Most Disappointing Books of 2020

[@jonelljonelljonell]

A huge thing about enemies to lovers is that they tend to play off the old wives tale of boys being mean to girls they like, which is toxic af 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

when done poorly, yes absolutely, and it's so unnecessary!!

[@knz730]

I loved the sound review for that book :') BLEGGGGHH!

[@macabregoblin]

Personally I love 'It's fine to be wrong' energy 😂

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

:)

[@glomar9982]

I also didn't care for Jonah in the Simple Wild. A problem with enemies to lovers tropes in romance is that the person is perceived by the reader as a jerk and then the POV girl gets over his jerkiness eventually because of how physically attractive he is >.

[@Luna-po5ui]

I love hearing people hate Jonah from The Simple Wild because he is the ABSOLUTE WOOOOORST so thank you for refreshing my energy this morning, crops are watered etc

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

yes lets start a we hate Jonah club

[@HollyByGollyBooks]

I am sooooo happy you mentioned In Five Years because that's one I was all excited to go into as a romance so I'm glad I have the warning beforehand! It's so frustrating when books are pitched wrong because having different expectations on a synopsis can make or break a book!

[@HollyByGollyBooks]

@desertrosereads 100% agree!!!!! That makes me so happy to hear though! I really look forward to reading this one! :) And the funny thing is when I looked at the tagline on the book cover recently and noticed it says, "not the love story you're expecting" so I suppose it DID try to mention it hahahahah

[@miriamjames4140]

I tried to read Red Queen in hopes it would be a fun ya fantasy. I dnf-ed it. I think it would have been fine to read six or seven years ago for me. But now I’ve read better books and I would rather reread those than the Red Queen series. And I was just waiting for it to get better the whole book.

[@Dapperod]

Actually, one of my most disappointing books was Deck of Omens, which I believe you’re about to read. I read the Devouring Gray on your rec, loved it but didn’t feel that much sense of payoff and it only got worse for Deck of Omens. I’m curious to see what you’ll think. 🤓😙

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

OH NO

[@rachel2282]

Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes is easily my most disappointing book of the year. I will never understand why it was his story she chose to tell.

[@amyr3293]

Do you think you will read the fever series? It’s such an amazing urban fantasy with the most exquisite slow burn of all time. I know Sarah Jane likes it too right?

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I plan to try out the first book this year!

[@annie-sc]

omg i was just looking for reviews on The Fever King! i haven't read the book yet but i saw the webtoon already and got interested

[@thetiktokpenguin4343]

I remember a review on Goodreads where everyone in the comments was keep tracking of how far they read before they dnf’d it. We sounded like we were climbing up a mountain, it was that bad XD

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

l o l

[@amy8458]

After a lot of searching I found the right romance booktuber for me. Sarah from The BookishKnitter. She is a wealth of knowledge on explaining the romance genure and its many catagories. She hasn't led me astray yet. Her channel is smaller but she's great to watch. Beth Oleary is more chick lit/women's fiction. I think publishers need to not be afraid to use those terms so people will know what to expect. Loved The FlatShare and The Switch. I enjoyed Well Played. I agree the cat fishing went on to long but I didn't view it as intentional. Lastly Sarah has explained that some romance series are more companion stories ie BBC. So many people didn't like Liv in the first book so why continue with it? I put the Falconer on my TBR and am looking forward to getting to it.

[@lilytran7465]

The flat share is probably my favorite adult fiction and I liked the romance because it was so healthy and the characters were highly supportive of each other!

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

oh I definitely liked the supportive nature of them, I just wish the marketed it as more adult fiction and not about the romance

[@TheThreeBookshelves]

Oh wow I felt EXACTLY the same about Where Dreams Descend (DNF’d about 100 pages in) and In Five Years (finished only because I kept waiting and WAITING for the romance to show up).

[@colcutie5694]

I'm a sucker for the inherent romanticism of letter writing so I loved the Flat Share but I also hadn't seen any hype or anything before I read it. I also just loved the name Tiffy

[@k9qtea]

my biggest disappointing read of 2020 was "scavenge the stars" by tara sim. It was a pick for my ya book club back in jan or feb and just I struggled so damn much to care. maybe if i had read count of monte cristo i would have liked it more (supposed to have inspired StS) but I also hear that there was pretty much little to no similarities. i can totally understand your thoughts about Where Dreams Descend. I had my issues with it too, there wasnt as much POTO as I was anticipating though I hope it might be more prevalent in the sequel.

