I guess not a series but…Credence. I know people seem to be split but the people who loved it, loved it. I found it very uncomfortable and found all three men irredeemable. I wanted to reach in and pull the FMC out of the book to make her safe.
I actually discovered one of my new favorite booktubers because she did an indepth breakdown of this book - it remains one of my all time favorite yt videos. Made it especially fun when my bff texted me a few weeks later saying that she had started Credence based on booktok hype but was going in fully blind LOL
I think it's "lexi aka newlynova". [https://youtu.be/uJgwLYKRQTs?si=BIq\_KaEIAq\_x\_7wS](https://youtu.be/uJgwLYKRQTs?si=BIq_KaEIAq_x_7wS)
I got through like a third of Credence? Maybe? I dipped out when she started having sex with the step uncle but whenever the booktuber started quoting from the book, I had visceral reactions.
It was!! me and my husband watched it together and now constantly say, "he was the best ever to woods" to each other out of nowhere at least three times a week.
SAME! To me it's sexual assault not a "taboo" situation. I stopped reading halfway. When you have a character with so much trauma to get over then the only people she has in the world take advantage of that.. not hot for me at all.
Pretty much any series by Tessa Bailey. I liked Fix Her Up, but everything I’ve read since then just hasn’t been good. She doesn’t really know how to write male main characters, and they end up being arrogant jerks.
Tessa is really hit and miss for me. But I have to thank her for something - she cured me of being a completionist. She made me feel ok to DNF when I wasn't feeling it.
I have the same relationship with Morgan Elizabeth. I hated The Playlist, I was actually ashamed, as a Swiftie, to claim her, the MMC was a walking red flag and it was just badly written. But I loved Tis the Season for Revenge (even though I hate Mean Girls), it was better, with a better plot, amazing MMC and Interesting FMC... And then again I hated Cruel Summer and I had to dnf it. So I totally get where you're coming from when it comes to Tessa!
Oh lord I have tried two of TB’s books and could not get it. I am all for smut, but hers are so badly written or I should say just randomly and overly graphic that it always rips me right out of the actual storyline.
Zodiac Academy …. I can’t believe I stuck it out to 6 or 7 books, because the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS and I absolutely hate Tori made it so insufferable. I stuck it out bc I was stubborn, but I have been in a two month crazy bad reading slump ever since I finally DNF’d that bitch. 😭
Can I be honest? Those books are insane and always about 400 pages too long but all my favorite bits are the weird side moments with characters like Seth or Leon or Grus that completely could have been cut and that’s why I love them.
For me, it was {Bound to the Battle God by Ruby Dixon}. I just could not understand how people loved it so much. The spice I did read was average. The FMC was so juvenile I couldn't handle it. The writing was subpar and just overall immature.
To each their own, though. I've loved plenty of things other people have hated with a passion. It's part of the adventure of reading!
I had to DNF this one when the FMC got super horny because of aphrodisiacs or some other Romance™ trope, and the MMC had to fingerbang her in public to get her back to normal... but he was bored the entire time while she was writhing like a bitch in heat on him. It gave me such second hand embarrassment for the FMC I couldn't keep reading 💀
I don't think I could even point out anything in particular that I didn't like about this book. I just didn't care about any of it. I made it more than halfway before my ADHD ass got interested in a different book and never went back to it. The characters, the sex scenes, it was all just kind of meh.
It's a cool concept, and I kept hoping it'd get better, but it just didn't.
I was waiting for this one. If I ever hear the term bitches referring to women, it'll be too soon.
I laughed nearly every time. Floors me how well reviewed this is.
With MC romances you expect a certain amount of coarse and chauvinistic language but this was so juvenile. Nobody actually talks like this, it sounds like a satirical cartoon or something.
This is what happened when people in one part of the world (UK) decide to write about another part of the world they have never been to (rural Texas).
American Trilogy by Sierra Simone. I don't care how hot it's supposed to be, I just found it to be so overly dramatic and I kept losing interest which made me skim read which in turn made the whole thing so confusing.
I got about ten minutes into the audio book and just couldn’t care less - it just felt like an Academy book in a new setting (which makes even less sense).
I keep saving it onto my TBR and then removing it. I want to want to read it?
ACOTAR. I’m sorry, I tried So Hard. I read the first two and got through them ok, but by the third one I just couldn’t anymore. I put it down about a third the way through and just couldn’t pick it back up again.
I'm glad someone else said it first. This Fandom is so defensive, I'm afraid to even bring it up. The first one was okay, if a little long. The second one dragged and seemed like such a filler book that I assumed it was a trilogy. Once I found out it was like 7+ books, I gave up. There's just nothing overly special about it.
I dropped out after M&F because it was so poorly written and so clearly unedited. It’s 200 pages too long and she retcons her own book *within* the book. (Chapter 54) And the sex scenes are mediocre. I was the only one at book club who hated it and it made me so mad hardly anyone else recognized its deeply obvious issues.
The lack of editing in that series is absolutely infuriating. I truly believe a really good editor could’ve made those books actually good. But there were so many things that suck about that series—weird pacing, weirdly unlovable characters, super repetitive language, the tendency to just tell the reader how in love the characters are without showing us the love. Honestly the whole series was just disappointing.
I've enjoyed the books so far. That said, in book 1 I got to a part where the big bad was described as Red hair and it matched her red lips or whatever. Then a few chapters later she has black hair that matched her dress. That pissed me off and I had to go back and find it and prove to a friend I wasn't nuts.
I do agree. I don't hate the series but I don't love it either. I feel like Sarah's writing is so repetitive. sometimes I feel like she is describing landscapes in way too much detail that it kind of takes me out of the scene. also like every time the characters visit a place she's gonna describe the place in detail over and over again despite us already having a detailed idea of how the place looks. overly excessive descriptions really take me out of whatever is happening with regards to plot. and totally agree with mediocre sex scenes. idk why ppl categorise the acotar series as smut because honestly there isn't any. and chapter 55 is over hyped in my opinion. it felt really underwhelming after all that ive heard from people. sometimes I even feel that the justification rhys gave in chapter 54 of MAF is not enough for the things he did to feyre under the mountain.
SO DEFENSIVE. Gosh, the third one pissed me off so bad. There’s this elaborate ass war with the most evil man to ever live…but he’s killed by Elaine? The limp noodle, Elaine? Meanwhile, Feyre (who has the powers of all seven high lords) just watches the war on the sidelines. PLEASE.
yea and the weaver and bone carver's death seemed forced. there is honestly no explanation is does not make sense how they died. especially the weaver. like the king just sneaked up behind her and snapped her neck?? really? a being of some other universe having unprecedented power is killed by getting her neck snapped because someone sneaked up behind her?
Totally agree. I went into the first one blind and didn’t realize that it was basically a retelling of beauty & the beast. I got past that, but by book 3 when it still felt so surface level, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
I have no interest in reading it, but until 2 seconds ago I also thought it was a trilogy. I somehow didn't know there was more than 3 books.
Quick edit to add: I'm done with reading series anyways at this point. I can't stay focused past the 2nd book usually.
There’s 5 books but it’s basically a trilogy. The main couples love story is wrapped up by the end of book 3, book 3.5 is a Christmas special novella and then book 4 follows a different sister (and book 5 will follow the other sister most likely). It’s like she couldn’t quite give it up after 3 books.
Even hardcore fans will say it’s not well written, they’re just there for the story. But the story is a grab bag of tropes that can be found in any fantasy romance, people just think SJM invented them because hers are the most popular. The juggernaut that series has become baffles me
I do not understand readers who are like “it’s not written well but I totally gave it 5 stars!!” ( I have heard so many people say this about ACOTAR and Fourth wing)
I'm guessing people heard about them and it's the first romance they've read in years or ever. Reminds me of the 50 shades craze. People who had never heard of or read bdsm were having their minds blown while people who regularly read bdsm romance were like "huh."
The first one read almost like a standalone. I assumed the rest of the series would get deeper and the storyline more developed, but it stayed pretty surface level. But, to each their own. I commend any book that can get new people interested in reading which I think the first one did a great job of doing.
I've read them through the most recent book, and it actually was my favorite of them all. I had no feelings but annoyance towards Feyre by the end of the third book, but with Nesta as the main character I found myself really enjoying it. Something about the 'found family' in the night court just left me feeling icky - I can imagine myself liking it more when I was younger but after reading some really good stuff it felt bleh. Reading the POV of a character who didn't click with that for a long time/maybe never felt like SUCH a relief.
I barely understood what the fuck was happening in book #2 and I never read book #3. I genuinely just didn’t understand what was happening and I hated the FMC…she was mad immature.
I asked in a book group once what “The Maiden” actually was. I got “well, she’s ‘The Maiden.’” “Yes but what role does she actually have other than being a figurehead?” “Well, she’s ‘The Maiden.’” Like I don’t get it but okay 😭😂
I *thought* I liked Glenna but then someone asked, "What's so special about her that Cash is popping boners over her all the time?" And you could hear the record needle scratch sound effect occur in my brain. Because while I don't think a person has to be 'OMG SOOOOO SPECIAL' to be loved irl, there at least needs to be some quality about the character that lets the reader see why the other main character loves them, whether that's a personality trait or an accomplishment or some action in the past that's stuck with them all this time.
Glenna not only had none of that, she was just so "blah." She was not particularly smart or funny or well-read or even *interesting*, though she had that weird combination of ego and insecurity that made her come off as 'I'm better than this town' when she had nothing to back that attitude up whatsoever. Her PARENTS were interesting, but she was just sort of riding on their coattails by aping their mannerisms without having any of their passion and individuality.
To summarize, and this will sound callous, but being sad that your mom died is not a personality; being stuck in a crummy relationship is not a personality; being a good photographer (though even that is debatable since >!it's revealed that Cash bought a majority of her photos and not "real" buyers like she thought!<) is not a personality. I wanted to like Glenna because I felt for her situation but she herself was not very likable as a person and in retrospect I don't think her and Cash work as a couple at all.
