A Year of Disappointments: A Review of Notable Reads that Didn't Quite Hit the Mark

As I sit down to write this article, I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed. It's not often that I get to discuss books that didn't quite live up to my expectations, but sometimes they're necessary. This year was no exception, and I've got a few notable reads to share with you.

One of the most disappointing books on my list is "Lady Rogue" by Jen Bennett. As a fan of Bennett's work in the romance genre, I was excited to see her take on a fantasy novel. Unfortunately, this book failed to impress me. The plot was slow and plodding, and I found myself struggling to understand the connections between the different characters and plot threads. I did enjoy the friendship-turned-romance aspect of the story, but it wasn't enough to save the book from its overall lackluster quality.

Bennett is an author that I've always enjoyed, and I was excited to see her try her hand at a new genre. However, this experience has left me feeling a bit disappointed. It's okay, though - just like with any author, not every book will be a home run. And while "Lady Rogue" may not have been the best representation of Bennett's skills, I still hold out hope that she'll bounce back from this one.

Another book that didn't quite make the cut for me is "An Anonymous Girl" by Greer Hendrix and Sarah Pekkanen. As a huge fan of both authors' work in other genres, I was excited to dive into this thriller. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. The book took an unusual approach to its storytelling, focusing more on character development and moral dilemmas than on traditional plot twists or thrills. While I can appreciate the complexity of the story, it didn't resonate with me in the way that I'd hoped.

I do want to note that "An Anonymous Girl" has received a lot of praise from readers and critics alike, so I'm not alone in my disappointment. However, for me, the book's unusual approach and slow pacing made it feel like a slog. It's definitely not for everyone, but I would caution fans of thrillers to read other reviews before diving in.

As I reflect on these disappointing reads, I'm reminded that even with authors we love, not every book will be a winner. And sometimes, it takes one or two missteps to remind us that even the best writers can have off days. But don't get me wrong - I still adore Jen Bennett and Greer Hendrix/ Sarah Pekkanen's work in other genres!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso we talked about my favorite books of 2019 let's talk about some that I didn't really love everybody today I'm here to talk about my least favorite most dissapointing read 2019 whatever you want to call it of course as always we're gonna begin with a disclaimer because we just have to do that so if I talk about a book that you love that I didn't love do not take any offense of it we all have different tastes in this beautiful wide world and that's what makes it great so something I love you may not love and something you love I might not love so it's just different taste just because I don't love these books of the mean you can't love them and that's just how it is everyone's got different tastes so again if I talk about a book that you loved in this video that I didn't love do not take any offense so that I'm glad you loved it I personally didn't and that's okay so I only have about five or six to talk about you read a ton of really disappointing reads in my opinion I said my favorites video so that's an 18 which senior I read a lot of okay books they weren't like super there was a few that were amazing and then there was a few that I didn't love most of them were just like books I liked I just didn't love her Hey they were just straight-up in the middle which can be a good or bad thing take it however you want it to either way sorry for the self-intro let's begin into some of my you know books I just didn't love let's just call it that at first up it's a book I've talked about a lot and my kind of dislike for it and that is hot dog girl by Jennifer Duke and I don't own any of these books by the way because I don't love them I don't know why they're gonna stay with me um hot dog girl was a book I was very much anticipating because number one the cover is beautiful number two the plot just sounded amazing to me it was about a girl that worked at this theme park which is the thing I love I love movies about theme parks I love books about theme parks I love those niche type of things I loved it so it was about a girl that worked at a theme park and she was like the hot dog girl in the costume and she has a crush on this guy and things weren't going well and that sad I thought it would be a fun summer a theme park book and it wasn't the main downfall of this book for me was the main character I don't know her name at all I forgot it but she was just she had a best friend that she treated like crap honestly she had this guy that she really liked that she wanted to kind of steal from his girlfriend and she treated them like crap and I was just she was just horrible yes she had character progression and then by the end she redeemed herself a little bit but it was just the sheer fact of just how horrible she was like I don't know some books I think are meant to have characters where you just don't like them and that's understandable to me but this book I just I couldn't find any interest in the main character of how horrible she was and but the main character was my main problem with this book I think if she was just a better character I would have really enjoyed this book but sadly she