Books With Low Ratings That I Think Are Great 🖤 | The Book Castle | 2024

[@karenmiller1105]

When I check out the ratings on Goodreads, I always read the reviews on the low stars to understand WHY that person didn’t like it. This helps me more than just seeing the average overall rating.

[@TheBookCastle]

Totally agree! 🖤

[@iicydiamonds]

I have only read the first 2 of your list, but I think part of how these books end up with lower averages is that they aren't the types to get many 5* to counter-act any low ratings! For those of us who liked them, we enjoyed the ride, we had fun, but a 4 or 4.5 isn't enough to balance against people who just hate the silliness of Wisteria, as an example. (Although why would you even pick it up in the first place, because the silliness is very obvious!) I will add that one thing I love about StoryGraph is that the ratings are further down the page. They aren't hard to find, but you do have to scroll for them, so I enjoy being able to look up a book's description, genre tags, etc, without immediately seeing the rating. That's also not a feature for everyone, but it works for me! :)

[@TheBookCastle]

That’s a good point! 😃🖤

[@fernsandthistle]

I love how your present and review books without giving much away. Thank you so much! I keep adding books to my list so I'm sure I'm gonna go broke once I buy them all 😂

[@AbiofPellinor]

I adore when I adore a book that I've seen bad reviews for, I feel like the expectations are lowered and so I feel even better that I've had an amazing experience with the book

[@TheBookCastle]

So true! 🥰

[@puffmaggie]

this video is PERFECT TIMING. I just finished reading "The Village Library Demon Hunting Society" and REALLY liked it and it has a strangely low rating (3.48) for a supernatural murder mystery with an adorable old lady as a main character?? I couldn't believe it!! i think a lot of translated books have a vibe that doesn't fit with people's expectations so they end up having lower ratings for sure. that edition of The Essex Serpent omg ❤️ I'm yet to read any Sarah Perry books but I think I'll like them! im glad i follow your channel coz i feel like you also like atmosphere and don't mind if things are slow paced as long as there's a good ambience!!

[@TheBookCastle]

That books sounds super cool! 👀 I’ll have to add it to my TBR! And thank you so much! 🥰🖤

[@BookReviewsWithBecky]

Love supernatural mysteries! Have you read, Murder Road by Simone St. James! Such a delightfully spooky read!

[@emryborge7027]

I almost didn’t read the Southern Reach series by Jeff VanderMeer because of the low rating, but now it’s one of my favorite series

[@TheBookCastle]

Love that! 🥰

[@amena7387]

You always manage to dig unique books Alice! It is such a talent ! Thank you so much !

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much!! 🥰🖤

[@gemmadoherty8919]

I have really enjoyed all of India Holton’s books, the madness adds to the fun of it all. I keep meaning to pick up the Mitford one but haven’t yet, I think I’ll pop it on the list for December as it definitely sounds enjoyable to me. What a fun video idea, I always love hearing about a range of books not just the hyped up ones

[@janet5123]

The Cloisters has a 3.4 rating on Goodreads but I really liked it 4ishly. The green skull cover made me buy it though. I don’t think it should’ve been marketed as dark academia - maybe that’s why people were so critical. The characters were pretty unlikeable but one was giving me the “Black Widow” thriller vibe and I did enjoy the twist on that.

[@TheBookCastle]

Yes totally agree on The Cloisters! I think marketing it as dark academia was not the greatest idea 😅

[@cindyr4918]

I pretty much love all of the Japenese and Korean translated books. The slice of life narratives with a hint of magical realism seems to really work for me. Most recently, I enjoyed "The Full Moon Coffee Shop" and "What You Are Looking For Is In The Library". "The Gracekeepers" was on my TBR list, so I was happy to hear that you enjoyed it so much.

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooh I’ve seen both of those books around, I really want to read both 😍

[@FaeryLaume]

Three of the books you mention are books I read and very much enjoyed. I find some of my favorite books are 3-point something, probably because they are divisive, you either love it or hate it. Because of that, I try really hard not to let ratings influence what I read, but I admit sometimes a low rating will make me less likely to pick up a book, even knowing how often the rating doesn't reflect my own taste. A book with a lower rating that came to mind to me is Plain Bad Heroines. It has a 3.65 rating, and when it's mentioned people often say they thought it was too long and they didn't like the double time line and a few other issues, almost all of which is what I LIKED about it. Sort of the reverse of your theme here is how sometimes a book with a lot of hype and I read it and think - meh!, or "it's okay", occasionally I'll even DNF it. Or books with high ratings that I do love, and then hear from people why they thought it was boring or didn't like the writing or.... etc. Just goes to show how subjective ratings can be.