[@alexandraohara5323]

My biggest disappointment of the year had to be Cinderella Is Dead :( I so badly wanted to enjoy it because the premise sounded amazing but I just found it so predictable and infuriating towards the end because of the MC's dumb decisions and how everything worked out for her, even though in some scenarios the more realistic outcome should've had some consequences.

[@leilajaafari8436]

Dude I loved ur thoughts about ballad of song birds and snakes. I finished reading the book I was so angry because like snow starts a bad person and ends a bad person.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

yes! no arc at all. why even bother.

[@deemcnealy5813]

Have you read any Abbi Warman? Love the writing style and strong female characters. Funny too.

[@ashleyk131]

I was so disappointed with bothThe Simple Wild and the Flatshare. Everyone raved about them but I found them so lackluster. I did read The Switch by Beth O'Leary and would recommend it if you wanted to give the authoranother try. It's more chick-lit, but I found it so charming

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I do want to read The Switch, especially knowing what I'm getting going in.

[@Amanda-nq6mw]

I gave where dreams descend 2 tries before giving up! I'm bummed too but I completely agree about the writing not clicking. I also felt like nothing was happening? Glad I'm not alone lol

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

so many people seem to have had that experience!

[@marshmallow864]

Jessica Cluess went off on a racist twitter rant a few weeks ago (about disrupt texts) so I got rid of the only book by her that I owned.

[@jamiez5545]

Yup exactly this. She went completely off. Very off putting

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

I heard about that but the tweets were gone by the time I'd heard it happened. I don't plan to read her other books, but read this series before that happened.

[@jamiez5545]

@@ThoughtsOnTomes I’d only read the first book in the series but won’t be continuing on.

[@oksnariel]

I haven’t actually read any of the books you mentioned! I was kinda interested in reading the flat share, so it’s good to know that it’s not a huge romance going in. I would say my most disappointing book this year was Children of Virtue and Vengeance since I was looking forward to reading it so much since I loved Children of Blood and Bone so much but the sequel was awful. I also was really disappointed in the book Girl Made of Stars, it was so hyped and I had been dying to read it for so long and I kinda hated it.

[@mlibbym]

100% agree with Well Played. I could not get behind that one. I don't think it's feasible for that situation to continue so long and still result in a happy ending. Especially since the hero did exactly zero work!!! I also can't stand when they market contemporaries as romance. I ONLY like romance, I'm not the reader for your book!

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

That's how I felt about Falconer series as well and I didn't even finish the second book. I was disappointed by Far from the Maddening Crowd and Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[@DamonSeriously]

One of my most disappointing reads this year was “The Worst Best Man”. I didn’t root for the main characters and found their dynamic weird. I finished the book but skimmed through the last couple of chapters. Bummer!

[@raymariereads]

Where Dreams Descend should have been my perfect book, with the comps to PotO and Moulin Rouge. I DNF’d it as well and I’m kinda bummed, I wanted to love it :/

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

it seems like so many people had a similar experience!

[@themidnightlibrarian5159]

Beach read was actually disappointing to me this year. I loved the love interest. But the main character I just couldn't connect with.

[@ebmockingjay]

I’m an OG Hunger Games stan, it was a defining series of my youth, and Ballad was TERRIBLE! It felt like a fan fiction, and it didn’t even bring me back into the world of The Hunger Games whatsoever 😭 definitely my most disappointing, I don’t even accept it as canon 😂

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

right?! it did not feel the same at all

[@belleah5562]

I'm in the same boat in terms of Suzanne Collins being an influential author of my youth, and I'm so glad I was able to hear from a lot of people who had read it and were disappointed so that I never read it. I just ignore that it exists and head cannon that it was never written lmao

[@gracie9658]

Same. I have read some spoilers but haven't read the book because what I read infuriated me. I refuse to read it or acknowledge it as canon, it does not exist for me.

[@joannelucille]

I've been getting into adult romance books and it's so difficult to find stories that don't have toxic masculinity. I get the appeal, I mean I used to like Edward Cullen, but there comes a time when you want to read about an Aragorn type of guy who sweeps you off your feet, you know?

[@tammygeorge9417]

Amen to The Simple Wild. FINALLY someone else seeing what I saw and thought :)

[@danielleoliver1734]

Watching everyone’s most disappointing lists, about 50% of them are just bad marketing. There no reason to lie about what it is, once people read it they’re gonna figure it out

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

yesss! I don't get why companies do this. Short term gain maybe but that gain is verrrry short.

