Top Ten Tuesday Twenty

Top Ten Tropes I want to stop reading about 

Top ten tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  This weeks topic was one I actually found quite hard, as I am not one to give up on a book, author or series unless I really can't force myself through it.  Therefore, I eventually decided to interpret this topic as tropes which I am sick of reading about, as I knew that I would find that an easier topic to write about.  So here are some of the tropes in YA which I find most irritating:

(p.s. sorry for the rants) 

1) Love triangles including the main character's best friend - I can't tell you how many times I have read a book where everything has been going smoothly, the girl is likely falling for the guy, and suddenly her best friend comes along and confesses his love for her.  And what reason is there for it? Nothing!   

2) Confusing split POV - I'm all for a story which is told from more than one characters point of view as long as it is done well and doesn't cover ten million different characters.  But when I can't tell the difference between one character's voice and the next, or it takes me five chapters to get back to the character whose story I am actually interested in, then I honestly don't see why the author is trying to confuse me.

3) An endless list of meaningless side characters - Anyone who knows me will know that I love side characters, often even more than their leads.  But I can't deal with 15 minor side characters who are in one scene and who don't crop up anywhere else.  I like a couple of long-running side characters who influence the plot.  Not a dozen who literally don't do anything to move along or help the story.  

4) Stupid/ Complex names - This is one which I really don't see the point of.  A name like Peeta or even Alaska I can deal with, and will actually like, but when it gets to the point of a character's name being so random and stupid that they are named after an inanimate object (such as that doesn't even sound like a name, then it's going to far for me.  If it's a good story, then it doesn't matter what the main character's name is - I'm likely to remember it just because I liked the book. 

5) Main characters who can't decide who they are in love with - I can't tell you how many characters I scream at just because they can't seem to make a simple decision on their own.  I do not want to read pages and pages of them debating over who they love or stating that have feelings for both.  Love triangles I can deal with - as long as the main character is only with one person at once! 

6) Pointless flashbacks of scenes earlier on in the series/ flashbacks with no purpose - I am by no means saying that I don't like flashbacks - just as long as they are well placed and actually have a point!  It's when an author decides to remind the reader of the most influential and likely memorable scene of the last book as if we haven't read the rest of the series, or when all they do is add a couple of pages or an extra scene to the book and give us some more pointless information.