[@TheBookCastle]

Yes, indeed! 🖤

[@eileennielsen5165]

ALICE!! I CANNOT BELIEVE The Morasaki Bookshop was soooo low rated! I usually don't look at ratings. I usually buy a bk. because someone recommended it on a book tube, A friend recommended it or just browsing at library and it sounded good. The Morasaki Bkshp. I bought because you recommended it sometime ago.LOVED IT!!! One of my fave reads of 2024; and I don't have alot. I will NEVER forget that book. So emotionally satisfying, great characters, like how it ended. I gave it a 5!🤗 Definite re-read for me. Bought the follow up bk. also but haven't read it yet. Thank you again for recommending it😁! Wrote down 2 you mentioned. Thank you!

[@TheBookCastle]

I know right?? I loved that book too! 🖤

[@BookReviewsWithBecky]

Thanks! I will check some of these out at my library! ☺

[@nathaliestreicher1463]

I so love love love listening to you talking about books ! You are so nice to listen to and I value your opinions ! I just got myself bunny and can’t wait to read it !!!❤and you style is so pretty !

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much!! 🥰🥰🥰

[@Kaitheminion]

I immediately thought of The Gracekeepers when I saw the name of this video, and I'm really happy you mentioned it! One of my favourite books. I've just finished Now She is Witch, and adored that book by Kirsty Logan, too. Her writing style is definitely something special.

[@TheBookCastle]

Right? 🥰 I really need to get to Now She Is Witch as well. And I agree, the writing is special 🖤

[@Beach652]

I love this concept! I think often low rated books end up that way because they're polarizing - people either love or hate it and there aren't as many middle of the road ratings and sometimes those can be just the book that will really hit for the right reader, so being open to books with low ratings is a good idea. One of my fave reads is Adrift by Brideau and I think it's a 3.6 on goodreads, which is so confusing to me! I'm always recommending it to people who like lightly speculative stories that are well crafted in hopes of getting more reviews so it bumps up ratings-wise, lol

[@TheBookCastle]

🥰🖤

[@carolynmonahan2488]

I also enjoyed the Essex Serpent

[@outi3852]

Some of the lower rated books that I have really enjoyed (besides Bunny & The Essex Serpent) are The Cloisters (3.4), Interred with Their Bones (3.43), The Little Paris Bookshop (3.51), The Sands of Sarasvati (3.52) and An Education in Malice (3.56). I think I have learned to be better to determine when I'm going to agree or disagree with the common Goodreads ratings. There's a plethora of popular, high rated books which I don't think are that good, and some that I think are much better than the overall star rating they've been given. For example, I like lyrical writing and regularly feel like fast paced books are rushing things too much. So if many ppl are complaining that there are too many descriptions and the pace is too slow, it might be a book for me🙂

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooh love that! And I agree 🥰

[@skylark1250]

You are beautiful! Thanks for presenting some new reads for me.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! 🖤

[@nmartin5096]

I might try Wisteria Society. I could never make up my mind on that series🤔. Thank you for the book reviews. 🍁

[@alliehabib1654]

Do! I loved it

[@r.d.machinery3749]

Thanks for all your recommendations. I have bought 3 books that you have recommended so far.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you so much!!! 🥰🖤 I’m glad you like the recommendations!

[@craftyyams4960]

Ooh I love books translated from Japanese. They have a very unique voice, reminds me a bit of Hemingway with its sparseness and clarity in prose. Thanks for the book recs!

[@VickIngInTheSky]

The number of ratings tells me more than the rating itself.

[@TheBookCastle]

Interesting! 🥰

[@arlahelppi6258]

Reallly enjoyed Madam as well. And you’ve convinced me to add Catherine House to my tbr 😉.

[@kathycurwin3123]

I liked Catherine House. It is a book that has stayed with me and that is saying something as I even tend to forget some books that I have really liked.

[@TheBookCastle]

I totally agree!!!

