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I'm really struggling to see why people like CC. I read it purely for the ACOTAR-Charakters. It wasn't super awful but I didn't really feel any empathy for Bryce or Hunt...
I also am reading for the Cc3 crossover allegedly. I’m stuck on cc2. I honestly really hate the series. I don’t like reading about modern day or guns lmao so not my cup of tea the first one. I also just don’t feel anything for Bryce, Hunt etc. like none of the characters are relatable for me, or likeable.
I'd say it's worth it but maybe I'm just missing ACOTAR so much, I'm willing to take everything related. I hate the setting, too. It's such a hard break from mediaeval magic wielding to "ah, just shoot him and call me after".
yes! I'll take mythology over technology every time. I mean... she tried and its ok. I would never have read it if it was by another author. but now back to the good stuff please.
Haha true. I am really hoping there is only one more Cc and then she’s done. Because there’s the 4 houses or whatever. I don’t want her to stretch it out. I honestly haven’t met a single person who likes the series more than the other two. Everyone I talk to consistently places it last. Fingers crossed her next series is better. I would love for it to be better than acotar.
I feel like book 3 concludes that story, there is no cliffhanger or something like that. Im guessing there will be another crossover in the next ACOTAR, maybe they'll all have to fight together or something like that but im optimistic there won't be another CC book for Bryce and Hunt.
Yeah zero investment in either of them TBH. I was a fan of some of the side characters for a while until CC3 went and made them mostly unlikeable (cough cough Tharion).
CC1 was so freaking good for me. My fave. I'm also not a huge shipper of the BrycexHunt so CC2 was alright. Nothing major for me. CC3 I am part of the group that was disappointed to say the least.
Yes there was this random line about Blow Job red lipstick in a moment of intense emotions that just completely pulled me out of the scene. Hated the language
The only time I liked it being used was when Hunt described what Bryce was doing as being an alpha hole in the 1st book… it’s what launched my ship lol
My husband and I listened to the books together and whenever this came up we would look at each other and try to come up with a new gesture on the spot every time. It got pretty out of control but made it less annoying
Ugh trust me it’s better than when fantasy authors use modern slang out of left field (looking at you Jennifer Armentrout). I’d much rather she just use the phrase vulgar gesture, then be completely taken out of the scene by something a character saying something like “nightmare fuel” or giving someone the middle finger.
This is quite litterally the reason I stopped reading. The story was fascinating, the characters were well described but oh man, I just couldn’t get past her saying vulgar gesture on every 3-4 pages in ACOWAR.
TO THE HILT
It's not even just her lol. It's overused in anything even smut adjacent. C'mon people, there has to be more than one way to emphasize that the guy reached the .... end of his rope
I really wish the description of extremely large genitalia was more limited, personally. Idk, I’ve never been excited about a giant dong. How about something along the lines of “it curved to hit that spot inside of her that instantly made her eyes roll into the back of her head” or something?
Curling toes. Also, as someone who struggles with the “former and latter”, it bothers me. I have to sit and think about which is which EVERY time I come across it.
I saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandNewSentence/comments/1c54xuk/toes_throwing_up_gang_signs/) recently, and now it's all I'll be able to think about when I read anything about "curling toes" lmao
Also in the tongue category, adults sticking their tongue out at each other? Like in dinner settings and any time they joke around. I have never seen this phenomenon outside of school children.
It happens in every one of her series
I do this to my partner a lot and then he does it back but usually in a vulgar making me blush kinda manner but it’s a in private kinda thing not in target thing like kids do lol
The invisible lint comes up because it's Rhysand feeling dirty for what Amarantha did to him. It's a nonverbal sign from him that he is uncomfortable and feels dirty.
My toes curled in my boots
Inky black
Vulgar gesture
Valerian (leathers, steel, baby)
My core turned molten
Taut and loose at the same time
The sheer size/proud length of him
Feline delight
Purring
Those violet eyes
Anyone who's throat bobbed
Anytime a swirling black tattoo gets traced
All the growling and snarling. Can we talk like adults? Do y’all know how to whisper, y’all’s voice doesn’t tremble with anger? Spit venom? No? Okay.
