I read a lot of amazing books in 2017 (like so many I’m struggling to narrow it down to get a post up), but unfortunately I also read a lot of Not So Great ones. I don’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings with this post. If you loved these books then I’m really glad you were able to get something from it that I didn’t! I figured I’d post my least favourite books first so I can end things on a positive note with my favourites from the year!
Cover = Goodreads
Title = My Review
BOOKS I WANTED MORE FROM
Final Girls by Riley Sager – This book featured one of my favourite tropes ever (the Final Girl trope) so I was really excited to read it. However, it fell incredibly short. Nothing really held my interest, it was predictable and I didn’t like the way it portrayed mental illness.
Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie – This anthology about villains was one I was really excited for because a lot of my favourite BookTubers were collaborating, however none of the villains even felt like villains. A lot of the stories were super boring and the only ones I really enjoyed were, to no one’s surprise, by Adam Silvera and Victoria Schwab.
There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins – Okay I feel like this was more my fault than the books and I probably put too high of an expectation on it. I knew going into this that Stephanie Perkins is mostly a YA contemporary-romance writer, but I was still expecting this to be a lot more darker considering it was about someone killing a bunch of high school students. I was convinced I was going to love this because it was like someone took everything I ever wanted and made it into a book. That plot felt more like an afterthought to a romance though and I was left feeling super disappointed.
Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas – After reading and absolutely loving Abigail Haas’ other book Dangerous Girls I was really excited to read this. It was definitely a let down in comparison though. Whilst Dangerous Girls kept me on the edge of my seat Dangerous Boys was like nothing more than pretentious male characters and an annoying love triangle.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – I can’t believe I’m saying this considering how much I love the Six of Crows duology, but Shadow and Bone just bored me? It took me forever to read and I had zero interest in ANY of the characters. I’m honestly so glad I read SOC first because I felt like this could have really put me off picking up the books.
The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre – A love me a good Fucked Up book. They’re my favourite and considering so many of my favourite people in the community LOVED this book I thought I would too, but nah. It was a huge Miss. I appreciated the inner turmoil, but everything else just felt like unnecessary filler. I know it’s an erotica and I’m all for female characters embracing their sexuality and I loved that Deanna was confident in hers, but it felt so incredibly oversexualised at times. Plus there was A LOT of medication shaming. You don’t need to build someone’s coping method up whilst tearing down others.
NAH, SON. THIS IS NOT OKAY.
The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel – This book romanticised and used sexual abuse as shock value and it made me so incredibly uncomfortable. Again, I am all for books that talk about difficult topics. I LOVE THEM, but they need to be handled with respect. The way everything was handled in this felt so Icky. Plus there were throwaway lines about how a character would rather commit suicide than be married to this particular woman. It was full of girl on girl hate, misogyny and unhealthy relationships. If y’all want a read an actual decent book about dark, sexual abuse then may I please direct your attention to LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi – I know a lot of people had a problem with the writing in this book, but I actually loved it. What I had a problem was with the icky behaviour that Warner displayed towards Juliette. It made me so fucking uncomfortable. He was constantly touching her without her consent and was just a massive fucking creepy asshole to her. I’m just so fucking over that sorta shit happening in YA and being romanticised. I know he apparently “changes” but that doesn’t excuse what happens in this book and how it was NEVER really called out???
The Whole of my World by Nicole Hayes – I was really excited for this because it was an Oz YA that featured Australian Football League which like HELLO EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED but there was however this very weird relationship between the main character who was 14/15 and a much older male character who I think was in his 30s? Look, I totally get the young girl thinks she wants the guy she shouldn’t. TRUST ME. I have been in that position, but not once was it mentioned that this guy was doing something wrong? Again there was lots of girl on girl hate and the main female character was the one blamed for being in this kinda relationship? PLUS ON A REALLY PETTY NOTE THERE WAS CONSTANT DIGS AT WESTERN AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL I’M NOT HERE FOR THAT NOISE.
SEND THESE STRAIGHT TO THE TRASH FIRES OF HELL
With Malice by Eileen Cook – In this the MC is being investigated because she’s in car that drives off a cliff that kills her best friend and honestly reading this made ME want to drive off a cliff. This book is full of ableism, racism, misogyny and fat shaming. Want an amazing travel thriller that will keep you up until 5am?? Then read DANGEROUS GIRLS by Abigail Haas.
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus – As someone who always advocates for YA thrillers I was really excited about this, but boy that excitement was incredibly short lived. If you know me then you know how much I despise this book and the messages it portrays about suicide and mental illness. It totally glamourises suicide, uses it as a revenge plot (A LOT worse than 13 Reasons Why does but no one seems to come for this book like they do 13RW). In this book suicide gets treated like terrorism and I’m so not here for it. I actually had a post planned where I go more in depth (again) about this book but life got in the way and I have not had the energy to sit there and talk about a book that really hurt me. I really advise you to go through the 1 star reviews on Goodreads to hear more on why this book is the Absolute Worst.