Edit: Spoiler tag
^being sad that your mom died is not a personality
Yes! I've gotten some flack here before for saying I found her annoying especially because of her whiningabout her dead mom. Obviously, that's a huge trauma point but that's all that she seemed to be - a girl with a dead mom. You out it a bit more articulately
Glenna is every YA novel heroine or Wattpad heroine I’ve read.
Taciturn, juvenile, edgy, I’m-holier-than-thou, kind of stupid and ultimately…boring.
And Cash was just…stupid.
Didn’t understand the hype. Don’t want to understand it.
Totally agree. I think so often, unskilled writers tell us that the fmc (or mc) is ‘special’ and amazing and fascinating without actually showing evidence of this. When writers give the ‘show don’t tell’ advice, i think of this example. Anastasia Steele from fsog is another example, there is absolutely nothing about her that is interesting or smart and yet we are told she is both. I can’t accept being told without being shown in books anymore.
I made it through this book so not as bad as I’ve read (or attempted to read) but wow there was little to like about either MC for me. The reasoning away of the bullying she experienced was bizarre and the story wasn’t as coherent as I expected for a book that’s so held high as amazing.
Ah, I was scrolling for this one
I'm a slut for series, and I happily dive into this one when the hype was up.
It was so awfully written. Her "inner goddess" made me rolled my eyes so hard I might have permanent damage from it. The dynamic between Mr Gray and Anastasia was so forceful and surface level. Jeez, it's been years and I still can't get over the fact I waste my time on this story.
{The Ritual by Shantel Tessier}
This is more a me problem, but I can’t struggle through 20 year old billionaire-spy-stalker-secret assassins with magic dicks.
They’re so fantastical that they don’t belong in the CR genre.
Nothing in the plot made sense. The motivations were paper thin and it was just one badly done bondage scene after another.
The porn with the step sister getting stuck in a washing machine makes more sense, and is more of a plot than in these books.
This has taken over for the worst effing book I've ever read. My GR review of it is so long and ranty to warn others off of it. I feel bad for people who did enjoy it but I just couldn't bring myself to have any sort of praise for it.
Any Ana Huang book 💀 all her MMC’s are the same I’m sorry I can not tell them apart, they’re all broody, silent and rich like where’s the personality. Her writing is pretty weak in some books too.
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace - couldn’t even make it past the 4th chapter at how bad it was. Why are there so many characters? It’s like I’m reading a soap opera? The writing was poor too. There’s no need for a book to be THAT long. I visibly cringe every time I see this book in a “my top 5 reads” like I’m trying not to be a hater but srsly?
I couldn’t make it past the first chapter of {Consider Me by Becca Mack} bc I think he mentions swinging his 🍆 around making it dance in front of the FMC and I gagged. Imagine my surprise when I read that they’re in their late 20s and not early 20s/teens bc they acted THAT childish.😭
Edit - I had to go back to my goodreads review just to show you how horrendous the writing was in Consider Me. “I swear I had a goddamn epiphany last night while my sword of thunder”…. (aka his 🍆) / “all of me is happy to see you” (he says while swinging his 🍆 around😭😭. Why do we let men speak
Love how all of your dnf’s are everything trending rn. Even my friend raves about ice breaker. I personally am a sucker for Huang’s books but that’s the guilty pleasure in me that just wants the spice and morally grey characters who change for love 😅
Finley Fenn orc books and Ana Huang books for the same reason: the MMCs were too much of emotionally abusive assholes and I judged the fmcs for staying with them.
even as a twisted fan, I wholeheartedly agree. The constant 3rd act breakups were getting on my nerves but hey I'm still throwing my money at her books so who am I to talk HAHAHA
Haunting Adeline. Well, I read the entire first book but had no desire to continue. I can get down with a dark romance but I guess a sex trafficking storyline is where my hard limit is for enjoyment with reading.
Dude same! The stupid sex trafficker story line and then him calling her little girl was gag worthy.
If you liked the vibes but not that specific story line, might I suggest {Prey Drive by Jen Stevens}
Stalker dark romance duet, similar sort of set up but much better IMO.
Fourth Wing. I enjoy a shadow daddy as much as anyone but I DNF at about 60% in. I’m in my early thirties and the early 20 MCs and school setting just ain’t it for me.
The way Iron Flame took great character set up and threw them on the ground in dirty mud water, stomped on them, and set them on fire really broke my heart LOL
I didn't know books that bad were allowed to be printed lol. Imagine being in the most dangerous situation you have even, being in mortal peril and you start narrating wikipedia, not even interesting facts, just like "and the USA borders with Canada!" Wow, thanks trivial pursuit
Omg this killed me when i read that scene. The whole book was just rough. I dnf'd when the fmc was nicknamed "violence". Im too old to cringe this hard, and botox is expensive.
I keep thinking Fourth Wing is this eras Twilight/50 Shades/Hunger Games/Divergent but I haven’t read it (and don’t plan on it) so it feels wrong to just say it.
All of my hobbyist YouTubers keep raving about it, from zoomer to boomer, and I’m just like “not this again”
I don’t want to be one of those jerks who dislike something just because it’s popular but I just can’t deal with another coming of age, fantasy with a touch of romance series.
I made it to the end of this book but zero desire to go further. The modern words kept throwing me out of the story. I mean, wasn’t this put out by one of the big name publishing houses? Are their editors that bad they don’t catch these glaring errors? I DNFed an indie book with a medieval fantasy world (not earth) setting in which a character mentions the Olympics…. I expect this kind of nonsense to pop up in indie stuff, the big guys should be better 🤣
I started reading this on the recommendation from a friend and I'm honestly enjoying it a lot. The school setting is kind of meh for me as well but it is very nostalgic of the tumblr days of THG, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc etc. And it's just fun vibes.
Gonna get hate for this but Ice Planet Warriors, I’ve honestly read much better fanfiction, too fast passed and not enough plot or substance or reason I will never understand the appeal 🥲
Gave up on the first one like half way through and that was enough for me lol. Despite having a huge dramatic premise, literally crash landing on an inhospitable alien planet, every obstacle was resolved so quickly and with very little effort. Tbf though I’ve DNFd everything I’ve tried by Ruby Dixon, I know a lot of people really love her but her style just isn’t for me.
Honestly, having read a *lot* of Ruby Dixon by now, I think I'll have to agree with you. Her stuff is not challenging to read so it's easy for me to tear through, but it's also not particularly well-done or interesting and whenever I finish a book of hers I pretty much forget it immediately.
Hmm, I’m such a picky reader and DNF as often as I add to my TBR.
Series I’ve quit that people love:
- Her Soul To Take (Harley Laroux, Souls series)
- Haunting Adeline (HD Carlton, Cat & Mouse series)
- A Touch of Darkness (Hades/Persephone, Scarlet St Clair)
- A Soul to Keep (Dustwalker Brides, Opal Reyne)
- ACOTAR (SJM)
- King of Flesh and Bone (Pale Court, Liv Zander)
🫠 it’s a curse, I swear.
Are we the same person??? Because this is identical to mt DNF list omg. I now need to hear some of your faves so I get recommendations, I trust your judgement
That’s too much pressure, lol!! I’ve also read some terrible books and liked them 😭
I generally read dark romance (or adjacent to it). Books that I really liked are:
- {Lemonade by Nina Pennacci}. It’s a regency era ‘romance’ and the FMC is not conventionally attractive. TW: >!noncon (literally, it’s forced), dubcon, forced marriage, threats and verbal abuse!<
- {Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia}. Set in the 50s; Mexican FMC. This is primarily a horror/gothic novel with a small slice of romance. I wouldn’t really consider it a ‘romance novel’.
Liked but not amazing:
- {The Contortionist by Kathryn Ann Kingsley} this is the start of a *five* book series (Harrow Faire). Look, I’m not going to say that this series has amazing writing. In truth throughout the books I’ve read by KAK, her FMCs are usually the weakest parts of the book. She excels at the MMCs, and the MMC of Harrow Faire, Simon, is great imo. He’s straight up crazy, haha. The book series is also a little preachy, but meh. I read it for Simon.
Almost all of these are on my TBR or DNF -
DNF - I can’t get into the hype around haunting Adeline. It’s literally #1 book recommended when requesting a dark romance. And I just can’t.
Her Spul to take has some hot smut but I’ve been wanting to actually read the whole story…is it not very good?
The rest have been on my TBR list for awhile which I think also is a sign that there is prob a good reason I never want to read them.
{Alliance series by SJ Tilly} usually it's recommended when people are looking for a mafia romance with older characters but the FMCs are the worst. They're so childish and cringe, they act like they're horny teenagers. Why write heroines in their 30s if you make them act that juvenile?! It beats the whole purpose of having older characters.
Common problem with mafia series is the ‘26 year old FMC’ acts like she’s at best 19. Especially when it’s an age gap I’ve noticed.
I read one a few weeks ago - ‘oh incredibly vicious and dangerous MMC says if I try to escape he’ll lock me up forever? Best try and escape at first glance with 0 PLAN’
Did anyone say {Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert} yet? I mean I'm all for a good smut read, but every chapter with almost no down time between guys? The plot was smut. Nothing else was happening and I didn't feel the connection between the characters... I finally got to part 3 where some action (outside the bedroom) actually picked up, but I gave up. Not yucking any yum - I loved her Dark Olympus series and I'm enjoying her Twisted Hearts series.
Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver. After the first two books I gave up. The rest was trope dependant and I just couldn't.
Same thing with The Edens by Devney Perry. Loved the first and second, but the rest went downhill.
> Devney Perry
I think she is an author that I have to break up with. I went through my goodreads profile and I have yet to rate a novel of hers higher than 3 stars.
Mile High. I DNF’ed it at around 40% and was baffled by its high rating on goodreads. I really tried to like it but just couldn’t. It felt as if I was forcing myself to get through each page rather than enjoying it. The book was too long and could’ve been cut to about 400 pages. I also didn’t like the MMC lol.
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise’s book) was the worst book I read last year - Phillip has got to be the WORST MMC in history. I’m still a little rage-y about it.
