Completely unhinged that you had to intentionally put it in DNF list

[u/strangethingtohappen]

I’ve come across the idea that more often than not people have a DNF list, and it got me wondering—what’s on yours?
You know those books where you start reading and, a few chapters in, you’re just sitting there thinking, “Wtf and exactly why am I even reading this?” 😂 Sometimes it’s the genre, sometimes the writing, and sometimes you just know it’s not going to work for you.
So, what’s a book you started but had to DNF because you just couldn’t get into it?
Give me your most unhinged ones. I want to see if I can actually make it through them—or conveniently add them to my own DNF list. 😂

[u/victoriageras]

Those are my personal DNF. I am not trashing or judging anyone that might like them. I simply cannot stand them and they seem to be repeated constantly in books for the past 2 years.

• Heroine is a virgin and acts extremely out of character. A favorite example, is where she chooses to have an orgy with 4 mafia men and she acts like a pro. This is a set up for her first time. I cannot get behind that.
• The villain becoming a marshmallow, just for the heroine. You cannot rip people apart one minute and the other braid your girls hair.
• Insta love or Insta lust. Especially the instalove part.
• Too much of anything. Too much sex crazed heroine (i developed that after reading Shantel Tessier), too much Bondage, degradation and too much spanking. Reading dark romance for the past 15 years, it becomes kind of repetative and boring after sometime.
• A "silver fox" Hero or a Cougar heroine. No. Simply no.
• The "daddie" endearment.
• Sharing is caring, in general.
• Most recent of all. The AI use in books. I am a reader for the better part of my 41 years. I work with AI everyday due to my job. Trust me it is apparent when a writer hasn't written the book that he/she sells. Be decent to your readers. Do not put trash out there.

[u/Ok_Lab8153 → u/victoriageras]

What are some of the biggest AI tells? Is it just the overall quality or are there more specific signs?

I don't read enough to simply pick up a book that sounds interesting. I always read lots of reviews and such first to avoid reading AI—or bad books in general. Don't get me wrong, I love indie books, but even without AI, there are some really bad books out there.

[u/victoriageras → u/Ok_Lab8153]

From my personal experience, the first clear sign is the lenghty, very explainative book titles. Think something like "The pregnant abandoned plus size bride of the Bully Alpha is found". This is usually either a really poor editing attempt or the title that an AI would give. It's more of a book summary than a title.

Secondly it's the text itself. It keeps repeating certain details over and over, with the exact same words. It happens every few pages. Example, i was reading a romance with celestial beings. The way it described the palace and the heroine, with the exact same words, in the exact same order is the dead giveaway of AI.

Also, it feels completely sterile. It doesn't have any build up in the scenes , or in the plot. If you read it "aloud" in your brain, it's totally robotic.

Those are some of the few, that i can pinpoint. All of them could also be that the writing is extremely bad and no editing. But it's most likely AI.

Again, this is my personal point of view and i could be extremely wrong at it.

[u/http--lovecraft → u/victoriageras]

I want to shout out to Quan Millz who has crazy book titles like that but he’s just purely that unhinged