Who are the authors on your do not buy list?

bookmark · Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 296

We all have authors who are on our auto to buy list, and others who we'll buy some books but not others. I was curious as to whether there were authors that readers have on their auto do not buy or avoid at all cost list. I didn't think I had any authors whose books I would deliberately avoid until a name popped up as I started to write this post.

That name for me is Beatrice Small. I just remember years ago trying out a book or two, unfortunately or not it was the Skye O'mally ones. I never tried any of her other books after that until a few years ago. Just to give her books a chance. Nope, opinion still the same. I'm just not fond of certain elements in the types of books she wrote.

Nicole · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:47 pm Post subject:

I have a few actually.

Christine Monson -Stormfire was the worst book I have ever had the misfortune to read, and I read some sketchy stuff.
Diana Palmer - At first she was a bit of a guilty pleasure, but now I avoid her books like the plague.
Christina Dodd - I have tried her books multiple times, but I've just come to realize her stuff is not for me.
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Hopeless_Romantic · Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 113 Location: U.S.

For me it's a vintage Harlequin author: Sally Wentworth. I know a lot of people enjoy her work, but the only two times I've hated a book so much that I felt emotionally upset afterward were hers (and one I had to stop part way through) - needless to say I'm not giving it a third try.
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LordRose · Joined: 25 Mar 2012 Posts: 86

I usually have to read (or DNF) quite a few of an author's books before I finally give up on them, because I want to believe that they'll improve upon acquaintance. Sometimes they do. All too often, they don't.

Jillian Hunter- I read a few of her books, some okay, mostly DNF, and The Duchess Diaries was the nail in the coffin.

Stephanie Laurens- I've read at least 20 of her books, which is really the problem. The more of them I read, the more they all seemed exactly the same... Finally, I just gave up.

Those are really the only two I can think of that I actively avoid (besides '80s historicals, which I'm mostly just terrified of.)

Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

Yep, Bertrice Small, Susan Johnson, Rosemary Rogers (is she writing anymore) are the ones I would never read again.

There're a lot of authors I feel are not my cup of tea, however, I might still give them a chance if their new book seems interesting to me.

MMcA · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 622

Linda Howard: because I hated 'After the Night' which I know is a really popular book. And I autobought her before I came across that one.

SEP: because when I first came on the internet so many people whose taste I trusted really recommended her - so I ordered three - and none of them worked for me.

Lisa Kleypas: this is really, really unfair because I've only read the first few pages of one of her books. I can't quite remember why I hated it so much - it might even be that I just disliked the character portrayed, rather than the writing. But still, unfair as that is, I've never wanted to try her again.

(However, nothing is set in stone. I cannot tell you how much I disliked 'Lord of Scoundrels' and for a long time Loretta Chase would have made the list, based on the premise that if that was her best work, I didn't want to try the rest. But I was tempted by a review, and she's since written two of my DIK - Lord Perfect & Last Night's Scandal.)

Vol Fan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 280 Location: Tennessee

Two that I can think of right now are:

Janet Evanovich. So tired of her same old, same old stories. I used to love the Plum series, but geesh, nothing new there anymore.

Stephen King. I think he is highly overrated and I hate how he inserts his political views in all his books now. The last one I read of his was Under the Dome and I won't buy another of his period. It had such a promising premise, but the obvious hatred for Christians/military/etc. was so apparent. Not to mention way, way too long. His early stuff was excellent, but now they are all so slanted and biased. Hate him totally.

Salaisuus · Joined: 30 Jul 2010 Posts: 48

SEP - tried her but just failed to enjoy any.
Jennifer Crusie - tried her, too, but the humor feels very forced and not funny to me.
Lauren Dane - I will occasionally get her books from the library now, but often can only make it 1-2 chapters in. Her characters all sound the same to me, using the same expressions, etc. The guys do not sound like real guys to me either.
Megan Hart - I liked Tempted, but I tried 3-4 others and could not stand the dreary, depressing endings.
Lisa Kleypas - I read a few of her historicals and enjoyed them and then tried a contemporary. I thought she was a romance author, and when I read Sugar Daddy I could not make it more than halfway. Then I tried Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, because the setting is local to me, and could not make it past the second time she wrote "the 5" to name the main north-south highway instead of using what we really call it around here, I-5. And if I read one more story where people from an island in the San Juans are casually taking the ferry over to shop in Pike Place Market, I may give up reading altogether.

bavarian · Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 160 Location: Germany

SEP: Tried a few, but will never again.
Emma Holly, one DNF, nevr again.

jantep · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 25

Jayne Ann Krentz, Jayne Castle, etc. All her books, in whatever incarnation they are presented, follow the same formula - only the titles are different.

Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

Niftybergin · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 1066

By "do not buy" what I mean is that I have an interest maybe in reading this author's work, but for whatever reason, I refuse to.

The only one who springs to mind at the moment is Yasmine Galenorn. I like urban fantasy and paranormal romance and I see this author's books on the shelves. I've had itchy fingers several times. But she seems super-friendly and admiring of Laurell K. Hamilton, and since I have such strongly negative feelings about LKH, Galenorn is damned by association.

That may not be fair or rational or mature, but it is what it is.

LeeB. · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1221 Location: Seattle, WA

JudyZ6666 · Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 192 Location: Connecticut, USA

AndyR · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 100 Location: Central PA

Catherine Coulter's FBI books. There was a book a while back, where she had a sheriff in Penna. solving a crime. In PA sheriffs are officers of the court. They deliver subpoenas, guard prisoners in the courthouse, etc. They don't solve crimes. It wasn't even the main story line, but it turned me off. And her historical cat races are just silly.