TOP TEN TUESDAY
June 11, 2019

It’s Top Ten Tuesday, formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week’s topic was Unpopular Bookish Opinions

I don’t think I have too many unpopular bookish opinions or preferences when to comes to reading, book formats, or general reading habits so I guess we’re mostly just left with all of my black sheep opinions on popular books/series… Yikes.

I know we can all get fiery about our favorites so please keep it civil and let’s only comment if you AGREE. I’m not here to debate and fight! We’re all entitled to our opinions!

I’M A BLACK SHEEP READER…

1 | SARAH J. MAAS HAS LOST HER MAGIC. I looooved THRONE OF GLASS, CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, HEIR OF FIRE, QUEEN OF SHADOWS, and A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, but things started to quickly go downhill for me with A COURT OF MIST AND FURY. I didn’t love it and things started to bother me. I was so let down with EMPIRE OF STORMS. I hated TOWER OF DAWN and didn’t finish it. A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN was terribly painful but I finished. I did read KINGDOM OF ASH and it was enjoyable for what it was but it could have been better. I really don’t have any desire to read any more Sarah J. Maas books and I’m super disappointed how everything has turned out to be a big love letter to her series instead of really digging in and developing some of the world, plot, or characters more.

2 | I DNFED AN EMBER IN THE ASHES. I tried reading the ARC when I first got AN EMBER IN THE ASHES. I tried listening to the audiobook with two of my favorite narrators… I just couldn’t do it! The characters felt flat and there was a cheesy prophesy that felt too convenient and I just never picked it back up. I do kind of want to try again someday since the series is so loved by so many, but I tried twice!

3 | CARAVAL WAS JUST OKAY AND LEGENDARY WAS …. NOT GOOD. CARAVAL was such a pretty and vividly written book but I wanted to much more structure to Caraval itself. LEGENDARY felt so sloppy, poorly organized, and kind of unnecessary in many ways. I was really disappointed that it got more whimsical and loose. The addition of the Fates felt like they were mostly out of nowhere and I wanted more of a lead-up to that plot line in CARAVAL to really tie the books together.

4 | I DIDN’T GET THE APPEAL OF TRUTHWITCH. I was so excited for a big adult fantasy series from Susan Dennard but I just never got into TRUTHWITCH. I struggled to get through the book and I finally did. I just felt like so much was missing. Everyone loved the friendship and I couldn’t stand the voices of the main female leads. I really, really, really wanted to like it and I kept trying but I just never got into the world and wanted so much more from it.

5 | TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE IS WAY BETTER AS A MOVIE THAN A BOOK. Well, other people might actually have this same opinion but Lara Jean was soooo immature in the books (all three) and it really, really bothered me. There are certain liberties taken for a rom-com for the main girl to put herself in silly situations or intrude where she doesn’t belong, but especially in the later books, Lara Jean was stepping on other people’s toes WAY too often and it was so annoying. I LOVED the first movie and am anxiously awaiting the second! I hope it continues to be super cute and the actors maintain that movie magic that I loved.

6 | WE WERE LIARS WAS PREDICTABLE. When I first heard about WE WERE LIARS, everyone was going on about the twist at the end (which honestly, already ruins a twist for me. If I know it’s coming, it’s a little less exciting), so naturally when I started reading, my brain started guessing at what it would be. And I guessed it quickly in. Everyone was blown away and it was this big five-star book for them but it turned out to be a really predictable book for me.

7 | THE FAULT IN OUR STARS WAS OVERRATED. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS was my first John Green book and I had big expectations! I found the voices of the teens to be way too pretentious to be realistic and I just really didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone said they had.

That’s only seven and I have a couple more but I don’t like being negative (most of the time haha)! I tried to look for the reverse — where I loved a book and people didn’t — but that was harder to search for than I expected!