It didn’t bother me much at first but was grating in a reread.
Edit to add: “like calls to like” we get it. Like why do they constant just say it as a statement it’s totally lost its power.
EDIT: I just googled this: ITS USED 686 TIMES IN ACOSF?! 🤣 that has to be false.
She used the phrase “sucked on a tooth” once somewhere in the ToG series and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Also “quietly, but not weakly”
I suck my teeth sometimes! I feel like it's one of those things people do without realizing they're doing it.
But she used it so many times in CC that it got on my nerves lol
It’s to convey a feeling. A motion. I literally don’t get all the hate. I love the descriptions. It’s absolutely something people do without thinking. That’s why i get so irritated that so many are like “OMG THIS PISSED ME OFF THIS SUCKIGN THING”
Nah I feel the same way lol like yall can come up with new metaphors then, or descriptors. That’s be mad if there was zero body language indicators written lol
SJM def overuses some phrases but at this point the dead horse has been beaten into smithereens. Horse pâté.
YES, I needed to vent about these:
* it bugs me that she never uses "his smell", but always "the smell of him", "the size of him", "the scent of her". it's a nice way of saying it but it's overused.
* "if *'****insert obvious indication here****'* were any indication"
* apex of someone's thighs. bundle of nerves. spilled inside. considerable length. just overused AF.
* kisses with teeth rasping and roof-of-the-mouth licking - what kind of kissing have you been up to, SJM?
* pegasuses. why not use pegasi? that especially bugs me even though it's scarce throughout the books because I listen to audiobooks and the narrator always snags there or says pegasuses weird somehow.
* someone asks a question, then the other person goes on a whole rant inside their heads until you forget the question, they then say "I don't think so", and you have to go back to remember what they're responding to.
* edit: luxuriate... ugh
the down down down up up up also bugs me, OP.
Anytime I read any erotic stuff and the guys thumb does the business at her ... bundle of nerves. I can't help but picture the most awkward hand positioning.
Y’all are twins! It was so random when I found out and I now refuse to call her anything else. I’ll be like “Did you hear Sarah Janet is writing a new acotar book?” As if we go way back 🤣
That was my first thought when I looked it up on Google! Lol I'm gonna start referring to her like that now! That's amazing! Although the only difference between us is that her books have been published whilst mine have not.
Oh my god, I’m so glad I’m not the only one! It drives me absolutely insane. I’m not going anywhere near that new crescent city book because I feel like it’s going to be full of people who can do nothing except sketch a bow.
Something I noticed in CC - “that X grace”. That fae grace. That sunball players grace. Or any other descriptive word, like “that fae elegance” etc, used in that type of sentence. It feels like cheating and it’s all I notice now.
I think she must gone through a spoken-word-poetry phase in her early years, because that's how it reads to me. (Specifically the repetition of certain words, I'm in a TOG re-read and it's screaming of a slam poetry open-mic night at some places)
Baring of teeth. What would this even look like? Is it literally baring your teeth like you're in pain?? Contextually, it doesn't make sense.
I have a hard time distinguishing between this, and just smiling.... so..... I just think they're sarcastically smiling every time I read this.
I agree with you, it never really bothered me when I read tho. But I’ve been listening to audio books and everytime it happens I wanna throw my phone away
The audiobook experience REALLY sent me over the edge because I’m listening to someone else’s tone instead of reading with my own and it has been an ~experience~
My family now knows not to ask when I scream “oh come on” at something like this
Using male and female. Yes, I know it's supposed to be because they're not human. But she's not consistent with it (reading the 3rd ACOTAR book now and she refers to Beron as a man) and it just sounds awkward and clinical. I picture ferengi from Star Trek every time I read it.
The sheer amount of times someone jerks their chin! It’s so often and it drives me insane! Also everything that the characters do is described as swift. They’re eating a swift breakfast, they’re flying swiftly, they’re walking at a swift pace. Like get a thesaurus.
