Incest definitely is very "ick" to me. Even reading it in Mary Jo Putney's book-of the hero's past totally grossed me out. I was like "YUCK!!!" and had to put the book down for a good while. Of course, I went back to it. The step-parent going for the step-child is bothersome too, but not as badly as the actual mother/father/sibling going at each other. Ugh. Just typing this is grossing me out.I don't actually like second chance at love either. Nor war. Nor misunderstandings-I really, really dislike misunderstandings. Especially when some communication would've resolved the situation. Having said this, one of my all time favourite book is Beyond the Sunrise by Mary Balogh and it has second chance at love, war, and misunderstandings. The misundersanding was very well handled, I think, because the heroine keeps telling the hero the truth, but she's done so many things/said things that hero just can't believe her. Anyhow, I digress. Usually, the misunderstandings and if the whole books is based on the "misunderstanding", I get VERY frustrated. On a side note, I used to enjoy, but no longer enjoy "secret identity" thing. If that secret identity is kept from the main characters, that is. This premise happens very rarely in romance novels though. On the other hand, if that secret identity is handled well, it could make for good reading-if it really IS impossible for the others to know the identity for a while.
Not too keen on secret babies, because most times I think they should've exercised precautions AND I think the father has the right to know.
I'm not too keen on these head injuries either. These amnesiacs? Having worked with people who have had head injuries, you inevitably get OTHER deficits (how can one have a hit to the head that just affects memory? This is pure fiction!!!!) So this turns me off. The blatant disregard for facts really makes me dislike a book-this goes for ALL disregard for facts, not just with head injuries.
Things I really like are marriage of conveniences-turned love-match/ what one side thinks is a marriage of convenience but for the other side, it isn't a marriage of convenience. I love magic and magical beings-to a point though. And it has to be written well. There needs to be rules and boundaries and those rules and boundaries need to be obeyed. I first picked up Bewitching because of this premise-the magic.
And of course, humour. Even with the most gut-wrenching books, I'd like there to be glimpses of humour. Places where you can smile at the very least. If humour, gut-wrenching sadness and of course HAPPY ENDING is there, even better (see, LOVE Wicked... It was SO funny, and So gut-wrenching-My Merrick being hurt so badly!-mind you, I over-looked the impossibility of Merrick having made full recovery).
YH
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