To be honest, I can't see what is wrong there! I have been told I have a "butterfly brain", flitting around, so I would probably get diverted similarly.

I do agree though that I don't always like a style of writing and give up on an aggravating book.

What other examples do you have of this author's awful writing?

yoyo, I haven't heard of this author so did a check on the UK Amazon site and found the majority of the reviewers had very little time for this book . . . or her next one about Princess Elizabeth. One writer said there should be a disclaimer' saying 'this book is based on NO facts whatsoever except for a few names of real people.'

They didn't so much cringe at the style of writing but its inaccuracy and misinformation and the many 'Americanisms'.

They mostly suggested the author should stick to 'historical novels' about the USA.

But . . . I have been given an easy-read set in WII written by an English person who seems to have almost as much trouble with both accuracy and believability. ;-(

When I read a supposed historical novel , albeit fiction , I expect the author will at least TRY to stick to the expressions of the day.

This author used so many current expressions that were never spoken during the 1940's that it really irked me.

I guess I am spoiled by the writing style of Jacqueline Winspear in that genre.

I am constantly finding what I assume are editorial mistakes in books. For instance in my current read, A Murder in Time, there is a character who is Mrs. Griffith twice and on the next page she's suddenly Mrs. Griffon. I find stuff like that in books all the time.

Donna

This bothered me a lot. I had to re-read. Good writing should be cogent and flow smoothly. I detest choppy writing. That sentence is all over the place.

I am constantly irritated when I am reading a book set in earlier times and discover expressions from our time thrown into the text. It is so distracting. I've lost count. I miss the "olden" days when there were good proofreaders and thorough editors.

LOL.....okay here's another : ( apparently the author is very "scent-ual" !)

"John took Maggie's hand and drew her toward him. As the blond singer, her peachy flesh spilling out of a tight red-satin (sic) dress, segued into a slow rendition of " I Get Along Without You Very Well: , he drew her into him and they began to dance.

"This is all very strange" Maggie said, leaning her head against his chest, smelling his bay rum cologne. " "

That does seem rather bad. Did they spell it Alond? If it's an e-book, the author could fix that.

Yoyobon, that second passage is really awful! :D Are you cracking up laughing?

My book just had "ominous gray clouds gathering overheard". >sigh<

Donna

Lavender...oops, my typo ! I will correct that !

MsMeow,,,,the entire book is rife with these sorts of second rate descriptions.

On one page she actually began two paragraphs in a row with the same hackneyed phrase .

I should have smelled a rat when Rhys Bowen raved enthusiastically over these books.

I very rarely put a book down once I have started, but must confess that I would have been tempted in this case

I was recently confined to staying indoors with a nasty virus and only managed to stagger to the library at my retirement village to borrow books. There are mostly Relationship genre on offer. You want turgid writing? These authors dish it out by the bucket load!

I think that their readers must love women in high-powered jobs who have tempestuous lives and get drunk!

Ah well, it made a change and the Large Print was restful and easy to read while I was feeling groggy.

Ann, I hope you've recovered from your virus!

From bad to worse.... It is amazing to me how many bad writers there are out there.

I think that's why this type of forum can be so beneficial.

We are decerning readers who can offer a heads up regarding books that simply need to be thrown at the wall .

Msmeow, I am a lot better thank you but still taking things easy. That was one bad boy of a virus and some of the residents of my Retirement Village even got sent to hospital with bronchitis as a bonus!

The weather here in Western Australia has been terrible, rain, storms etc. so I haven't missed going outdoors much. It is Spring now but feels like Winter still.

I once read an unattributed quote which went, "It is not a book to be lightly thrown aside. It should be thrown with great force.” I've come across a few books which were like that :-) One, which was supposed to be a horror novel, was written in such a sickly style and had such an objectionable protagonist I was hoping that whatever was lurking in the house he was about to enter would get him, and decided I really couldn't go on.

I believe the "thrown aside with great force" quote was Dorothy Parker. She had a column in a newspaper or magazine called "Constant Reader" in which she reviewed books, in her inimitable way.

I've always loved her review of Winnie-the-Pooh - "Tonstant Weader fwowed up."

I just read a Laura Childs mystery that was terrible. It was no mystery at all. There was no motive and the narrative did not hang together. It was mostly a description of houses and clothes and jewellry. If it had not been a library book I would have thrown it out in disgust. This author just cranks out mysteries like a robot would, IMHO.

I used to like the Laura Childs books, Mary, but the last few have been pretty bad.

I actually Googled the quote because I couldn't recall who said it, and apparently it has been attributed to Dorothy Parker and others, but there is no certainty.

