Top ten lists are usually about things you really like. Honestly, I don’t LIKE a whole lot of what comes my way. At least, not enough to fill a top ten usually. So, I decided to instead write a list of books I hated. My top ten most hated books I’ve read. I also made it 11 because I just finished one while I was writing this post and it had to be added. I’m sorry. I’m just a hateful reader sometimes.
Across the universe by Beth Revis (buy here)
I loved the concept of this book in theory, but in reality it was awful. Amy was an interesting protagonist and the story started off relatively mysterious and exciting. However, her co-protagnoist Elder was the worst character. He’s creepy and rapey and she still forgives him for ruining her whole life. You wouldn’t get me to read the sequel if you paid me. Throw it into the void. I’m still mad about this book after reading it on release (2011). I’m pretty sure they based the movie Passengers on this book.
Raging Star by Moira Young (buy here)
Moira Young had something so promising with Blood Red Road. Even if it was originally hard to get around the writing style at first, once I did the book was amazing. Things went a little off kilter with rebel heart but I had so much hope for the conclusion. You know what raging Star actually was? a raging turd. Plot threads get forgotten, important characters are killed off in the space of like 5 pages. Nothing makes sense and everything is just trashed by the end and I wanted to scream. So disappointed.
The Jewel by Amy Ewing (buy here)
I don’t know why I thought this book was going to be good, but I had some hope. I thought it would be like The Hunger Games with court politics, but it was really just The Selection with forced insemintation. The romance plot is obvious and completely doomed, and literally just a rip off of the Handmaid’s Tale and I hated it.
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (buy here)
I started off liking this book and then something happened. His name was Joseph. He’s the boyfriend of Jules, and Jules is Arsinoe’s (one of the ‘queens’) best buddy. Joseph sucks so much I can’t even explain. He cheats on Jules multiple times with Arsinoe’s sister and Jules keeps forgiving him. I literally wanted to rip the book in half and throw it into a fire. I’m not here for cheaters, I came here for the sister murder.
Game Girls by Judy Waite (buy here)
This book haunts me. I was young and naive and didn’t know what this title really meant when I was like 11. I thought it was going to be about video games, and what it was actually about was a prostitution ring and a manipulative friend. One girl has been repeatedly raped by her step-dad or dad or something, another gets raped and the dude tries to kill her, and the last girl who organised it all is like lol better throw her in the river so no one reports me to the police. Literally murders her friend and then tries to run away with a sugar daddy. This book shook me and still gives me nightmares.
Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn (buy here)
Eugh. So where do I start? I just…don’t write a book if you’re a youtuber. Stop offering book offers to youtubers. Just because you make cool videos doesn’t mean you can write. This whole book reeks of ghost writing, and is frankly bad. It’s like two different people wrote this in portions, and the writing is generally terrible. Characters are twee and ridiculous, and most of the plot is pointless and is resolved like an episode of the care bears. It had slight lesbian undertones, but I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or just bad writing. I didn’t know this was a youtuber when I picked it up, but I figured it out very fast. Maybe with a lot of editing and some writing lessons she’ll write a better book.
The Handmaid’s Tale (buy here)
I know I was mean about The Jewel for being like The Handmaid’s Tale but that doesn’t mean I actually liked this book. In fact, I hated it. But, what I will say is that I realised how many books are Young Adult rip-offs of this book’s plot, and I could name at least 10 now. Three of them alone are in this list. The actual book itself is annoying to me because nothing is resolved and the historical notes make the whole book essentially pointless. I will not be picking up the sequel ever because I’m still mad.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (buy here)
Another Handmaid’s Tale rip off with the double/triple agent and the fake perfect world we live in. Not a whole lot happens in this book other than the main character being an idiot, and her wholly more interesting best friend is somehow not the main character. I wish she was. I barely even remember the plot at this point other than her boyfriend sacrifices himself so she can escape and be an idiot on the outside and probably just be pointless everywhere she goes. Such a frustrating read.
Wither by Lauren DeStefano (buy here)
Another book taking heavy plot details from Handmaid’s Tale and pretending it’s original. The main character is an idiot, as are all of the girls. The main male character is somehow convinced that his three wives are there by choice, even though the main character clearly hates him and won’t go near him. He’s like 20 and he has sex with and impregnates a thirteen year old CHILD and everyone is totally fine with this. Our main character doesn’t once think to mention it to her husband that she was kidnapped and is there against her will. Literally why? This book just makes me mad and I couldn’t deal with putting myself through more of it. Of course she also falls for someone who works in the house and he helps her escape…sound like another book we know?
The Call by Peadar O’Guilin (buy here)
Before you fight me, I wanna say I gave this book a 4/5 originally. I still do. Just because I hate it doesn’t mean it isn’t well written and a really good book, it is. But, I still hate it. The whole thing made me feel unsettled and physically sick at times. I really didn’t like the vibe I got from it and I didn’t like the world it put me into. Also the fact that Nessa is disabled which meant we felt the need to make her super hot to make up for it was somehow okay?
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Grey (buy here)
What did I signed up for? A revenge story about a girl who had her father murdered and the PhD student she thought of like a brother who did it? With some parallel world stuff. Yes please. What did I get? Some weird parallel world stuff about her partying and trying to find this dude, a really cool bit where he loses his consciousness in an alternative reality version of himself and she falls in love with that version. Okay, okay. Then he comes back and he’s a massive creep and asshole and suddenly she’s in love with him? Nah, I don’t think so. Also she was part of the Russian Royal family because of course she was in an alternate reality. Of course. No thanks this was so dumb.
So, were there any you disagreed with? Most likely. Everyone has different taste and I know I can be super picky and weird about books. If any of you are interested in these books, well…I’ve added links so you can buy them. Most of them are the first book in a series so you can make your mind up for yourself. If you’re interested in picking up any of these books, feel free to see if any of them are on Prime and take advantage of a free trial of Prime here.
Let me know your thoughts! Love, hate, or otherwise, there’s no real HATE here. Happy reading.
-Inkspit-
Inkspit 