Most Disappointing Books of 2019

[@huzzahfancypants2023]

“You can do whatever you want baby”🤣🤣🤣

[@tarabite8469]

I don't know why but when she said that I thought of the twins on the Disney show Shake It Up.😂😂

[@yapdog]

Quote of 2020

[@jasminealdrich7582]

"Let's start off 2020 with not being ... ridiculous" 😂😂😂

[@BobbiReads]

You not enjoying Holy Sister broke me. A lot of your points are totally valid. The time jumps were jarring and while I still enjoyed the book, I felt it was rushed. It should have been longer and more drawn out to develop the growth in the characters, especially Nona. But the scene in battle with Pan was one of the most epic scenes EVER. That was a scene where my jaw hit the floor. I cant wait for the new series!

[@RenHRbooklover]

“If these are some of your favorite books.. I don’t care” 😂 made me laugh. I never will understand why people get hurt when people have different opinions. Love this video 🖤

[@a.b.2405]

StoryDweller I clicked like as soon as she said that! I was like “yaaas”

[@taylortalkstales8106]

PREACH that beginning! It really says something about a person if they can't handle a difference of opinion. My hope for 2020 is for more people to understand that just because someone doesn't agree with you on something doesn't mean it's a personal attack. We're all entitled to our own tastes and beliefs. My most disappointing reads of 2019 were Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner, (because it should have been a new favorite BUT IT WASN'T AND I WAS SO SAD ABOUT IT), Last Ones Left Alive by Sara Davis-Goff (because it made the zombie apocalypse boring), and the Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta (didn't care for plot or writing style but wish I did).

[@Erwikka]

I felt the exact same about the ending of King Of Scars. I could go into like a twenty minute rant about why I was disappointed in it. Will I continue, of course. I just wanted more of Nikolai, it was supposed to be about him.

[@charityyoder9028]

"If any of these are your favorites, I don't care." THANK YOU FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL DISCLAIMER. totally with you on give the dark my love. So disappointing.

[@margaret-marywhite299]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! YES. Everyone doesn't enjoy each book in the same way (or at all), and that's OK. Books I loved, others loathe, and vice versa. While stating opinions on loving (or not loving) a book, no one should take offense. Books CAN be personal but negative reviews are not a personal attack.

[@Kellas_Kat]

Juliet Marillier is one of my favorite authors. If you like her writing style, I wonder if you would like Heart's Blood. It's a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in that Irish historical/folklore world that Marillier uses. I found the main character to have much more agency than the first Sevenwaters.

[@shadowblackheart7556]

Yes! I felt the exact same with the Illuminae series. I mean, you can't just repeat the same trick throughout two books and think we're gonna fall for it. My favorite was Aidan and I thought they could have done so much more with him.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

AGREED! Aidan was so under-used tbh. And yeah fool me once, ok, but don't do it in every book...

[@Shmeganify]

You managed to sum up what I found wrong with King of Scars without me knowing those were my thoughts and feelings.

[@mfaaaaa5678]

I think all enemies to lovers / villain ship fans can agree that wicked saints was a huge disappointment tbh

[@thetiktokpenguin4343]

Mariyam Fatima yep

[@Vickynger]

my most disappointing reads of 2019 were: the beautiful by renee ahdie. im a sucker for vampire romances, but that really wasnt it. i was veering between angry and annoyed the whole time i read this. queen of nothing by holly black. like, it was FINE. i really dont hate it or anything. it just felt kinda rushed and that made me sad bc i love the other two books so much. every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire. it was good, but not as good as booktube made me hope it would be. i just didnt connect with it the way i hoped i would. looking at this, it really wasnt a bad reading year for me, huh. only one of those three was a serious disappointment, i guess i really cant complain :)

[@FabulousFrostine]

Every Heart a Doorway. Yes. I totally didn't connect either. I still think it was interestingly written and can't stop thinking about it, but didn't particularly care about any of the characters.

[@xibalbateahouse2269]

I liked Holy Sister but it felt like something was missing. I don’t know what but I was hoping for more.

[@pinksuperstar2]

For me....I have a few disappointments: King of Scars. Hurts so much to say since the idea was so good but the execution was not Wayward Son. My most anticipated read being my most disappointing The Wicked Fox. Such a GREAT idea, but once again the execution fell so flat

[@mybookishdelights4767]

I think Wicked Saints suffered from too much hype and being compared to a popular Leigh Bardugo series. I didn't read it until some of the hype died down and saw that some people were disappointed in it. As a result, I tried to go in with lower expectations and I ended up really enjoying it. It's also a debut novel so I try to give new authors a break until I read more of their stuff. It's really too bad for that author though that someone decided to compare to such a popular author. I know she's a fan of the Grishaverse, but still.