[@deliasl4021]

This was a very good video and I have taken some notes for future readings. The “Chinese tl English dictionary” has been in my radar for quite long, but never decided to go for it, because of the format how is written. Your video gave me the push. To be honest, I have read books with great ratings that I could not stomach (cough cough all Sarah J Mass…. ) and others with poor rating that I love. I think it is really dependant whether you connect first with the style, and second with the story. I have started books thinking it was something different and get disappointed because it wasn’t the type of story I wanted to read. For example with the Serpent of Essex. I won’t say much, but I wanted mystery, fog and magical creature. I wanted a gothic novel… and it isn’t. I didn’t connect with the writing either, however I can say it is very good one. So thank you for sharing.

[@livcrisp2114]

Ratings are funny - personally a three star is good for me. If I liked it well enough, it gets a three. Four if I loved it and five if it was exceptional. I’m going to try all of these recommendations Alice, thank you.

[@TheBookCastle]

I totally agree with those ratings, that’s how I do it too!

[@jewel1663]

This is such an interesting video! I don't normally use ratings, but I recently started checking them out on StoryGraph and Goodreads, and there are so many interesting trends (e.g., books with shocking content--like "Madam"--and older books with shocking...anachronisms often skew lower, as does shorter fiction). I think the main variable here is that people who use rating functions tend to be more socially-engaged readers, which means that the sorts of books that tend to be popular within reading communities tend to consistently receive higher ratings. I think this is by virtue of visibility of the raters (you don't want to appear mean), and the fact that a big part of the enjoyment probably derives from the communal aspect of the reading experience (like how seeing a movie in a theatre with your friends might cause you to rate it more highly than you would if you saw it alone in your bedroom on your laptop). I can totally see a lot of these books suffering ratings-wise from the fact that they don't really fit that mold. They're the book equivalent of "headphones music." So fewer people are likely rating them in the first place, and those that do might either be looking for books with a different vibe, or be using a very different rating system, one that feels more like a personal note than a communal statement.

[@TheBookCastle]

This is so interesting!! I totally agree 🖤

[@maggythestray6869]

Loved bunny so much !!!

[@andrewcrow1031]

Hi Alice, greetings from Toronto again 🇨🇦. Another interesting video. The Essex Serpent, Madam and Catherine House are all going in my TBR notebook. I read The Mitford Murders and enjoyed it very much. I didn’t know about the background, so thank-you for that. My local Toronto Public Library has 5 other ‘Mitford Murder Mystery’ books so I will look into those as well. Take care, and good reading to you!

[@TheBookCastle]

Hi! 🥰 That’s awesome, thank you for sharing! 🖤

[@womenwotreads]

This is the first video by you I've seen but I must subscribe. I have read and loved one or two books on your list and I have Earthlings on my bookshelf . Perhaps we have a similar taste in books😀

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you and welcome to the channel! 🖤

[@chigangrel]

Bunny and Catherine House have been on my TBR for ages, but I keep overlooking them for some reason. The more I hear of Catherine House the more curious I am but Bunny seems more like what I'm generally into - I've seen it mentioned by several booktubers now and it's really making me want to check it out more tbh

[@TheBookCastle]

🐰🖤

[@birgitaushamburg]

Once again, this was such an inspiring video! 💐I love weird books with nothing much happening, at least not at the surface...And I love the not so popular, not so bathing in their success, not so hyped authors out there. I added Kirsty Logan to my list. And how could I with an interest in linguistics not want ro take a look at the "Concise Cinese-English-Dictionary"! Also, I finally have to read "Madam" as well as "Catherine House". And the "Essex Serpet", which already sits unread on my shelves for long, long years now definitely deserves a comeback. I read two books by Peter Rock this year with a very low rating on Goodreads, "Klickitat" with an average of 3.10 and "Passersthrough" with 3.04. I totally understand why these books are not exactly well loved because Peter Rock is not one to present his readers with a nice and tidy ending and any kind of explanation for the mysterious ongoings, but that's so fascinating! Makes me think about the stories a lot after reading.

[@TheBookCastle]

Love that! Thank you for sharing 🖤

[@ReadingNymph]

So many of these I have enjoyed 😊 I would also say The Trial of Lotta Rae is one that is lower but is worth the read. Its a historical fiction which isnt a genre I tend to go for, but it really worked

[@TheBookCastle]

Ooooh I’ll have to check that out! 🖤

[@tyghe_bright]

I often end up really liking books that have divided ratings. One book I was looking at recently had almost even ratings in each star, which is so wild, I had to add it to my TBR. I find these are often books that take chances and even if they don't ultimately work for me, at least they're interesting.