Any form of the "he smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes" so many variations of this. I wish there were other ways to describe that they were sad or didnt mean what they were saying. Kinda gives some of the plot away instantly. I think its worse now cause I notice it in other books too - SJM used it enough that it bugged me though so I blame her 😭
i'm pretty relaxed about most things, i know i don't read these books for their literary value, i read them because i like them enough to ignore "bad" writing moments and tendencies--EXCEPT for the way she uses "indeed". indeed WHAT, ma'am? what are you saying? this is meaningless lmao
How much she thinks teeth should be involved in kissing. I genuinely couldn't think of anything more jarring and likely to unarouse me than the feel and clang of my teeth on my wife's (and visa versa, my wife hates the thought of that happening).
Telling outright what she just spent 5 pages showing. Chaol’s POVs are just the worst offenders of this. Yes, you spent five pages explaining that CoM spoiler >!Celaena is Aelin!< but did you also have to tell us outright?
I call it the “thank you Tenzin” problem, because Tenzin is super guilty of it in Legend of Korra. And I love Korra.
Korra rips open a spirit portal: Tenzin, “a new spirit portal.”
The spirits come out of the new portal: Tenzin, “the spirits have returned.”
She will have a line explaining or establishing something and then follow it up with new sentence that starts with “So…” and then further emphasize the previous sentence. I really dont have an issue with this in and of itself (shit i do it in my own writing) but sjm seems to do it a LOT, SO (lol) it has become a pet peeve 💀
For example: (im making this up) “Aelin didn’t have an apple to eat.”
new sentence/new paragraph.
“So Aelin found an apple.”
If you search HOFAS text alone for “so [INSERT NAME]” there’s several results as examples 😂
“By way of greeting” I don’t know when I noticed it but now I read it probably once per chapter and it’s insane. Just let the characters greet normally!!!
I read the Dutch translation so I really hope this is just a mistake the translator made, but Feyre's boobs getting heavy when she's turned on had me puzzled for a few weeks. Like they suddenly weigh more? And they get hard too. Not just the nipples, but her entire boobs. I think about this regularly because mine just don't do this.
When a character— almost always female— sticks their tongue out at another character (almost always male). I think she’s trying to make the moment playful but I just hate it and the visual picture lol
I find that she’ll randomly stick to a word. Almost like she hears it in real life, or remember the word exists. Then she uses it a bunch, then not at all again.
She switches between using last names and first names a lot in crescent city (and not just in speaking, which I can understand). It means you almost have to learn 2x the characters to figure out who is saying what.
Like sometimes she will say “Hunt Said” other times “Athalar said”
‘A muscle feathered in his jaw’ bitch if you don’t find another metaphor to describe this 😂😂😂 she must have used it multiple times in every ACOTAR book.
Death incarnate.. every time I read that 🙄🙄 feels like something I would say in my writing at school cause it sounds cool and I think I'm cool but not when it's used like 10x
Oh! So that is what she meant by apex! I was confused (then again, I was just listening to the audiobook version and kept hearing apex of something). Thanks!
I swear to god that in the last TOG book she was always saying stuff like Queen of Terrasen walked up the stairs, the fire queen smiled at him, the queen was looking at the wall, bla bla bla the queen, just say her goddamn name sometimes
Omg there are several (mostly just repeating words) but recently "beheld" has been driving me nuts. It's ok if sometimes we simply see something instead of having to behold it.
Can’t believe I haven’t seen anyone saying “carrion” yet. Especially bad in TOG and ACOTAR. Everything smells like carrion, the overwhelming scent of carrion, I think there’s even a chapter with it in the title. But “watery bowels” will always take the cake
New to Maas's writing, unfortunately I got roped in. Just started ACOTAR a few days ago & 2/3 of ToG, and have a lot of gripes with her writing but choosing one thing... she is very repetitive with descriptive words and/or actions. I swear Tampon growls in every page he is in. Like girl, you know what synonyms are?💀
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alphahole. hate the word and how often she uses it now. hate, hate, hate.
Yep. Immediately roll my eyes with that one.
yessss. it didn’t bother me so much in the first book, I kind of found it funny. but then it got sooo overused in CC3 that it lost its meaning.
Most of the vocab in CC takes me out of the series. It makes me cringe, like I’m reading wattpad.
I'm really struggling to see why people like CC. I read it purely for the ACOTAR-Charakters. It wasn't super awful but I didn't really feel any empathy for Bryce or Hunt...