[@TheEnchantedLibrary]

I 100% agree with you about marketing books as romance when they certainly aren't. I discovered that a lot with books in 2020... particularly with the Goodreads awards. I feel like 90% of the books nominated were not romance. Yes there was a romance element IN them but not enough to define a genre. As for my most disappointing read? It would have to be Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella. I'm still gutted about how bad it was. I could get into a whole dissertation about it's faults but I will just leave it at saying it was disappointing.

[@jess_6341]

Book lovers I need your help!! Okay so I’m posting this on a few different videos (sorry for any repetition) a few weeks ago I watched a video that a girl recommended a book. The book is basically about a kid in school who’s teacher has a theory that everyone is good at something based on their height etc ( I think) and this guys things is golf or cricket (I can’t remember ahh) he basically becomes real good and famous even though he doesn’t like the sport. Can anyone help me out with a name? I’m going crazy because I can’t remember it!

[@TihomiraSlavova]

I believe you're talking about Albatross by Terry Fallis.

[@jess_6341]

Tihomira Slavova yes thank you so much!!!

[@vivianwakoff]

Yes! Someone else sees all the issue in The Simple Wild! The love interest was the worse!

[@meganpreece3458]

Haha I agree Jonah went a bit too far with some things but as someone who lived abroad and constantly dealt with people who'd be upset that things weren't the same as home, or weren't prepared for the differences... I also totally understood him vs Calla. She legit pissed me off. But I do think he went a bit too far a few times!

[@flod4369]

I just the of the tigers daughter as a stand alone now. I tried to read the 2nd book was super excited and then I just stopped.

[@zoerice4227]

Mine is, sadly, The Priory of the Orange Tree 😔 so much wasted potential, it felt like bare bones skeletons of characters floating around in a vague void. The only one I really cared about was Niclays.

[@boldbookhoarder]

Leviathan Wakes and Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes were my most disappointed reads!

[@MortMe0430]

I actually didn't read many books to the end this year (I DNF a lot lol), so I'd say my most disappointing was Labyrinth Lost (basically an underworld/Orpheus journey with Mexican magic). The world-building in the first part was cool, but then romance stuff got in the way and there were some fake-outs that I didn't care for. I thought the main character's abilities were... well, if you've read it you know. Lot of potential that it didn't live up to for me.

[@EmilyOlivieri]

Hmm, books that disappointed me in 2020. Crescent city or house of blood and whatever by Sarah J Maas, The vanishing Deep by Astrid Sholte, nowhere Child by Christian White. Dnf’d CC and the other 2 were 2 star reads

[@KristenReads]

I heard The Simple Wild hyped up SO much a while ago, but I'm really glad I held off on buying it. Can't be dealing with a love interest who shames the main character for ridiculous reasons.

[@crazybiogeek]

I liked The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes for the world development aspects. I went in knowing that I would not like most of the characters, because they're all Capitol people, so maybe that helped with my enjoyment. But. What was the third section of the book? What was that? Ugh.

[@thesonorista7853]

Read The Falconer and was like "nope, not getting sucked into another trilogy in the hopes the writing gets better." Thanks for the validation.

[@beksmae6962]

I was also very disappointed with Where Dreams Descend. I was intrigued with the main plot and some of the mystery but I felt like it was a lot for so little pay off.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

so sad :(

[@k9qtea]

I havent read ballad of songbirds and snakes but given that it was a prequel, can anyone truly be surprised that Snow still ended up being trash by the end?

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

that wasn't the surprising part at all. everyone expected that. it was the fact that he had no arc whatsoever so honestly what was the point in even telling his story. it added nothing. if anything, I felt it took away from the original series a bit.

[@BookReadingCoffeeDrinking]

My disappointed reads were The Book of Dust, Cinderella is Dead, and The Deathless Girls. Didn’t enjoy any of those as much as I expected to

[@HattiesVlogs]

I tried reading the immortalists and while it was OK it felt really uneven narratively.

[@rachelscattergood3979]

My most disappointing books were the shadow between us and portrait of Dorian gray. Had high hopes for both and both were such let downs in my opinion.

[@miriamjames4140]

I also disliked Dorian Gray. I have the shadow between us on my tbr, but I’m reconsidering it.

[@Neverrgreen]

One of my most distinctly disappointing reads was also a mismarketed book. It wasn't a bad one but it wasn't marketed right so I read it in the wrong mood

[@synthiasparkle6482]

Oooh, if I don’t love a negative book review. Can’t wait to watch.

