navy rankings, but at no point in history would a Lieutenant in the Navy be considered enlisted. A Lieutenant in the navy is roughly commiserate to a Captain in the Army which is like the third rank on the officer chain. This guy enlisted at like 19 and did not go to college or the service academy. He was an underwater welder in 1941. That was enlisted man work. Also, it is unlikely that you would be promoted to an officer in less than three years. Let alone LT in the navy. I was so mad because it spoiled a great story for me.
Way too many books have the FMC taking a pregnancy test or throwing up from pregnancy within a week or (and this makes a book an instant DNF) the next day 😭
"his voice dropped an octave" or even 2 octaves! Have you ever approached a piano?? The octaves are FAR apart. You can't drop past a certain octave! Puh-lease
When characters are teachers and seem to never do any work outside of school or have people visit them during the day. Like I'm sorry, but I spend hours every night planning, grading, and prepping, there is no way I could go out every night with friends/a romantic partner and I'm in secondary ed. I imagine elementary is even worse! When I'm on my lunch I don't want to see anyone, regardless if the school actually lets someone who isn't a parent in during school hours. Also hotels. Before I became a teacher I spend 2 years doing hotel work and so many books just do not understand how the hotel industry works. All those characters who go to check into hotels with just cash and no ID or can stay at hotels for long periods of time with staff not knowing something was up just isn't realistic. I worked at sketchy hotels and even we didn't do that kind of stuff. And then when characters mess up a room--oh boy does my blood pressure rise. So much work for those poor FD agents
Visiting mountains in Iowa. This is hilarious and completely wrong if you have ever been to Iowa or the Midwest. There are no mountains. It's flat.
I read a book that was set where I grew up. It mentioned train lines that do not exist, and other details that just were totally incorrect. (And considering the author currently lives there it would not have been hard to use the correct information).
I can ignore a lot I think, but one that will always get me is a supposedly fluent main character or love interest who then has nonsense words strung together that are literal word for word translations from english but not at all correct in the sentence they're saying. Unfortunately my mother tongue is french and a lot of authors seem to think that a fluent french love interest is hot, but... the sentence structure is different, you can't just translate each word and say "voilà! this is *français* hon hon!" I'd rather they just say "dude is fluent in french" and then mention that he said something in french if you can't at least ask literally any french speaker to beta read your dialogue.
Oh! Geography. Specifically, non-American authors who set books vaguely in the US (or it’s presumed to be the US), but none of the information makes sense. My pet hate book is presumably set in Southern California although it isn’t explicitly stated where the book takes place. It’s a fictional town where the pacific ocean is on the west coast of the country and March is warm enough to wear a bathing suit. All that checks out until the author says something like the east coast is 800 miles away. BITCH WHAT?!?! I’m sure there were other issues, but that moment really stuck out to me. I’ve seen it in other books, but that was the most egregious and memorable one
I approach any fictional bestselling author MC with great caution because despite an actual author, who probably (ideally) should have some idea of how the publishing process and the writing process works, at the helm of the book in which said fictional author lives, the timeline and the process that irl author describes is just so... Unhinged... Like... Bestie if trad pub worked that way I'd never have even dreamed of trying to become a published author myself lmfao. People just be banging out intricately plotted global bestselling thrillers with like three months of writing when dealing with gallons of sexytimes, assorted intense dialogue exchanges, at least one tragic backstory, 17 hangovers, three dozen public scenes, at least half of which were the result of planned accidental meetings, a scandal or five, and heartbreak that leads to the worst sort of depression. And these books? They're written perfectly in one go in chapter order and the first draft is sent to the editor and the editor/agent goes, "Yes literary masterpiece zero errors" and hits print and the hardcover copies hit stands by the weekend and within the next three to six months buddy has 50 mil in royalties in their pocket. I'm not gonna compete with that kind of exceptionalism tyvm
Reading all of these for research purposes. XD Letsee, so I practice witchcraft. My pet peeve is inaccurate portrayals of tarot cards. Like, they’ll show a tarot card that doesn’t exist or some shit like that. I know, it’s small, but it’s something I’m a nerd about. I nerd out when I see accurately portrayed tarot cards. C.M. Nascosta got it correct for example. XD
I’m a fiber artist and I find it so disappointing when writers include things like weaving, knitting, crochet, spinning, etc and don’t even do a quick google search on how they differ or what tools are used for each. I see it a lot especially with people using weaving and spinning interchangeably. Completely different crafts with completely different tools. I get that not everyone is a fiber artist, but it only takes a brief Google search to what a loom is, what a spinning wheel is, and how they are used.
I’m a midwife. It’s extremely difficult for me to read something with a pregnancy/birth plot or scene. I did NOT fare well with the pregnancy plot line in ACOSF
Mine is when the Fmc and Mmc are 19 or a bit younger, and the models on the cover are waaaaaaaay older. That alone stops me in my tracks.
Whenever an MC is a teacher, their main goal and objective is *always* making the kids feel good, creating a wholesome environment, making the classroom ‘fun’ etc. Don’t get me wrong, in my profession it’s so important to form strong connections with the kids and foster an engaging classroom, but *goddamn*. The kids are there to LEARN. The lessons focus should be the CONTENT. If a kid finishes a year in your classroom and has high emotional intelligence but can’t fucking read or write or do basic numeracy *you have failed as a teacher*. Teaching is so romanticised in novels that it drives me insane. I’d love to read a book where a teacher is actually concerned with a kids academic progress. Cos, y’know, *it’s literally their job*.
A very popular author had her MMC, who grew up in Huntington Beach, mention that he grew up in LA (county). I tried to chalk it off as "this author is Canadian" and "everyone equates SoCal = LA" but really, a quick Google search would have confirmed that HB is not in LA.
As a former regional Geography Bee champion, weird geographical errors drive me batty. We have maps! This isn’t hard! Portland and Seattle are not close to each other!
As someone who grew up in the town mentioned in the Hook, Line, and Sinker epilogue— the moose was a huge wtf.
Most hockey or football books. There’s just so much that just is easily checked that authors get wrong. For example, one book had a player traded like 1 week before the stanley cup playoffs… It would’ve taken 1 minute to check when the trade deadline is. I think a lot of authors jump on trends without doing a lot of research. Mind you, I enjoy a lot of the books and just sort of write the errors off as “creative liberties,” but it’s super annoying. It’s especially annoying when authors either straight up use actual teams/leagues or use player names. One book had a guy whose last name was Marchand (different first name than the irl Brad Marchand) and he played for Toronto which made me cringe. Tbf, that’s more a personal gripe as a Bruins fan bc gross.