Before I blogged I picked 99% of the books I read on a whim. I’d walk through the library or the bookstore and pick up whatever looked good. Sure, it took me hours to decide on my next read, but I had no one to blame when I hated it except myself. These days I get most of my new reads via friend/blogger recommendations and it has worked amazingly for the most part! But sometimes one creeps up on me that I fully expect to love and end up fully disliking. Today I’m here to call out the people who have caused me to suffer through books I seriously wish I’d skipped, all in good fun of course! (I actually love all of you.)
THE GLITTERING COURT
Recommended by: Literally everyone
My rating: 1 star (review)
This book. What is it? It was pitched as fantasy, but it just.was.not. This book is 150% historical fiction in a weakly disguised England and the American Frontier. I don’t even understand what the author was trying to do with this giant mess of a book, but it has certainly inspired me to pay much closer attention to reviews and rely less on Goodreads genres. Because they lie. Even beyond the fact that this was definitely not fantasy, The Glittering Court has all kinds of issues, not least of which is a heroine who escapes an arranged marriage by selling herself to the highest bidder. Just… avoid.
NIL
Recommended by: Cassi
My rating: DNF (review)
This book has SUCH an interesting premise and it still makes me so, so sad that I never was able to finish it. I DNF’d it multiple times and kept trying to finish because I was actually totally intrigued to see how it ended! The problem was it just dragged on and on. And on. Once the idea of the island that people literally couldn’t leave was introduced it became extremely repetitive and, well, kind of boring. Honestly, please send spoilers if you’ve finished it because I do want to know! I just can’t seem to make it all the way through.
CONFESS
Recommended by: Grace
My rating: 1.5 stars (review)
Confess was the second book I read by Colleen Hoover and I was seriously underwhelmed. Grace wasn’t the only person to recommend Confess because pretty much everyone seems to love it! I decided to give her another shot since Confess was so popular but unfortunately it just was NOT for me. The drama and angst levels were way too high for me to handle and I guess this is how all of Colleen Hoover’s books are written. I’m glad that everyone else can enjoy her books, but this one wasn’t for me!
UNRAVEL ME
Recommended by: Cait
My rating: 1 star (review)
I actually really disliked Shatter Me, but I listened when I was told that book two was much better. I was assured that Warner made it all worth it and that the romance was the most swoon-worthy thing ever written! Warner was slightly better than the other characters in this book, but not by much. I trusted all of you! It ended up being one of the most painful books I’ve ever attempted to get through. Even worse than the characters were the endless ridiculous metaphors. Somehow I did make it to the end, but I never have had any desire to read the last book in the series.
UPROOTED
Recommended by: Jen
My rating: 2 stars (my review)
My friend who somehow knows my reading preferences better than I do and usually gives me fantastic recommendations told me that I would probably love Uprooted. I did not love Uprooted. The main character was really, really dumb. She did a lot of dumb things that made me want to slap her. The romance was also extremely weird and kind of out of nowhere. But my biggest problem with Uprooted was that there was way, way too much crammed into its 438 pages. Hate is probably too strong a word for this book, but I really didn’t like it as much as I (and others) expected.
What recommendations have your friends gotten completely wrong?
Let me know in the comments!
