Books Not Worth The Hype // 1

So today I thought I'd do another book post, and focus on some disappointing books that I've read. Some of these were not too bad and I was only a little disappointed, but others were absolutely awful, so if I mention a book you like please don't be offended or anything (I'm not sure how anyone could possibly be offended, because it's a book.)

But anyway, I'll just get started because I'll probably end up rambling!

The first book I'll talk about is a book that I've spoken about around a year ago, and it's I Was Here by Gayle Forman. It's all about Cody, who's best friend Meg commits suicide completely out of the blue and the whole book is centered around Cody trying to find out why Meg killed herself. The blurb sounds much better than my description (hence why I ended up buying it) but I just summarized it as best as I could remember it, as I read it over a year ago and haven't picked it up since.

I just really did not like this book. I had read some of Gayle Forman's books before and I really liked them, but this was just really not very good. I thought Cody's character wasn't really developed and we didn't really get to learn anything about her or her life, and it was all focussed on Meg, who to be honest we didn't learn much about either. As well as this, there was also a random romance thrown in halfway through the novel that just didn't work, and I didn't like or identify with any of the characters enough to get attached to them.

Another book that I just didn't like was An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. Again, I haven't read this in well over a year, but it's about Colin, who is a teenage boy who has only ever dated Katherines (19 of them!) and suddenly goes on a road trip with his best friend Hassan (which everyone seems to do in John Green's books at some point) and is trying to work out a formula for something to do with his Katherine-obsession and try and find a girl for Colin. 

I really just found myself dragging through this book wanting to finish it, as again I thought none of the characters were developed well and I didn't think anything significant really happened in the book, like there was no drama or big moment or anything like that, it was all quite flat and uneventful. And if this doesn't turn you off the book enough, there are footnotes on most of the pages with maths formulas and all sorts of scary symbols and numbers, that I really did not appreciate nor want to see, thank you very much.

Onto probably the most controversial book in the post - Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I absolutely love Zoe, I watch her videos all the time, but this book was just not good. I actually got this book when I went to meet her at a book signing a few years ago, but after not even liking the first book, I decided that it would be a fab idea to just pick up the sequel, which I hated just as much, if not more, than the first book.

It's all about Penny, a teenage girl who writes an anonymous blog and has social anxiety. Then she goes to New York for Christmas with her parents and she meets Noah, who's all gorgeous and mysterious and they get together and lalalala...

The plot of the book isn't too bad, like it's not a particularly well written book but the second book is truly even worse, and it skips to Penny leaving school, and she goes on tour with Noah and his band and a load of drama happens and they fall out and make up, before falling out and making up again.

My main problem with these books is that I don't really understand the audience they're aimed at. I feel they're for tweenage girls at 11 and 12, but the fact that Penny is leaving school at the start of the second book makes me confused as she must be in her late teens? Anyway, the amount of times I cringed at the things in the second book. I was nearly sick at the things that Noah used to say and do and it felt like Zoe had just googled 'relationship goals' and copied and pasted them into her book. I just found nothing was very realistic and I didn't like or relate of any of the characters, and I thought that Penny's best friend, Elliot, was created to be gay just to have some diversity, and seems to embody a gay stereotype, and it just felt so forced. Needless to say, I won't be buying the third book in the series.

Next up is The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins. This book was so hyped up a few years ago, and despite the fact I'm not really into crime or thrillers, I thought I'd give it a go.  It focuses on Rachel, who's an alcoholic that recently divorced her husband, who likes to fantasize about the couple she passes every morning on her way to work, and becomes invested in their lives after she sees something she shouldn't one morning. 

I just did not like this, I just don't understand the hype around this book at all. I can't really describe why, but I every character just seemed to irritate me and I was always confused as to what was happening in the story, especially with Rachel, as I remember her jumping from one thing to another all the time. I also found it was quite predictable and I guessed what happened at the end of book very early on and was just really disappointed and unsatisfied with the ending. I felt a bit terrified to put this in a disappointing books post, because it's such a well loved book but I thought I'd just give it a quick mention seeing as it was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read!

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So those were a few of the books that I think are not worth the hype! I really liked doing this post and getting to rant about why I didn't like some books, and I have a long list more, so if you want it, I'll be happy to do another one!

Again, thank you for reading my blog, and I'll see you next week for a much more positive post (hopefully)

Byee!