We all have our likes and dislikes in books, be it themes, settings, or tropes. Recently, I’ve caught myself rolling my eyes at cliche phrases that appear in a lot of blurbs for mystery thriller books. I never, ever pick these books up because I find the synopses infuriating!
Here are a few examples of what I’ve been avoiding recently…
“How far would you go to save… [your child / your family / yourself]”
“But [insert name of detective] has a secret/traumatic past that they’re trying to escape. Can they catch the killer before their secrets are revealed and threaten to destroy everything?”
“What if [insert family / friend relation] wasn’t who you thought they were?”
So there we have it, those are the types of book I’ve found myself avoiding recently. I tend to find the main culprits of these cliche blurbs comes from Bookouture… although I have read a few books of theirs in this past, including some of the Erika Foster series, which I’ve featured above!
What cliche phrases do you hate seeing in blurbs?
I read the books, but I hate such tag lines…
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I’m currently avoiding them but I have read them in the past!
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I get approved on NetGalley for these books others reject me
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I mostly ignore taglines… they can be way too similar a lot of the time.
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THE SHOCKING NEW THRILLER WITH A TWIST YOU WON’T SEE COMING.
I have a soft spot for the detective with a secret past haha I’m actually really likely to pick a book up if it has that.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
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Same, I love the flawed detective trope!
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Yep, that’s another that sucks & I really hate the trope but I don’t know why haha. I mean sometimes it works! Like the Valerie Hart books I’ve read are good and she’s pretty much one of those tropes…
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The killer twist you won’t see coming!!
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SO GRIPPING! The most gripping grip you’ve ever heard of! 😂
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Brilliant!
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Agreed!!
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YES ALL OF THESE. I try not to pay attention to taglines but ‘how far would you go to save….’ is an automatic no for me.
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Oh same here, it’s so cheese!!
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This gave me a good chuckle ha-ha! I think that’s one of the hardest parts I find writing a book review; I’m always wanting to write a catchy first paragraph to draw the reader in…but I also try to avoid the cliches…especially the overdone or “blah” ones.
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I know what you mean! It’s difficult being unique nowadays and that’s OK, but some things are just too cheesy!
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Ha! Yes, some of these taglines on books are so ludicrous it makes me cringe — “What would YOU do if such and such happened?!” Like, I don’t know. It hasn’t happened to me 😂
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Hahaha, you’re so right. I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it and I don’t plan to until it does!
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Aye, matey. The detective with the secret/traumatic past one aggravates me. The trauma is usually boring or could have been handled by telling the truth at some point in the past. Fun post.
x The Captain
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Haha, I totally agree! It’s always used as a self-pitying storyline and infuriate’s me. I hate reading about someone’s woe-is-me existence!
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This is hilarious! The “Can they do X before Y threatens to destroy everything?” line drives me crazy!
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Hahaha yes!! That’s another one that annoys me too!
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Ha, I love this! The worst is when the tag line is for some reason in the Goodreads title – this just baffles me.
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Ugh yes, or on Amazon! Pls remove what’s not in the title from the title, thanks!
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Ah yes, you are totally right on this! The whole ‘gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twists is getting old’ as well… Or the same old comparison to popular books that only make me want to read them less (think The Girl On The Train, Gone Girl etc). I still do read most of the books in the end though. xD
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I hate the comparison to other popular books! They’re never the same!
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I know! And in general they only make me want to read a book less anyway. xD
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Haha, I love this post, and I love taglines, these are some of the very cliches ones indeed. I often decide whether or not to read a book based on it’s tagline, but I’m tired of the “shocking twist you won’t see coming” and any books that uses “for fans of Gone Girl.”
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Some taglines work SO well but these on’es are beyonf cheesy! I hate the “for fans of…” too 😛
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Haha, this was so much fun! Whenever they say a book is the “next Gone Girl” I’m like… LIES!!
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Ugh, so true!!
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This is a really cool post idea!
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Thank you! 🙂
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I think almost all detective stories have a detective with a traumatic dark past… but they don’t *HAVE* to insert it in the blurb at all! Great post 😉
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True haha, but they usually do 😛
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It’s not the thriller genre, but I’ve gotten so sick of the blurbs & taglines telling me how one main character’s true love / devotion / sacrifice will redeem the other’s. Ugh.
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(As noted above, this redemption is generally implied in the paranormal genre, especially when it’s the romance sub-genre. I’m going to assume it happens anyway; you don’t have to spell it out for me!)
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Haha yeah I hate when a tag line or blurb assumes the readers an idiot and has no idea what’s vaguely going to happen 😂
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Yes, exactly! 😀
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This is such a great post! I really dislike comparisons to other popular books – they are never the same and usually lead me to being very angry.
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I agree! They’re never ever the same! (apart from when I read Sweetpea, I thought the comparison to American Psycho x Bridget Jones’ Diary was very accurate)
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Yes, and they are usually either gripping or “edge of your seat”… 😀
The Marriage Lie… i keep forgetting i read that book.
I’m also with Kaleena on the comparison to other books. It’s either spoiler, or dead on wrong and then i’m like “whyyy???”.
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Yes!! I don’t think editors / reviewers realise that some of what they put is major spoiler territory!
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I feel mean saying these, because I have enjoyed books with these blurbs before now, but it’s the over-use that irritates me:
“…battling his/her own demons…” – nope;
“Steven’s wife dies but she had a secret and it turns out he never really knew her at all…”;
“Maria has the perfect life, with a loving husband, beautiful children, an amazing career and a gorgeous house”, well fandabiedozie for her, I hope it all comes crashing down when she finds out her husband or child or neighbour or pet cat is really a murderer;
“A gripping serial killer thriller with a twist you won’t see coming” (especially when there is not even a bloody twist, it’s just a whodunit – Agatha Christie didn’t need to spell out that she didn’t want you to guess the bloody ending!)
Great post btw x
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Agree with alllll of these!! They’ve overused these sayings to death now! x
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