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Let’s Talk | Worst Books of 2020

Hello and welcome to a bit of a round of post for the year 2020. I wanted to take a moment and share a few of my most disappointing reads of the year. In a few days I will have a bit more of a positive post where I will be sharing my best reads of the year. Until then, here is a collection of books that just didn’t do it for me for one reason or another. Sometimes books just aren’t for me.


Ducks, NewburyportDucks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is a book I would have never tried to read if it was not on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize. Saying that, you can most likely see I ended up giving this book 1 star. While the idea of this book did sound very appealing as soon as I started to read it a red flag for my personal reading tastes went up. The first few pages was just a never ending list with commas, never a period. The book was being told by someone who is just rambling on and on, which I can see is most likely a choice to get the feel for how thee narrator is feeling about life.

For me, this was so stress inducing for a few reasons. I felt like I was reading the equivalent to Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder movie) taking the winners down the chocolate river through a tunnel. It was just getting more and more intense because I was reading faster and faster just trying to find a period. I. just wanted a natural stopping point to put the book down. The second being, I personally dislike stream of consciousness writing.

Mainly due to the formatting and how the author choose to write this book, I did not like it. But, thesee are mainly personal reasons and if any of these don’t bother you I say give it a go. Like I said the idea of this book is great, it was just ruined for me based upon the formatting.

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Imaginary FriendImaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was so much enjoying this book for the first 400 pages or so. Then it just started to feel like there was a. huge ending coming, but there were 100s of pages left. I feel like this book went on for way too long and the pacing was just all messed up. I liked it less and less as it went on and it is a shame because I really was loving this book at the start.

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The Financial Diet: A Total Beginner's Guide to Getting Good with MoneyThe Financial Diet: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Getting Good with Money by Chelsea Fagan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a VERY basic finance book that seems to be only for women. If you know anything about basic budgeting you can skip this. But, this could be good for someone who just graduated and is just starting out.

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Midnight Sun (Twilight, #5)Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I got very bored halfway though. The main selling point of this book is seeing more of the Cullens. That is how this book got 2 stars. The rest, really didn’t really keep me engaged and was not really interesting.

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The Order of the DayThe Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

While the content and the writing overall easily warrants 4 or 5 stars I cannot give it this rating. The main reason being there are no footnotes or end notes to share any sources. Quotes that are in the text have no mention of where it is from, which is very disappointing. This is not acceptable for a nonfiction book.

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House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am going to be honest, I really went into this book thinking I was going to enjoy it quite a bit. The idea sounded interesting and the world created sounded very interesting, but I was kind of bored reading this… okay very bored. The weird thing is, things were happening, some pretty intense stuff. So, I am not sure how or why I was bored, but I was. I might go back in the future and give this book another go, I might not have been in the right mood for it. (Update, no I will not).

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Tags

Let’s Talk | The Lover Book Tag

Hello and welcome to a very delayed tag! I was tagged back in March by the wonderful Jenna over at Bookmark Your Thoughts. But, I am happy to say I am not competing this tag and sharing my answers. I figure, better late than never.


The Creator & the Rules

The creator of this tag is Sara @ The Bibliophagist! As for the rules:

↠ Link back to the creator, Sara @ The Bibliophagist!
↠ Answer the questions.
↠ Tag whoever you want and link back to the person who tagged you!


The Questions

I Forgot That You Existe: A book from your childhood that you don’t remember anything about

My aunt used to read to me a Peter Rabbit story every time I slept over. She read it to me so much I was bored by the story and started to pretend to go to sleep. Even though she read it to me so much, I have completely forgotten what is is about. I did recently pick up a collection of stories though and I plan on reread them now that she is gone. I did tell her about this when I was older and we both laughed about it. It was the only children’s book she owned at the time. lol.

Lover: A bookish relationship that’s perfect exactly the way it is

I really loved the relationship between the two main characters in Beach Read, they challenged each other, but were respectful.

The Man: A book with a badass female main character

I am going to go non-fiction with this and say Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History by Sam Maggs because every single woman in this book was a total badass.

The Archer: A book with great character development

Linus Baker from The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune is the most recent one that pops into my head.

I Think He Knows: Your fictional crush

I am just going to name my first bookish crush for this one. My first ever bookish crush was Professor Bhaer from Little Women. He was kind, smart, and believed in Jo so much.

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince: A book set in high school

Oh, this is a hard one. I have not read a book that takes place in a high school in a very long time. But, I did read a book recently that had high school as a setting very, very briefly, Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. Which is also an amazing read.

Paper Rings: A book with a happy ending

So, the only books that I can think of with happy endings I have already mentioned… so it seems I need to read more books with happy endings. oops. Please recommend some good ones to me.

Cornelia Street: A setting you’ll never forget

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, I mean it is so imaginative, fantastical and just wow. I think it is one of the best settings I have come across and one I often think about. I really need to do a reread soon.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: A book that broke your heart

I would have to say The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi, this book ruined me emotionally, but I loved it so much. It is such a powerful story and done so well.

London Boy: A setting that plays a big role in the story

The first two amazing stories that pop in my head are Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe both of which are written by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Without the cafe, we would have none of these wonderful emotional tales.

Soon You’ll Get Better:A book that made you cry

I would say that the first book that popped into my head is 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak, which I did not outright cry to, but I did tear up quite a bit. This story starts off from the perspective of a dead woman and then her friends and it was very emotional and talked about some difficult topics.

False God: A book with a well-written sexy scene

The last romance I remember reading with a scene like this was a J.R. Ward book, but I don’t remember which one it was. Sorry!

You Need to Calm Down: A book featuring an LGBT romance

The last book I read that featured an LGBT romance would be Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. This was so a wonderful book to read, the author really has a talent.

Afterglow: A great second chance romance

Honestly, nothing comes to mind for this questions, sorry!

Me!: Your all-time favorite book

My all time favorite book I already mentioned, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I have reread this multiple times and I have had to buy some replacements as well.

It’s Nice To Have A Friend: Your favorite friends-to-lovers book

The first book that popped in my head was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, it has been quite a while since I read it, but I still really enjoyed it and I feel like is it for sure worth sharing. I also had no idea that it was turned into a series and I put book 2 on my to read shelf so I get an alert when it comes out.

Daylight: A book with a positive message

I would say Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You by Lin-Manuel Miranda, because everyone can do with a morning and nighttime peptalk. These short and sweet little sayings with adorable doodles are just wonderful and uplifting and make you feel like you are not alone.


Feel free to consider yourself tagged!

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