For me it was Virginia Henly and Heather Graham. I swore years ago I would never read their books again!  I have just this year gotten a few Virginia Henleys just because I wanted to see if I still didn't like her books, and all of the Heather Graham paranormals.  Haven't read them yet.

I am curious if other people have certain authors they swore they'd never read again?

Anne

Once I swore never to read Diana Palmer again because of her a$$inine hero's....but I've since found myself revisiting a few of them.

Danielle Steele....can't stand her books

Janet Dailey......Too much yak and not enough filling.

MAMADOODLE: Yup. Diana Palmer's heroes are major league jerks. But they become such adoring husbands! I can't stand / can't put down a DP story!

I just borrowed a lot of Joan Johnston stories from my sis. Haven't read half of them and am sitting here lamenting that I have nothing to read (with more than 3,000 trashy novels in the house). What makes me nuts about Johnston is that her conflict is going along just fine and she suddenly finds she has only 500 words left before hitting the publisher's limit for the book. So she resolves all conflict (it's a miracle!) and delivers the HEA in the last 2 pages... UGH! Soooo not worth it.

Along erotic romance lines... I've enjoyed a few of Noelle Mack's stories, but for the most part, it's just not worth the effort.

Lately, I've noticed that even my favorite authors are occasionally resorting to telling a story in the first person. It's a storytelling limitation that certainly challenges the ability of the writer. But not having the omniscience to see all points of view and the thoughts and emotions of the characters really turns me off. I'll shut a book cover pretty darn fast if I discover it's written with a 1st person POV, regardless of the writer's identity.

Colleen

Lois: I toally agree with you re: Janet Dailey. Though for me it's because in the few books of hers I've attempted, the focus always seems to be on the Heroine.  You barely get to see inside the Hero's head.

Colleen: I have the same problem with books written in first person... I try to give them a chance but more often then not end up getting pissed off and abandoning the book altogether.
The only expception is if a book is from the Hero's point of view, though that happens so rarely (the only one I can think of  is Hunter's Moon), and depends totaly on the quality of the writer.

As for authors I avoid... Cindy Gerard and Marliss Melton. And  Christine Feehan. I know they're all pretty popular but I can't seem to get in to their books.  There's something about their writing styles that puts me off, despite my wanting to like them.  Everytime I make it to the end of one of their books I end up angry and  annoyed and frustrated  and  I swear to myself not to pick up another one.

Then they release a new book. And I think maybe, <i>just maybe</i> this one's different, and then end up mad all over again when it's not.

As for Ms Palmer, I've only skimmed a few of her books, and know there's no way I could read an entire one, and not get annoyed so I don't even bother looking at hers.

It almost happened to me with Heather Graham as well... I read one book by her and hated, <b> hated</b> it, then somehow ended up reading another one and liked it. So now I've got a small collection of hers and am hoping the one I hated was an aberration, though  the fact that I haven't actaully picked up any  of hers from my TBR says how likely I think that is.

Rosemary Rogers.  Never again:P  Fern Michaels, Johanna Lindsey,  Catherine Coulter, Hope Tarr, Ellen Fisher, and probably Julie Garwood.

For me, Katie MacAllister.  I tried to read two of her books, and they were just awful.  Got halfway through one (I want to say it was Men in Kilts, or something along those lines- about an American author who meets a Scottish hunk and up and goes off to live with him) and just couldn't finish it, it was so bad.  I could not stand the heroine, the hero was one dimensional, and I just couldn't understand why anyone in the book did what they did.  I got about 2 pages into another of her books before I realized it was going to have the same issues as the first, so put it away and never looked back.

I'm also kind of there with Lora Leigh, although I can't say I won't ever read her again, because I do want to finish the Nauti series.  I'm not sure why I want to, but I do.  After that, no more Lora Leigh for me!

I never say never, because I have had better luck with one book than another, or sometimes even with the same book at a different time. But I think it highly unlikely I will ever again read any Bertrice Small, Virginia Henley, Julie Garwood, Shannon Drake, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey and am slowly removing these folks from my TBR. And the chances of me even trying Rosemary Rogers or Danielle Steel are virtually nil.

I have never read a Danielle Steel, they look boring to me. Or Janet Dailey or Rosemary Rogers.

Colleen I also prefer not to read first person books.

I have 6 Katie MacAlister books in my TBR! I suppose I should pull them out and see if I like them and if not, post them to trade. I am a little tired of these paranormals that are supposed to be humerous. I need to go back to the more serious stuff.

Anne

Anne, the Katie MacAllister books I tried were not paranormals- I've not read her paranormals, so I don't know how they compare to the ones I read.  For what it's worth, I have seen a lot of people say that they love her stuff, so don't let my bad opinion scare you off, I'd still give them a try.

I cannot let any go! even if I find their new books so-so! I have this habit of sticking with authors and it makes it hard to drop one. So I love Joahnna Lindsey, Jude Deveraux, Judith McNaught, Jill Barnett! Even if the new books do not please me!!!!!!!!!!