wasn't and yeah that was part my least favorite book of the year I've talked about it a lot of much though so it might not be a surprise to you but I wanted to really love this book I had really high expectations for it but sadly they were not met stuff was another one I was really anticipating and that is a roar arising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman they are the famous author duo that brought the illuminator series one of my favorite series of all time why sci-fi series where it's total multimedia and I loved it it was just amazing I read that a few years ago I fell in love with it so needless to say I was very anticipating their new series I was like oh this is gonna be amazing cuz it's sci-fi again but I didn't really like it in this book we follow a in a sci-fi um we follow Kyra's named Aurora who's kind of like frozen in time and then she gets woken up and she's supposed to be on this planet and then her family's not there things like that like we're all in space and that's all I remember from it um I didn't really love it it was very very slow oh my goodness it took me a long time to finish this book I just the plot wasn't there for me I didn't think it was super strong I didn't love the character the time the romance was gonna take an hour leaving it and I just didn't feel like it was a very strong book like their illuminate series was now there's a lot of people I love this book and I can understand that everyone has books that everyone has different opinions on of course but sadly it just wasn't there for me that could be my own fault because I was holding such high standards because of the illuminate series I don't know if my mind thought it was going to be very similar to the illuminate series which if you're wondering it is not it is told her in traditional format like a regular book the illuminate series is not so that give me my own fault for going into it thinking it's gonna be something that it's not but either way I read it and I didn't love it it just wasn't there for me sadly that stuff is Slayer by Kirsten white this is the book that I did enjoy I just was disappointed by it so that's why it is on this list Slayer is a book set in Buffy first and if you don't know anything about me one of my favorite shows of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer but so much I watched it when I was like 12 and I I'm obsessed with it I always happened so when I heard there was gonna be a Buffy book you best you best believe your girl was all over it so this book does not follow any characters that are in Buffy such as like Buffy willow giant but uh um we actually follow a new character named Nina and Nina is in the Watchers Academy if you're like wondering what all this crap is watch Buffy I guess and she basically learns that she is the last layer ever and it kind of unfolds from there overall again this could be my own fault much like a roar arising was where I went into this with such high expectations of thinking it was gonna be just like Buffy and things like that and it wasn't so that could be my own fault so take that or leave that whatever you want to do um I did think the humor was there because Buffy has this very kind of niche type of humor where it's very sarcastic witty and just kind of banter 'full in my opinion and I did think the humor was there the character Nina I just didn't love a ton I didn't love the plot a ton I wanted Buffy that's just maybe an honest but overall I didn't love this book no well I could send you off this series yeah because it's Buffy and my heart just feels like but I mean it wasn't like overly disappointing I just wanted more from it but again I think a lot of it is my own fault because I was comparing it so much to the show but it's hard not to when the book is you know based on the show so yeah there's that one I don't know what to say about it next up we have one I shocked you and that is the queen of nothing by Holly black this book maybe I read it afore I don't know or I look at it I'm like this is definitely a sari for me it was an average book so yeah like I said I had a lot of average books but I want to talk about those books because yeah I think it disappoint me in life you know it's hoping I was gonna be a 5 star read so this is the last book in the air of the folks series by Holly black you watch my favorite books of the year you'll see the second book of this series the wiki King was on that list this is not obviously I I didn't love this book for a number of reasons number one I think it was way too short for a last book like this book was barely 300 pages I feel like it should have been 400 to 450 that just me being honest I felt like it was rushed that was my main problem with this book and I think a lot of that is because we got books 2 & 3 within the same year and I think it was rush so the very beginning of the year we got the wiki King I thought that was a great book that was my favorite in the series honestly and then in November we got this one and I feel like it just didn't it wrapped up too fast there wasn't a lot of character development I wanted more Cardin and Jude I just wanted more from it and didn't deliver for me so yeah that's why I'm putting on my disappointed reads I didn't dislike it like at all it's not a 2 or 1 star for me it was a 3 star for me but at this point because like I said it's a 3 star but I really wanted to be a 5 star because that's what I thought it was gonna be because I love the first and second book so much but yeah I just didn't love and I felt like it was rushed I don't know if that was because I know if the publisher wanted how I'd like to