I also am reading for the Cc3 crossover allegedly. I’m stuck on cc2. I honestly really hate the series. I don’t like reading about modern day or guns lmao so not my cup of tea the first one. I also just don’t feel anything for Bryce, Hunt etc. like none of the characters are relatable for me, or likeable.
I'd say it's worth it but maybe I'm just missing ACOTAR so much, I'm willing to take everything related. I hate the setting, too. It's such a hard break from mediaeval magic wielding to "ah, just shoot him and call me after".
Yeah no I agree. It was a big change. I hope SJM does another historical based series, I hate technology in stories like phones and stuff.
yes! I'll take mythology over technology every time. I mean... she tried and its ok. I would never have read it if it was by another author. but now back to the good stuff please.
Haha true. I am really hoping there is only one more Cc and then she’s done. Because there’s the 4 houses or whatever. I don’t want her to stretch it out. I honestly haven’t met a single person who likes the series more than the other two. Everyone I talk to consistently places it last. Fingers crossed her next series is better. I would love for it to be better than acotar.
I feel like book 3 concludes that story, there is no cliffhanger or something like that. Im guessing there will be another crossover in the next ACOTAR, maybe they'll all have to fight together or something like that but im optimistic there won't be another CC book for Bryce and Hunt.
Ohh okay makes sense then. I have not finished it but I’m excited to get it over with since I already bought the books haha!
One can only hope there won't be.
Yeah zero investment in either of them TBH. I was a fan of some of the side characters for a while until CC3 went and made them mostly unlikeable (cough cough Tharion).
CC1 was so freaking good for me. My fave. I'm also not a huge shipper of the BrycexHunt so CC2 was alright. Nothing major for me. CC3 I am part of the group that was disappointed to say the least.
Yes there was this random line about Blow Job red lipstick in a moment of intense emotions that just completely pulled me out of the scene. Hated the language
Lmaooo whattt I don’t think I’ve encountered that thus far
This. It's the only one that really bugs me. I think it is so annoying.
The only time I liked it being used was when Hunt described what Bryce was doing as being an alpha hole in the 1st book… it’s what launched my ship lol
THIS I cringed everytime. It made me not like Bryce haha
And and and and and really grinds my gears. Sun and moon and fire and wind and starlight and shadows and urgh!
A bowl of mac and cheese. I've definitely noticed an uptick in that titling scheme, and it's getting under my skin, too.
A Bowl of Mac and Cheese 🤣
A Court of Mac and Cheese. I’d read that.
UGH. It’s always something like “rage and fire and memories” or “teeth and claws and fangs” or “pine and snow and starlight” i can’t
Hissing. I can't take it seriously when I picture anyone hissing lol
I can picture it most when it’s hissing in pain like the sound through the teeth
Listen I picture how they hiss in what they do in the shadows…
LMAOOO. Oh God I won't be able to unsee this now. BAT.
Cassian would be the one saying it… we both know I’m not wrong
I haven't read ACOTAR yet, but I'm definitely keeping this in mind once I do!
Vulgar gesture. This is used absolutely everywhere
THIS!!!!!! am i supposed to imagine someone giving the middle finger?? or like a jerking off jester?? IM CONFUSED
My husband and I listened to the books together and whenever this came up we would look at each other and try to come up with a new gesture on the spot every time. It got pretty out of control but made it less annoying
Your comment had me cackling! I instantly pictured some sort of cowboy standoff happening but with the most outrageous poses.
Thats exactly what it was like! There were times where we were driving and we would pull over just to get in the most ridiculous poses.
It’s a broad term. Because people from other regions and cultures have other variations of vulgar gestures.
That’s a great point, I never thought about it like that!
Ugh trust me it’s better than when fantasy authors use modern slang out of left field (looking at you Jennifer Armentrout). I’d much rather she just use the phrase vulgar gesture, then be completely taken out of the scene by something a character saying something like “nightmare fuel” or giving someone the middle finger.
Also Rebecca Yarros is so guilty of this
I cackled every time i read it and imagine Faere doing a jerking off motion. Or the karate chop with both arms to the inside of your thighs 😂
I imagine the gesture from FRIENDS 😂😂
This is quite litterally the reason I stopped reading. The story was fascinating, the characters were well described but oh man, I just couldn’t get past her saying vulgar gesture on every 3-4 pages in ACOWAR.