[@charityyoder9028]

In five years was a huge disappointment. I get that it wasn't a romance. But The MC was a TERRIBLE friend and I will stand by that.

[@antheathetiefling8581]

Book that disappointed me? It was one I was hyped for. The Savior's Sister by Jenna Moreci. I was hyped because I follow Jenna's KZbin channel and I liked the first book (The Saviors champion) This was a companion book focusing on more of the political issues that you never got to see in the first book. But, while I didn't DNF, i got frustrated because large part of the book was the same romantic moments, but flipped prospective. Now, don't get me wrong I love romance in stories. But i wanted something different and...it also made the lead from the first book a little dumber in my eyes because literally EVERYONE figures out what this book lead character is doing...but him...it just frustrated me. I am still going to continue on, and hope that the next book is....better.

[@reading_with_k]

Uggggh. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was such traaaaash. Still not over the fact that she wrote this about Snow? And forced that romance to happen.

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

why did she do that to us?!?!? whyyyy

[@reading_with_k]

@@ThoughtsOnTomes I will never understand!

[@nicoleeverett1696]

I didn't enjoy The Simple Wild or Flat Share as much I was hoping, I was highly disappointed with both books. And yes I was also disappointed by Where Dreams Descend and DNF it as well

[@Joharis]

I loved the first bromance book club book, the second one was not a fav but still enjoyable, I haated the 3rd one. The side plot was irritating me

[@leticiatoraci9855]

"A Sorrow fierce and Falling could have been two books", agreed!

[@nicnovel8907]

one of my most disappointing books was Infinity Son. Adam Silvera is one of my all time favorite authors and this book was just terrible 😅😭🤕

[@thiadesg]

One of my most disappointing reads of 2020 was The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. It was a reread for me, but I had loved it the first time I read it. Turns out, it's meh (3*).

[@jsth2breethe]

The Falconer was amazing in the beginning. And then it went downhill for me. I don’t think the character development stayed true to who the characters were. And I hated that the steampunk elements were virtually nonexistent in the third book. I enjoyed it, but there was room for improvement.

[@bentheoverlord]

My biggest disappointments were The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Foundryside and Rage of Dragons. I didn’t hate most of them but I honestly thought I’d love all 4, and to read them and just feel meh about them is really odd

[@rissyroooh4315]

My most disappointing books of 2020 I would have to say was My Dark Vanessa, The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, along with Again, But Better

[@joannelucille]

My most disappointing read of 2020 was Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata. It started off so good and after the halfway point, it was a cringe fest.

[@thejordanjournals]

Love that we can still be friends even though my favorite book from 2020 is in this video 😂, but also you’re not wrong about it’s problems lololol

[@anamoralsb]

I read from Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout and I really liked it (one-day read).... then that second book... omg I don't even know if I want to continue reading the series. Awful awful awful. Worst sequel I've read in my LIFE :(

[@bookellenic1327]

I thought I was the only one kinda let down by The Simple Wild after reading the rave reviews.

[@marenien8338]

Just me getting frustrated by six of crows duology being out of order? Hahah But great video tho ❤️✨

[@Nightsky1]

I was disappointed by Addie LaRue :-(. I wanted to love it, but I found it repetitive and the ending did not change anything for Addie... I actually liked Henry tough

[@summerb5153]

Everytime I see catcfihsing trope I'm like NOPE! It's a violation in It's own way. Idk what's so romantic about it

[@ThoughtsOnTomes]

YES

[@Loonadance1212]

I dnfed the Simple Wild, the main dude was awful and the girl was pictured as so clueless at the beginning i just wanted to punch every character, i had to stop x)

[@cerrad.]

Without a doubt, biggest disappointment of 2020 was Do You Dream of Terra Two by Temi Oh. The plot and characters were so poorly written to the point where I assumed it was a set up for some crazy, mind-blowing plot twist. Nope. Just meh.

[@desireemclaughlin1455]

You bringing up The Simple Wild made me mad about The Simple Wild all over again. What a trash book! Just because it’s the Bush doesn’t mean they won’t have girls wearing makeup and alternative milks!!! For crying out loud. I own a physical copy of Where Dreams Descend, but was trying to listen to the audiobook through Overdrive and could not process anything I was listening to. It was totally bizarre. I was going to just DNF, but then I saw some people talking about how much they love it so I thought I’d go back and try the physical version. But maybe, like you were saying, her writing style just isn’t for me. We’ll see 😁

[@colegreenofficial]

It's fine to be wrong lol

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

Crying about where dreams descend 😂