get this book out as fast as they can because the series is so hyped or I don't know what but I felt like it could have been longer and more and I would have been much more satisfied I could be the totally unpopular opinion here but that's just how it's do more books I want to talk about that I just didn't love number 1 is the lady rogue by Jen Bennett Jen Bennett is a wide contemporary author predominantly of them I hate their fun so this was her first foray into why a fantasy and I thought it was gonna be fun I was interested to see I'm always I'm always interested when an author that predominantly writes in one genre switches to another genre just because that's interesting to me this one was kind of about in the 1800s I think or something they were trying to follow Vladimir the Impaler or something like that and basically it's like a grand adventure of a girl and like her best friend going on this and trying to find her father and mischief happens things like that I just I didn't love it the plot was very very slow in my opinion and I thought it could have been more I did like the friendship turn into romance I did enjoy that but overall there was nothing amazing about it in my opinion like I said the plot just moved really really slow for me I had a hard time understanding it with the Vlad and trying to compare to Dracula I wish it just would have been straight-up Dracula but that just might be my vampire love coming out who knows but yeah I wanted more from this because I do love Jen Bennet's writing and I looked you to read all of her books because like I said I enjoy them but this one I just didn't love and it's a prime example of that you can really still love an author but not enjoy every single book they write that's okay just like a musician are you gonna enjoy every single album they put out probably not or a show or you enjoy every single season the show puts out probably not you're gonna have favorites and least favorites so yeah this is a prime example of just that last book I want to talk about is a thriller that I didn't really love I always feel like I talked about thriller by this favorite books but that's just how it is and that is an anonymous girl by Greer Hendrix and Sarah Peck in it so I read the wife between us I think in 2018 I think and I really enjoyed it I really loved it was a great thriller one of my favorite thrillers and then this one came out and I was very excited for it because I loved the first one when I look the second one and I did not love it at all it was just a very odd thriller book basically fall character who gets wrapped up in this like kind of character study or morale study I should say where like she has to take the survey and like would you do this would you do that and then she gets more into it and the psychologists behind it it's just kind of odd and it's a very weird thriller book I think a lot of people would like it it's a very nice shape a thriller book but sadly I didn't love it it wasn't I will say I enjoyed it more than the woman in the window that's one of my least favorite books of aw which a lot of people love so I definitely have the unpopular opinion there but I just it was such an odd book the way it ended was odd I didn't really find it it's reeling a ton I found it is very like this character study morale study and that psychologist got involved and it got all twisted and weird and I was like what is this so yeah I just felt like I had I feel like I should probably just mention it so there's that so there you have those are some really favorite books of the year you know every year you read you're gonna have some of them because it's inevitable honestly like I said I may have talked about a book that you loved and I'm so happy you love it it's okay I hope you can still be friends I hope so but either way I would love to hear some of your disappointing read said you have a ton or did you only have a couple if you had a couple awesome if you had a ton I'm sorry he but I would love to hear them thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you my next video byeso we talked about my favorite books of 2019 let's talk about some that I didn't really love everybody today I'm here to talk about my least favorite most dissapointing read 2019 whatever you want to call it of course as always we're gonna begin with a disclaimer because we just have to do that so if I talk about a book that you love that I didn't love do not take any offense of it we all have different tastes in this beautiful wide world and that's what makes it great so something I love you may not love and something you love I might not love so it's just different taste just because I don't love these books of the mean you can't love them and that's just how it is everyone's got different tastes so again if I talk about a book that you loved in this video that I didn't love do not take any offense so that I'm glad you loved it I personally didn't and that's okay so I only have about five or six to talk about you read a ton of really disappointing reads in my opinion I said my favorites video so that's an 18 which senior I read a lot of okay books they weren't like super there was a few that were amazing and then there was a few that I didn't love most of them were just like books I liked I just didn't love her Hey they were just straight-up in the middle which can be a good or bad thing take it however you want it to either way sorry for the self-intro let's begin into some of my you know books I just didn't love let's just call it that at first up it's a book I've talked about a lot and my kind of dislike for it and that is hot dog girl by