Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This week our topic is: Top Ten Books That Were Hard For Me To Read – aka I hated them.
Listed in no particular order.
Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre – I took this one as a DNF at page 50. It was just bad. A girl doesn’t just almost commit suicide and then does an about face after she gets a wish granted to be pretty. Ugh. Not to mention instalove.
Mathilde and Her Extraordinary Encounter with Sebastian the Swistak by Oliver Rosenbauer – just looking at the cover and title, this one was a CYBILS nominee and the author spent the first pages introducing all the characters in depth before the book began AND has a section talking about how he wrote a children’s book because it’s easier than adult books. Then the first chapter explained how two adults can have a relationship without being married, in dumbed down terms.
Hero Type by Barry Lyga – I sort of rage-quit this book. It’s about a boy who becomes a hero because he was at the right place at the right time – oh, because he was STALKING a girl.
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen – It’s a miracle I made it through this one. I love the lilting voice of Katherine Kellgren, who narrated the audiobook and possibly is the only reason to even consider this book. The main character (Kelsea, the queen) is “plain” and obsesses over it the whole book, it’s over 400 pages and the world building is terrible and the plot is slow and contains way too much description of characters, especially comparisons to how “ugly” the main character is.
Abandon by Meg Cabot – This is a book I enjoyed listening to as I did chores, but when I thought about the plot later… I thought to myself “I just wasted my time on this?”. Who doesn’t fall in love with the creepy stalker guy who tried to keep you in the afterlife and accidentally kills people near you to protect you. You hate him for half the book and then he says the three little words and suddenly you’re like “ME TOO”. *facepalm*
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks – I got about 100 pages into this one before giving up on it. Another, “I’ll do anything for you” type of love story for a guy you barely know type plot.
Elixir by Hilary Duff – It wasn’t until halfway through the book that I was like “oooo noooo”. It started off good. It did! But then the horrible love plot ruined it. Supposed virgin girl is all swoony when her love interest has a condom so he can have sex with her IN A CAR. Seriously? That’s love?
Almost Moon by Alice Sebold – I don’t read adult books often, but I loved The Lovely Bones and so I tried this one on audio. This is the most messed up book I’ve read. Don’t read it. It was horrible.
Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck – I’m just going to copy and paste my notes from Goodreads on this one…
09/01/2012
page 180
45.0%
“Ugh. Not in the mood for romance angst. Let’s get back to the quest please.”
09/03/2012
page 250
62.0%
“Kinda sick of the romance plot, still. Get on with the quest and stop mooning!”
09/09/2012
page 350
86.0%
“How can this book get worse? Oh the stupid romance has turned into a “he probably won’t love me once the curse is broken” type plot.”
09/09/2012
page 350
86.0%
“A radish analogy? Really? REALLY? Should I even bother with the last disc. Oi!”
Croak by Gina Damico – I really wanted to like this book, but it’s hard to understand characters who commit random acts of violence and act like a 5 year old in tantrum mode. Not to mention the random SAT words thrown into the book without any explanation.
Honorable mention:
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – Although this book wasn’t as horrible as the others above, it pissed me off. A lot. The inner dialogue of the main character is grating – if she’s so badass, why doesn’t she actually do anything dangerous. And she’s totally nuts – one minute all “kill, kill, kill” and the next minute “ooo pretty dresses and pretty boys”. UGH. There were ZERO good characters. The prince interest wanted to be a good guy but was too afraid of his daddy. The guard was stale at best and I can’t even remember him even showing any interest towards her. Oh wait, there was the one guy in the competition, he made more sense for a love triangle, was interesting and even befriended her. Oh and the competition? That was a load of crap. It’s supposed to be dangerous! Not rock climbing and arrow shooting. The only redeeming part was the ending – when you finally get some dangerous action and the magical intrigue.
I know, everyone LOVES this series, but I think it’s bleh.
What’s on your list? Did you take a different angle on this week’s top ten?