[@Susaninha1D]

I really like how booktube brings new perspectives and feelings about books. I thought Vicious was a very unmemorable book, I understood why people loved it but it didn't do much for me, I just thought it was very boring and bland. Vengeful though... Man did I love it, and I was so surprised by it as well because I thought there was no way VE Schwab could make me love a book from the Villan's series, but this to me was pure gold, all due to the Marcela. I just think it's fun how two people can read the same books and have completely different opinions on them, both absolutely valid of course :)

[@FabulousFrostine]

I totally agree with Vengeful. Vicious could definitely have been a standalone. Also, I'm so sad about Dance of Thieves 😭 I loved The Remnant Chronicles!

[@genevievehutton4293]

I love your N7 hoodie/jacket garment! So cute

[@nicoleeverett1696]

I agree with Wicked Saints and King of Scars were anticipated book for me and I was disappointed

[@bangbangbookreviews762]

Totally agree with all of your YA picks. Most of the books I gave four stars out of pity ( Dance of Thieves, Vengeful, and King of Scars) but you made good points and I probably should have put them on my disappointeds too.

[@landscapesofink]

I loooove your roasting, it's amazing XD Zero fucks given. And so true about Obsidio! I love you just throwing the shade with your disclaimer, but THANK YOU it's so frustrating that we need disclaimers

[@Maren617]

Such a cute and helpful video - you managed to explain *why* you didn't like something so well that I sometimes thought "oh, that actually sounds cool, I'll check it out" lol. I love that you explain so well why you liked or didn't like something, it makes your reviews actually helpful for the viewer.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I'm so glad!

[@lyddiemoon]

Omg Sam I loved red sister and grey sister but for the life of me I can't finish Holy sister.. Its been months and I'm struggling 😭

[@leticiatoraci9855]

I agree about "King of Scars", way too much POV jumping, not really a book about Nikolai.

[@renee_3364]

I know you like to wait until the start of the new year with these videos, so please do take all the time you need, but... Will you be doing a favourites of the year as well? I always get some of my best recommendations from your channel.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

yes! that's already filmed and will be out next week.

[@renee_3364]

@@ThoughtsOnTomes yay! I'm looking forward to it!

[@HannahCassieBooks]

I feel exactly same about wicked saints! But I am thinking of rereading it before second book cuz I am still hopping it to go into right direction

[@laurakish4707]

I will say that I was disappointed with Dance of Thieves the first time I read it (3 stars or so), but liked it more when I reread it (4-4.25 I think) I liked the second book better. Both didn’t live up to the original trilogy, which is priceless.

[@amberkernaghan1585]

Love the into... You only have two books on your list that I have on my tbr. Well I only have one physical book and the other one I have been thinking about getting just haven't yet. But you are one of couple people I watch that make me pick up books more. Love how you are honest. There should be more like that 😁

[@raywhite7179]

I'm reading Slayer. I think I'm like 75% through and having a hard time motivating myself to finish. I just can't with the main character. I understand that she may hate Buffy but to blame EVERY LAST SINGLE PROBLEM on Buffy and then to repeat that ad nauseam just got SO old. Like, dude, grow up. Then it had all the tropes I hate in a story -- half over hearing vital information that's easily confused, not telling your kids important life things they need to know, a fucking prophecy (I know this is Buffy so I let that one slide), misunderstands that are never corrected or thought on, the whole 'let's talk about this vital thing -- ops, someone just walked in so we can't' thing, etc. I went into the book with very low expectations and I was still sorely disappointed.

[@chrish4991]

I had to dnf Venegeful, the hype for Wicked Saints overshadowed the story, my favorite Mark Lawrence’s Ancestor trilogy was Red sister. I am going to use your recommendations for my tbr 📚

[@oliviagreen8853]

Unpopular opinion but my most disappointing read was Faker by Sarah Smith. The characters were so boring and the male character was obsessively possessive... which ain’t cute. Plus the end was so absurd! I was so uncomfortable and cringed at many parts in the book lol I was so sad I didn’t like the book cuz there was so much hype around it!

[@paigestooksbury5]

Completely agree about King of Scars! Wanted more Nikolai and just didn’t love the ending :/ Crossing my fingers for the next one if I’m still interested when it comes out.

[@DontHaveaDegreeinReading]

i hate hate hate recycling of plots. i can get behind a solid homage (the force awakens, jurassic world), but once it becomes every movie (jurassic world #2) or every season (the walking dead) i just cannot anymore.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

YES

[@NicoleJC92]

Whaaaaaaat! I love Vengeful AND Obsidio. Literally 2 of my favourite books of the year 😂. I dont know why people get offended though I like hearing others opinions on my favourites. Having said that, I do agree with what you said about Obsidio and I think if I read it physically my opinion might be different but the audiobooks are excellent!