Jennifer Duke and I don't own any of these books by the way because I don't love them I don't know why they're gonna stay with me um hot dog girl was a book I was very much anticipating because number one the cover is beautiful number two the plot just sounded amazing to me it was about a girl that worked at this theme park which is the thing I love I love movies about theme parks I love books about theme parks I love those niche type of things I loved it so it was about a girl that worked at a theme park and she was like the hot dog girl in the costume and she has a crush on this guy and things weren't going well and that sad I thought it would be a fun summer a theme park book and it wasn't the main downfall of this book for me was the main character I don't know her name at all I forgot it but she was just she had a best friend that she treated like crap honestly she had this guy that she really liked that she wanted to kind of steal from his girlfriend and she treated them like crap and I was just she was just horrible yes she had character progression and then by the end she redeemed herself a little bit but it was just the sheer fact of just how horrible she was like I don't know some books I think are meant to have characters where you just don't like them and that's understandable to me but this book I just I couldn't find any interest in the main character of how horrible she was and but the main character was my main problem with this book I think if she was just a better character I would have really enjoyed this book but sadly she wasn't and yeah that was part my least favorite book of the year I've talked about it a lot of much though so it might not be a surprise to you but I wanted to really love this book I had really high expectations for it but sadly they were not met stuff was another one I was really anticipating and that is a roar arising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman they are the famous author duo that brought the illuminator series one of my favorite series of all time why sci-fi series where it's total multimedia and I loved it it was just amazing I read that a few years ago I fell in love with it so needless to say I was very anticipating their new series I was like oh this is gonna be amazing cuz it's sci-fi again but I didn't really like it in this book we follow a in a sci-fi um we follow Kyra's named Aurora who's kind of like frozen in time and then she gets woken up and she's supposed to be on this planet and then her family's not there things like that like we're all in space and that's all I remember from it um I didn't really love it it was very very slow oh my goodness it took me a long time to finish this book I just the plot wasn't there for me I didn't think it was super strong I didn't love the character the time the romance was gonna take an hour leaving it and I just didn't feel like it was a very strong book like their illuminate series was now there's a lot of people I love this book and I can understand that everyone has books that everyone has different opinions on of course but sadly it just wasn't there for me that could be my own fault because I was holding such high standards because of the illuminate series I don't know if my mind thought it was going to be very similar to the illuminate series which if you're wondering it is not it is told her in traditional format like a regular book the illuminate series is not so that give me my own fault for going into it thinking it's gonna be something that it's not but either way I read it and I didn't love it it just wasn't there for me sadly that stuff is Slayer by Kirsten white this is the book that I did enjoy I just was disappointed by it so that's why it is on this list Slayer is a book set in Buffy first and if you don't know anything about me one of my favorite shows of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer but so much I watched it when I was like 12 and I I'm obsessed with it I always happened so when I heard there was gonna be a Buffy book you best you best believe your girl was all over it so this book does not follow any characters that are in Buffy such as like Buffy willow giant but uh um we actually follow a new character named Nina and Nina is in the Watchers Academy if you're like wondering what all this crap is watch Buffy I guess and she basically learns that she is the last layer ever and it kind of unfolds from there overall again this could be my own fault much like a roar arising was where I went into this with such high expectations of thinking it was gonna be just like Buffy and things like that and it wasn't so that could be my own fault so take that or leave that whatever you want to do um I did think the humor was there because Buffy has this very kind of niche type of humor where it's very sarcastic witty and just kind of banter 'full in my opinion and I did think the humor was there the character Nina I just didn't love a ton I didn't love the plot a ton I wanted Buffy that's just maybe an honest but overall I didn't love this book no well I could send you off this series yeah because it's Buffy and my heart just feels like but I mean it wasn't like overly disappointing I just wanted more from it but again I think a lot of it is my own fault because I was comparing it so much to the show but it's hard not to when the book is you know based on the show so yeah there's that one I don't know what to say about it next up we have one I shocked you and that is the queen of nothing by Holly black this book maybe I read it afore I don't know or I look at it I'm like this is definitely a sari for me it was an average book so yeah