A couple of years back I did a video about the authors I had no interest in reading again and I was thinking of doing something like that again when I thought why not do it about romance authors instead? So here we are today.
I want to premise this by saying, that being on this list does not make these authors ‘bad authors’ or that I don’t think you should read them. They just didn’t work for me.
Eloisa James
Having seen so much about Eloisa James from the historical romance community, I read three of her books in 2020. I liked one of them. I just really don’t get along with her writing style—it feels weird and stunted to me and it takes me out of the story too much. I also find that she doesn’t really do romantic build-up, in the three I read, the characters were often aware of their feelings for one another from the start. I want pining, I want banter, I want slow-burn.
Eva Leigh
I had a very similar experience with Eva Leigh. I read My Fake Rake in December and really did not enjoy any of it. Again, there was something about her writing that just rubbed me the wrong way. It makes me sad because My Fake Rake is filled with some of my favourites tropes, but I just didn’t like how they were executed. I gave Scandal Takes the Stage a chance as well and found the same issues.
Maya Rodale
My last historical romance author for this list here. I read It’s Hard Out Here For A Duke in November and honestly hated it. I found it extremely boring to the point that I was skipping parts of the book because it just wasn’t interesting. The thing that really annoyed me was that the characters would often repeat themselves and each other, like they’d say the same things all the time and usually I don’t mind a good throwback in a romance novel. Like when characters have a little banter about things that were said in the past, or a romanic moment but this was just ridiculous, especially when it would happen in the character’s inner monologues. You mean to tell me that both people in this relationship think in the exact same way?
Tessa Bailey
Onto the contemporary romance authors now, starting off with Tessa Bailey. Angel and I did a whole discussion about Fix Her Up over on her blog—I really recommend reading it because I think it’s probably one of the funniest discussions we’ve done. Okay so Fix Her Up isn’t the worst book ever, and one of the ones on this list I probably enjoyed a little more but it has some of the worst sex scenes ever. They’re just so incredibly out of character and it’s kind of jarring at times.
Beth O’Leary
This was also very similar. Angel and I did a discussion over here about The Flatshare, and it’s also one of the ones I enjoyed more than others. It was incredibly slow to start and I thought about putting it down multiple times—the only reason I kept going was for that post. The main reason Beth O’Leary is on this list is because nothing she’s written since has really interested me in the slightest.
So who are some of the authors you’re not interested in reading again, whether they be romance or otherwise.
Earl Grey Books 