6 Popular YA Books that Disappointed Me

As readers, I would say that generally, a lot of the books we read have been recommended to us. I’d like to believe that’s incredibly common. So what happens when we’re recommended books and we end up not liking them? Well, I actually have no clue.

I get most of my recommendations from Goodreads. So when I poorly rate a book, I both get recommendations for that same kind of book, and also receive different recommendations.

Being on the internet, and on booklr (the book community on tumblr), I’ve come across quite a few book recommendations. And a few of them have disappointed me. As much as I enjoy being a part of booklr, both recommending books when asked, and reblogging peoples recommendations both for my liking and maybe yours(?) I am generally skeptical of these recommendations. The downside to these book communities is that when a book gets hyped up, it [the book(s)] get really hyped up. And that could be a bad thing, because these high expectations can lead to huge disappointments. Here are a few “popular” YA books that have disappointed me.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Everyone swore up and down, from hell to high water that Anna and the French Kiss was the best, fluffiest read that you’ll ever read. And while AAFK does have a pretty cover, I found myself incredibly disappointed by the story that Perkins told.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

To be honest, I heard a few blurbs about this book through social media (as one days these days) and was super pumped to read the book. The publishers of Red Queen had (I think it was) the first 80 pages or so of the book available online to read, just to get readers interested in the book. Well, for me it worked. I was hooked on those 80-or-so pages. I thought about the happenings of the 80 pages like no other! Borderline obsessed, and then my imagination kicked in and wha-bam! Incredibly high expectations. And then when I read the book, my expectations just fell completely flat.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I’ve now read Dorothy Must Die twice. The first time I read Dorothy Must Die was I think a few months, if not a year after the book was published. The synopsis was interesting, and at the time, Dorothy Must Die was pretty popular amongst my online readings. So I was expecting a lot from this story. And ultimately, while the plot did have its good parts, was a total and complete let down. People had praised Dorothy Must Die and there I was in my little corner of the internet not liking what I was reading.

Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Bad was yet another book that I thought would have a major impact on my life. — Crazy to think that, right? Yet there were quotes that people had posted on tumblr that I just connected with. Those quotes ultimately set up the book that was doomed to be not liked by me from the start. I remember liking the beginning too, and then it was like the author had just did a 180 on the book and all of a sudden I was reading a different book. The story fit, just not what I had pictured, and not what in my opinion, was what the synopsis of the book wrote what Half Bad would be. It turns out that Half Bad was really Bad.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

By the power that be, Solitaire was a pretty popular book on whatever social media that I use (cough, tumblr, cough). And seeing as how I follow Oseman on tumblr, I saw/see a lot of Solitaire related stuff. Now that I’ve read the book, I can honestly say that I didn’t enjoy Solitaire as much as I would have liked too. I wanted to enjoy the book. I really did. Maybe it was how the book just didn’t feel right to me. Solitaire is well written — I won’t deny that. My friends and other tumblr book community peeps seemed to have said that Solitaire was the end-all-be-all book. If someone was recommending books at the time of publishing, you could bet your favourite book that Solitaire was on that recommendation  list.

Paper Towns by John Green 

I knew with reading John Green’s previous books that Paper Towns could be a miss, but I didn’t know how much of a miss Paper Towns would actually be. Paper Towns, while it had its moments, was a such a huge let down that every time I see the book on my shelf I get a disgusted look on my face. I now have that book on the top shelf at the very back, behind the books that are already there so I don’t have to see said book. I only read Paper Towns to distinguish if it’d be worth the money to watch the Paper Towns movie and found that no, it wouldn’t be worth the money to go to the theatres to see Paper Towns. ‘Til this day I still l haven’t watched Papers Towns.

What are some YA books that have disappointed you?

Happy Reading!
Adele