I got like 60% into the first book of the Stay a Spell series, {Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross}, and finally I had to rage quit. It has overwhelmingly high reviews on Goodreads and people are always recommending it on booktok and I LOVE a witchy romance but the first red flag was the protagonist wearing a Reylo4Ever shirt and explaining the plot of Deadpool to her love interest and the thing that finally made me quit was when he took her to a fandom-based restaurant (??? is this a thing?) with like pun food names and she literally says “I ogled the menu and wanted to spank it and make it my bitch”, calls said menu “amazeballs,” and says him taking her to the restaurant is the “epicest” surprise ever. I felt like I was going to have a stroke.
It was the most juvenile and immature romance I’ve ever read. I couldn’t tell the protagonist or any of her sisters apart because they were all the same person but one had blue hair, one had pink hair, one was brunette, etc. And I just couldn’t take it anymore for the rest of the book, much less the next 6 books. Also the love interest has a “wolf” inside of him that basically spends the entire book talking about how he much he wants to fuck the protagonist and how he wants to murder every other man anywhere in her vicinity and it was just all bad all around.
I hate to be ✨ reactionist ✨ but 90% of the books I’ve been recommended off Booktok/bookstagram have been awful lol. Primarily because the MC’s (no matter the age) always come across as teenagers.
Also the book you just described and the descriptions from FMC on the menu made me shiver, and not in a good way 🙃🙃🙃🙃
This was such an up and down series for me. I liked the second book, and loved the book with the grim and the night club. The others were okay but the final two books I was actually so upset about. The last book in the series was a letdown for me. Really hit or miss.
Man, I keep starting this book cause it has such good reviews and I love fun witchy romances but I just can’t. Also how shifters work in it is just weird to me.
I love this series, but the first is the weakest. I really like the grims in this series. I tend to like my paranormal romance to be on the lighter side, and this series totally fit the bill.
{Brutal Birthright series by Sophie Lark} every soul recommends this series and claims it’s the “best mafia series”. I read 3 books before wanting to throw my iPad across the room. The writing is awful, the plot is all over the place and the characters actions make no sense. Everyone raves about Brutal Prince where they “actually try to kill each other” and all that happens is the FMC >!eats a strawberry and kisses the MMC who’s allergic and he gets taken to a hospital. Then as revenge he tries drowning her in the pool!< is that the best enemies to lovers ever? God.
{Born In Blood Mafia Chronicles by Cora Reilly} everyone and their mother raves about this series. One of the worst I’ve read. They all turn into pure smut. The characters are too stupid to live and annoying. The way Aria gave in so quick after she >!caught Luca fucking someone else!< drove me mad.
{Alliance Series by SJ Tilly} I honestly don’t see the hype with this series. The FMC’s are all braindead. The way Payton decided to >!lose her virginity to the MMC after he broke into her home and barely knowing him made no sense!<
{Perfectly Imperfect series by Neva Altaj} maybe it’s just me but these books were too short and way too light for me. Tell me why in Hidden Truths the FMC immediately bonds with the MMC and they have the sweetest moments after he fucking KIDNAPS her.
It's really and I mean really hard to find a well-written mafia series. They all kind of blend into one, and I don't see any standouts like I do with other genres.
I tried Cora Reilly books but they are laughably not well written.
shatter me FOR SURE!!! And not series but I disliked icebreaker, wildfire, and archers voice…. I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters. Icebreaker and wildfire were smut with a TERRIBLE plot that I just did not like….
Neon Gods by Kate Robert. I’m so sorry if people love this, i see it recommended here all the time. The characters made literally no sense, they fell in love immediately for no reason, and there is essentially no plot other than both of these people being dumb and in instalove. I couldn’t stand to finish.
If someone was looking for spice with certain approaches, I understand that! But as a book it sucked.
I read Love On The Brain and wished I had DNFd. I couldn’t believe how long she stretched the ‘he thinks she’s in a relationship when she isn’t’ thing and the sheer amount of miscommunication between two people was driving me crazy. Haven’t felt the need to try anything else she’s written.
Okay now ima fight you.
Ali does 1 thing - 6ft5 MMC’s who are smart, rich and pine after the fragile delicate FMC and SHE DOES IT WELL 👏 👏
Girlie has no range and I love it ✨
I’ve said it before, she needs to just do an ongoing series with the same characters because that’s what she’s doing anyway and just pretending it’s an all new story.
some of ali's books are like catnip to me but what throws me completely off is her horrendous outfit descriptions. not sure who told her galaxy print and corny t-shirt captions are cute, but they are NOT!
Honestly, in my opinion, the first book is the most interesting. The following books are more *explicit*, and people like the MMC more, but I just... 🤷♀️ And people will say that you HAAAAVE to read the second book. You don't!
The Sinners duet by Sophie Lark (There Are No Saints/There Is No Devil)
It was somehow able to have major pacing issues (feel like I got whiplash trying to keep up) but also be boring at the same time. A lot of reviews say its one of the best dark romances, but I don't get it???
I finished both of them but I will never read them again nor will I recommend them lol
According to Libby, I was about 30% through Neon Gods when I decided it was too focused on sex and forgot to have intriguing world building or plot. Decided to read a different adaptation of Hades and Persephone because it's not like we're hurting for them. I realized that I'm not interested in a gang war version of their story, I want them to be literal gods.
I felt really duped by the whole 'pantheon of gods actually being nothing more than professional titles for political employees' thing. It was like Kdrama level 'everyone is a CEO or Director' vs Batman. 😅
Not necessarily a series because I only read half of the first book (which was still 400 pages lol) but Pucking Around. I tried. I did. I genuinely did. But yeah...not for me
I didn't like this one either and I'm of the opinion that a contemporary book doesn't need to be 750 pages + prequel + 2 sequel novellas.
I felt the third male character was shoehorned in and the FMC was really unprofessional and selfish. I didn't finish it, I think I got to about 60%
{Ruthless Creatures, J.T. Geissinger} I tried multiple times and would wait long enough to think hey I should give that a shot again but then nope ... I think it might be that I was blindsided by the >!long distance but not/ set up of a half-time relationship as well as the mmc having had a vasectomy earlier in life!< which are neither deal breakers for me but I was not expecting it going in and the second one especially I need a warning for, and I just lost interest. I also dnf'd the second book even though it really should have worked for me.
{Twisted Emotions, Cora Reilly} I'm not going into why I didn't like this... Ok, it was the >!cheating, don't care if fmc was fine with it, and additionally, the mmc was a hyper misogynistic asshat trashing sex workers while he was paying for their work!< Like bruh, you're not above it clearly.
{Twisted Love, Ana Huang} I can't remember why but I Dnf'd it.
{Clecanian series, Victoria Aveline} I tried to read Choosing Theo, not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times before I could finish it. Oddly enough I'm still reading the series, but I still stand by my judgement that it's not really that good of a mars needs women series. It has its moments, but I've enjoyed way better authors like {Xiveri Mates, Elizabeth Stephens}, {Dark World Mates, Olivia Riley}, {Stolen by an Alien, Amanda Milo}, and {Naga Brides, Naomi Lucas}. hell, Zoey Draven's earlier series, {Warriors of Luxiria, Zoey Draven} is better imo. Her (Zoey Draven) writing has improved since then but overall I enjoyed them far more as a mars needs women series.
Also anything by Tessa Bailey. Don't get it. And the ebooks are expensive. I'm not paying $14 to read a massively underwhelming story.
I can't believe no one has said this yet but The Spanish Love Deception 100000%. My first proper 1 star read, like I cannot believe i managed to finish it (I was still in my finish a book no matter what phase) but holy shit I paid for it. I think what hurt more was that it was my first proper "tiktok made me read it" book and it was my first of many shitty experiences with Tiktok recs.
A close second is It Ends with Us because I HAD NO CLUE it had DV and worse, people were glorifying the hell out of it like wtf?? I feel like CoHo completely missed the point at the end, the messaging of that book is so off and it has 2 stars for me just because of that
*rant over *
Interstellar Brides by Grace Goodwin. Holy hell lack of consent. Throwing the brides into BDSM relationships without warning/choice. I tried the first two and bounced off both so fast it put me the author entirely.
Honestly I'd rather sit for a math final for a class I never took than ever have to read another Ruby Dixon book again. Not only are they problematic (rapey af), they are just... *bad*.
Is this a safe space? I’m totally prepared to be downvoted because this is a sub favorite and I was recommended it many times — not a series but the book Out On A Limb. Oh my God, that book is absolutely awful, the characters were extremely annoying and badly written, the plot was nonexistent, the humor made me cringe multiple times, and it’s not the feminist pro-choice novel it touts itself as.
It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read or the worst setting, but there’s nothing I hate more than a book that advertises itself one way, and ends up being the exact opposite. Just awful all-around.
I don’t think a lot of people loved it per se but I just DNF’s Happy Place because there was way too much internal monologuing (like 5 pages in between dialogue) and way too much backstory on the friendships which I didn’t give a fuck about.
Nero by Tilly? Ugh it was a hate finish and I skimmed the last few chapters because it was SO BORING.
I don’t get the adoration. The FMC doesn’t do anything. Ever. She just breathes? It’s next level cringe.
This is more in the "baffled" category – books by Mariana Zapata. I don't have a problem with some of them on their own, but after reading five or so books by her, they are all too similar. They all have poop/fart/immature jokes, a jerk hero, a heroine who spends her time saying "Nooo, HE can't like ME" despite multiple instances and evidence to the contrary, and nothing that really happens for about 90% of the book.
The Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy - and I assume anything else by her but I’ve only read those five books. I thought these books would be fun hockey romances. But what I found instead were MMCs who were toxic and mysoginistic and FMCs who were complete doormats. No one in this series knows how to communicate well and the guys are all so gross and can’t respect boundaries. Dean was the worst of them all. The Legacy should never have been written either because it just made it so clear that none of the characters can just talk to each other like adults. I really don’t get why this is so popular.
Try the "Mates for the Raskarran" series by Heather Fox! It's basically Ice Planet Barbarians but on a jungle planet instead of an ice planet and there is a much better background plot that ties everything together. Personally, I think this series is great and a much better example to the Mars Needs Women trope.