[@annebassman7591]

I agree with you on Obsidio. I enjoyed it and liked the ending. Haven't read vengeful

[@annebassman7591]

I actually enjoyed King of Scars. I'm looking forward to the next book and the netflix series!

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I'm definitely looking forward to the netflix series!

[@andrewannotates]

Hi I just found your channel and have watched a couple videos, they’re great btw!! I noticed you constantly seem disappointed by how series end. Do you have a video like “my favorite series endings” if not Id love to see that lol. Just a pattern I noticed.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

Yep it's definitely a pattern with me. I've done a whole video on it lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/mnKmdZmZapuIqJI Favorite finales video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5qqfJ6Fq9SHms0

[@photoshopuser500]

I agree with everything you said about Holy Sister, there was just something not right compared to the other two books in the series :(

[@Nik-dc4ti]

Tbh I don't actually have any disappointing reads. 2019 was mostly a year of rereading for me. I read 97 books and most of those were re reads lol.

[@platypusmode2071]

I've disliked many main characters in my time and continued on with whatever medium I was indulging in. I tend to dislike characters in general that are glorified in such a way where the feel like the center of the goddamn universe as opposed to just their story. Ironically, I never had an issue with Buffy. I thought the show handled her main characterness very well. At least compared to other stories I've engaged with.

[@NevermorePages]

You need to read Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao. Slow.Burn.

[@okami7amaterasu]

Neverworld Wake, Wilder Girls, Baby Teeth, The Cabin at the End of the World, Snow Crash. These were some of my most disappointing 2019 reads lol. Hope 2020 has fewer disappointing books for you.

[@LaMarco0]

"Gideon the Ninth" and "The Water Dancer" were my two most disappointing reads.

[@TheBookLife]

Watching this has reminded me that my first proper read of 2020 is going to be Wicked Saints for the Read That Book challenge vlog!

[@cori4727]

I feel like EVERYONE was disappointed with Wicked Saints! Like every Booktuber I watch has said this lol

[@WhatCassRead]

Obsidio was on my most disappointing of last year! I was suuuper heart broken because of how mind blowing Illuminae was.

[@WhatCassRead]

I should have waited until after the vid to make my comments. We are of the exact same mind on Holy Sister.

[@dharabarot4033]

I picked up illuminae this year, inhaled it in 3 days. Had to dnf gemina once, then came back to it in 4 months and it only picked up after 200 pages. I'm scared to read obsido

[@Doomslug]

Wicked Saints was also a disappointment, no matter what happened I was bored! I dnf'ed it lol. Vengeful was awful, eh 😫

[@raywhite7179]

I FEEL THE SAME ABOUT HOLY SISTER! You're literally the only person who's felt the same way. LOL. The ending was so meh to me. Like, we did all this to get there and it's like "welp, can't do anything here. let's go home ladies" blah blah. The time jumps were weird too. In the previous books it made it seem like they were way off in the future when she was way famous and known but, nope, she's still there at the convent, barely a sister.

[@oksnariel]

My most disappointing read of 2019 was definitely The Poppy War, I was in LOVE with the first half of the book and was so sure it would be a favorite of all time, but the second half of the book FLOPPED and I hated it. I almost separate the first half and the second half in my head as two different books because of how much the book changed when we got to the second half.

[@missy7280]

Ariel I quit the Poppy War halfway through exactly for this reason...

[@oksnariel]

@@missy7280 its so sad, that first half was AMAZING.

[@missy7280]

Ariel AGREED!

[@moonireads]

Vicious did NOT need to be a series. This was such a cash grab and it's like... Why.

[@hannamuriel6557]

Vengeful, Wicked Saints, Baru Cormorant and King of Scars also made my most disappointing list. And all of them were 5 star predictions ugh

[@peytonblotsky5263]

To be honest, I didn’t read a whole lot in 2019, but I had two DNFs. First- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Tbh, it was hard for me to motivate myself into finishing it. It was hard for me to follow and I couldn’t really get into the story. Second- A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini. This one was super difficult for me to read in all honesty. After the first third of the book or so, I just had to put it down and I never was motivated to pick it back up and continue reading. I was sad I DNF’d it because I read The Kite Runner for my AP Literature class and loved it.

[@MT-lk7qt]

I actually really liked Slayer and I liked that Nina disliked Buffy. It interested me, although I get why other people might have been annoyed by it, because I enjoy reading about beloved characters from a different perspective (and i knew nothing about the lore regarding Nina's dad whose name I cannot remember). It was nice to read Buffy content without feeling guilty about giving Whedon money. But I'm weird ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (PS: I'm not mad people didn't like it or saying you're wrong for disliking it, just presenting my own perspective)

[@rabbityak90]

Daughter of the Forest was my most disappointing read of 2019. I LOVE her 'Blackthorne and Grim' series (features a crotchety, bitter wise-woman, solving Fey mysteries with the aid of her gentle giant companion.)

