Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.
I was sitting here thinking about life the other day. I was not having an existential crisis for once, I was just contemplating life and I began thinking back on my high school years. My greatest wish in life is to regain the ability to read a 300-page book in one sitting. I was able to do that back in the 2010’s when I was a teen, and my speed reading ability really helped when my friends would loan me their favorite books to read. This brings me to what today’s post is about: books I could never get into.
I’d read just about anything in high school. If someone I knew came to me with a book to read, I’d read it. No questions asked, I'd gladly accept their tribute and go along my merry way. Sadly, there were some titles that my friends would adore, but bored me and I could hardly finish. This list is in no way me dragging these titles or authors. I mean no disrespect with this list. All I’m saying is that I could not get into these books. I simply think this would make for an interesting post to let y'all get to know me a little more.
I also want to note really quickly that most of the titles on this list are from the early 2010’s AKA my high school years. Like I said, I’d read pretty much anything and everything I would come across, and speed read my way through many, many books. Now, I have not read the majority of these titles since my first read of them so needless to say it has been awhile; I certainly don't remember all the fine details, and it is possible that my opinion on these may change if/when I reread any of these books. So enjoy this blast from the past and let’s crack into it!
5. Starting off this list is the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Listen, I was very much in The Hunger Games camp and I’ll stand by my decision. The early 2010’s were saturated with dystopian literature that it was lowkey overwhelming. I read the first entry of this series and that was it for me. I simply wasn’t a fan. It’s not that this is a poorly written book or anything of the sort, I was just not compelled by the story because I could pick up twenty other books just like it. Love dystopian lit, just not this one.
4. The only novel on this list that isn’t from when I was in high school brings us in at number four. Welcome to the stage Lock Every Door by Riley Sager! Now, I love Riley Sager’s books. I’m a huge fan of his writing, but Lock Every Door did nothing for me. I was honestly bored the entire time. Sager sets up two possible routes for this novel, and it went the way I didn’t want it to. If I wasn’t a massive fan of the author, I would have stopped reading halfway through.
3. At number three is The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. A friend from high school loaned my her copy of book one, and I found her anecdotes, doodles, and remarks more entertaining than the story itself. To be quite fair, I was a hipster when it came to the vampire craze of the early 2010’s so I may have to give this series another, proper, try one day. I think the film may be on Netflix so maybe I'll review that one day sooner rather than later. Out of all the titles on this list this is probably the only one I didn't give a fair chance upon reading. As I said, I was a hipster towards the 2010's vampire craze. At the end of the day though, it did nothing for me. With all the titles on this list, I remember parts of the stories, but I don't really remember anything about this one.
2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green brings us in at number two. So…I’ve read this book multiple times, and I admit it has its charms, but I never really got the reason as to why it blew up like it did. If you were in high school when this book was published, then you probably remember everyone in your school reading this one and crying over it. I certainly do. So I hopped on the bandwagon and read this one. Except I felt so weird cause I didn’t cry over it. I didn’t get the fuss over it, but I played along and pretended it changed my life. In truth it was just a book to me. It existed and that was that. And it remains that way to this day. I reread this book during my final semester of college for a YA Lit class and it was still meh to me then.
1. And finally, at number one, we have the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. If there was any title on this list that I’d drag through the mud, it’d be this one. My best friend raved about this series and wouldn’t stop talking about it until I read all three books. I hated reading this series. I was not a fan of the writing, the plot, the characters, or really anything about this series. To me, this series comes across as a hodgepodge of the literature of the early 2010’s; urban fantasy/magical realism, dystopian, gothic romance etc. etc. Everything about this series is subpar in my opinion and I have strong feelings of dislike towards it.
And with that, I must bid you all adieu. I shall see you next week with a new review. I hoped you enjoyed my odd little tangents about these books that you might not have thought about for years. Enjoy this blast from the past and I'll see y'all soon.
Until then, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.
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