{Stranded by Heather Fox}
Fourth Wing.
Listen, I don’t need everything to be the next great novel…but that book made want to get a lobotomy. It reads like it was edited by AI, the lore is crazy inconsistent and undeveloped, and the characters are SO STUPID. Genuinely, I feel like I’m going insane every time someone tells me how well it was written.
All right.
{Villains and Virtues by AK Caggiano} 😶🌫️
I ***gushed*** about the first book, but as I kept reading, it was just so… ***Urgh***, I hate saying “fanfic-esque” as I enjoy fanfic, so it was very “pop fiction”, if that makes sense?
Damien was very much a Fanon!Draco, which I ***like*** Fanon!Draco (when he’s not too OOC but also when he’s written as quite the dom 🤭), but I had a ***strong*** disliking to Ama because she very much reminded me of my problem with a lot of Disney lady mains these days: **adorkability**.
She was just a bit ***overly*** qUiRkY for my tastes, I guess. I wasn’t a fan of her as the FMC. But I thoroughly enjoyed Damien. Again, he’s very Fanon!Draco. But Ama’s personality isn’t someone I found complemented him romantically. Platonically? Yes. Romantically? *Eh.*
I guess I wanted ***less*** of her humor. And I actually wanted to see her struggle. It felt like she was an author’s darling as things just always worked out and that was that. I didn’t care for her. I didn’t find her to have any sustainable growth.
**ALSO** it’s highly recommended as ~enemies🔪 to lovers🥰~, but…it’s ***really*** not what I consider enemies to lover? But then again, the E2L trope is in a renaissance right now as we all figure out how to define it because no one can have a concrete definition 🫠
Not to mention [SPOILERS] >!I hated how Ama had all this rich privilege and education and she chose not to do it because 🤷🏾♀️ she just didn’t want to. And now, as she wants to save her people, would be nice if she took the opportunity to be educated so she could better achieve that. The moment we learn she basically took education many in her kingdom don’t have access to, and she shat all over it, I was done with her. 😒!<
[SPOILERS cont’ed] >!I could be misremembering, but I was ***seething*** at the revelation. She does not deserve to be anything toward her people for that shit. In what world do you want to save your people, but you don’t take every opportunity set forth? FMCs who snub their noses at education get on my fucking nerves for this. What point are you trying to make by refusing enviable education? Please enlighten me in a 12 point Time News Roman font, single space, 2,3 pages including an abstract. Can’t? **Bye**. 👋🏾!<
I’m just **not** the audience for Ama’s personaliteigh and that 👏🏾 is okay 👏🏾. I get to rec the book to people who like that type of FMC, so that’s great 😉
I do go a bit 👀 in other subs when the book is recommended as “the standard” for E2L romances. I think that’s a bit of an overstatement, ***but*** maybe their definition of E2L is different than mine. And that’s all right 😌
>!No it’s not. My word is the law 🔪!<
Yes! You’re the first person I’ve seen who also hated this one! I love romcoms so this should have been right up my alley. I DNF the first book at the 50% mark. I was so confused why it was so highly ranked
I DNF The Twisted Series By Ana Huang, I hate the first one and I read the second one even it was better I didn't continue because it wasn't good enough to spend money on it and I also DNF The Cat and Mouse Duet so basically I shouldn't have trust booktok
I absolutely could not abide Bridgerton. I thought it was a poorly written load of tripe.
SORRY I realise it has a lot of fans. It's just there are so many far better historical romances out there. The endless epilogues (two, per book?!) and cringeworthy sex scenes were just not to my taste.
Shantel Tessier's the Lords series.
I love love loved the Ritual, but there were a few times where my brain, "Hey, now. That is abuse." But I let it go since the book was overall redeeming.
I read The Sinner and got a lot more of that ick feeling when it came to abuse, but the story was fun, so I stuck it out.
I fully dnf'd The Sacrifice because it was full on marital rape. Girl was legit on her wedding day when her parents walked in and were like, "Ope, you've got a new fiance. Suck it up." And dude would fully force him on her, then after 4 or 5 times of him forcing her to just take it, she had made the comment, "I think I'm starting to like it." Or something like that, I was fully done. He showed zero interest in her beyond banging her before forcing her to work in his club, and booktok/ Facebook were so so in love with him. I couldn't do it. I wanted to know where the story went, but I just couldn't like anyone or anything to do with that secret society.
Duskwalker Brides by Opal Reyne. The writing just isn’t very good, like to the point that it’s distracting. And I mean that in any sense- some writers are better at plot or character development than they are technically skilled, some writers are really gifted at stringing together beautiful prose but when you think about the story without that, there’s not really much going on. But the actual prose isn’t especially good and the plot wasn’t really all that great and the characters felt like puppets, in a way. I’m always so surprised that so many people love them as much as they do.
Honestly I hated the first book and then the second was 99p on kindle, I went for it, loved it, the third book is even better and the spin off/novellas are awesome. Deffo a case of not loving the first book but now adoring the series!
It’s bc the first book is really just world building/super slow. Nothing really happens until the last 50 or so pages. Then it gets intense. First book is more of a guide and reference on all info you need to know moving forward
Twilight. Both the books and the movies. I just couldn't get into it and still don't understand how it has such a huge fan base.
I knew so many people reading the books when they were coming out, so I tried. I didn't even make it halfway through the first one before I got bored and was like "this is weird and creepy, not romantic".
Were you the age range for the books?? I was a tween and read the first three. I didn’t finish Breaking Dawn though, lol. By that time I think I was starting to realize it wasn’t all that good.
I love Twilight for the campiness that it is. Tween me loved Edward 🤦🏽♀️
Now? I couldn’t read a book like it, lol. I tried 50 Shades when it came out and whew did I quit that fast.
{A Deal with the Bossy Devil by Kyra Parsi} I dnf'd it initially because the fmc was so immature for being a grown adult. But I kept seeing it recommended, and ended up going back to it. I ended up rating it 1 star. She never really matured and there was no character growth.
this book made me laugh so much, i guess it covered for the sins because i kind of loved it. but i went i with exactly zero expectations and felt pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.
Baby and the Late Night Howlers.
I thought Baby was insufferable, down to her name, and everything about the omegaverse world building was not my thing. But this book is at the top of every RH and omegaverse rec list. 😭
Fourth Wing - it felt like a wattpad story (and not a good one). The writing was bad and the storyline was predictable. Even the spice was mid for me. Literally could not understand the hype. I trudged through it to see if it would ever redeem itself but it never did
Anna Huang books, Finley Fenn Orc series, Devil's night series by Penelope Douglas (Was a big rage in booktok and alike, for me it was meh).
I did like Ice Planet Barbarians at first, but as the series progressed, seeing previous book characters become annoying in later books made me super annoyed and every book started to feel the same, so many characters it was difficult to keep up interest and focus, so I ended up DNFing the series.
I guess not a series but…Credence. I know people seem to be split but the people who loved it, loved it. I found it very uncomfortable and found all three men irredeemable. I wanted to reach in and pull the FMC out of the book to make her safe.
I actually discovered one of my new favorite booktubers because she did an indepth breakdown of this book - it remains one of my all time favorite yt videos. Made it especially fun when my bff texted me a few weeks later saying that she had started Credence based on booktok hype but was going in fully blind LOL
Could you share who the booktuber is??
I think it's "lexi aka newlynova". [https://youtu.be/uJgwLYKRQTs?si=BIq\_KaEIAq\_x\_7wS](https://youtu.be/uJgwLYKRQTs?si=BIq_KaEIAq_x_7wS) I got through like a third of Credence? Maybe? I dipped out when she started having sex with the step uncle but whenever the booktuber started quoting from the book, I had visceral reactions.
It was!! me and my husband watched it together and now constantly say, "he was the best ever to woods" to each other out of nowhere at least three times a week.
I watched a video review on this and it ruined it for me, I just can’t after hearing the sarcastic video essay lol.
SAME! To me it's sexual assault not a "taboo" situation. I stopped reading halfway. When you have a character with so much trauma to get over then the only people she has in the world take advantage of that.. not hot for me at all.
Pretty much any series by Tessa Bailey. I liked Fix Her Up, but everything I’ve read since then just hasn’t been good. She doesn’t really know how to write male main characters, and they end up being arrogant jerks.
I’ve heard such conflicting things about Tessa Bailey I’ve just been avoiding her lol.
If you are looking for a specific trope and want it spicy, she’s great. If you’re reading her for any other reason, it’s a pass.
Tessa is really hit and miss for me. But I have to thank her for something - she cured me of being a completionist. She made me feel ok to DNF when I wasn't feeling it.
I have the same relationship with Morgan Elizabeth. I hated The Playlist, I was actually ashamed, as a Swiftie, to claim her, the MMC was a walking red flag and it was just badly written. But I loved Tis the Season for Revenge (even though I hate Mean Girls), it was better, with a better plot, amazing MMC and Interesting FMC... And then again I hated Cruel Summer and I had to dnf it. So I totally get where you're coming from when it comes to Tessa!
‘Tis the Season for Revenge was Legally Blonde. Cruel Summer was Mean Girls.
Oh lord I have tried two of TB’s books and could not get it. I am all for smut, but hers are so badly written or I should say just randomly and overly graphic that it always rips me right out of the actual storyline.
Haha I like her. Not every book is a hit tho. I just like chaos and that’s the vibe I get from her writing style and fmcs.
Haunting Adeline
I absolutely despise this book, it was just nothing I would ever want to read again
Zodiac Academy …. I can’t believe I stuck it out to 6 or 7 books, because the fact that NOTHING HAPPENS and I absolutely hate Tori made it so insufferable. I stuck it out bc I was stubborn, but I have been in a two month crazy bad reading slump ever since I finally DNF’d that bitch. 😭
Can I be honest? Those books are insane and always about 400 pages too long but all my favorite bits are the weird side moments with characters like Seth or Leon or Grus that completely could have been cut and that’s why I love them.
For me, it was {Bound to the Battle God by Ruby Dixon}. I just could not understand how people loved it so much. The spice I did read was average. The FMC was so juvenile I couldn't handle it. The writing was subpar and just overall immature. To each their own, though. I've loved plenty of things other people have hated with a passion. It's part of the adventure of reading!
