The YA Section of Amazon

Today, I hung out in the YA section of Amazon. It's not quite the same as hanging out in the YA section of Barnes & Nobles or Half-Price Books or BookPeople, but this is the 21st century. I browsed through the top free books and the top paid books and copied down the blurbs to find things I liked or didn't like.

Liked:

• Stories not involving awkward girls who meet new, mysterious, attractive guys at school that they've a) been dreaming about, b) can't stay away from, or c) both. {I say that tongue-in-cheek, but I was shocked by the disproportionate number of paranormal romances. Question: Is this what everyone wants to read? Or what everyone wants to write? Just curious.} Anyway, I'll be straight-up honest: any book that didn't have to do with vampires/angels/demons/werewolves/mysterious family curses instantly caught my attention, even if it wasn't something I would normally read.
• Unique first lines. Anything that felt different, something I hadn't thought of before. Sometimes it had to do with the story:

  "Welcome to Oakmont Academy. Study hard, make friends, and whatever you do, don't get lost in the Metaverse." -- The Reintegrators, by Will Weisser

   Sometimes it had to do with the characters:
  

  "After being killed in WW2, Lt. Danny Walsh arrives in Purgatory..." -- The Transylvania Flying Squad of Detectives, by M. L. Dunn

• Information. The blurbs that told me what the book was about and who the book was about and what genre it belonged in {more or less} and how much language/violence/sex to expect were my favorite. I'm browsing through 100 free e-books! Just the facts, please...

Didn't Like:

• Those weird, bold headers. There were a few good ones--The Reintegrators being one of them--but most of them were pointless, and they distracted my eye from the information. {Apparently these things are called shoutlines, and a Harlequin blurb writer talks about them--and other blurb things--in this post.}
• Descriptions made up of reviews. While I care what other people have to say about the book, reviews and quotes from reviews should be brief, few, and preferably below the description of the story. {If you have to put one above the summary, make it one...and make it count.}
• Same thing goes for awards and the bestseller lists the book has graced. Choose a good one and stick it up top, if you must. All the rest go beneath.
• Long descriptions. If it takes up more than my screen, I start skimming. And I don't think that was the goal.

What about you? What catches your eye when you're browsing book descriptions? What turns you off?

Other blurb-writing links:
Self-Publishing: How to Write a Blurb
5 Tips on How To Write a Blurb For Your Book
SELF PUBLISHING AN EBOOK - PART 2 - Writing A Catchy Book Blurb
The 5 core elements of a book blurb (and why you should know them)
How to Write a Book Blurb for Your Fiction Book {and there is a difference between non-fic and fic blurbs}
How to Write Good Blurbs and Back Pages for Your Book
Gotcha Blurbs: Easy and Fun To Write