This may seem a little mean, however, it’s become a tradition in the New Year to talk about both the good and bad reads of the previous. Thankfully, there wasn’t many books to choose from, the majority having quite high reviews. Nevertheless, there were a few that just didn’t interest me enough.
It | Stephen King
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery, Adult, Paranormal, Suspense, Novels
Contains: Blood/Gore, Murder, Racism, Homophobia, Death, Violence, Anger, Strong Language, Abuse, Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Sexual Content, Bullying
One of the main reasons why I found this read so disappointing is the length, expecting an epic thriller that gripped me throughout. However, what I experienced was a 1400 pages of unnecessary anecdotes with the main plot being able to nicely fill a 400 page novel. I expected to be terrified by the existence of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but instead the majority of the novel was about the Losers Club growing old together. It was a little disappointing.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before | Jenny Han
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Fiction
Contains: Death, Strong Language, Anger, Alcohol, Bullying
I really wanted to like this book, I really did. There had been so much hype surrounding the series, especially after the success of the Netflix adaptation, but I was just left disappointed. Lara Jean was simply a bad protagonist. She’s immature, even for a sixteen year old, and the most irritatingly privileged protagonist I’ve ever read. The other characters also fell kinda flat for me, continuing the stream of disappointment until finally reaching the end of the novel. The plot itself was also quite slow paced, even for a book of only 400 pages, but it could have been told as a short story rather than a three part series. From what I can gather anyway, I don’t think I’ll be reading on to find out.
What If It’s Us | Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Romance
Contains: Implied Sexual Content, Racism, Homophobia, Anger, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Panic Attacks, Strong Language, Crude Humour
If you’ve been following this blog for a while now you probably know that I have a difficult relationship with Becky Albertalli’s works; there’s always something that just doesn’t hook me. However, I adore Adam Silvera’s writing so when this book was announced I just knew that I had to give it a try. The outcome was neither good nor bad. The plot itself was where the story lacked, there seeming to be nothing happening outside of the relationship between the two characters. It left me feeling a little unfulfilled, which is why I think this book deserves a spot on this list.
Wayward Son | Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Romance
Contains: Strong Language, Violence, Blood/Gore, Anger
The novel as a whole was slightly underwhelming. Areas that didn’t interest me were drawn out, yet the areas that did hold my attention were nothing more than a couple of paragraphs long. Overall, it was a disappointing read. I expected further relationship dynamics with a splash of magical road trips, but instead I got a lot of confusing action sequences and a protagonist that faded into the background of his own novel.
Broken | Nicola Haken
Genre: Romance, LGBT, Contemporary
Contains: Strong Language, Sexual Content, Crude Humour, Alcohol, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Self Injury, Suicide, Attempted Suicide, Psychiatric Hospitals
This book was one that came to me at a difficult time, leaving me to take many months to finally complete it. The first protagonist was someone who I adored, but the second left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not convinced that half of this novel was necessary, needing only one narrative to get the point across of the importance of mental health. The second narrative was difficult to read, as expected, but the countless pages of guilt and self-hatred became tedious and overly done. It made me dislike this book for a while.
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