Has anyone else had this trouble in a cross-genre book of any type?

Yep, there are a few of them I just couldn't get into for one reason or another. That is part of the reason I fell way behind on my review schedule. The only example I can think off the top of my head is the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I enjoyed the first few (heavy on killing vampires) but she kind of lost me after that when the books became more about different pairings of supernatural sex addicts and the effects of their powers on each other.