First of all, I want to preface this by saying that if you enjoyed any of these books this is my personal opinion and I am very happy that you found a book that you love. I have worked with books since I was sixteen years old so I remember what it was like to be in a bookstore before BookTok, and now that it has been around a while I have some opinions…
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
I read this book during quarantine when I had nothing to do and while the concept could have been executed well, it just flopped. I genuinely hated the ending of this book and refuse to read anything else by the author because of it.
Anything by Colleen Hoover
I know she has sold more books than God this year, but I do not care. I do not understand the hype and find her books poorly written and her plots exceptionally problematic. I have tried reading It Ends With Us twice and have failed to get past the third or fourth chapter.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I’m sorry for all of the fae fans out there but I have not been a fantasy fan in years. This came highly recommended to me as the perfect way to get into fantasy again… I did not like it and it has scared me away yet again from reading fantasy. If you have similar views about it watch the Cindy Youtube video about it because it is truly HILARIOUS.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Again I am sorry in advance because I wanted to love this book because of other people, but it just didn’t do it for me. However, Circe is fantastic and I am excited to read the Persephone book that Miller is writing currently.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
I have never read this book but I wanted to include that this book is one that I will never read solely due to trigger warnings. While I have been told that the writing is beautiful and that the book was an experiment to see how far the author could push boundaries in her writing, I think it is a bit much. As someone who has struggled with mental health, it is just not worth risking the progress I’ve made by reading this book.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Controversial yet again, but I had to DNF this book— I just did not enjoy it and after finding out more about the author, I was glad that I only obtained a library copy and had not a purchased physical copy.