As you may well see in my next few posts, I have had an *amazing* reading year. Thanks to blogging (and possibly growing up š) Iām getting better at picking reads Iāll actually enjoy. That said, there are always a handful of stinkers⦠though thatās not what this list is about (for the most part š). Iād say about half of these arenāt bad books by any stretch of the imagination. Most of these arenāt even the worst books I read this year- cos a couple of those Iāve forgotten by now- these are, as the title suggests, the ones I was most disappointed by. And the biggest change this year is that I only have 9 books for the list– I just didn’t see the reason to squeeze extra books on that didn’t deserve a spot (that’s right, I’m not just being a negative Nancy for the sake of it! š ).Ā These books couldāve been great, yet all ended up as misses for me⦠and thatās enough of the preamble- letās just get into it!
Behind Her Eyes– this started out so well⦠and then nosedived in the last few chapters. Hereās the thing, itās really not fun to read a psychological thriller that flips the switch at the last second and becomes a paranormal thriller. Iāve read a few other genre-bending books this year- and they all worked because there was proper set up for the payoff! It all felt like it was done to say ābetcha didnāt see that coming!ā- and no, obviously I didnāt see that coming, cos Iām not a psychic.
Gentlemanās Guide to Vice and Virtue- this may well be the most unpopular choice for the list- but hereās the thing, this is a list of books I was disappointed by and I was enormously disappointed by this book. I had really high expectations going in because it was so hyped and itās the kind of thing I really love- but it just fell so flat for me. The main issues for me were that I didnāt fall for the characters and wasnāt convinced with the supposed ā18th centuryā setting. So, not for me, though I do feel thereās enough potential in the idea that I could enjoy the upcoming adaptation.
Immortal Reign– again, this was by no means the worst book I read this year- BUT Iāve been reading this series a long time and I just wasnāt satisfied with how it turned out. Part of this could be that I fell out of love with it a couple of books back, yet to be honest, not enough was done with the story to elevate that ending. Everything was resolved a little too easily and the emotional payoffs just didnāt land.
Queen of Air and Darkness– the more I think about this, the more disappointed with it I am. While I liked parts of it when I was reading, itās the kind of book I like less and less over time. I think as I wrote the review I realised quite how dissatisfied I was with it (hence the disjunct between my rating and my thoughts). I had an existing fondness for the series⦠but I feel like all that was thrown away here. As cool as some of the concepts were, a lot of it was recycled from other series and the rest was just set up for another. I canāt get behind a book of this length that merely exists to sell another book. So yeah, I was disappointed with this, to say the least.
Wonder Woman– I pretty much summed it up in my review: this is a cashgrab. I donāt recommend this for anyone- whether youāre a fan of superheroes or not. Itās not worth your time and not worthy of the authorās talent. Highly recommend you read anything else by Bardugo instead!
Bridget Jones– this isnāt something I was anticipating or had high hopes for in any way, so Iām breaking my own rules putting this on here, but I just hated the writing style so much that it earned its spot here š Itās full of fragmentation. All the time. Every. Single. Sentence. Ugh.
Conversation with Friends– ah one of those massively acclaimed books⦠that I didnāt get at all. I shouldāve guessed from the shite title itād be wanky and a waste of time- cos thatās exactly what it was. It was so boring that Iām already bored talking about it again⦠so I wonāt bore the rest of you and Iāll move on!
Inspector Calls– ooh this came so close to winning the top spot- because there are a lot of reasons Priestleyās pretentious garbage deserves it! Itās badly written, filled with crap characters and moralising to boot! Donāt expect deep philosophy from this though- youāll get more depth out of a toddlerās toys.
Atlas Shrugged– itās kind of fitting that out of my two worst reads this year, one is left wing and the other right. This one edged out Priestleyās preachy play by a whisker. The reason this āwonā top spot was twofold: 1) from what Iād heard of it (only that it was a seminal work of American literature) I had higher hopes for this and 2) it made me suffer longer. Boy did I make a huge mistake (a-1168-page long mistake) reading this! I guess now itās time to shrug it off and move on!
So- dare I ask- what do you think of these? Have you read any of them? And what were your worst books of 2019? Let me know in the comments!