Disappointing Reads of 2017

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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