Most Disappointing Books of 2015 So Far

Since tomorrow’s Top Ten Tuesday is going to be focused on the top ten books I’ve read in 2015 so far, I thought today I’d focus on the most disappointing books. These aren’t going to necessarily be the lowest rated books (though most of them are), but also ones that I was looking forward to and felt let down by.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. The cover is so intriguing. The reviews were glowing. This was probably my most anticipated read of the year and it was…blah. The pacing was slow, the characters were not well-developed, and I was just bored. The link leads to my spoiler filled review if you want more specifics, but this book was a big disappointment for me. The saving grace was the final action sequence and the ending was interesting enough that I MIGHT read the next book.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. Another pretty cover that got my hopes up. I honestly can’t remember much about this book other than I was really looking forward to it and found it pretty boring. And forgettable, apparently.

Vendetta by Catherine Doyle. I’ve seen almost nothing but 4 or 5 star reviews on Vendetta and I just can’t understand it. This book was just absurd. It was unbelievable and over the top and the writing was kind of immature.

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han. I really enjoyed the first book in this duology, but I found this one really underwhelming. I felt it tried to be too many things and because of that lacked focus. The pacing was choppy and the writing was uneven. I thought the whole thing felt like little kids trying to be grown-ups and it made a lot of the dialogue cringe-worthy to me.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. While the book got better as it went along, it was nowhere near as good as I wanted it to be. The main character was very unlikable and not in a fun “I love to hate her” kind of way. I’ve heard this referred to as “this year’s Gone Girl” and that is exactly why I hate book comparisons.

The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister. Everything about this sounded like it would be the kind of book that’s perfect for me. But it wasn’t. I felt like I was supposed to be tricked along the way and shocked at the ending. However, I guessed the ending long before it was revealed and found much of the story leading up to it to be slow and drawn out. This was not the mind-bending surprise I was hoping for.

The Wrong Side of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne. Probably my most anticipated book after Red Queen and it ended up being just ok for me. I’ve seen pretty much nothing but perfect reviews on it, but a good deal of it really annoyed me. I pretty much hated the first quarter or so of it and then it slowly got better. The main character drove me nuts for much of the story, as well.

What about you? What books have you found most disappointing this year? Do you agree with any of my choices? Or did you love any of the ones that disappointed me?

Review: P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han

 

Synopsis from Good Reads:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

I’ve been looking forward to this book for so long and unfortunately I found it very disappointing!

I haven’t re-read the first book since the first time I read it so I may be remembering wrong, but I thought it was a very cute book and I found Lara Jean’s naiveté kind of charming. That’s not to say I didn’t have some issues with the book, but over all I thought it was adorable.

I feel like P.S. I Still Love You suffered from trying to be too much, without every really defining itself. It acted like a “cause” book for awhile, calling attention to slut shaming and the double standard between males and females when it comes to sex. It had a bit of a love triangle/love square (but not with the person you would expect) and it didn’t take up the majority of the book like I thought it would (not that that’s really a bad thing, though). There were a lot of scenes and dialogue where it almost seemed more like a middle grade or very young end of the YA spectrum book, but then there were other scenes and language that seemed more appropriate for the more mature YA crowd. It made so many parts of the book just seem so awkward. It was kind of the book equivalent of a little girl playing dress up and instead of playing house, plays Sex in the City. They tried very hard to sound grown up, but instead just come across cringe-worthy.

The flow was kind of choppy, as well. There would be really random scenes of Lara Jean and her sisters or Lara Jean and her friends at the nursing home that just didn’t really seem to add anything at all to the story.

The book wasn’t all bad, though. There were still some cute scenes between Lara Jean and Peter, though not as many I would have liked. Her relationship with her sisters is solid again, which is nice to see. The lack of Josh is kind of surprising, but I liked the addition of John.

Overall, I found P.S. I Still Love You to be very underwhelming. It was not at all the book I was expecting it to be. I feel like it could have been much more focused. Perhaps the story was trying to combat the critics of the first book who thought Lara Jean was way too naïve, but unfortunately her “growth” in this book just made for an awkward read. However, fans of Han will probably still enjoy it and if you’ve read the first one, you might enjoy this one, too.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 2. Stars

Top Ten Tuesday: Sequels I Can’t Wait To Get

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is: Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait To Get. I thought this would be the easiest top ten list ever for me to do, but going through my TBR list, a lot of my favorite series finished this year or last year. However, there are still plenty of sequels to look forward to!

1. Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles 3.5) by Marissa Meyer. January 27, 2015.

2. The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines #6) by Richelle Meade. February 10, 2015.

3. P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han. (No cover yet!!) April 21, 2015.

4. The Bone Season #3 by Samantha Shannon – No cover, title, or release day yet! But I recently just finished The Mime Order and I’m dyyyying for the next one!

5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Boys #3) by Maggie Stiefvater. October 21, 2014. This is already out, but I still haven’t read it yet!

6. The Boy with the Hidden Name (Otherworld #2) by Skylar Dorset. December 2, 2014.

7. Invaded (Alienated #2) by Melissa Landers. February 3, 2015.

8. The Boy Most Likely To (My Life Next Door #2) by Huntley Fitpatrick. No cover or release date yet!

9. After the Storm (Kate Burkholder #7) by Linda Castillo. No cover yet! July 14, 2015.

10. Sabotaged (Alaskan Courage #5) by Dani Pettrey. February 3, 2015.

What sequels are you looking forward to?