It’s not very often that I find myself really not liking a book as honestly, I’m quite easy to please. However, I noticed that more recently I am willing to accept that I really did not like some of the books I thought I did when I was younger. I don’t know about you but I’d call that maturity.

I need to have a real good look at my Goodreads to see which other books I thought I liked but actually didn’t and maybe I’ll do another post like this. For now, though I have talked about three popular books that I tried to love but don’t.

Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone #2) by Leigh Bardugo

I have spoken about this book so many times now and the more I think about it the more I dislike it. I know that is a pretty blasphemous thing to say as Shadow and Bone is a staple YA series, but it just did not work for me. 

I actually quite enjoyed the first book and read it relatively quickly but Siege and Storm took almost four weeks for me to read. Those four weeks were quite painful. I know what you’re thinking ‘why didn’t you just give up?’. Well, I’m not a quitter and besides, I already own the last book so I will see it through to the end. 

I think the main issue for me is pacing. The pacing of this book was so incredibly slow that I kept losing interest in the plot. The pacing in the first book wasn’t much better but it was setting up the world and introducing characters so I let it off. 

Secondly I just really don’t like Alina or any of the ‘good guys’… well expect Nikolai. He genuinely made this book bearable for me. It’s really not often that I find myself hating the main character, but I don’t know there’s something about Alina that doesn’t sit well with me. 

Goodreads synopsis: “Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.”

Sea Witch (Sea Witch #1) by Sarah Henning 

Now this one is a bit of a strange one. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. I just think it had a lot of potential which sadly was not met. 

Again the pacing of this book was extremely slow. Nothing really happens for the first half of the book and even when it does pick up slightly it’s not much better. The ending definitely set up the second book really well, however, I feel like a lot of the first book could have been cut and the two could be put together. It probably just me that thinks that, but personally I would have preferred that. 

I’m also tired of books about mermaids and sirens that don’t spend any time actually under the sea. Is that too much to ask for? I think it might be. 

Goodreads synopsis: “Everyone knows what happens in the end. A mermaid, a prince, a true love’s kiss. But before that young siren’s tale, there were three friends. One feared, one royal, and one already dead.

Ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned, Evie has been an outcast in her small fishing town. A freak. A curse. A witch.

A girl with an uncanny resemblance to Anna appears offshore and, though the girl denies it, Evie is convinced that her best friend actually survived. That her own magic wasn’t so powerless after all. And, as the two girls catch the eyes—and hearts—of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at her own happily ever after.

But her new friend has secrets of her own. She can’t stay in Havnestad, or on two legs, unless Evie finds a way to help her. Now Evie will do anything to save her friend’s humanity, along with her prince’s heart—harnessing the power of her magic, her ocean, and her love until she discovers, too late, the truth of her bargain.” 

Paper Towns by John Green  

This was the last John Green book I read and I don’t think I will ever read another. I honestly don’t hate the plotlines of his books and I did enjoy reading this at the time, but I very quickly realised that John Green loves to recycle his characters. Don’t even try to convince me that Margo is not Alaska and Quentin is not Miles because they are. The one exception to this trend being Hazel and Augustus. 

Don’t worry I have no beef with The Fault in Our Stars.

To be honest, that is probably my main issue with this book, but it’s such a big issue that it really ruined it for me. 

Goodreads synopsis: “Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…”

Let me know if you agree with any of my choices or if you don’t let me which popular books you didn’t like!

WANT TO SEE WHAT I’VE BEEN READING LATELY? CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS HERE

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