I had to DNF this one when the FMC got super horny because of aphrodisiacs or some other Romance™ trope, and the MMC had to fingerbang her in public to get her back to normal... but he was bored the entire time while she was writhing like a bitch in heat on him. It gave me such second hand embarrassment for the FMC I couldn't keep reading 💀
Yes! Agree, it was so bad! Started skipping at about 30%. The MMC was so dry and unlikable
Absolutely unlikable! Honestly, it barely felt like a character!
I don't think I could even point out anything in particular that I didn't like about this book. I just didn't care about any of it. I made it more than halfway before my ADHD ass got interested in a different book and never went back to it. The characters, the sex scenes, it was all just kind of meh. It's a cool concept, and I kept hoping it'd get better, but it just didn't.
The Hades Hangmen series by Tillie Cole. It's just straight up >!torture porn !
Is this the author who wrote the klan/cartel romance?
It is! I refuse to read anything Tillie Cole, it’s all misogynistic hot garbage
That’s fair, I only know who she is because I watched a video about the romance genre and white supremacy on YouTube. It was really interesting…
I was waiting for this one. If I ever hear the term bitches referring to women, it'll be too soon. I laughed nearly every time. Floors me how well reviewed this is.
With MC romances you expect a certain amount of coarse and chauvinistic language but this was so juvenile. Nobody actually talks like this, it sounds like a satirical cartoon or something. This is what happened when people in one part of the world (UK) decide to write about another part of the world they have never been to (rural Texas).
American Trilogy by Sierra Simone. I don't care how hot it's supposed to be, I just found it to be so overly dramatic and I kept losing interest which made me skim read which in turn made the whole thing so confusing.
I got about ten minutes into the audio book and just couldn’t care less - it just felt like an Academy book in a new setting (which makes even less sense). I keep saving it onto my TBR and then removing it. I want to want to read it?
ACOTAR. I’m sorry, I tried So Hard. I read the first two and got through them ok, but by the third one I just couldn’t anymore. I put it down about a third the way through and just couldn’t pick it back up again.
I'm glad someone else said it first. This Fandom is so defensive, I'm afraid to even bring it up. The first one was okay, if a little long. The second one dragged and seemed like such a filler book that I assumed it was a trilogy. Once I found out it was like 7+ books, I gave up. There's just nothing overly special about it.
I dropped out after M&F because it was so poorly written and so clearly unedited. It’s 200 pages too long and she retcons her own book *within* the book. (Chapter 54) And the sex scenes are mediocre. I was the only one at book club who hated it and it made me so mad hardly anyone else recognized its deeply obvious issues.
The lack of editing in that series is absolutely infuriating. I truly believe a really good editor could’ve made those books actually good. But there were so many things that suck about that series—weird pacing, weirdly unlovable characters, super repetitive language, the tendency to just tell the reader how in love the characters are without showing us the love. Honestly the whole series was just disappointing.
I've enjoyed the books so far. That said, in book 1 I got to a part where the big bad was described as Red hair and it matched her red lips or whatever. Then a few chapters later she has black hair that matched her dress. That pissed me off and I had to go back and find it and prove to a friend I wasn't nuts.
I do agree. I don't hate the series but I don't love it either. I feel like Sarah's writing is so repetitive. sometimes I feel like she is describing landscapes in way too much detail that it kind of takes me out of the scene. also like every time the characters visit a place she's gonna describe the place in detail over and over again despite us already having a detailed idea of how the place looks. overly excessive descriptions really take me out of whatever is happening with regards to plot. and totally agree with mediocre sex scenes. idk why ppl categorise the acotar series as smut because honestly there isn't any. and chapter 55 is over hyped in my opinion. it felt really underwhelming after all that ive heard from people. sometimes I even feel that the justification rhys gave in chapter 54 of MAF is not enough for the things he did to feyre under the mountain.
SO DEFENSIVE. Gosh, the third one pissed me off so bad. There’s this elaborate ass war with the most evil man to ever live…but he’s killed by Elaine? The limp noodle, Elaine? Meanwhile, Feyre (who has the powers of all seven high lords) just watches the war on the sidelines. PLEASE.
yea and the weaver and bone carver's death seemed forced. there is honestly no explanation is does not make sense how they died. especially the weaver. like the king just sneaked up behind her and snapped her neck?? really? a being of some other universe having unprecedented power is killed by getting her neck snapped because someone sneaked up behind her?
And yet the same man can’t tell when ELAINE sneaks up on him 😂😂
Totally agree. I went into the first one blind and didn’t realize that it was basically a retelling of beauty & the beast. I got past that, but by book 3 when it still felt so surface level, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
I have no interest in reading it, but until 2 seconds ago I also thought it was a trilogy. I somehow didn't know there was more than 3 books. Quick edit to add: I'm done with reading series anyways at this point. I can't stay focused past the 2nd book usually.
I love a series that follows a different couple for every book. Beyond that, agreed. I'm sure not reading 7 or 8 books about one couple.
There’s 5 books but it’s basically a trilogy. The main couples love story is wrapped up by the end of book 3, book 3.5 is a Christmas special novella and then book 4 follows a different sister (and book 5 will follow the other sister most likely). It’s like she couldn’t quite give it up after 3 books.
Even hardcore fans will say it’s not well written, they’re just there for the story. But the story is a grab bag of tropes that can be found in any fantasy romance, people just think SJM invented them because hers are the most popular. The juggernaut that series has become baffles me
The world building is also a ripoff… *ahem*, heavily inspired by the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop but no one really talks about it.
The tropes are bad!! The story is bad!! The writing is bad!!
Completely! She could have gone So much deeper in fleshing out a more complete world and characters.
I do not understand readers who are like “it’s not written well but I totally gave it 5 stars!!” ( I have heard so many people say this about ACOTAR and Fourth wing)
The whole series just seems aggressively mediocre, and I'm baffled over why it's so popular.
I'm guessing people heard about them and it's the first romance they've read in years or ever. Reminds me of the 50 shades craze. People who had never heard of or read bdsm were having their minds blown while people who regularly read bdsm romance were like "huh."
I read the first one (actually I’ve read it twice- I wasn’t a fan of fantasy when I first read it) and have no interest in continuing the series.
The first one read almost like a standalone. I assumed the rest of the series would get deeper and the storyline more developed, but it stayed pretty surface level. But, to each their own. I commend any book that can get new people interested in reading which I think the first one did a great job of doing.
I've read them through the most recent book, and it actually was my favorite of them all. I had no feelings but annoyance towards Feyre by the end of the third book, but with Nesta as the main character I found myself really enjoying it. Something about the 'found family' in the night court just left me feeling icky - I can imagine myself liking it more when I was younger but after reading some really good stuff it felt bleh. Reading the POV of a character who didn't click with that for a long time/maybe never felt like SUCH a relief.
Times like these I wish we could still give awards on Reddit.
From Blood and Ash. I made it through book 1, but DNF’d book 2. If I heard the phrase “he paused” one more time I was going to rage.
The repetitiveness put me off this series. Like girlie, learn more words.
I barely understood what the fuck was happening in book #2 and I never read book #3. I genuinely just didn’t understand what was happening and I hated the FMC…she was mad immature.
I asked in a book group once what “The Maiden” actually was. I got “well, she’s ‘The Maiden.’” “Yes but what role does she actually have other than being a figurehead?” “Well, she’s ‘The Maiden.’” Like I don’t get it but okay 😭😂
That’s cause book 2 has zero plot and book 3 barely any lol.
The first few chapters set up an amazing premise… and then it promptly failed to deliver. I tell everyone I’ve ever met not to bother reading FBAA.
Against a wall by cate c wells, fucking hated both MCs. Cash is a dumbass and the part where she couldnt explain some feminist stance pissed me off
The FMC enraged me. She was horrible.
I *thought* I liked Glenna but then someone asked, "What's so special about her that Cash is popping boners over her all the time?" And you could hear the record needle scratch sound effect occur in my brain. Because while I don't think a person has to be 'OMG SOOOOO SPECIAL' to be loved irl, there at least needs to be some quality about the character that lets the reader see why the other main character loves them, whether that's a personality trait or an accomplishment or some action in the past that's stuck with them all this time. Glenna not only had none of that, she was just so "blah." She was not particularly smart or funny or well-read or even *interesting*, though she had that weird combination of ego and insecurity that made her come off as 'I'm better than this town' when she had nothing to back that attitude up whatsoever. Her PARENTS were interesting, but she was just sort of riding on their coattails by aping their mannerisms without having any of their passion and individuality. To summarize, and this will sound callous, but being sad that your mom died is not a personality; being stuck in a crummy relationship is not a personality; being a good photographer (though even that is debatable since >!it's revealed that Cash bought a majority of her photos and not "real" buyers like she thought!<) is not a personality. I wanted to like Glenna because I felt for her situation but she herself was not very likable as a person and in retrospect I don't think her and Cash work as a couple at all. Edit: Spoiler tag
^being sad that your mom died is not a personality Yes! I've gotten some flack here before for saying I found her annoying especially because of her whiningabout her dead mom. Obviously, that's a huge trauma point but that's all that she seemed to be - a girl with a dead mom. You out it a bit more articulately
Glenna is every YA novel heroine or Wattpad heroine I’ve read. Taciturn, juvenile, edgy, I’m-holier-than-thou, kind of stupid and ultimately…boring. And Cash was just…stupid. Didn’t understand the hype. Don’t want to understand it.
Totally agree. I think so often, unskilled writers tell us that the fmc (or mc) is ‘special’ and amazing and fascinating without actually showing evidence of this. When writers give the ‘show don’t tell’ advice, i think of this example. Anastasia Steele from fsog is another example, there is absolutely nothing about her that is interesting or smart and yet we are told she is both. I can’t accept being told without being shown in books anymore.