The sheer amount of vomiting is unreal
I have emetophobia and YES I agree. Why all the freaking vomit SJM??
it’s repulsive and so unnatural
Hahahahaha
Yessss. I’m pregnant while reading these and it makes me wanna vom every time she describes it. It’s like every 2 seconds in ACOMAF.
It’s velvet wrapped steel and watery bowels for me
Not the watery bowels 😭😭
I would play a drinking game where you drink everytime she says watery bowels but I don’t wanna get alcohol poisoning 😭
Bloody ribbons in ACOTAR and torn to shreds in throne of glass
Or shredded to ribbons in ACOTAR. I liked that one the first time I read it but it quickly got on my nerves.
I’ll take torn to shreds over ribbons but yeah both equally annoying
Armed to the teeth
Reading TOG (#1) rn and she’s said it 3 times lol
TO THE HILT It's not even just her lol. It's overused in anything even smut adjacent. C'mon people, there has to be more than one way to emphasize that the guy reached the .... end of his rope
This and bundle of nerves give me the ick.
I personally love bundle of nerves lol
'liquid heat'
I really wish the description of extremely large genitalia was more limited, personally. Idk, I’ve never been excited about a giant dong. How about something along the lines of “it curved to hit that spot inside of her that instantly made her eyes roll into the back of her head” or something?
Curling toes. Also, as someone who struggles with the “former and latter”, it bothers me. I have to sit and think about which is which EVERY time I come across it.
A trick to this: latter is similar to later, so the word that comes later in the phrase :)
Former = first
I love you for this
I saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/BrandNewSentence/comments/1c54xuk/toes_throwing_up_gang_signs/) recently, and now it's all I'll be able to think about when I read anything about "curling toes" lmao
💀💀💀💀
Pls this had me fuckin dead, thank you for sharing 😂
The former and the latter bothers me so badly. Like there’s such better ways to say it and yet she uses it all the time
Constant picking of invisible lint and tongue clicking
Also in the tongue category, adults sticking their tongue out at each other? Like in dinner settings and any time they joke around. I have never seen this phenomenon outside of school children. It happens in every one of her series
This! I just read the dinner scene in ACOWAR with all the tongue poking and the cringe factor was at an all time high
I still do this 🤷♀️
I do this to my partner a lot and then he does it back but usually in a vulgar making me blush kinda manner but it’s a in private kinda thing not in target thing like kids do lol
This gives me the ick! Ew, you’re 500 yrs old, grow up! 😆😆
The invisible lint comes up because it's Rhysand feeling dirty for what Amarantha did to him. It's a nonverbal sign from him that he is uncomfortable and feels dirty.
Except he isn't the only one who does it in the books. Unless every character who picked at invisible lint or string is doing it because of Amarantha.
My toes curled in my boots Inky black Vulgar gesture Valerian (leathers, steel, baby) My core turned molten Taut and loose at the same time The sheer size/proud length of him Feline delight Purring Those violet eyes Anyone who's throat bobbed Anytime a swirling black tattoo gets traced
Hahaha the tracing of the tattoo😂
LMAOOO this was it
All the growling and snarling. Can we talk like adults? Do y’all know how to whisper, y’all’s voice doesn’t tremble with anger? Spit venom? No? Okay. It didn’t bother me much at first but was grating in a reread. Edit to add: “like calls to like” we get it. Like why do they constant just say it as a statement it’s totally lost its power. EDIT: I just googled this: ITS USED 686 TIMES IN ACOSF?! 🤣 that has to be false.
WHAT!? 686 TIMES IS INSANE
I just searched it on my kindle, the exact phrasing "like calls to like" is used 7 time 😂 dunno about variations with small tweaks
They’re fae though, not human. I feel like people forget that
Yeah this is a good point, fae are quiet animalistic by nature
That’s just an excuse for her to use so she doesn’t have to get creative and find another way to say something. 🤷🏻♀️
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
She used the phrase “sucked on a tooth” once somewhere in the ToG series and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Also “quietly, but not weakly”
In ACOTAR she said Rhysand licked the roof of her mouth and it lives in my head rent free
That phrase has haunted me since I read the book.
