First of all let me explain a bit about this tag in case you don’t know about it. It’s a tag created by Samantha from Toughts on Tomes and Lainey from Ginger Reads Lainey and is a weekly book meme were a topic or theme is chosen and each week you have to choose five books/series/tvshows that fit the description. If you want to check it out here’s the Goodreads group.
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#T5W: Book Trends You’re Tired Of
“What are some things you are tired of seeing that are trends in publishing? Maybe something that pops up on a lot of covers these days, or the popularity of certain tropes in a particular genre ? Let it out! ??”
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This has been the hardest one I’ve faced yet… I couldn’t think of any trend in books… I guess I don’t think about books in that way so sorry if some of the “trends” that made my list are not technically trends.
Fair warning, today I’m all about gifs! 😋
(this pair cracks me up, this was one of the best shows ever! And I am so glad we’ll have a reunion?? Ecstatic!!)
1. Instalove: At first I found them funny, not realistic but still funny. But now I am just plain bored and get irritated when I find myself in that position. Clear example, The Legend Trilogy, don’t get me started on our main protagonists’ shenanigans! That instalove they had, was completely not credible and unnerving!
2. Retellings: I don’t think I’ve read any retellings and maybe I am wrong but lately it’s like I don’t see enough original works out there, only retellings! I do plan on reading some and I am interested in them, don’t get me wrong, but out of a sudden they are everywhere, just everywhere!
3. Gone Girl comparisons: OK, maybe this is not a trend per se, but I am tired of thrillers being compared to Gone Girl! Gone Girl is not the only or best thriller on earth! Or I don’t think so, even though I am biased because I haven’t read it yet, ups!
4. Forcing trilogies when there’s not enough plot for one: The first example that comes to mind is The Fifth Wave. I loved the first book, the second one felt lacking and flat and then the third one had more action but still nothing compared to what we got in the first one. This trilogy should have been a duology, I think I’ve already mentioned this before, and I don’t understand why they do this to series… I understand the need to do more cash, but doing that at the expense of your readers/followers is not right.
5. Diversity: I am all in for more diverse themes and characters, but what I don’t like is that diversity has become a trend in itself. I don’t think it should be a trend but an established thing. After all, trends go out of style and this should never go out of it, but at the same time you shouldn’t force it on everything. Am I making any sense trying to explain this?
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[All of the gifs in this post have been taken from google images]
MATXI reads BOOKS 
I haven’t read Gone Girl, too, though I do plan to read it. Also, I agree wholeheartedly with the trilogy point! Some books are forced to be written in trilogies, resulting in stories dragging on for too long and superfluous….
Great list! 😀
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Yes! I plan on reading it at some point too, maybe when I don’t have the movie fresh in my head.
And yes, I understand in the publishers minds, three books make more than one, but when you put cash before quality… just no.
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I am so with you on point 5. It is so overused at the moment that I am counting posts that actually do use word “diversity” once or not use it at all)))
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Yes! It’s not that I don’t approve of the diversity concept finally being used, from a year to here I think it’s being over used and that will only make the whole things to get dense and readers to get tired of it… I think it should be approached in a more natural way.
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I agree with retellings! It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m just tired of retellings based on popular stories like snow white or cinderella. I want more mythology or folk stories retellings!
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You are right, not only that now there are retellings everywhere but they tend to sticks to already known and beloved characters/stories, it would be great to explore a wider set of themes like you just pointed out!
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I agree with you on the diversity thing, and that’s something I wrote about!! I disagree about the Gone Girl thing though, first off because if was one of the best thrillers of all times (and Gillian Flynn is one of my favorite authors) but second because if I see a book compared to a book I loved, I’ll be more likely to pick it up, since I’m currently in love with that genre but don’t want to read a classic murder-mystery.
Here’s my T5W:
https://writethroughthenight.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/top-5-wednesday-book-trends/
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I know I haven’t read it yet but I don’t know it bugs me that they are using that sentence “the new gone girl” as a sales pitch. I haven’t read any flynn work, I started Dark Places but left it because I wasn’t in the mood for it. But as much as I’ve heard praise around Flynn I also know of people that don’t like her writing at all. So this sales pitch, as much as it can help with certain books it can also damage others…
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Yeah I suppose certain people wouldn’t read it because of this, but for example I read Final Girls by Riley Sager only because it was compared to GG, and I was sooooo happy I did, and I think it was accurate because it would appeal to the same audience. It has to be to an extent though, you can’t have that be the ONLY pitch you make
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Yes that’s it. Oh I didn’t know it was sold like that, I actually read the synopsis on goodreads and was sold!! 🙂
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Definitely read it!!!! I think maybe another reviewer or something said that about it being the next Gone Girl and I read it in a blurb for the book, I don’t exactly remember. But you HAVE TO READ IT OMG I LOVED IT!
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Unnecessary trilogies drive me insane! There is a huge difference between a cliffhanger ending and dragging a book that can be one book into three books for no reason. It’s okay to just have two books in a series. It really is and I think more publishers and writers should learn to accept it.
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Yes! Duologies are in fact great! Because they have all of the emotion of a trilogy comprressed in two books, which equals to less money spent and less wait between releases!
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Yes I agree with all of these. I hate when books are compared to Gone Girl because then I have high expectations that are never met.
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Yes, also for psychological thrillers I prefer to go on blind, not expecting much so as to not be disappointed like you said!
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5 so true. I hate it when a character is forced into a story just to be diverse and has no “anything” to do with the story. I read diverse. I don’t need it rammed into every story just to meet some checklist.
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Yes!! Exactly!! I’ve actually seen this point in a lot of T5W today!! So I guess I’m definitely not alone in this belief!
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Yes, yes, yes on #4 – I’ll take a well crafted duology over a stretched out trilogy any day.
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