I think it is hard work find "New" authors to read. I just get set in the routine. I need a ten step program. Admitting it is the first step right?

Lesley, thanks. I have 3 of her paranormals and three that are not, and 2 anthologies. I'll get to them eventually!

Anne

I stayed away from Jude Devareaux, but recently picked one up I thought looked interesting. I got 50% through it, then just skipped to the ending. I couldn't stand it any longer. I told myself I should have trusted myself and just bypassed any of her books.

I also have to agree with some that I'm starting to avoid Diana Palmer. When I was in my teens, I loved her. First one of hers I ever read was Maggie's Dad. That still remains my absolute favorite. However, in re-reading it recently, I noticed that it follows the same pattern as a lot of her other books. I don't mind her heroes, I just can't stand seeing the same plots being used over and over again, and the same voice tags. Yes," Sarah choked. Gah, shoot me now! Choke and get it over with already.

I also stay away from J. A. Krentz, Sandra Brown, Danielle Steele and most of the time Nora Roberts. Though occasionally I cave and will pick up a S. Brown or Roberts book. I even have one of Brown's right here and have read a little bit of it. Not sure yet if I regret my decision.

Oh, and must say I 100% stay away from books set in first person. My writing group claim that they love it because you're allowed to show more of what your main character is feeling, but in a romance book, I hate it. Janet Evanovich can get away with it in her Stephanie Plum series, but the few romances I accidentally picked up stank so badly I couldn't wait to get rid of them. One was so bad that it sounded like a pre-teen girl's personal diary.

Judith McNaught

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Cheyenne McCray

I've sworn off Maryjanice Davidson and Lora Leigh but I always ended up going back.

For me, Stephanie Laurens, Robin Schone...the first because her plots became too repetitive and the second because I just didn't like her books. I know there are more but I just cannot think of them right now. :)

Danielle Steel : Dull, boring, boring, Zzzz

Stephanie Laurens: She's turned into another Danielle Steel, except she writes historical with more sex.

Johanna Lindsey : I will keep rereading her oldies but anything new I won't touch.

Rosemary Rogers:  An author who deserves a  category  of her own.

J. A. Krentz:  I no longer find her heroines amusing, sick of odd looking heroines with odd names...

Bertrice Small, Virginia Henley, Stephanie Laurens, Robin Schone, & Cheryl Holt: to name a few!

I can't see how anyone can dismiss every "1st person pov" without knowing if the author writes it well. I'm not saying anyone or everyone must love 1st pov, just that an author's writing style is more important to me than whether she uses 1st person pov or not. That's just me. I have no problem with a well-written book in any POV.

I read 6 of Lisa Kleypas' works and I thought I'd sworn her off, but am giving 1 more a try. Wish me luck.

I have definitely sworn off Stephanie Laurens' books. Do Not Like Her Writing Style. Tried It. no more.

I have read a book by an author, disliked it then tried others and liked them, so I am trying to be more open-minded about reading more than 1. I wasn't too excited about Julie Garwood's books, but it took me about 4 books in to realize she does have some I love. I don't have a hard and fast rule on how many I'll read before giving up, though. Depends I guess on how much I dislike the ones I read...

Nora Roberts.  I used to love her, stopped reading her for years and then picked up High Noon.  I was about 1/3 of the way through and decided I just couldn't read anymore. 

I don't like Lora Leigh either.  I tried one book and realized it was NOT for me.  :-)

Christina Dodd has been a disappointment for me as well.  Unfortunately, I still have quite a few of her books to pass along to someone that likes her.

I'm sure there are many more...

I'm to the point where it's any author that everyone swears you have to read.  I have been so disappointed by authors that everyone claims are the best.  Diana Gabaldon and  Nora Roberts are at the top of the list.  Danielle Steele lost her appeal a long time ago when all her stories started sounding the same.

Stephanie Laurens and J.R. Ward are the only ones I can think of at the moment.

Danielle Steel for sure and Nora Hess.......YUCK!

I've sworn I'd never pick up a Diana Palmer book again yet every so often Im ake the mistaken and yes still regretted it though I've heard Lawless is good so that may be the next one of hers I try! Janet Dailey I've been tempted but just can't bring myself to buy one, esp new, after the plagiarism stuff a while back(and no I didn't read up on it thoroughly just enough that I think she admitted to it) and danielle steele - I caved and gave 'the ranch' a try and hated hated hated the e nding for one woman that I don't think I'll ever ever read anotehr of her books - I cringe just seeing one of her books though there were a couple I liked enough at the time I read them but the rest I wish I didn't have in my mind ;-(

wow some of ya'll blackballed some of my favorites! at least their older books - jayne ann krentz and nora roberts! their newer stuff isn't always to taste though.

Amanda Quick - I've read a few of hers, but quit when they all seemed the same.  And I REALLY did not like the secret society-thingy.