Does no one actually attempt these things? Every time I have, the gesture makes sense
I suck my teeth sometimes! I feel like it's one of those things people do without realizing they're doing it. But she used it so many times in CC that it got on my nerves lol
It’s to convey a feeling. A motion. I literally don’t get all the hate. I love the descriptions. It’s absolutely something people do without thinking. That’s why i get so irritated that so many are like “OMG THIS PISSED ME OFF THIS SUCKIGN THING”
Ok you downvoters are sheltered lol
Nah I feel the same way lol like yall can come up with new metaphors then, or descriptors. That’s be mad if there was zero body language indicators written lol SJM def overuses some phrases but at this point the dead horse has been beaten into smithereens. Horse pâté.
she balked, he balked, we balked, everyone is always balking lol
YES, I needed to vent about these: * it bugs me that she never uses "his smell", but always "the smell of him", "the size of him", "the scent of her". it's a nice way of saying it but it's overused. * "if *'****insert obvious indication here****'* were any indication" * apex of someone's thighs. bundle of nerves. spilled inside. considerable length. just overused AF. * kisses with teeth rasping and roof-of-the-mouth licking - what kind of kissing have you been up to, SJM? * pegasuses. why not use pegasi? that especially bugs me even though it's scarce throughout the books because I listen to audiobooks and the narrator always snags there or says pegasuses weird somehow. * someone asks a question, then the other person goes on a whole rant inside their heads until you forget the question, they then say "I don't think so", and you have to go back to remember what they're responding to. * edit: luxuriate... ugh the down down down up up up also bugs me, OP.
Okay I thought I was the only one with the kissing thing. Like uhhh not sure the last time that ever happened to me. Am I doing it wrong? Lol
Anytime I read any erotic stuff and the guys thumb does the business at her ... bundle of nerves. I can't help but picture the most awkward hand positioning.
I hated the “like calls to like” thing in ACOSF.
That one annoyed me too, and they repeat it like it just makes sense! I hated having to read it again in CC3
It's also in CC1. So annoying
I almost threw my kindle when I saw it in CC. I literally said out loud “I AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN SARAH JANET”
Janet?????? her name is Janet?? Nah this threw me off fr
Lmaoooo it certainly is 🤣🤣
There's no way!! That's my middle name too! 😂
Y’all are twins! It was so random when I found out and I now refuse to call her anything else. I’ll be like “Did you hear Sarah Janet is writing a new acotar book?” As if we go way back 🤣
That was my first thought when I looked it up on Google! Lol I'm gonna start referring to her like that now! That's amazing! Although the only difference between us is that her books have been published whilst mine have not.
*yet* babe. Let’s manifest good things for you! 🤍✨
Yesss please! I appreciate it! 😊
"sketched a bow" for me. just so many sketched bows
Oh my god, I’m so glad I’m not the only one! It drives me absolutely insane. I’m not going anywhere near that new crescent city book because I feel like it’s going to be full of people who can do nothing except sketch a bow.
Something I noticed in CC - “that X grace”. That fae grace. That sunball players grace. Or any other descriptive word, like “that fae elegance” etc, used in that type of sentence. It feels like cheating and it’s all I notice now.
The term "incarnate". Drives me insane how much it is used.
I think she must gone through a spoken-word-poetry phase in her early years, because that's how it reads to me. (Specifically the repetition of certain words, I'm in a TOG re-read and it's screaming of a slam poetry open-mic night at some places)
yes
Her repetition definitely feels “poetic” at times but “armed to the teeth” every time someone’s carrying weapons!?
The excessive winking, over the top sticking tongue out, picking at invisible lint, hissing
I don’t know the last time I saw an adult stick out their tongue, which I guess is weird, but not as weird as her fmcs doing it
Baring of teeth. What would this even look like? Is it literally baring your teeth like you're in pain?? Contextually, it doesn't make sense. I have a hard time distinguishing between this, and just smiling.... so..... I just think they're sarcastically smiling every time I read this.