[@annebassman7591]

Really? I've also read her other books and loved them. I was looking forward to reading the Sevenwaters series. Was it truly not good?

[@rabbityak90]

@@annebassman7591 don't let me stop you trying to read it. It was beautifully written, just like all of her books. The story itself was just very difficult for me to get through. As Sam mentioned, there is a very heavily described gang rape scene, yet the loving consented scene was fade to black, it didn't sit well with me mentally. Sorcha's situation itself was very dire throughout the book and I didn't enjoy the feeling of hopelessness. It's a tricky book to recomend when mentally it beat me with a rock. 😂 I love Marrillier but I just can't deal with this particular series.

[@booktalkwithrae]

Anytime a booktuber says "and if these are books you like..." its usually followed by "I'm sorry but this is how i feel and it doesn't mean you can't like them" but when you said "I don't care" I literally burst out laughing!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA LOVE IT!!!

[@megansreadingrevelations]

Dance of Thieves was a DNF for me. The romance happened way too quickly! I’m not sure if I want to read Wicked Saints just because most people seem to find it average and there are so many other books out there I want to get to 🤷🏼

[@lr2ldn]

I LOVED the "disclaimer." 😂😂😂 And I DNF'd Give The Dark My Love. Man I was pissed about that book. It was so fucking boring. Jesus Christ.

[@emforsyth2100]

Could NOT agree more about dance of thieves. I read the original trilogy last year and was shocked about how much I loved it, and I totally agree he romance and the interesting politics were woven together so beautifully, but dance of thieves was basically just a straight up romance and a mediocre one at that. If it wasn’t for the OG characters hamfisted into the story I honestly wouldn’t have even known it was the same world because it doesn’t feel like it. Extremely disappointing :(

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

yes!!! And even the original character showing up made me mad because I hated how it was done!

[@booklover466]

I think I rather a book makes me hate it rather than disappointment or bored me 😫 I feel more offended when books disappoint me

[@veejim4158]

Yes about KOS!!!!!

[@Loonadance1212]

Id recommend getting the sequels to The Stolen Songbird from the library cause they are way more boring than the first book. The main characters make less and less sense too. Disappointing tbh :/

[@lj1989100]

Oh King of Scars 😩

[@endlesshalcyon]

I read KOS after I read the S&B Trilogy and the SOC Duology. My friend was hyping it up, saying that it was as good as SOC. I was very disappointed when I read it and Sam’s thoughts are straight out of my mind. However, my thoughts on it have improved. I originally gave KOS 3 stars on Goodreads but I plan on going back and giving it 4. I believe this has happened because I have constantly gone back to my favorite scenes and chapters. Additionally, I just completely skip Nina’s chapters on every reread because I simply didn’t care about what she was doing.

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

Felt the same about Slayer!

[@jerometerrell4306]

Yes!!! We love shady Sam!!!! Lolllll

[@Simplybookdreams88]

Thank you some one doesn’t like Vengeful!!!!!

[@bernfern916]

We Hunt the Flame was disappointing to me, I liked the world and the politics and magic elements but the enemies/lovers romance was way too rushed and didn’t make sense with how quickly the story was moving

[@hollowknight339]

You are not a good source of criticism.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

if you are looking for reviewers who also post critical reviews that may be more your style, I recommend mynameismarines, Bowties & Books, ChapterStacks, Holly Hearts Books, perpetualpages, victoriashaz, and Don't Have a Degree in Reading. Cheers!

[@hollowknight339]

My bad for sounding like an ass! My comment was biased as hell. As soon as anyone says ANYTHING bad about mark Lawrence's books (HOLY SISTER) I consider their opinion on books irrelevant. BUT now that I calmed down your opinion on HOLY SISTER isn't irrelevant. At least you didn't outright hate it Also if you like MARK LAWRENCES writing style and evil-ish protagonists check out the broken empire series

[@BasilGab]

I feel EXACTLY the same way about Holy Sister. It was so...annoying? The time jumps were confusing and I felt disconnected to the story

[@Wyrds_and_coffee]

Anyone else see the weird face in the top left corner?

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

the Funko pop??

[@Wyrds_and_coffee]

Is that what it is? I don’t know it just looked like a face chillin over your left shoulder! Lol

[@ForTheLoveOfBooksAndReading]

Definitely agree with you about Dance of Thieves.

[@Beccasawrus]

I felt the same about Holy Sister :/

[@valkstoise]

My most disappointing book of 2019 was Howl's Moving Castle. I saw the Studio Ghibli movie hoping it would be different but nah. It's an oldie but I read it last year.

[@vivix3042]

:o noooooo