I actually had a pretty good reading year this year. I didn’t read many books that I really didn’t like, so a lot of the books on this list I actually enjoyed and rated quite highly, but they disappointed me because I was just expecting to enjoy them more than I did. This list is in the order in which I read the books.
Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh
I gave this one 2.5/5 stars. It wasn’t bad, it was just really meh for me. I wanted more from it. I didn’t care much about the characters and the story was pretty predictable. I did really enjoy the setting, I thought that was well done. I have a full review of it if you’re interested.
Pale Highway by Nicholas Conley
This was a very weird book. I’m not even sure how to summarise my thoughts on it. It’s just… weird. I gave it 2/5 stars. I do have a review of it, where I try to explain how weird this book is without spoiling it, so you can check that out.
A Toaster on Mars by Darell Pitt
This was a fun book to read. I enjoyed it. But it’s just so forgettable. I don’t remember much about it beyond a robot dog pooping silicone poop. That was the most hilarious thing to me in the whole book and it’s what stuck with me. I gave it 3/5 stars and I have a review of this one as well.
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
We all know how I feel about this book. If you don’t, I have both a spoiler free review and a spoiler-filled rant telling you how much and why I hated this book. It was just tacky and tropey and boring and stupid. I gave it 1/5 stars.
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
The other major disappointment of the year. This was even worse than Caraval. It was so bad, it took me 6 months to finish and the only reason I finished it was so I could rant about it. Which I did. I also have a spoiler free review of it. I gave it 1/5 stars and if I could give it less, I would.
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
I did really like this book. I think I gave it 4/5 stars. However, I had huge expectations from it and it really didn’t deliver, which is why it was a disappointing read. I had some issues with some of the things that happened and with the pacing and with some other things as well. I talk about those in more detail in my spoiler free review and in my discussion posts if you’d like to know.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Another one that was really enjoyable, but after reading Six of Crows, it just really couldn’t live up to it. I think I also gave this one 4/5 stars. I have a spoiler free review of it.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
And yet another one that I did enjoy, but nowhere near as much as I thought I would, which landed it on this list. I really didn’t read that many books that I hated this year, what can I say. I think I’m becoming pretty good at picking books I’m going to enjoy. I believe I gave this one 3.5/5 stars. I also have a review of it.
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
This is the one I’m the most sad for not enjoying as much as I might have, because I think the main reason this disappointed me had nothing to do with the book and everything to do with when I read it. I ended up giving it 4/5 stars, even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as a 4 star book. But I just knew that had I read it at a different time, it might even have been a 5 star read. It was fun, it was magical, it was well written… Hopefully I’ll time reading the subsequent books better and enjoy them more. Full review.
Duplicity by Sibel Hodge
Closing off with a books that really was bad. This book was one big cliche wrapped with a bow. I was so annoyed with it by the end of the book. The only reason I even completed it was because I audiobooked it, so I just listened to it while doing chores. I gave it 1.5/5 stars because of the epilogue which was slightly less predictable and boring than the rest of the book.
A Book Nerd 