I want to love every book- so it genuinely makes me feel sad when I don’t! Especially when I’ve been staring at a book longingly for a while! These are the books that make me sad when I look at them, cos I didn’t love them and I wanted to. They’re not necessarily bad- I just feel like I’m missing something when it comes to them?!
Lore– what a gorgeous cover; I resent this book for having such a gorgeous cover. I have to be honest, I’m so hard to please with Greek retellings… but this did nothing for me. The only connection with classics was window dressing… which looked nothing like the mythical characters. It was so out of touch with Greek mythology and boring to boot (#sorrynotsorry).
Defy the Night– look, I need more magic in my fantasy. And I need to not be able to predict every plot point. I just felt like this was lacking some special sauce to make it stand out from a million other fantasies (and also magic).
These Violent Delights– I loved the concept for this… buuut I really don’t get the hype? I thought this would be a fast-paced fantasy… I got neither of those from this book. A lot of the romance and character growth happened before this book ever happened- like them falling in and out of love… which is kind of a big deal!! All of that should’ve been this book and the sequel should’ve dealt with the aftermath. Also, I don’t care to read about a bug-pandemic right now, thanks.
Hamnet– clearly Shakespeare retellings just don’t do it for me. Look, this is objectively well written- but what is the point of it?? I felt like the entire book was written to support one line from the play. A line that was designed to give readers tingles, but just made me spasm with disbelief that I read a whole damn book for what could’ve been a nice comment in an English essay or an above average poem.
Red White and Royal Blue– I wanted to love this and it still makes me feel sad that I didn’t. The biggest problem for me is how fast they get together- it kind of makes the plot feel really pointless. I need more of a slow burn to get invested. Plus, it didn’t help matters that so much of this felt silly (and with a very Americanised view of the British royal family). Sadly, this didn’t wow me like I wanted it to.
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World– *sigh* this was everywhere when it first came out and it was… okay, I guess? It’s not a badly written book- yet it did feel like a slog to get through. And the twist is just *whatever*. I don’t even know why that matters? Like, okay, you tricked us, but, honestly who cares? Why didn’t you just make the dog a hamster while you were at it.
Girl A– okay, I definitely thought this would be a thriller, so maybe this is on me (and the marketing) but that didn’t mean it had to be boring AF.
Oof that was saltier than I meant it to be! Have you read any of these? Can you explain the hype to me?? And what books did you think were overhyped recently? Let me know in the comments!