When you read over 100 books in 365 days, you can pretty much guarantee that some will just not mesh well with you. In harsher terms, you're going to pick up some crappy books. All books are a personal experience and I really needn't do a disclaimer, I'm going to do one anyway as the Internet can be a harsh place.. Just because I didn't enjoy these books, doesn't mean they're bad or that you won't like them. I mean no disrespect to the authors, this is merely me going over which books ranked the lowest for me in terms of enjoyment this year. Let's get on with it..
The Woman In The Window
by A.J. Finn
Dr. Anna Fox is a woman who suffers with agoraphobia. The house is her safe space while simultaneously being her prison. She abuses alcohol and her meds to forget. However, when she witnesses something awful through the escape of her window and no one believes her, she realises that she'll have to take the 'case' in her own hands. Though this book is on the older side of hyped thrillers, I do think it will have a second-wind next year when the movie starring Amy Adams comes out. I mainly picked it up because one my favourite actresses recommended it (I'm easily influenced), however, I absolutely hated it. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because the end wasn't as mind numbingly stupid as it could've been. I felt absolutely no empathy toward our main character, and at the 250 page mark, I realised that I just didn't care what happened. A thriller is meant to be the epitome of a page turner, however this was an absolute bore to me.
Call Me By Your Name
by Andre Aciman
A 'romance' story between an adolescent boy and a guest who's staying with the young man's family for the Summer. This has a queer couple, the backdrop of Italy, and a coming-of-age story. I ought to of loved this, but it was just so... weird. As in, masturbating with a peach weird. I couldn't bring myself to care about the so-called 'romance' and all the characters were so idiotic that I forgot about them the moment I put the book down. I get that this book/movie isn't really targeted toward me, and though I'm glad it's brought peace to some readers who have etched this book into their hearts, I just couldn't find any enjoyment in my reading experience. It was pompous, boring, and just weird.
Beneath The Sugar Sky
by Seanan McGuire
I read every book in the Wayward Children series this year, and I surprisingly enjoyed them. The short novella-like books were fast reads that left me with an aftertaste of wacky fun. However, the third book Beneath The Sugar Sky was pure nonsense. If you haven't heard of this popular fantasy series, it's a story set in a world of worlds (kind of). Children find doorways into other worlds that can be all sorts of crazy, and as a doorstop we have Eleanor West's school for troubled or "returned" children from said worlds. It's semi hard to explain. Each book has a completely different story/world usually with a character and the school to tie each book together. The third book was just pure idiocy. I didn't grasp what was happening half the time, one of the characters just repeatedly fat-shamed herself, and the story/outcome was stupid. Read if you want to be disappointed.
Sweetbitter
by Steaphanie Danler
Moving to New York from a place that feels like nowhere to live, twenty-two-year-old Tess lands a job at a renowned Union Square restaurant and begins to navigate the chaotic and punishing life of a waiter. Her appetite awakens for food, wine, drugs and sex But she also finds herself drawn into a dark, alluring love triangle. Pretentious writing, hopeless characters, and a story that lacks in every way possible, this was an utter 'meh' book. The only thing that was preventing this from being a 1 star read was the rare but notable paragraphs that actually read as beautiful (and not pompous). This was so disappointing. Like a bad CW show.
The Arrangement
by Sarah Dunn
A married couple decide to have an open relationship for 6 months, to escape from the comfortable routines they're falling into (you know, marriage) and their autistic son. I've never read a book that was equally as dull as it was infuriating. Not only were the characters unlikable, but the whole point of the story was semi vetoed by the husbands utter idiocy. Parts of this book were also so unbelievably problematic such as eating disorder glorifying and slut shaming. Just.. no. Hard pass. Hate it, hate it, hate it. (Not photoed in the book stack as I already donated it. Yup, hated it that much.)
Sometimes I Lie
by Alice Feeney
"One day, you're going to wake up in a coma." wait.. no, that's a line from Buffy. This one is about a woman that wakes up locked inside her mind, in a coma. How did she get there? That is the million dollar question. I'll hand-on-heart say that I only picked this up because of Sarah Michele Gellar's announcement that her and Ellen DeGeneres are making this into a mini-series. And.. I was really disappointed. This was one weird book. The overall story was good, but there were just too many weird moments to look past. Huge trigger warning for sexual assault. But if we're just looking at the plot, meh. I guessed the end at around 35% of the book. And I honestly can't remember a single character's name without Google. Not good, never good.
What was your lowest rated book in 2019?
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