So there you have it! My least fave reads of 2017. Do we have any common?
What were your most disappointing reads this year? Link me to your post if you have one!
I hope you’re all having a fantastic day.
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You are pretty much the sole reason why I still haven’t reviewed The Roanoke Girls 😛 I got it back around when it first came out from a US reviewers’ program but I just have not wanted to read it after hearing about the issues you had with it. You also influenced me to take One of Us Is Lying off my TBR (and thank god for that because I’ve since heard so many awful things about it).
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I feel like it got some things right with how the main character struggled with why she was the only member of the family not abused, but otherwise everything was so awful??? And, yay! Good decision 😉 The fact that it’s being adapted into a TV show makes me so mad, haha.
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Saaaame. Like just hearing everything that people have said about it, I really do not understand why it’s gotten so much praise. There are so many other books that are more deserving of an adaptation.
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Riiiiiiiight. I feel like it’s people not being aware which is ok to a degree because there’s still things I miss, but it’s also confusing because people constantly call 13 Reasons Why out for the same thing??? and I feel like that book has done a bit of good at least whereas this book could seriously hurt someone???
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Yeeeeeah, it seems really hypocritical to me lol
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It’s always so great to see which books disappointed others and why we should sometimes stay away from them. I loved the Shatter me series overall, but I haveto say that you’re right, this behaviour should probably have been called out in the first book. I read these years and years ago, so… I’ll have to re-read them at some point as well 🙂
Lovely post! 🙂 I hope you’ll have an amazing reading year xx
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Yes, I always find it so interesting!! I definitely plan on continuing the Shatter Me series because I’m intrigued, haha. I feel like I read it at a time where I’m noticing a lot more behaviour that isn’t acceptable? If I had read it when it was first released I probably wouldn’t have even second guessed anything, haha.
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Same here. I’m noticing more and more things. The power of the book community, haha.
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Oh I love the first three pink covers 😊 but yes we have one in common, namely The Girl in 6E. Now I don’t read erotica so it won’t surprise you it was a no no for me. I didn’t know it was such a read of course or I wouldn’t have picked it up but I read another novel from this author before this one which was better, with real chemistry and holding out until the end 😊
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Haha, same!! It’s a shame the books weren’t as pretty as the covers 😂 I’m actually still really tempted to buy the paperback of Final Girls because it has pink edges and I want it purely for aesthetic reasons. And yeah, I didn’t mind the erotica stuff too much but it just felt like it was TOO overdone at times??? And the characters all felt really flat
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There’s Someone Inside Your House is still on my TBR and I’m hoping I’ll still enjoy it because after reading a few reviews I know what to expect and it’s more romance than horror… I loved the Shatter Me trilogy, but you’re right that Warner’s behaviour in book one should have been called out and not romanticised. I also loved the Grisha trilogy, but that’s mostly because of a certain character who has become my favorite character ever and he only appears in book two 🙂 But I do agree that Six of Crows is the far superior series. And I’m not even thinking about reading One Of Us Is Lying anymore, not here for that horrible mental illness rep or glamourizing suicide.
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I hope you enjoy it more than I did!! I think I might have liked it more if I didn’t put a heap of unrealistic expectations on it?? I wasn’t expecting the murder plot to take such a backseat, haha. I definitely plan on continuing the Grisha trilogy!! I’m hoping I like the next books more.
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I was looking forward to reading Because You Love to Hate Me when I first heard about it and thought that the idea was genius, but I have seen way too many mixed reviews to even think about reading it. If I do decide to read it, I’ll see if my library has it on eBook that way I can just read the stories that people loved.
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Yeah, it was a shame how underwhelming it was! That’s definitely what I suggest doing 🙂
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I read Shadow and Bone before I picked up Six of Crows which I think is probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it a fair bit. Looking back I think the Six of Crows duology is way way better. Also I’m sorry Because You Love to Hate Me was a let down for you Lauren, again I still really enjoyed that one but I guess we can’t all like the same books (at least you enjoyed V.E. Schwab’s and Adam Silvera’s contributions, those were two of my favourites as well).
I haven’t read a lot of the books on you list, and I have to say seeing them on your list isn’t really convincing me to pick them up either! 😀
Great post, hopefully 2018 will be filled with plenty more amazing books (and less disappointing ones!) 🙂 ❤
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Thanks, Beth!!
Despite not loving Shadow and Bone I definitely plan on continuing the series so hopefully I enjoy the other books better. I’m glad you enjoyed it and BYLTHM more than I did!! I did appreciate how morally grey a lot of the characters were, but I think I was more after some straight up villains??
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That’s all right, and oh that’s good to hear. I’ll keep my fingers crossed you do enjoy the other books more.
Yeah I guess if you were looking for straight up villains BYLTHM wasn’t going to be the perfect book for you. 🙂
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With Malice was my only DNF of 2016, and holy I HATED THAT BOOK. The characters were just so painful to read about, and I just couldn’t push myself through it! Because You Love to Hate Me was also my disappointing read of 2017… I just didn’t connect with the stories or the characters (except of course Queen V.E!). Hopefully 2018 is filled with a lot of awesome books!!!