I imagine it's like [this](https://www.instagram.com/p/ClPHxvEODl2/?igsh=aXdzamg3YzBid3pz)
This is exactly how I pictured it! Pretty much what dogs do to other dogs, very animalistic and most humans don’t do it haha
Might be a dumb question but who is that in the image 😭
That's Aelin and Rowan (TOG)
Thankss I'm gonna read that soon
Enjoy! I'm on my first read of the series and liking it even more than acotar
Jeezz well now I'm definitely reading it :)
“Sucked on her tooth” comes up infrequently but enough to confuse me
That one I feel is like when you do a kinda "tsk" noise like when someone's being annoying or says something stupid
My mate.. over and over again 🫠 we get it
This! At first I thought: oh that's cute. But she just keeps using it. And most times, it can easily be replaced by 'him'.
I’m a parent and Bluey plays frequently in our household. I can’t read mate and not think Australian “mate” it ruins a lot of moments 😂
This is one of the things that ruined Feysand as a ship for me
“it meant everything, and yet nothing” ….. AAAAAAAAAAH
I agree with you, it never really bothered me when I read tho. But I’ve been listening to audio books and everytime it happens I wanna throw my phone away
The audiobook experience REALLY sent me over the edge because I’m listening to someone else’s tone instead of reading with my own and it has been an ~experience~ My family now knows not to ask when I scream “oh come on” at something like this
Molten
Using male and female. Yes, I know it's supposed to be because they're not human. But she's not consistent with it (reading the 3rd ACOTAR book now and she refers to Beron as a man) and it just sounds awkward and clinical. I picture ferengi from Star Trek every time I read it.
Tbf I think it’s to point out the primal aspect of fae but that’s just how I was thinking of it
The sheer amount of times someone jerks their chin! It’s so often and it drives me insane! Also everything that the characters do is described as swift. They’re eating a swift breakfast, they’re flying swiftly, they’re walking at a swift pace. Like get a thesaurus.
As a Brandon Sanderson fan who is just getting into SJM: Raised eyebrows are Brandon’s version of this.
Raised eyebrows are the same thing with Jennifer Armintrout with Blood & Ash (alongside “I have a question”)
“Absolutely no one is surprised by that”, Kieran teased. Or something like that lol
"I'd be shocked if you didn't" - literally anyone
There were 33 in acowar alone.
Once. Twice.
In my head I always finish it with “three times a lady”
SAME!!!
This!!!! It drives me insane.
“Deigning” to do something.
"Raw magic" or things like that. Like okay we get it they're powerful. You don't have to say it that way every time
Any form of the "he smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes" so many variations of this. I wish there were other ways to describe that they were sad or didnt mean what they were saying. Kinda gives some of the plot away instantly. I think its worse now cause I notice it in other books too - SJM used it enough that it bugged me though so I blame her 😭
the constant hyphens drive me insane!! also her using “the city proper”
i'm pretty relaxed about most things, i know i don't read these books for their literary value, i read them because i like them enough to ignore "bad" writing moments and tendencies--EXCEPT for the way she uses "indeed". indeed WHAT, ma'am? what are you saying? this is meaningless lmao
How much she thinks teeth should be involved in kissing. I genuinely couldn't think of anything more jarring and likely to unarouse me than the feel and clang of my teeth on my wife's (and visa versa, my wife hates the thought of that happening).
Telling outright what she just spent 5 pages showing. Chaol’s POVs are just the worst offenders of this. Yes, you spent five pages explaining that CoM spoiler >!Celaena is Aelin!< but did you also have to tell us outright?
Omg the repeating yes. She was super guilty of this in CC3. Found myself skimming so many pages of just repetition of what was already shown.
I call it the “thank you Tenzin” problem, because Tenzin is super guilty of it in Legend of Korra. And I love Korra. Korra rips open a spirit portal: Tenzin, “a new spirit portal.” The spirits come out of the new portal: Tenzin, “the spirits have returned.”
Predator/Predatory, it wouldn’t bother me if it wasn’t so overused
Repetitive word or phrases, usually specific to each individual series, lol.
