Again, this was a post that I did last year that I just HAD to do again. Just to clarify as there was some discourse on Twitter regarding Worst Books lists on blogs and BookTube. My opinion on these books doesn’t take away from anyone else’s enjoyment of the book. These just didn’t work personally for me, everyone has different tastes. This is also not a reflection on the authors involved some of their previous work I have really enjoyed it’s just this time round it was for me. I feel that people should be allowed to express their opinion on whether they did or didn’t like a book and shouldn’t get hate for it. That’s what bloggers and book tubers do.

The Worst Books of 2020!

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Storm Front by Jim Butcher

Yeah…. The actual story itself was interesting but there were bigger factors at hand that overshadowed the plot. I couldn’t connect to the main character and I personally wasn’t a fan of his whole “gentleman” persona. Where I struggled the most was with the characterization of the female characters, nearly every single one was overly sexualised and nearly all of them had some interest or flirtation with the main male character. I then found it hard to like the book as it was such a red flag for me and it just overshadowed everything else. I have heard the series gets better the further you go but I personally don’t want to pay money and wait for it to get better. So, with that, I won’t be continuing the series, which is a shame because I thought it had loads of potential.

You can read my review here >>>

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

This book was very similar to Storm Front for me. An interesting plot but yet again was overshadowed by the sexism and overly stereotypical comments on race. I preferred the plot in this book and was happy to see a black main character at the centre of the story but I felt that the author used the fact that he had a POC main character to make awful stereotypes about black women and travelling communities. It made me very uncomfortable. All of those comments could have easily been edited out so I am disappointed that they weren’t. I will not be continuing this series.

You can read my review here >>>

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

I was really disappointed by this book. I was super excited to read more about African folklore. Sadly, this time, the book wasn’t for me. I found the folklore to be really exciting but it was overshadowed by the graphicness of sex, violence and sexual violence. Personally, it was too much for me and before I made the decision to DNF I decided to look at some reviews to find out how graphic the rest of the book was, it only seemed to get worse. I just felt very uncomfortable while reading this book and I decided to DNF it.

The Most Surprising Books of 2020!

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Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

I loved this book! This book has made it to my Top 10 which will be out soon. The reason it made it to this list was due to the fact I was quite intimidated at first. I don’t read many historical fictions outside of the 1920’s and this felt very adult and intense. I was so shocked by how invested I was in this story. At any given moment I was reading it and I loved it. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

You can read my review here >>>

Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah

I read the first book of this series last year and thought it was ok but not amazing. I expected to go into this book thinking a similar thing but I was hugely mistaken. I was obsessed with this story and I, again, just absorbed the entire book really quickly. The reason it made my list was due to the fact that because of my experience with the last book I was surprised to enjoy this one as much as I did.

You can read my review here >>>

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

I really struggled with YA fantasy last year. There were a couple of gems but mostly I found the books to be average. So, going into this book I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it that much but I found it to be amazing! It completely subverted my expectations of what I expected a YA fantasy to be! It was a re-telling of one of my favourite fairytales of all time, the “12 Dancing Princesses” so there was some initial apprehension. This book is on the list because it saved YA fantasy for me!

You can read my review here >>>

The Most Disappointing of 2020!

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Crowning Soul by Sahira Javaid

Sadly, this didn’t work out. I personally struggled with the writing style and pacing. The writing style was quite basic and it didn’t flow very well. I found the dialogue to be more on the cringey side and pretty unrealistic.

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

I am sad to put this on the list as sadly this author was on this list last year as well. I am personally going to take a break from this author because the last couple of books have been disappointing. For me, I just needed more plot. I find that with books that involve a lot of walking and focus more on character, I just lose interest in them. I needed more plot from this book.

You can read my review here >>>

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

I am hit and miss with Pratchett. Some of his books I love, some I really dislike and this one was a dislike. I just felt bored reading it, the jokes didn’t really work for me and I wasn’t a fan of the characters (except the magical luggage). This was disappointing because I had been enjoying his books up until that point! Thankfully, his following book was really good!