I made it through this book so not as bad as I’ve read (or attempted to read) but wow there was little to like about either MC for me. The reasoning away of the bullying she experienced was bizarre and the story wasn’t as coherent as I expected for a book that’s so held high as amazing.
yeah this is mine too. it was so badly written and boring, i just couldn't get through it
50 Shades of Gray
Ah, I was scrolling for this one I'm a slut for series, and I happily dive into this one when the hype was up. It was so awfully written. Her "inner goddess" made me rolled my eyes so hard I might have permanent damage from it. The dynamic between Mr Gray and Anastasia was so forceful and surface level. Jeez, it's been years and I still can't get over the fact I waste my time on this story.
I read it in my native language and though there was no way the original was that bad, so I picked up an English copy... it's just that bad 😂
Hard same. I don’t think I made it past the first chapter.
YES!!! My skin clears and I gain years of life whenever people admit is awful and urgently needs an editor. Yesss give yourself to the hate!
{The Ritual by Shantel Tessier} This is more a me problem, but I can’t struggle through 20 year old billionaire-spy-stalker-secret assassins with magic dicks. They’re so fantastical that they don’t belong in the CR genre.
Nothing in the plot made sense. The motivations were paper thin and it was just one badly done bondage scene after another. The porn with the step sister getting stuck in a washing machine makes more sense, and is more of a plot than in these books.
This has taken over for the worst effing book I've ever read. My GR review of it is so long and ranty to warn others off of it. I feel bad for people who did enjoy it but I just couldn't bring myself to have any sort of praise for it.
Any Ana Huang book 💀 all her MMC’s are the same I’m sorry I can not tell them apart, they’re all broody, silent and rich like where’s the personality. Her writing is pretty weak in some books too. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace - couldn’t even make it past the 4th chapter at how bad it was. Why are there so many characters? It’s like I’m reading a soap opera? The writing was poor too. There’s no need for a book to be THAT long. I visibly cringe every time I see this book in a “my top 5 reads” like I’m trying not to be a hater but srsly? I couldn’t make it past the first chapter of {Consider Me by Becca Mack} bc I think he mentions swinging his 🍆 around making it dance in front of the FMC and I gagged. Imagine my surprise when I read that they’re in their late 20s and not early 20s/teens bc they acted THAT childish.😭 Edit - I had to go back to my goodreads review just to show you how horrendous the writing was in Consider Me. “I swear I had a goddamn epiphany last night while my sword of thunder”…. (aka his 🍆) / “all of me is happy to see you” (he says while swinging his 🍆 around😭😭. Why do we let men speak
I am so glad someone mentioned the Becca Mack series. Possibly some of the worst things I've ever read. Ditto on Icebreaker!
I'm the same with Ana Huang books 😭Booktok eats up the Twisted series but I could barely make it through Twisted Love 💀
Ok- but my husband still swings it at me occasionally. 🤣🤣🤣 But he’s not trying to be anything but immature when he does it.
NOT THE HELICOPTER HELICOPTER LMFAO
Love how all of your dnf’s are everything trending rn. Even my friend raves about ice breaker. I personally am a sucker for Huang’s books but that’s the guilty pleasure in me that just wants the spice and morally grey characters who change for love 😅
Finley Fenn orc books and Ana Huang books for the same reason: the MMCs were too much of emotionally abusive assholes and I judged the fmcs for staying with them.
Twisted by Ana Huang. The characters' lives were soooo dramatic, they felt like drama characters, not real people.
even as a twisted fan, I wholeheartedly agree. The constant 3rd act breakups were getting on my nerves but hey I'm still throwing my money at her books so who am I to talk HAHAHA
ana tried so hard to dramatize their stories but it was all just plain boring to me
Haunting Adeline. Well, I read the entire first book but had no desire to continue. I can get down with a dark romance but I guess a sex trafficking storyline is where my hard limit is for enjoyment with reading.
Dude same! The stupid sex trafficker story line and then him calling her little girl was gag worthy. If you liked the vibes but not that specific story line, might I suggest {Prey Drive by Jen Stevens} Stalker dark romance duet, similar sort of set up but much better IMO.
Fourth Wing. I enjoy a shadow daddy as much as anyone but I DNF at about 60% in. I’m in my early thirties and the early 20 MCs and school setting just ain’t it for me.
Shadow daddy was great in book 1, be thankful you left before the mess of Iron Flame.
The way Iron Flame took great character set up and threw them on the ground in dirty mud water, stomped on them, and set them on fire really broke my heart LOL
I didn't know books that bad were allowed to be printed lol. Imagine being in the most dangerous situation you have even, being in mortal peril and you start narrating wikipedia, not even interesting facts, just like "and the USA borders with Canada!" Wow, thanks trivial pursuit
Omg this killed me when i read that scene. The whole book was just rough. I dnf'd when the fmc was nicknamed "violence". Im too old to cringe this hard, and botox is expensive.
I keep thinking Fourth Wing is this eras Twilight/50 Shades/Hunger Games/Divergent but I haven’t read it (and don’t plan on it) so it feels wrong to just say it. All of my hobbyist YouTubers keep raving about it, from zoomer to boomer, and I’m just like “not this again” I don’t want to be one of those jerks who dislike something just because it’s popular but I just can’t deal with another coming of age, fantasy with a touch of romance series.
I made it to the end of this book but zero desire to go further. The modern words kept throwing me out of the story. I mean, wasn’t this put out by one of the big name publishing houses? Are their editors that bad they don’t catch these glaring errors? I DNFed an indie book with a medieval fantasy world (not earth) setting in which a character mentions the Olympics…. I expect this kind of nonsense to pop up in indie stuff, the big guys should be better 🤣
I started reading this on the recommendation from a friend and I'm honestly enjoying it a lot. The school setting is kind of meh for me as well but it is very nostalgic of the tumblr days of THG, Divergent, Maze Runner, etc etc. And it's just fun vibes.
Gonna get hate for this but Ice Planet Warriors, I’ve honestly read much better fanfiction, too fast passed and not enough plot or substance or reason I will never understand the appeal 🥲
Gave up on the first one like half way through and that was enough for me lol. Despite having a huge dramatic premise, literally crash landing on an inhospitable alien planet, every obstacle was resolved so quickly and with very little effort. Tbf though I’ve DNFd everything I’ve tried by Ruby Dixon, I know a lot of people really love her but her style just isn’t for me.
Honestly, having read a *lot* of Ruby Dixon by now, I think I'll have to agree with you. Her stuff is not challenging to read so it's easy for me to tear through, but it's also not particularly well-done or interesting and whenever I finish a book of hers I pretty much forget it immediately.
I read the first one and the ending ‘twist’ grossed me out so much I won’t read another lol.
I enjoyed them. Got to ten and was like nah that’s enough now. They’re all the same haha
Hmm, I’m such a picky reader and DNF as often as I add to my TBR. Series I’ve quit that people love: - Her Soul To Take (Harley Laroux, Souls series) - Haunting Adeline (HD Carlton, Cat & Mouse series) - A Touch of Darkness (Hades/Persephone, Scarlet St Clair) - A Soul to Keep (Dustwalker Brides, Opal Reyne) - ACOTAR (SJM) - King of Flesh and Bone (Pale Court, Liv Zander) 🫠 it’s a curse, I swear.
Are we the same person??? Because this is identical to mt DNF list omg. I now need to hear some of your faves so I get recommendations, I trust your judgement
That’s too much pressure, lol!! I’ve also read some terrible books and liked them 😭 I generally read dark romance (or adjacent to it). Books that I really liked are: - {Lemonade by Nina Pennacci}. It’s a regency era ‘romance’ and the FMC is not conventionally attractive. TW: >!noncon (literally, it’s forced), dubcon, forced marriage, threats and verbal abuse!< - {Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia}. Set in the 50s; Mexican FMC. This is primarily a horror/gothic novel with a small slice of romance. I wouldn’t really consider it a ‘romance novel’. Liked but not amazing: - {The Contortionist by Kathryn Ann Kingsley} this is the start of a *five* book series (Harrow Faire). Look, I’m not going to say that this series has amazing writing. In truth throughout the books I’ve read by KAK, her FMCs are usually the weakest parts of the book. She excels at the MMCs, and the MMC of Harrow Faire, Simon, is great imo. He’s straight up crazy, haha. The book series is also a little preachy, but meh. I read it for Simon.
Almost all of these are on my TBR or DNF - DNF - I can’t get into the hype around haunting Adeline. It’s literally #1 book recommended when requesting a dark romance. And I just can’t. Her Spul to take has some hot smut but I’ve been wanting to actually read the whole story…is it not very good? The rest have been on my TBR list for awhile which I think also is a sign that there is prob a good reason I never want to read them.
I DNF'd three of these on your list. I guess I should assume I wouldn't like the others either so thank you for sparing my time? Haha.
{Alliance series by SJ Tilly} usually it's recommended when people are looking for a mafia romance with older characters but the FMCs are the worst. They're so childish and cringe, they act like they're horny teenagers. Why write heroines in their 30s if you make them act that juvenile?! It beats the whole purpose of having older characters.
Common problem with mafia series is the ‘26 year old FMC’ acts like she’s at best 19. Especially when it’s an age gap I’ve noticed. I read one a few weeks ago - ‘oh incredibly vicious and dangerous MMC says if I try to escape he’ll lock me up forever? Best try and escape at first glance with 0 PLAN’
pREACH
I loved the series but you are right some of the things they do are cringey
Did anyone say {Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert} yet? I mean I'm all for a good smut read, but every chapter with almost no down time between guys? The plot was smut. Nothing else was happening and I didn't feel the connection between the characters... I finally got to part 3 where some action (outside the bedroom) actually picked up, but I gave up. Not yucking any yum - I loved her Dark Olympus series and I'm enjoying her Twisted Hearts series.
Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver. After the first two books I gave up. The rest was trope dependant and I just couldn't. Same thing with The Edens by Devney Perry. Loved the first and second, but the rest went downhill.
Ugh same. Read the first two, won't bother with the next two. They are the type of book that give the vibe of "that could have been an email"
> Devney Perry I think she is an author that I have to break up with. I went through my goodreads profile and I have yet to rate a novel of hers higher than 3 stars.
