Books I Hated

I feel like complaining. 

I don’t know what it is, but I just love talking about the books I hated. I love negative reviews and I love picking apart a book I disliked. It’s just a thing. I’ve talked before about writing negative reviews and it’s a topic that I often think about. So I thought I’d talk about some books that I hated in the past! Yes, it’s happening.

Disclaimer: If I hate a book you love, it doesn’t mean I hate you. It’s not an attack of your personality. I swear. I think all of you are great. Also, if I hate a book, it doesn’t mean that that book is inherently bad (well, one of them is, but whatever) or that you can’t like them. This is a self-indulgent blog and it’s all about me. So I hate it, you don’t have to. 

And now let’s talk!

1. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

I have talked on numerous occasions about how much I loathe this book. This is the only one on this list that I feel is a inherently bad book. It’s a story about three teens who end up in a psychiatric institution after a suicide attempt. And every single thing in it is handled poorly. Suicide is used as a plot device, mental health issues are HEAVILY romanticized, abuse is handled atrociously – you name it, this book ruins it. I had a very hard time reading this, because I was constantly redisappointed by the author. It just kept getting worse. So very little research went into this and personally, I don’t think books like this should get published. Also, whenever I talk about this book, I like linking to my friend Elise’s review of this, because it’s brilliant and way more eloquent than I can be. So please check it out! And don’t ever read this.

2. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This book is one I really hated in retrospect. When I first read it, I was super conflicted about it. I felt like I was reading it wrong or something, since everyone loved it, but I just kept feeling super uncomfortable about it. Once I was in the online book community more, I realized that I was making excuses for this book, ones that it did not deserve, This book is really ableist and it treats people with disabilities really badly and ultimately makes a case of those people’s lives not being worth it, which I find atrocious. You can read my full thoughts here, but yeah. Too problematic for me to handle.

3. Shatter Me by Taherah Mafi 

This is one of the biggest disappointments of my reading life. I was so excited to read this, I was ready to love Warner and I was beyond prepared to be a huge fan of this. But I hated it. This is marketed as a dystopia, but it’s actually a romance. And I did not want to read that. Plus, the romance was super bad and awkward. The writing was over the top flowery, without having a point. It’s purple prose that makes actual zero sense:

“My jaw is dangling from my shoelace.”

I don’t know what that means?! Does anyone?

There’s also none to very little world building here and it’s very focused on characters that I couldn’t stand. Juliette is annoying, Adam is annoying, Warner has annoyingly underused potential. It’s all bad. But that’s not the worst thing. The worst thing is that I constantly want to reread this to see if the series gets better or at least gives any sort of satisfaction, but I objectively know I am gonna hate it. It’s a problem.

4. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This is one of the biggest sins I committed in the book community, but I can’t stand Sarah J. Maas’ books. I think this book is the single most overrated books ever. The way people spoke about this, I was expecting a really amazing heroine, an amazing world and magic and characters, or at least good writing. I got none of that. First of all, Celaena is so annoying and contradictory, it’s not even funny. For example, she is supposedly a really strong, capable assassin, but what is the first thing she thinks when she is brought out of SLAVERY into the king’s court? “Oh, no, I am dirty in front of a prince“. Jesus, get your priorities straight. The plot is handled poorly, the characters are handled poorly, and Sarah J. Maas’ overuse of hyphens is seriously funny. How many – times – can – you – use – a – freaking – hyphen – please – make – it – stop.

My biggest problem with her writing is that I find it incredibly manipulative. I think she uses emotional manipulation in such a obvious way, and I read spoilers for the whole series, and it just keeps getting worse. I can’t deal with that. I spoke a little bit about it HERE, in my post on manipulation, so you can check that out. But yeah, really disappointing.

5. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Again, a series that is so hyped up that I could not get why. This is so poorly written. Seriously. I find it weird that this gets so much praise. The dialogue is especially bad, clumsy and unpleasant to read. And the language tends to be really inconsistent throughout. Also, the characters are really stereotypical and one-dimensional and I had so much trouble liking any of them. The biggest thing for me with this is that the world building is super underwhelming. Not a lot to it. I couldn’t really visualize anything about the world and it really dampened the reading experience.

6. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by whoever

I hate this book. I hate everything it stands for. It messes so much with canon and not just world wise and plot wise, it also handles some characters really poorly and makes them something they are not. Moreover, there’s queer baiting and it’s just boring. It’s also super manipulative and plays into your love of the Harry Potter books and the nostalgia those books carry and uses that to manipulate you into coming to terms with stupid things the book does. Really not into it.

 

And so those are my most prominently hated books. Sorry if some of them are your favorites, but you are more than welcome to hate on some books I love. I would love to hear your most hated books! What did you not like about them? Let me know!

xxx

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