Change My Mind: My Least Favorite Book Reviews
This year has been all about reclaiming my love for reading, and I’m always on the hunt for great new books to add to my list. Whenever I come across a good review, I screenshot the cover of the book and add it to my Christmas list or “to be read” pile. I’m particularly fond of scanning the star rating system on Goodreads to determine if a book is worth my time.
I set out to write a blog about some recent favorite reads of mine, and while searching through my Goodreads account, I realized I can filter my list of read books not just by date, but also by my personal ratings. And while I do plan to eventually write that list of favorites, a thought struck me– what if I filter my list and see my lowest rated books? What if I write about my LEAST favorite reads?
When’s the last time someone told you about a book that they HATED? I try to be generous in my reviews and ratings. It takes a lot for me to leave negative reviews because as a self-published author, I know how much goes into writing an entire novel– but sometimes, a book strikes me as so unlikeable that I can’t imagine how it got past the slush pile on a literary agent’s desk and made it all the way through to publishing, or even the best seller list.
Without further ado, here are a few books that I truly hated, and that I personally think you should save yourself the time and skip reading. Do you disagree with any? Can you change my mind on why it should get higher stars?
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells – This is a pretty classic southern novel, which I thought would appeal to me. I’m also a huge sucker for matriarch or maternal/mother-daughter storylines, so this really looked like all the stars would align for me, but I found it downright painful to read. I couldn’t get past a lot of the general dysfunction of the various characters, nor could I find any charm to elevate a boring plot.
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger – I’m a HUGE fan of the movie and was excited to read the book that sparked the idea for the film. I believe this book is proof that the book is NOT always better. The movie is hilarious, thought-provoking, and gives us multi-faceted characters with depth; whereas, the book is flat and dull with a whiny “protagonist” whom I absolutely could not bring myself to root for.
Verity by Colleen Hoover – I buried this one down here because y’all might come for me for this… but this was not the thriller I was expecting it to be. It was like a very disappointing, wanna-be Gone Girl (which I loved) with none of the fulfilling explanations that give the big twist its “how.” I thought it was juicy but with little substance. I found all of the main characters deeply unlikeable and wasn’t rooting for any of them. This might be my most controversial review, but it’s made me not want to try any other CoHo books.
Things I Wish I Told my Mother by Susan Patterson & Susan DiLallo – Like I mentioned before, any book with a mother/daughter relationship at the core of its plot is almost always an automatic yes for me. I’ve read several books on that theme that I give perfect five-star ratings to. The premise of this– a bickering mother and daughter taking a European vacation despite their strained relationship– pulled me in, but the writing bored me to tears. And I love a good twist, but this novel’s “twist” made the entire book feel pointless. I don’t need a happy ending, but I do generally want to get something out of a book and this gave me nothing.
Different strokes for different folks, of course, but these books would never get a “must read” recommendation from me. Care to change my mind on any of them? What books would you add to this list and tell someone to save their time?