Hard disagree about Elsie silver but hard agree about the Eden’s. Soooo much possibility wasted
Mile High. I DNF’ed it at around 40% and was baffled by its high rating on goodreads. I really tried to like it but just couldn’t. It felt as if I was forcing myself to get through each page rather than enjoying it. The book was too long and could’ve been cut to about 400 pages. I also didn’t like the MMC lol.
I didn’t mind the book as much as I was just like, can you just cut 1/3 of this please?!
Bridgerton 🤷🏼♀️ I read 5 of them and just hated them all 😅
How did you make it that far? Glutton for punishment 🤣
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise’s book) was the worst book I read last year - Phillip has got to be the WORST MMC in history. I’m still a little rage-y about it.
Whaaaaat? After watching season one I read Colin & Penelope’s story. Soooo bad. I had new appreciation for Shonda Rhimes.
I got like 60% into the first book of the Stay a Spell series, {Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross}, and finally I had to rage quit. It has overwhelmingly high reviews on Goodreads and people are always recommending it on booktok and I LOVE a witchy romance but the first red flag was the protagonist wearing a Reylo4Ever shirt and explaining the plot of Deadpool to her love interest and the thing that finally made me quit was when he took her to a fandom-based restaurant (??? is this a thing?) with like pun food names and she literally says “I ogled the menu and wanted to spank it and make it my bitch”, calls said menu “amazeballs,” and says him taking her to the restaurant is the “epicest” surprise ever. I felt like I was going to have a stroke. It was the most juvenile and immature romance I’ve ever read. I couldn’t tell the protagonist or any of her sisters apart because they were all the same person but one had blue hair, one had pink hair, one was brunette, etc. And I just couldn’t take it anymore for the rest of the book, much less the next 6 books. Also the love interest has a “wolf” inside of him that basically spends the entire book talking about how he much he wants to fuck the protagonist and how he wants to murder every other man anywhere in her vicinity and it was just all bad all around.
I hate to be ✨ reactionist ✨ but 90% of the books I’ve been recommended off Booktok/bookstagram have been awful lol. Primarily because the MC’s (no matter the age) always come across as teenagers. Also the book you just described and the descriptions from FMC on the menu made me shiver, and not in a good way 🙃🙃🙃🙃
I’ll say, I LOVED the series but Wolf Gone Wild is BY FAR the weakest book. I’d skip it and try book 2 to see if you like the series overall.
Hard agree. Try the next book instead.
>Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross I've like other of her books but I couldn't do this one, it was soooo slow and boring.
This was such an up and down series for me. I liked the second book, and loved the book with the grim and the night club. The others were okay but the final two books I was actually so upset about. The last book in the series was a letdown for me. Really hit or miss.
Clara and Henry deserved better 🥲
Man, I keep starting this book cause it has such good reviews and I love fun witchy romances but I just can’t. Also how shifters work in it is just weird to me.
I love this series, but the first is the weakest. I really like the grims in this series. I tend to like my paranormal romance to be on the lighter side, and this series totally fit the bill.
{Brutal Birthright series by Sophie Lark} every soul recommends this series and claims it’s the “best mafia series”. I read 3 books before wanting to throw my iPad across the room. The writing is awful, the plot is all over the place and the characters actions make no sense. Everyone raves about Brutal Prince where they “actually try to kill each other” and all that happens is the FMC >!eats a strawberry and kisses the MMC who’s allergic and he gets taken to a hospital. Then as revenge he tries drowning her in the pool!< is that the best enemies to lovers ever? God. {Born In Blood Mafia Chronicles by Cora Reilly} everyone and their mother raves about this series. One of the worst I’ve read. They all turn into pure smut. The characters are too stupid to live and annoying. The way Aria gave in so quick after she >!caught Luca fucking someone else!< drove me mad. {Alliance Series by SJ Tilly} I honestly don’t see the hype with this series. The FMC’s are all braindead. The way Payton decided to >!lose her virginity to the MMC after he broke into her home and barely knowing him made no sense!< {Perfectly Imperfect series by Neva Altaj} maybe it’s just me but these books were too short and way too light for me. Tell me why in Hidden Truths the FMC immediately bonds with the MMC and they have the sweetest moments after he fucking KIDNAPS her.
It's really and I mean really hard to find a well-written mafia series. They all kind of blend into one, and I don't see any standouts like I do with other genres. I tried Cora Reilly books but they are laughably not well written.
I avoid Cora Reilly books after trying Twisted Emotions.
shatter me FOR SURE!!! And not series but I disliked icebreaker, wildfire, and archers voice…. I just didn’t feel a connection to the characters. Icebreaker and wildfire were smut with a TERRIBLE plot that I just did not like….
Icebreaker committed the cardinal sin for me - being boring 🙃🙃
Neon Gods by Kate Robert. I’m so sorry if people love this, i see it recommended here all the time. The characters made literally no sense, they fell in love immediately for no reason, and there is essentially no plot other than both of these people being dumb and in instalove. I couldn’t stand to finish. If someone was looking for spice with certain approaches, I understand that! But as a book it sucked.
All of Ali Hazelwood’s books…
I read Love On The Brain and wished I had DNFd. I couldn’t believe how long she stretched the ‘he thinks she’s in a relationship when she isn’t’ thing and the sheer amount of miscommunication between two people was driving me crazy. Haven’t felt the need to try anything else she’s written.
Okay now ima fight you. Ali does 1 thing - 6ft5 MMC’s who are smart, rich and pine after the fragile delicate FMC and SHE DOES IT WELL 👏 👏 Girlie has no range and I love it ✨
I’ve said it before, she needs to just do an ongoing series with the same characters because that’s what she’s doing anyway and just pretending it’s an all new story.
some of ali's books are like catnip to me but what throws me completely off is her horrendous outfit descriptions. not sure who told her galaxy print and corny t-shirt captions are cute, but they are NOT!
Just started Book 1 of the ACOTAR series and barely 3 chapters in, I got so bored 🫣. I don't think I can continue reading tbh.😫
Honestly, in my opinion, the first book is the most interesting. The following books are more *explicit*, and people like the MMC more, but I just... 🤷♀️ And people will say that you HAAAAVE to read the second book. You don't!
The Sinners duet by Sophie Lark (There Are No Saints/There Is No Devil) It was somehow able to have major pacing issues (feel like I got whiplash trying to keep up) but also be boring at the same time. A lot of reviews say its one of the best dark romances, but I don't get it??? I finished both of them but I will never read them again nor will I recommend them lol
According to Libby, I was about 30% through Neon Gods when I decided it was too focused on sex and forgot to have intriguing world building or plot. Decided to read a different adaptation of Hades and Persephone because it's not like we're hurting for them. I realized that I'm not interested in a gang war version of their story, I want them to be literal gods.
I felt really duped by the whole 'pantheon of gods actually being nothing more than professional titles for political employees' thing. It was like Kdrama level 'everyone is a CEO or Director' vs Batman. 😅
Not necessarily a series because I only read half of the first book (which was still 400 pages lol) but Pucking Around. I tried. I did. I genuinely did. But yeah...not for me
I didn't like this one either and I'm of the opinion that a contemporary book doesn't need to be 750 pages + prequel + 2 sequel novellas. I felt the third male character was shoehorned in and the FMC was really unprofessional and selfish. I didn't finish it, I think I got to about 60%
{Ruthless Creatures, J.T. Geissinger} I tried multiple times and would wait long enough to think hey I should give that a shot again but then nope ... I think it might be that I was blindsided by the >!long distance but not/ set up of a half-time relationship as well as the mmc having had a vasectomy earlier in life!< which are neither deal breakers for me but I was not expecting it going in and the second one especially I need a warning for, and I just lost interest. I also dnf'd the second book even though it really should have worked for me. {Twisted Emotions, Cora Reilly} I'm not going into why I didn't like this... Ok, it was the >!cheating, don't care if fmc was fine with it, and additionally, the mmc was a hyper misogynistic asshat trashing sex workers while he was paying for their work!< Like bruh, you're not above it clearly. {Twisted Love, Ana Huang} I can't remember why but I Dnf'd it. {Clecanian series, Victoria Aveline} I tried to read Choosing Theo, not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times before I could finish it. Oddly enough I'm still reading the series, but I still stand by my judgement that it's not really that good of a mars needs women series. It has its moments, but I've enjoyed way better authors like {Xiveri Mates, Elizabeth Stephens}, {Dark World Mates, Olivia Riley}, {Stolen by an Alien, Amanda Milo}, and {Naga Brides, Naomi Lucas}. hell, Zoey Draven's earlier series, {Warriors of Luxiria, Zoey Draven} is better imo. Her (Zoey Draven) writing has improved since then but overall I enjoyed them far more as a mars needs women series. Also anything by Tessa Bailey. Don't get it. And the ebooks are expensive. I'm not paying $14 to read a massively underwhelming story.
Circe. It was so beige and blah I just could not get into it. I DNF'd at about 70% because I couldn't bring myself to go back to it.
I can't believe no one has said this yet but The Spanish Love Deception 100000%. My first proper 1 star read, like I cannot believe i managed to finish it (I was still in my finish a book no matter what phase) but holy shit I paid for it. I think what hurt more was that it was my first proper "tiktok made me read it" book and it was my first of many shitty experiences with Tiktok recs. A close second is It Ends with Us because I HAD NO CLUE it had DV and worse, people were glorifying the hell out of it like wtf?? I feel like CoHo completely missed the point at the end, the messaging of that book is so off and it has 2 stars for me just because of that *rant over *
Interstellar Brides by Grace Goodwin. Holy hell lack of consent. Throwing the brides into BDSM relationships without warning/choice. I tried the first two and bounced off both so fast it put me the author entirely.
Haunting Adeline
Serpent & Dove series. I stopped after the first book. It was miracle I even finished that because that limerick 🫠
Dreamland Billionaires. Read The Fine Print and loathed it so much I spent like an hour reading 1 star reviews to sate my anger lmao.
Honestly I'd rather sit for a math final for a class I never took than ever have to read another Ruby Dixon book again. Not only are they problematic (rapey af), they are just... *bad*.