I'm not familiar with Laura Childs, but perhaps she has a staff that is writing the books for her. I've felt the same about the last few Stuart Woods books I read. Either he's just not trying very hard, or he has someone writing for him following a formula.

Donna

I have thrown a book across the room... It was several years ago and I picked up a book that looked interesting ( and no, it wasn't a library book, it was one my mother had picked up from a book sale). I don't remember anything about the book except that the heroine was so stupid (too stupid to live) that I got more and more annoyed with her until I couldn't take it anymore and threw the book across the room. Fortunately it was a paperback so nothing got damaged. Several months, maybe even a year or so later, I looked at it again and thought, "it couldn't have been that bad", so tried to read it again...with the same result. Yes, it really was that bad!

You've just reminded me of a truly dreadful self-published book I found at my mother's house when I was cleaning it out after her death. No idea where Mum found it, as far as I know she had never met the authoress, who was from the same state as us, unless she went to a club meeting and this woman was a guest speaker or something. It was a shocker.

One of the really irritating quirks it had was the protagonist constantly referring to her boyfriend/lover as her "paramour". _Never_ boyfriend or lover. It was so...fake.

"Paramour" sounds positively medieval! :-)

Just finished an absolutely dreadful book (speed read it just to get to the end) called "The House of Special Purpose' by John Boyne, about a love affair between Anastasia (yes, that one again) and a muzhik hired to care for Alexei. They ended up in England, all secret, blah, blah. Ridiculous premise, terrible dialog, absolutely no understanding of Russian aristocracy, and a single instance that really revealed the author's incompetence--referring to a one year old, still unsteady on her feet, who says, "Which present did you like best, Daddy? Mine or Mother's?" Now really, how incompetent can you get?

I just remembered that several years ago I tried to read a novel by Jimmy Buffett (yes, THE Jimmy Buffett). It was truly awful. After about 10 pages of thinking, "Really?" and "Oh, puhlease..." I gave up on it. Thank goodness he writes exponentially better music!

Donna

I have attempted to read a truly dreadful book which I cannot throw anywhere as it was a gift, but as soon as decently possible I'll pass it on to a charity shop. The 'story' called Code Girls set during WWII is about a group of females sent to a large mansion to supposedly learn the 'art' of cypher breaking. But our three heroines are cooks/skivvies working in the kitchens.

They are all endlessly describes by their brown/hazel/green/blue/flashing eyes, their long floaty/curly locks and their curvy/slim/long-legged figures. They giggle endlessly and their merry laughter 'tinkles' from dawn to dusk. I am rather hoping Hitler drops a bomb on the lot of them.

The 'author' also makes several basic clangers . . . getting the name of the Prime Minister wrong, describing the vehicle driven by handsome local vet (he of the golden chest-hair and brown muscular arms) as a battered 'Land Rover' some ten years before it was designed, plus others too boring to relate.

Many females reviewers at Amazon loved it!

And there you have it........his favorite fantasies in print !!

Ugh.

Vee, if I dislike a book which has some dreadful clangers, I go to Goodreads and pick the reviews with the fewest stars. There you will find like-minded readers who will pick out the historically incorrect points which they have also noticed! You are not alone....

Ann, I agree, mean-minder as it seems it is always better to check the negative reviews first . . . something I have just done on a pile of books I have recently picked up at various Summer fetes where most of the books received, at best, had indifferent /fewer stars and probably why the donators were glad to give them away! And probably the clientele at Goodreads are higher minder than those at Amazon.

Re "paramour". I have just come across this word in "Lawyer for the Dog" by Lee Robinson. This is a modern novel set in Charleston and I enjoyed it as a change from murder.

We have discussed before the use of some words that are no longer in common use in Britain but are still part of everyday language in the USA. Perhaps this is another one?

I happen to be an American who lives in Charleston. I have never heard the word "paramour" used in speech, nor would I ever use it. I seriously doubt that it was even used in the Ante-Bellum days either.

There is a context in which this term could apply and unless this was the gist of the story, I feel that just throwing the word out there in a novel is incorrect :

Paramour-

1. a lover, especially the illicit partner of a married person.

The context was correct in the book. A woman was being dismissive of a girl she believes is having an affair with her husband.

Woodnymph, do you know of this local author?

I need to note these books and to stay the heck away from them. I've read one or two less than stellar books. Generally speaking, if a book doesn't keep me engaged, I just stop reading. Life's too darned short to read bad writing.

I must admit .... I do like that classic opening line: "It was a dark and stormy night ...." :D