High Expectations Tend to Ruin the Experience: Least Favorite Reads of 2020 – and why

As 2020 comes to an end, I found myself reviewing the books that I have read in the past year and truly can say I didn’t read a book that I hated. While not every book that I read met all my expectations, there were parts of every book that I read that I found myself enjoying. I think that people can be hesitant at times to share books that they may not have enjoyed because everyone has different likes, dislikes, and expectations when it comes to reading. Unfortunately, this past year, I found myself picking up books with extremely high expectations in mind, whether it be because of the hype behind the book or just because I really like the cover (I know this one is odd, but I am a snob for a pretty cover, and half the time don’t read the synopsis before picking up a book with a pretty cover). I think that when I go into a book with such high expectations, I become extremely critical of everything that happens in the book, which in turn typically results in me not enjoying the book as much. Almost all these books demonstrate this theory, so with that, we will begin!

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black is an example of how going into a book with the hype behind the series in mind COMPLETELY ruins the reading experience for me. Since the

release of this series, I have heard countless people rave about the characters, romance, world, and plot. However, when I began this series, I felt like the world-building was a bit rushed, and that it felt a little confusing at times. Along with this, I felt like the use of the enemies to lover’s trope in this book wasn’t necessarily done in a way that I loved. Yes, Cardan and Jude are enemies in this book, but the dynamic between them wasn’t the type of enemies dynamic that I had expected. Truthfully, Cardan was just a bully, and that Jude was more of a victim initially. I will let you all know that once I read the second and third books, I felt more connected to the characters and plot, but I just felt like some of the initial development was a bit lackluster. Something else that I struggled with in this book was the development of Jude’s skills as a spy. I just wish that we had gotten more scenes of her training so that it didn’t feel as abrupt when she almost suddenly had all of these advanced spy skills. On a positive note, I did really enjoy Holly Black’s writing style, and I loved the way she ended this book to prepare us for the following two in the trilogy. I will say, that despite the issues that I had with this book, I still gave it an average of 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads because I could see the potential that the world and characters had. Holly Black did not disappoint with the following two books, so if this is a series you are interested in, I would give it a shot!

Wicked Saints and the sequel Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan are examples of how I tend to choose books based on their covers. The covers of these books are BEAUTIFUL, and the concept of the world is super intriguing, but I do have a few issues with this series overall. First, this is another enemy to lover’s trope, but I dislike the romance in this book for a completely different reason than The Cruel Prince. I found myself becoming frustrated with the main character Nadya because she is painfully aware that her enemy/love interest is not to be trusted, and is constantly stating that fact, yet her actions do not match what she is saying at all. I felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between her thoughts and her actions because like I mentioned, it is almost like they didn’t match at all. In her thoughts, she distanced herself from her enemy/love interest, but in actions, she did the complete opposite. Also, she is so quick to forgive her love interest when he does TERRIBLE things which quite honestly infuriated me. Although I love the concept behind this series and will read the final book, I feel like the world was not developed or explained in enough detail. Even after finishing the second book, I still do not completely grasp the basic and core concepts surrounding the world. I think something else that I struggled with, but also believed to be interesting was that Emily A. Duncan created a language in this book, and sometimes words are exchanged between characters that we get no explanation for. Since the language was created by the author, I felt a tad frustrated that I was unable to find translations in the books, or online. I rated both of these books 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads, because I truly enjoy the concept of the story, and I do believe that there are some strong characters, but I believe that the lack of character, plot, and world development may leave me extremely confused in the conclusion of this series.

The June Boys by Courtney Stevens is a haunting story based on true events. Although I typically really enjoy mystery, I struggled with reading this book for a variety of reasons. First, I found the storyline hard to follow at times because it switched between a variety of time periods and points of view, which were clearly marked yet didn’t flow easily for me. Something from the original case that is included in the story is something called “The Elizabeth Letters”. The Elizabeth Letters were written by () while in captivity to Elizabeth Smartt, a young woman who was kidnapped and held for () years. For some reason, I did not comprehend that the letters were from the original case, but once I came to that realization, I believed that they were a bit too disturbing to be included in the story. There was little explanation for them, other than to account for the time that one of the boys in the story had been in captivity. Truthfully, this was my main issue with the story, as I felt like it was not clearly defined that the story was based on a true case until the end and that the Elizabeth Letters were not works of fiction. Despite this, I did find the case and story extremely interesting to read about, especially when referencing the included map and additional information regarding the case. I also rated this book 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads, and I do recommend it to individuals that are heavily into true crime and crime fiction works.

The final book on my least favorite books of 2020 list is The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter. The premise of this book was extremely intriguing while also being devastating, following a young girl just entering college and going back and forth between the past and present, trying to explain the root of her mental illness. Despite being interested in the topic of the book, I found it hard to relate and connect to the main character, Cassie. At times I felt like some of the characters were underdeveloped, and I wish that we got more clarification prior to the climax of the story. I was relatively confused at parts and felt as though things came to fruition in a way that didn’t completely come together for me. This book still managed to make me feel for Cassie, and because of this, I did rate it a 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads. Overall, I think that the story is worth reading because of the importance of the message that it sends, but I do not see myself picking this book up to read it again.

Although these five books did end up on my least favorite books of 2020 list, I will not say that I hated any of them. I think that this is one of the best parts of reading. While these may not be my favorite books, I am sure that there is someone out there that may love some of these. It is amazing how reading allows us to be individuals. Everyone has preferences, and with reading, you can pick and choose what you like and don’t like in a book. I guess that my point here is, that while I didn’t necessarily love these books, I do think that if you have an interest in reading any of them, do it! The worst that can happen is that you don’t enjoy them, but you may surprise yourself and find that you love it. I think that out of the 50 books I read this year (from October to December because of a massive reading slump), that only 5 dislikes is AMAZING. This truthfully just gets me more excited to delve into my 2021 TBR, and I can’t wait to share what I read in 2021! Also, keep on the lookout for my top reads of 2020, as I hope to have that out soon!

Read on, and enjoy!

- Gianna