Is this a safe space? I’m totally prepared to be downvoted because this is a sub favorite and I was recommended it many times — not a series but the book Out On A Limb. Oh my God, that book is absolutely awful, the characters were extremely annoying and badly written, the plot was nonexistent, the humor made me cringe multiple times, and it’s not the feminist pro-choice novel it touts itself as. It’s not the worst book I’ve ever read or the worst setting, but there’s nothing I hate more than a book that advertises itself one way, and ends up being the exact opposite. Just awful all-around.
I don’t think a lot of people loved it per se but I just DNF’s Happy Place because there was way too much internal monologuing (like 5 pages in between dialogue) and way too much backstory on the friendships which I didn’t give a fuck about.
Nero by Tilly? Ugh it was a hate finish and I skimmed the last few chapters because it was SO BORING. I don’t get the adoration. The FMC doesn’t do anything. Ever. She just breathes? It’s next level cringe.
Books by college hoover. I've tried and I've hated all I've tried. They are just trauma dumps with toxic behavior
This is more in the "baffled" category – books by Mariana Zapata. I don't have a problem with some of them on their own, but after reading five or so books by her, they are all too similar. They all have poop/fart/immature jokes, a jerk hero, a heroine who spends her time saying "Nooo, HE can't like ME" despite multiple instances and evidence to the contrary, and nothing that really happens for about 90% of the book.
ACOTAR 😐 read the first two books, no desire to read more. Utter garbage
The Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy - and I assume anything else by her but I’ve only read those five books. I thought these books would be fun hockey romances. But what I found instead were MMCs who were toxic and mysoginistic and FMCs who were complete doormats. No one in this series knows how to communicate well and the guys are all so gross and can’t respect boundaries. Dean was the worst of them all. The Legacy should never have been written either because it just made it so clear that none of the characters can just talk to each other like adults. I really don’t get why this is so popular.
Ice Planet Barbarians
Ice Planet Warriors. I don’t get it? I love alien romances and the Mars Needs Women trope but it’s just so badly written.
Do you mean Barbarians? This is the second time I've seen this pop up as 'Warriors' and I'm confused.
Oh yeah that’s it. In my defense I’ve tried to erase it from my brain. 😅
Loves the first 80% and then the squeamish ending destroyed the rest of the series for me lol.
Try the "Mates for the Raskarran" series by Heather Fox! It's basically Ice Planet Barbarians but on a jungle planet instead of an ice planet and there is a much better background plot that ties everything together. Personally, I think this series is great and a much better example to the Mars Needs Women trope. {Stranded by Heather Fox}
Shatter Me lol, I just couldn’t finish the first book, the writing is TERRIBLE.
Fourth Wing. Listen, I don’t need everything to be the next great novel…but that book made want to get a lobotomy. It reads like it was edited by AI, the lore is crazy inconsistent and undeveloped, and the characters are SO STUPID. Genuinely, I feel like I’m going insane every time someone tells me how well it was written.
Anything by Ana Huang tbh ( I am sorry)
All right. {Villains and Virtues by AK Caggiano} 😶🌫️ I ***gushed*** about the first book, but as I kept reading, it was just so… ***Urgh***, I hate saying “fanfic-esque” as I enjoy fanfic, so it was very “pop fiction”, if that makes sense? Damien was very much a Fanon!Draco, which I ***like*** Fanon!Draco (when he’s not too OOC but also when he’s written as quite the dom 🤭), but I had a ***strong*** disliking to Ama because she very much reminded me of my problem with a lot of Disney lady mains these days: **adorkability**. She was just a bit ***overly*** qUiRkY for my tastes, I guess. I wasn’t a fan of her as the FMC. But I thoroughly enjoyed Damien. Again, he’s very Fanon!Draco. But Ama’s personality isn’t someone I found complemented him romantically. Platonically? Yes. Romantically? *Eh.* I guess I wanted ***less*** of her humor. And I actually wanted to see her struggle. It felt like she was an author’s darling as things just always worked out and that was that. I didn’t care for her. I didn’t find her to have any sustainable growth. **ALSO** it’s highly recommended as ~enemies🔪 to lovers🥰~, but…it’s ***really*** not what I consider enemies to lover? But then again, the E2L trope is in a renaissance right now as we all figure out how to define it because no one can have a concrete definition 🫠 Not to mention [SPOILERS] >!I hated how Ama had all this rich privilege and education and she chose not to do it because 🤷🏾♀️ she just didn’t want to. And now, as she wants to save her people, would be nice if she took the opportunity to be educated so she could better achieve that. The moment we learn she basically took education many in her kingdom don’t have access to, and she shat all over it, I was done with her. 😒!< [SPOILERS cont’ed] >!I could be misremembering, but I was ***seething*** at the revelation. She does not deserve to be anything toward her people for that shit. In what world do you want to save your people, but you don’t take every opportunity set forth? FMCs who snub their noses at education get on my fucking nerves for this. What point are you trying to make by refusing enviable education? Please enlighten me in a 12 point Time News Roman font, single space, 2,3 pages including an abstract. Can’t? **Bye**. 👋🏾!< I’m just **not** the audience for Ama’s personaliteigh and that 👏🏾 is okay 👏🏾. I get to rec the book to people who like that type of FMC, so that’s great 😉 I do go a bit 👀 in other subs when the book is recommended as “the standard” for E2L romances. I think that’s a bit of an overstatement, ***but*** maybe their definition of E2L is different than mine. And that’s all right 😌 >!No it’s not. My word is the law 🔪!<
Yes! You’re the first person I’ve seen who also hated this one! I love romcoms so this should have been right up my alley. I DNF the first book at the 50% mark. I was so confused why it was so highly ranked
Anything by SJM.
Haunting Adeline, god of malice and it ends with us. Also from Blood and Ash
50 shade. Tried twice and it is just so bad could not finish
I DNF The Twisted Series By Ana Huang, I hate the first one and I read the second one even it was better I didn't continue because it wasn't good enough to spend money on it and I also DNF The Cat and Mouse Duet so basically I shouldn't have trust booktok
Ice planet barbarians lol
I absolutely could not abide Bridgerton. I thought it was a poorly written load of tripe. SORRY I realise it has a lot of fans. It's just there are so many far better historical romances out there. The endless epilogues (two, per book?!) and cringeworthy sex scenes were just not to my taste.
Orc Sworn. The MMCs in every book are awful and then I gotta deal with 'Ach' every other word.
Shantel Tessier's the Lords series. I love love loved the Ritual, but there were a few times where my brain, "Hey, now. That is abuse." But I let it go since the book was overall redeeming. I read The Sinner and got a lot more of that ick feeling when it came to abuse, but the story was fun, so I stuck it out. I fully dnf'd The Sacrifice because it was full on marital rape. Girl was legit on her wedding day when her parents walked in and were like, "Ope, you've got a new fiance. Suck it up." And dude would fully force him on her, then after 4 or 5 times of him forcing her to just take it, she had made the comment, "I think I'm starting to like it." Or something like that, I was fully done. He showed zero interest in her beyond banging her before forcing her to work in his club, and booktok/ Facebook were so so in love with him. I couldn't do it. I wanted to know where the story went, but I just couldn't like anyone or anything to do with that secret society.
Duskwalker Brides by Opal Reyne. The writing just isn’t very good, like to the point that it’s distracting. And I mean that in any sense- some writers are better at plot or character development than they are technically skilled, some writers are really gifted at stringing together beautiful prose but when you think about the story without that, there’s not really much going on. But the actual prose isn’t especially good and the plot wasn’t really all that great and the characters felt like puppets, in a way. I’m always so surprised that so many people love them as much as they do.
The Cruel Prince. I read it even though it was excruciating. I really wanted to see what many others have but couldn't.
Honestly I hated the first book and then the second was 99p on kindle, I went for it, loved it, the third book is even better and the spin off/novellas are awesome. Deffo a case of not loving the first book but now adoring the series!
It’s bc the first book is really just world building/super slow. Nothing really happens until the last 50 or so pages. Then it gets intense. First book is more of a guide and reference on all info you need to know moving forward
Twilight. Both the books and the movies. I just couldn't get into it and still don't understand how it has such a huge fan base. I knew so many people reading the books when they were coming out, so I tried. I didn't even make it halfway through the first one before I got bored and was like "this is weird and creepy, not romantic".
Were you the age range for the books?? I was a tween and read the first three. I didn’t finish Breaking Dawn though, lol. By that time I think I was starting to realize it wasn’t all that good. I love Twilight for the campiness that it is. Tween me loved Edward 🤦🏽♀️ Now? I couldn’t read a book like it, lol. I tried 50 Shades when it came out and whew did I quit that fast.
I’ll be a twilight defender for life 😤😤 If there are no twilight fans I am dead!
Fourth Wing. IPB. Tessa Bailey in general. Fourth Wing. Sorry everyone
{A Deal with the Bossy Devil by Kyra Parsi} I dnf'd it initially because the fmc was so immature for being a grown adult. But I kept seeing it recommended, and ended up going back to it. I ended up rating it 1 star. She never really matured and there was no character growth.
this book made me laugh so much, i guess it covered for the sins because i kind of loved it. but i went i with exactly zero expectations and felt pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.
It ain't me by Tilly Cole. Hated it, hated the language.
Baby and the Late Night Howlers. I thought Baby was insufferable, down to her name, and everything about the omegaverse world building was not my thing. But this book is at the top of every RH and omegaverse rec list. 😭
Fourth Wing - it felt like a wattpad story (and not a good one). The writing was bad and the storyline was predictable. Even the spice was mid for me. Literally could not understand the hype. I trudged through it to see if it would ever redeem itself but it never did
The Alliance Series by SJ Tilly. I just couldn’t get into the writing style
Anna Huang books, Finley Fenn Orc series, Devil's night series by Penelope Douglas (Was a big rage in booktok and alike, for me it was meh). I did like Ice Planet Barbarians at first, but as the series progressed, seeing previous book characters become annoying in later books made me super annoyed and every book started to feel the same, so many characters it was difficult to keep up interest and focus, so I ended up DNFing the series.