[@TheBookCastle]

Such a good point!

[@munajedski]

I'm not sure if it was low rated but I really liked The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I lended this to 2 people who both thought it was mediocre. (??) It might be one of my favorite books. Like a lot of books there were a couple things I think would have made it better but the writing was too good and I do enjoy magical realism.

[@TheBookCastle]

I’ve heard about that one!! I kind of want to give it a go, it sounds so good 😍

[@munajedski]

@TheBookCastle let us know if you do! I looked on Goodreads and it had something like 3.2 (?) rating. 😅 maybe I am in the minority in liking it. 😁

[@shellkay]

The London Séance Society & The Midnight Feast are two I notably rated higher than most. There are many more I rated much lower than most. I especially love finding more obscure/less talked about books I end up loving (many of these are from your recs!)

[@robertsherman2285]

Hi Alice. I enjoy your videos. The rest of the books in the MITFORD MURDERS series are pretty clearly about the actual Mitford Sisters and their time and place in history.

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! 🖤

[@DarkBooks_DarkWine]

Shea Ernshaw novels are underrated in my view. But I can see why, as they're more on the character-driven, atmospheric side. I don't consider Goodreads ratings as a measurement for quality really, but for mass appeal.

[@TheBookCastle]

Mass appeal is a great way to put it!

[@melissahastings3568]

I have a whole stack of Japanese translated books that are low rated but I love them!! I don’t understand why people don’t like them. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@TheBookCastle]

Love that! 🖤

[@lexiscardinale6186]

I did DNF the essex serpent and its not because its a bad book. I just genuinely didnt like the writing style. I definitely think its worth reading

[@TheBookCastle]

Fair! 🥰

[@paintbrushpuke]

Earthlings was such a wild ride (that I exposed my husband to lol) and I totally understand how it's impossible to recommend. The first chapter really captured me and I feel like the essence of children was well captured and beautiful. Hard agree that none of the characters are "likeable" but their commitment to their own ideals and motives is admirable at some level for sure.

[@TheBookCastle]

Exactly!! 🖤

[@catsandbats77]

The Wisteria Society is ridiculous but I really enjoyed it. I love Japanese translated books. I became sad when I read Morisaki Bookshop because I was in Japan the month before and the book district where the book took place was about a mile from where I was and I didn't realize it. 😢 I didn't like the audiobook narrator of Earthlings, so I dnf'd it and still need to try it in a different format. The Essex Serpent is definitely atmospheric, but it is slow at times and I can understand why not everyone would like it. I will say that What Moves the Dead and What Feasts at Night don't have fantastic ratings but I really loved them both. The same for A House With Good Bones, but that book is definitely a weirder book, so I can understand that not everyone would like it.

[@munglejoela]

I feel like Goodreads ratings come with a lot of caveats though. To me the people rating on goodreads seem to skew American, and young, so it's not a massively representative sample. Most people I know who like reading are not on goodreads. Also - to me, 3 stars is not a low rating. If it's out of 5, 2.5 stars is halfway, so my rating system is 3 = good, I enjoyed it. Some people seem to think a 3 star rating means it was awful...but you're giving it more than 50%, so that doesn't work for me. It's impossible to know how everyone rates, but clearly 3 stars means different things to different people, so I tend to ignore the star ratings. In the UK The Essex Serpent was a Waterstones book of the year, and they are a bookseller, so lots of people must have liked it - I loved it. I do find some of the comments odd too - how many people would really want to read about characters who make all the "right" choices, are always strong, etc. We might think we do, but really those books would be very boring and simplistic. Surely it's better to have interesting characters but they might not be people we would want to know in real life? I also really enjoyed The Gracekeepers and have Madam on my TBR!

[@TheBookCastle]

Yes, very true! 🖤

[@hazabee]

While 2.5 is half of 5 (halfway between 0 and 5), on Goodreads, you can't rate a book 0 stars. Not giving a book any stars means you haven't rated it; the options are 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars. So on this five-star scale, 3 is the middle, not 2.5. This is why I rate books that I am indifferent toward 3 stars and books I think are good 4 stars.

