Hoohoo, guys!
How are you? I hope you had a wonderful start into the new week!
After I already talked about all the books I loved in 2020 in my 5 sword rated books post and the Bookish Best Of, let’s have a look at the books that disappointed me in some way. Luckily, there weren’t many books that disappointed me or I didn’t like and sometimes it was just a certain aspect of the story that really irked me. These are all my very own opinions.
Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon
I was really sad about this because I love Sandhya Menon’s books. But this one just felt off to me, I didn’t get warm with the characters and was even bored at some parts. Other parts then went way too fast for my taste, especially when it came to friendships. But I still liked other aspects, like the twist on Beauty & the Beast and the supposed beast. You can read my full review here.
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. That’s why when she finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, a member of the rival royal family behind a humiliating scandal involving her little sister, she schemes to get revenge on the young nobleman in order to even the score between their families. The plan? Make him fall in love with her and then break his heart the way his family has broken hers.
Grey Emerson doesn’t connect with people easily. Due to a curse placed on his family by the Raos that his superstitious father unquestioningly, annoyingly believes in, Grey grew up internalising that he was doomed from the day he was born. Sequestered away at St. Rosetta’s Academy, he’s lived a quiet existence in relative solitude. That is, until Jaya Rao bursts into his life. Jaya is exuberant and elegant and unlike anyone Grey has ever met before, but he can’t help feeling that she’s hiding something behind her beautiful smile and charmingly awkward attempts at flirting. Despite his better instincts, though, he starts to fall for her.
Jaya’s plan isn’t totally going according to plan. For one, Grey is aggravatingly handsome. And for two, she’s realising there’s maybe more to him than his name and his family imply.
The stars are crossed for Jaya and Grey. But can they still find their fairy-tale ending? (goodreads)
The Earl not Taken by A.S. Fenichel
I’m actually not completely sure what I had expected but I guess it was just… more? I really liked the strong friendship between the four women that call themselves the Wallflowers of West Lane. And it was enemies to lovers, I’m always up for that. My biggest problem was actually the main character and not liking her really took the fun out of the rest of the story. You can read my full review here.
Finishing school failed to make a proper lady of Penelope Arrington. But as a Wallflower of West Lane, Poppy has a far more vital role—she and her three best friends have made a pact to protect each other from the clutches of dangerous, disreputable men. So when one of them is about to be married off to a duke sight unseen, Poppy makes it her mission to divine the prospective husband’s true character. If only she didn’t require the aid of London’s most unsuitable rake.
Rhys Draper, Earl of Marsden, has known the headstrong Poppy since she was a young girl naïve to the ways of men. To her eternal chagrin—and to his vague amusement—they have been at odds over the memory of their embarrassing first encounter all these years. Now, with his services in need, Rhys sees a chance to finally clear the air between them. Instead, he is surprised by the heat of their feelings. If the two do not tread carefully, they may end up in a most agreeably compromising position… (goodreads)
The Manifesto on how to be interesting by Holly Bourne
I expected to love this since Holly Bourne is one of my favourite authors and I adore her work. But this book? It made me angry and sad and sent me into such a downward spiral. There were so many problems with this book, like how every single character is simply horrible and they seemed not complex at all. The protagonist was the worst of all of them, especially because she was “not like the other girls” and thought herself better but she just wasn’t. I just want to forget I’ve read this book. Read my full review here.
Apparently I’m boring. A nobody.
But that’s all about to change.
Because I am starting a project.
Here. Now. For myself.
And if you want to come along for the ride then you’re very welcome.
Bree is by no means popular. Most of the time, she hates her life, her school, her never-there-parents. So she writes.
But when Bree is told she needs to stop shutting the world out and start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting is born. A manifesto that will change everything…
…but the question is, at what cost? (goodreads)
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
So many people hype this book and so many readers I trust gave this a glowing review. So I just expected so much more from this. But it felt to me more like an average YA from a few years ago. My main problem was the plot because I saw the plottwists very early. I also didn’t get warm with the characters even though it has rivals to lovers. But I couldn’t really see the romance. I don’t know, I just expected a lot more from this than it actually was.
Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.
Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world. (goodreads)
Kiss the Fae by Natalia Jaster
I’m still not over the protagonist having an orgasm from the wind and experiencing it as one of the best she’s ever had. This book promised so much I love: fairies, enemies to lovers and wild nature. But I just couldn’t get into it, the characters seemed ridiculous at some parts and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the protagonist, the love interest, nor their romance. You can read my full review here.
Rule #1. Never cross into Faerie.
When I’m chased across the enchanted border and caught by its sinister ruler of the sky, the pretty trickster with a clever tongue offers me a deal.
Rule #2: Never bargain with a Fae.
But I don’t have a choice. For thirteen days, I have to survive in his mountainous maze of crooked bridges, deceptive stairways, and devious inhabitants. Refuse, and my sisters will suffer as punishment.
Rule #3: Never fall for the enemy.
I should have known my sexy captor wouldn’t play fair. The deeper I plunge into this dangerous world of Solitary Fae, the more I’m entangled in their ruler’s seductive web of desire—and the forbidden temptations he offers.
The price of losing this wicked game is everything I love. But winning might just cost me my heart. (goodreads)
These are the books that disappointed me last year. Have you read any of them? Do you feel the same? What were your most disappointing reads?
Until next time,