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IT WAS SO TERRIBLE OMG I WISH I COULD ERASE IT FROM MY MIND. Ahhh yeah BYLTHM was just so underwhelming which was a shame because it had a lot of potential.
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I totally agree with There’s Someone Inside Your House! I was expecting so much from that book and I was really disappointed.
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Ahhh right 😪😪 it was such a shame because it had so much potential to be one of my favourite reads of the year, haha.
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I know me too! I expected so much from it and I was so disappointed.
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Can’t believe I just said the exact same thing as my first comment! Haha
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Hahaha, love it!! I’ve definitely done the same thing before 😂 and it’s so true it probably needs to be said twice anyway 😂
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Haha I’m glad I’m not the only one, I felt like a right idiot😂
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I love thrillers, but a lot use mental illness as a plot twists and I’m so sick of it! Unfortunately, not many people mention that in their reviews because “spoiler!”, so I’m thankful you do ❤
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Yeah, it’s really disheartening to see! And no worries ♥ it’s something that definitely needs to be stated. I don’t get people who are more concerned about spoilers than people’s well beings?? and especially with One of Us is Lying like I’m genuinely worried about what that book could do to some people who are feeling guilty about their suicidal thoughts and/or ideals.
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I had the same problem with There’s Someone Inside Your House! I also thought the killer was revealed far too early, which kind of ruined the surprise factor. It did start off promising though.
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Yeah, the thriller/mystery aspect definitely wasn’t put very well across!! It’s a shame because it had a lot of potential 😪
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I agree with you on Shadow & Bone. I read it because everybody loves it, but I was left baffled. It just seemed very average.
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Yeah, I was expecting to be totally blown away but it was so underwhelming!!
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I really want to read something by Leigh Bardugo this year and Final Girls has been on my radar for so long idk why I haven’t read it yet but sorry it was disappointing.
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Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom were amazing 😍😍 I can’t recommend those two enough!! Ahh yeah I think I just went in with way too high expectations for Final Girls!! I hope you enjoy it more than I did.
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Sorry you had so many disappointing reads in 2017! Personally I did like Shadow and Bone, Final Girls, and With Malice. I haven’t read any of the other ones, but some of them are on my to read list. I hope I won’t be disappointed as well! Good luck with your reading this year, I hope you have way more awesome reads than disappointing ones! ❤
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I’m glad you were able to enjoy them more than I did!! I wish I could have loved them more, but things just didn’t click for me unfortunately 😪
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The only thing I’ve read from your list is One of Us is Lying, and I gotta agree with you. I actually liked it more than you (I think, can’t even remember now what my review said… which is probably pretty bad, huh?) but it definitely left a lot to be desired and was not the level of thrilling that I wanted.
And so sad about Shadow and Bone. I still haven’t read Six of Crows (probably never will) but I know how much everyone worshipped that book and I remember people saying that Shadow and Bone was pretty damn good too. Are you going to read the sequel?
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Haha, no!!! There’s honestly so many books where I’ve gone ……wait what happened??? what did I even think about it??? 😂 there’s just so many sometimes things blur together!! It was super disappointing because it could have had a lot of potential to be really good.
Ahhh, same. I was expecting to love it because Six of Crows was INCREDIBLE. I think I will give the next book in the series a go because I did enjoy the concept. I’m hoping it picks up a bit and I enjoy it a lot more!!
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I was really intrigued by the premise of The Roanoke Girls, but that sounds awful, definitely going to give that one a miss! Might check out Living Dead Girl though. I wasn’t super enthralled by Shadow and Bone either… I gave it four stars, but I actually think it was more like a three. I tried reading the second book but got really bored and have DNFd for the time being. Will I still understand Six of Crows if I don’t read them? I have a copy and want to read it, but I was attempting to read the Grisha trilogy first. Now I’m pretty sure that won’t happen!
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Yeah same! It’s a shame that it wasn’t able to treat the topics with a bit more respect :// it could have been a great book about hard hitting topics but instead it just treated everything like shock value. Ahh sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you either! And I read SOC/CK without reading any of the Grisha books. It took me a little bit to understand the world, but otherwise I was totally fine with it!! I think there are some spoilers for the Grisha books but if you don’t plan on continuing them then that’s not really going to be a problem!
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Ahh I hate it when books use things like that for shock value. Like when abuse or rape is a plot twist, it just doesn’t sit right. Like you said, we need to give these topics more respect, and explore them properly, and not sensationally.
Ahh okay awesome, in that case, I might ditch the Grisha trilogy and just go straight to Six of Crows, I am desperate to pick it up as I’ve heard really amazing things about it!
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I heard a lot of mediocre things about There’s Someone Inside Your House… apparently it doesn’t meet a lot of people’s expectations. I hate Warner in Shatter Me, and I NEVER EVER on board with his “change”. He is manipulative af and I despise him.
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