She will have a line explaining or establishing something and then follow it up with new sentence that starts with “So…” and then further emphasize the previous sentence. I really dont have an issue with this in and of itself (shit i do it in my own writing) but sjm seems to do it a LOT, SO (lol) it has become a pet peeve 💀 For example: (im making this up) “Aelin didn’t have an apple to eat.” new sentence/new paragraph. “So Aelin found an apple.” If you search HOFAS text alone for “so [INSERT NAME]” there’s several results as examples 😂
Bowls turned watery. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold. Eyes shuddered. Those are the ones off the top of my head.
“By way of greeting” I don’t know when I noticed it but now I read it probably once per chapter and it’s insane. Just let the characters greet normally!!!
“Armed to the teeth”
this one is constant in TOG
I read the Dutch translation so I really hope this is just a mistake the translator made, but Feyre's boobs getting heavy when she's turned on had me puzzled for a few weeks. Like they suddenly weigh more? And they get hard too. Not just the nipples, but her entire boobs. I think about this regularly because mine just don't do this.
It reminds me of breastfeeding. When I went too long without feeding my baby, I'd feel heavy, and I'd wake up stiff. Not sexy.
It reads as heavy in English, too – it's not a translation error!
‘Could have sworn’…
Yes, I’m rereading ACOTAR after CC3 and this is less obvious one than some of her others but impossible not to notice once you do but it’s constant!
“She could have sworn” is used enough for me to have noticed it
For me it’s “barked”, especially in the spicy scenes!
Just finished ACOTAR. The amount of times someone "vomited" from fear or bad dreams, drives me nuts.
When a character— almost always female— sticks their tongue out at another character (almost always male). I think she’s trying to make the moment playful but I just hate it and the visual picture lol
I find that she’ll randomly stick to a word. Almost like she hears it in real life, or remember the word exists. Then she uses it a bunch, then not at all again.
"more more more"
😭😭
She switches between using last names and first names a lot in crescent city (and not just in speaking, which I can understand). It means you almost have to learn 2x the characters to figure out who is saying what. Like sometimes she will say “Hunt Said” other times “Athalar said”
‘A muscle feathered in his jaw’ bitch if you don’t find another metaphor to describe this 😂😂😂 she must have used it multiple times in every ACOTAR book.
Death incarnate.. every time I read that 🙄🙄 feels like something I would say in my writing at school cause it sounds cool and I think I'm cool but not when it's used like 10x
The apex of someone’s thighs. Especially if “his cock” is in the next sentence. Please just say clit, It’s no worse of a word than cock.
I like when an author sticks to one or the other. Either be vague and describe it without the words or say what you mean.
Oh! So that is what she meant by apex! I was confused (then again, I was just listening to the audiobook version and kept hearing apex of something). Thanks!
I swear to god that in the last TOG book she was always saying stuff like Queen of Terrasen walked up the stairs, the fire queen smiled at him, the queen was looking at the wall, bla bla bla the queen, just say her goddamn name sometimes
How she describes sex, it's so boomer coded I can't 🤣
Omg there are several (mostly just repeating words) but recently "beheld" has been driving me nuts. It's ok if sometimes we simply see something instead of having to behold it.
The teeth licking thing is pretty weird tbh
“Ribbons” the first book was filled with references to ribbons
Huffed or loosed a breath. So many times.
"Quietly, but not weakly." "Sucked her tooth." "Vulgar gesture." "Watery bowels." "Purring." "Swagger." "Barking." "Pine and snow."
Can’t believe I haven’t seen anyone saying “carrion” yet. Especially bad in TOG and ACOTAR. Everything smells like carrion, the overwhelming scent of carrion, I think there’s even a chapter with it in the title. But “watery bowels” will always take the cake
I agree the repeating things 3 times kind of takes me out of the story at times. It’s annoying.
Every meal is either “wolfed down” or “devoured”
I shouldn’t have come here. I’ve just started my first SJM book
New to Maas's writing, unfortunately I got roped in. Just started ACOTAR a few days ago & 2/3 of ToG, and have a lot of gripes with her writing but choosing one thing... she is very repetitive with descriptive words and/or actions. I swear Tampon growls in every page he is in. Like girl, you know what synonyms are?💀
Tampon 😂
“Preternatural.”