like I said I had a lot of average books but I want to talk about those books because yeah I think it disappoint me in life you know it's hoping I was gonna be a 5 star read so this is the last book in the air of the folks series by Holly black you watch my favorite books of the year you'll see the second book of this series the wiki King was on that list this is not obviously I I didn't love this book for a number of reasons number one I think it was way too short for a last book like this book was barely 300 pages I feel like it should have been 400 to 450 that just me being honest I felt like it was rushed that was my main problem with this book and I think a lot of that is because we got books 2 & 3 within the same year and I think it was rush so the very beginning of the year we got the wiki King I thought that was a great book that was my favorite in the series honestly and then in November we got this one and I feel like it just didn't it wrapped up too fast there wasn't a lot of character development I wanted more Cardin and Jude I just wanted more from it and didn't deliver for me so yeah that's why I'm putting on my disappointed reads I didn't dislike it like at all it's not a 2 or 1 star for me it was a 3 star for me but at this point because like I said it's a 3 star but I really wanted to be a 5 star because that's what I thought it was gonna be because I love the first and second book so much but yeah I just didn't love and I felt like it was rushed I don't know if that was because I know if the publisher wanted how I'd like to get this book out as fast as they can because the series is so hyped or I don't know what but I felt like it could have been longer and more and I would have been much more satisfied I could be the totally unpopular opinion here but that's just how it's do more books I want to talk about that I just didn't love number 1 is the lady rogue by Jen Bennett Jen Bennett is a wide contemporary author predominantly of them I hate their fun so this was her first foray into why a fantasy and I thought it was gonna be fun I was interested to see I'm always I'm always interested when an author that predominantly writes in one genre switches to another genre just because that's interesting to me this one was kind of about in the 1800s I think or something they were trying to follow Vladimir the Impaler or something like that and basically it's like a grand adventure of a girl and like her best friend going on this and trying to find her father and mischief happens things like that I just I didn't love it the plot was very very slow in my opinion and I thought it could have been more I did like the friendship turn into romance I did enjoy that but overall there was nothing amazing about it in my opinion like I said the plot just moved really really slow for me I had a hard time understanding it with the Vlad and trying to compare to Dracula I wish it just would have been straight-up Dracula but that just might be my vampire love coming out who knows but yeah I wanted more from this because I do love Jen Bennet's writing and I looked you to read all of her books because like I said I enjoy them but this one I just didn't love and it's a prime example of that you can really still love an author but not enjoy every single book they write that's okay just like a musician are you gonna enjoy every single album they put out probably not or a show or you enjoy every single season the show puts out probably not you're gonna have favorites and least favorites so yeah this is a prime example of just that last book I want to talk about is a thriller that I didn't really love I always feel like I talked about thriller by this favorite books but that's just how it is and that is an anonymous girl by Greer Hendrix and Sarah Peck in it so I read the wife between us I think in 2018 I think and I really enjoyed it I really loved it was a great thriller one of my favorite thrillers and then this one came out and I was very excited for it because I loved the first one when I look the second one and I did not love it at all it was just a very odd thriller book basically fall character who gets wrapped up in this like kind of character study or morale study I should say where like she has to take the survey and like would you do this would you do that and then she gets more into it and the psychologists behind it it's just kind of odd and it's a very weird thriller book I think a lot of people would like it it's a very nice shape a thriller book but sadly I didn't love it it wasn't I will say I enjoyed it more than the woman in the window that's one of my least favorite books of aw which a lot of people love so I definitely have the unpopular opinion there but I just it was such an odd book the way it ended was odd I didn't really find it it's reeling a ton I found it is very like this character study morale study and that psychologist got involved and it got all twisted and weird and I was like what is this so yeah I just felt like I had I feel like I should probably just mention it so there's that so there you have those are some really favorite books of the year you know every year you read you're gonna have some of them because it's inevitable honestly like I said I may have talked about a book that you loved and I'm so happy you love it it's okay I hope you can still be friends I hope so but either way I would love to hear some of your disappointing read said you have a ton or did you only have a couple if you had a couple awesome if you had a ton I'm sorry he but I would love to hear them thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you my next video bye\n"