Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Top 5 Wednesday: Most Disappointing Reads of 2018


Hey guys, we're back with another Top 5 Wednesday! This week's theme is Most Disappointing Reads of 2018, which could be a bit of controversial topic. I just want to put a disclaimer that I'm not bashing on anyone for liking these books, but they either weren't for me or didn't live up to the hype. I'm also not hating on the authors...anything I say is strictly about the book itself. That being said, there are books on this list I hate and books that I actually really like, but these are my disappointing reads of 2018. 

At number 5, we have Legendary by Stephanie Garber. I did enjoy this book but I didn't think that it lived up to the first one. My enjoyment could have been tampered by the fact that the e-arc I was reading had really bad formatting and that prevented me from getting sucked in, but I felt like the plot moved slowly and there wasn't as much "wow" factor as the first one until the very end. I just want to reiterate one more time, though, that I did enjoy this book and I'm still very excited for the last one, I just thought that my expectations weren't met. You can find my review here

For number 4, we have A Wild and Unremarkable Thing by Jen Castleberry. I had high hopes going into this book. It sounded amazing and fun and fantastical, all things that are right up my alley. But then I read it and it was an honest-to-god struggle. I rarely say I hate books but I hated this book, which is really sad because the author is a super nice person and I really wanted to like it. I feel as if this could have been improved with a lot more editing and beta-readers, but it fell seriously flat for me. You can find my review here

Coming in at number 3, we have White Stag by Kara Barbieri which actually just released this month. I was lucky enough to read an early copy of it and I had some high hopes going into it. They weren't met. I will say, though, that looking back on the events of the book and the writing and the idea of the characters and plot, I should have enjoyed this book more. I liked the writing style, I liked the plot direction, I liked the characters for the most part. But I didn't connect. I didn't get sucked in. I felt as if this could have gone through another round of heavy editing and it could have been amazing. You can find my review here

At number 2, I picked Lies You Never Told Me by Jennifer Donaldson. This was a YA thriller that released in 2018 that I was super excited to get a review copy of. And I hated it. I didn't feel thrilled, I hated or was indifferent about most of the characters, and I just felt like it was a below-average book. You can find my full, rant-filled review here

Lastly, at number 1, we have The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Everyone seemed to love this book. Everyone was raving about how amazing it was with political intrigue, faeries, and about how much they loved Cardan. I'll be honest, when I finished it I was thinking, "is this really the book everyone is raving about?" I gave it 4 stars initially because I was influenced by everyone else's hype. But then the more I thought about it, I kept dropped my rating until it finally settled at 1 star. Although, I'm thinking of raising it to 1.5-2 stars. This was just not the book for me. I felt like I was ready a shitty high school drama set in a faerieland. I do think, though, that people interpret books in different ways and due to my own personal experiences, I just could not get behind the justification/cycle of abuse that went on. I knew Cardan would be cruel, but from the way everyone was talking him up I expected him to have some redeeming qualities. But no, he's got the emotional range of a potato and he is the actual worst. Sorry for this rant, but if you want more of my thoughts, you can find my rant review here



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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