Least Favorite Books 2019 🍵

Hello fellow bookworms  ⚡️ It’s that time of the year to also reflect on the books that I sadly didn’t end up liking. It’s the case that you cannot like all the books you read and this year there were quite a few books that ended up disappointing me or rubbing me the wrong way. Like the last years, I’m including 1 and 2 star-rated books, as anything above that means that I genuinely enjoyed reading the book. I’ve provided a quick explanation for each book and you can also click the cover to get to my full review in case you want to read more about my thoughts about these books. This time I’ve also included several books by mention only as I didn’t have that much to say about them, but you can still read the Reviews linked on the covers! Finishing off with my obligatory disclaimer, that all these are my personal opinions about the books listed below and that this doesn’t mean that you cannot like the books!

Time to spill the tea 😂🍵

• Check out the year before’s books ⚡ Least Favorite Books of 2017
• Check out last year’s books ⚡ Least Favorite Books of 2018

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B (Teresa Toten

⚡️ My least favorite book this year ⚡️

This … just wasn’t good. I rarely give out 1-star ratings (this is the only one of this year), but here I could barely find anything that I liked about the book. The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B went wrong on so many levels for me and had a lot of content that bothered me, making it a chore to finish. I honestly was like “oh no, this is not going to be great” from chapter 1 when the insta-love was introduced, but I hoped that the book would get better. It didn’t. The only two things I even liked about the book was the OCD representation and the family relationships that Adam had. The romance, however, was problematic (from instant obsession to lowkey stalking) and I didn’t like how the main character’s disdain for other mental illnesses. Overall, the book that made me the most mad this year!

Empress of a Thousand Skies (Rhoda Belleza)

⚡️ Failed Reading Expectations ⚡️

This one was sadly a bit of a disappointment for me because there was a ton of potential, but sadly none of it was used, making this a bit of a chore to get through. I didn’t enjoy my reading experience with this book at all and kind of regret having bought it and having gotten the sequel. From the right beginning, my reading expectations were failed as the book didn’t deliver what made me intrigued by it in the first place. The characters barely had an interaction and overall didn’t excite me, especially as they were also very inconsistent. I’m … not motivated at all to get through the second book right now … as I just don’t care about the story any characters to be honest.

To Kill a Kingdom (Alexandra Christo)

⚡️ One-Dimensional Characters & Flat Romance ⚡️

Awkward silence, because this book was such a disappointment for me 😅 I was actually very excited to read it, because I heard such praise and the idea behind the story IS good, but the execution sadly didn’t manage to convince me at all. 😥 In theory, this should have anything I’d want, but the characters felt one-dimensional, making even the hate to love romance feel flat and the banter lifeless. From plot to worldbuilding, nothing was much fleshed out and left me feeling uninterested in getting to know more about the story. I didn’t click with this at all and in the end, I just forced myself to finish it in the hopes that I could put the book aside.

As Kismet Would Have It (Sandhya Menon)

⚡️ Not the Novella I was hoping for ⚡️

Sadly this novella/sequel was totally not for me and I wish I had skipped it, as I didn’t end up enjoying it. This might be personal because I like Dimple & Rishi but wasn’t the biggest fan of the entire marriage discussion that takes up the entire story. I know that it made sense for them to approach this topic and deal with it realistically, but I wasn’t a fan of that being the kind of extra content we got. I also wasn’t that happy with the way it was handled, as Rishi was being a bit pushy about it. I don’t know why this discussion had to be right now and was pushed to the center of their relationship. I don’t know why he couldn’t accept Dimple’s different beliefs and immediately got so self-conscious.

Again, but Better (Christine Riccio)

⚡️ Very weak & disappointing ⚡️

I had high hopes for Again, but better due to its very cool premise, that sadly were disappointed by the actual execution. From weak characters, a relationship based on cheating and the very cliché writing to constant references and a strange sudden change of genre, the entire story felt flat and off for me. I was a fan of the college and travel themes and got through the book rather quickly, as it is fast-paced, but found too many issues with the story to truly enjoy it. A large part of the book filled me with second-hand embarrassment, as the main character was too quirky and felt too much like a self-insert for me to take her seriously. Overall, the book was incredibly weak and I fail to see how it ended up in numerous awards when there are many more incredible contemporary books that I wish had gotten more love 😞

Of Fire and Stars (Audrey Coulthrust)

⚡️ Slow-paced and overall ‘meh’ ⚡️

I wanted to love this so badly 😭 However, the plot was so slow for some reason. I didn’t get attached to the story at all and it became chore trying to get through the story, as none of the plot points excited me. My feelings were basically ‘meh’ during the entire novel. Maybe the book just wasn’t for me, because I was happy to see a spin of the arranged marriage trope (by having the princess fall in love with the prince’s sister). I wish the worldbuilding had been better developed, as it left a lot to be desired and didn’t end up gripping me at all. I also felt like the book dragged a bit in places and made it difficult to get through for me.

The Witch Hunter (Virginia Boecker)

⚡️ Mediocre and disappointing ⚡️

I was SO down to finally read another witchy book, but The Witch Hunter was incredibly mediocre and had some issues that made it hard to get through. There was potential, but sadly it wasn’t used at all. I definitely won’t be reading the sequel/conclusion, which is sad because I hoped to find more books focusing on witches to enjoy. The problems begin with underdeveloped characters and lots of telling about them, making it feel like I was spoon-fed how I should feel about them. It also made me uncomfortable how rape was included as a plot point, but then brushed aside and never acknowledged again. I also couldn’t get through the plot and some loyalties didn’t make sense to me as well.

The Beautiful (Renée Ahdieh)

⚡️ Incredibly Slow & Not enough Vampires ⚡️

No one is sadder than me that I didn’t like The Beautiful. I adored Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath and the Dawn Duology and had high hopes for her brining back vampires into YA! However, the book didn’t end up impressing me and it took me long to finish because it was easy to put down and harder to motivate myself to pick it up again. I’m all conflicted about it because I’m happy that Ahdieh got to write a vampire story with an Asian lead character. Still, I didn’t enjoy the book no matter how much I wanted to. There was too much focus on beautiful writing and atmosphere over character and plot development. Overall, this made it hard to connect to the characters and the story incredibly slow. Also: the world building was weak and the vampires barely there.

10 Blind Dates (Ashley Elston)

⚡️ Underdeveloped and too rushed ⚡️

Unpopular Opinion incoming (it seems like everyone but me liked this), because this was a let-down. I was excited for all the Christmas fun, but the book as a whole felt so underdeveloped. I can barely tell you what defined our main character and there were SO many characters in general, that it was hard to care about anyone. Not to mention that the whole book felt rushed and the dates were over in the blink of an eye, so I never got a feel for the atmosphere. All in all, it was almost a chore to finish this book, because I never got attached to any of the characters. It feels like I had such a different reading experience from everyone, as I didn’t get the cozy, wholesome feelings 😢

Other Books I didn’t like this year

 

• The Library of Fates (Aditi Khorana
• The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis)
• Book Elements (Stefanie Hasse)
• Warm Bodies (Isaac Marion)

Have you read any books on my list? What is your least favorite book of the year? ⚡️

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