[@munglejoela]

@@hazabee Yes, I can see why people do that. I don't think any one system is right or wrong, just that it's clear different people have different feelings about what a 3 star means. So it's not always helpful. I do like that on storygraph you can rate quarters of stars so it's a bit more varied.

[@starlasell5698]

❤📚📚❤️ I don't let the ratings bother me either. What a great video. I have The Essex Serpent on my shelves and look forward to reading it!

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! Hope you enjoy The Essex Serpent 🖤🥰

[@starlasell5698]

@TheBookCastle Thank you!

[@Darkpumpkinspice]

I love love love Bret Easton Ellis’ books. The characters are usually not very likeable ( think spoiled and entitled living off Mommy and Daddy’s money). The writing style is also not to everyone’s taste and I get it. I find that people usually love it or hate it. But if I can recommend one, it would be The Shards. It’s one of my two or three 5 stars of the year.

[@TheBookCastle]

Interesting! I haven’t heard of that, thank you for sharing 🥰

[@alliehabib1654]

I love the india holton books that i have read, i wonder sometimes if the ratings are due to the promotion of the book ? I know this series was popular on social media and perhaps got a different readership, maybe they were expecting bridgerton

[@TheBookCastle]

Ah that could be it!

[@laurac56]

Here’s the books that I have loved in the last few years that have gotten low ratings from others: All of Andrew Michael Hurley’s books (totally crazy low ratings, esp The Loney and Devil’s Day), and The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White.

[@TheBookCastle]

Oooh awesome, thank you for sharing 🥰🖤

[@shawnlinnehan7349]

To be fair, most books I read are just OK so I rate them a 3. I rate something a 4 if it’s really good in my opinion and way above average. I only rate something 5 stars if I consider it one of the best books I have ever read. There’s probably only 2 dozen of those ratings in my list of books read. I just looked at my shelf yesterday and there are two books I read this year and I couldn’t even remember how one of them ended and it took me a minute of thinking to recall the other ending. Most books are 3’s.

[@TheBookCastle]

Yes, exactly! 🥰

[@fynnsternis6432]

The books from india holton sound really cute every time i see thembut i read the ornithologists field guide to love a few months ago and i wanted to slam the book against the wall most of the time, so i just know i wont like them 😭 I really like historical fantasy but the worldbuilding really was flimsy af, its really not the focus of the book but i would have loved more and was really disappointed

[@DeeDeeCatMom]

Madam and Bunny were some of my only 5 star reads when I read them!

[@TheBookCastle]

So good! 🖤🥰

[@irhonda31]

Good idea for a video! The Mitford Murders was just too draggy for me, I got bored. Since Jessica Fellowes is Julian Fellowes’ niece, I expected more. Oh well. Life would be boring if we all liked the same things! I always enjoy your videos!

[@TheBookCastle]

Thank you! And that’s totally fair 🖤

[@Ms.SpookyNerd]

Great recommendations 📚☕🎃🍂🍁🍄🍎

[@TheBookCastle]

Thanks so much! 🥰🖤

[@sandyokey7728]

I almost never read reviews or check a book’s rating before reading a book. I almost always like books others don’t and once in awhile I really don’t like ones that are massively popular. I especially like books translated from Japanese. There is something about the prose that really resonates with me. Every book you’ve mentioned has been added to my wants list, if it wasn’t already there.

[@fynnsternis6432]

Wait is your copy of Bunny actually orange instead of pink or do you just colour correct your videos so much 👁️👄👁️

[@TheBookCastle]

It’s orange 😉

[@salahalselene4957]

❤

[@TheBookCastle]

🖤

[@theresepazell7875]

Murder she wrote was not as good as the movie adaptation..

[@deliasl4021]

This was a very good video and I have taken some notes for future readings. The “Chinese tl English dictionary” has been in my radar for quite long, but never decided to go for it, because of the format how is written. Your video gave me the push. To be honest, I have read books with great ratings that I could not stomach (cough cough all Sarah J Mass…. ) and others with poor rating that I love. I think it is really dependant whether you connect first with the style, and second with the story. I have started books thinking it was something different and get disappointed because it wasn’t the type of story I wanted to read. For example with the Serpent of Essex. I won’t say much, but I wanted mystery, fog and magical creature. I wanted a gothic novel… and it isn’t. I didn’t connect with the writing either, however I can say it is very good one. thank you for sharing.

[@TheBookCastle]

🖤