✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.
This week’s topic is:
What is one book that everyone else seemed to love except you?
Suggested by: Isabella @ The Inkbound Reader
Prompts: Have you ever experienced what seems like the whole book community raving about a book, only to discover it’s not all that? What are some story elements that put you off while reading? What about books others dislike that you love? Feel free to share examples of which books everyone loved and you didn’t, and vice versa! 🤭
Have you ever experienced what seems like the whole book community raving about a book, only to discover it’s not all that?
Maybe the better question to ask is, has anyone not experienced this? Being an avid reader and part of the book community, especially engaging in bookish social media, I feel like this is bound to happen at least once, if not often. I fall into the latter camp and have picked up a few disappointments after hearing everyone go on about these books for months, or sometimes even years!
It’s easy to get reeled in by the hype train and I know that happens to me regularly, despite not wanting to get on in the first place. 😂 That said, I think I have more of these hyped books waiting in the wings for me to read compared to those I’ve already read—so who knows if my disappointment will grow or I become another groupie of the book. Sometimes I wonder if waiting to read these books changed my experience with them. I’ve had a few bummers in 2025 after putting them off for years despite being well-loved titles when they came out… But I digress!
What are some story elements that put you off while reading?
Looking back on the hyped books that I didn’t end up loving, I noticed a few commonalities about the things that put me off. This is probably not everything but it’s what came to my head right now:
- Clunky writing. I find it very distracting when the flow of the story is choppy and all over the place. It reads awkwardly and I tend to find myself reluctant to continue a story with clunky writing.
- Poorly developed world-building and character arcs. If one aspect is “not that great” and the other is “fantastic” then it usually tends to balance out; however, that one aspect really needs to be outstanding. I think I’m less put off by poor world-building than I am with poorly developed character arcs that have so much potential, yet missed the mark.
- Insta-anything. It’s not just insta-love, but it’s also when things happen without any build up that it leaves me going “wait, what just happened and how and why?” I mean, I don’t need the characters to go through something major to feel invested, but when things unfold so quickly, it just feels too easy to be true. And sometimes it defies logic? Idk. I just want to feel stakes or something! 😅
- Unlikeable to the point I can’t look past it. Look, I’m all for unlikable characters, right? But I think sometimes there’s a line that’s crossed with the whiny and irritable traits that make it so hard to look past it; especially when it’s constantly shoved in your face and everyone ignores that the character is a terrible person.
- My least favourite tropes. There are just some tropes that are a no-go for me and if I know in advance that the book has them, I’ll stay away from it. However, sometimes it’s a total un-fun surprise and it’s the worst, especially if it involves my least favourite trope: love triangles. Help! 🫣
Here are some of the books that so many people have loved and that were very much not hits for me. I will say that I didn’t hate some of these titles but I did find them disappointing (like The Burning God cos I found that ending so anti-climactic and rushed! Everything just happens and then… What do you mean that’s it?!)
What about books others dislike that you love?
I mean, it’s all subjective. There are times that even the things that tend to put me off will end up working for me in a certain book because the book’s chemistry felt right and it read so well. I know there are some books that I love and breathe and that absolutely wrecked me in the best way, but others felt differently about. We can’t all love the same books all the time! 🤷🏻♀️ Here are some of the titles I love that I know others have felt lukewarm about, if not outright hated it:
Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers who joined the discussion this week! 👇🏽
Annemieke @ A Dance with Books
Alli @ Alli the Book Giraffe
Elle @ Unwrapping Words
Lost @ The Chronicles of Tick Tock
Lin @ Lin’s Perspective
Isabella @ The Inkbound Reader
Yolanda @ Past Midnight
Leyre @ Read You Leyre
LaRonda @ Flying Paperbacks
Vero @ Dark Shelf of Wonders
Raji @ Worlds Unlike Our Own
Shannon @ Media Shadow Reads
Lila @ Hardcover Haven
Abyssal Librarian
If I’ve missed your post this week, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments, and I’ll add you to this week’s list of community posts ASAP!
How do you motivate yourself to read? Do you have a set time that works best for your reading focus? What’s your top tip for other readers?
dinipandareads 
People don’t like Starling House?? I thought it was pretty good!
I was interested in Iron Widow before release and then I learned more about it, and I just think it wouldn’t be for me.
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Yes! I didn’t realise that there are tons of people who didn’t like Starling House because they thought it was too slow/boring, pretentious, pointless, etc. I loved that book! 🤭 I had extremely high expectations about Iron Widow, maybe because I follow the author on social media and just felt like her storytelling would be… Stronger? I was pretty disappointed when I picked it up and felt it was “just okay”! It felt like I was reading something completely different to everyone else!
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I enjoyed most of the books on both of your lists. lol. Some more than others, of course. That ending to The Burning God really rubbed me the wrong way, too. Also, there are people who don’t like A Darker Shade of Magic?!
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OK, I thought I was the only one who felt that way about Burning God! I can’t remember if we talked about that in the discussion. I think I was still riding the high of the trilogy so I didn’t think about it too much, but the more I thought about it afterward, the more I was like hmm, nope, didn’t like that! 🫣 Also, YES, I noticed a lot of people who weren’t normally YA fantasy readers pick up the book and just bash it because it was boring, poorly written, bad world-building, horrible characters, etc. Of course, I emphatically disagree with those onions, but to each their own! We can’t love ’em all, haha. 🤷🏻♀️
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The List of Suspicious Things – I didn’t get how people could describe as ‘heartwarming’ a story built around the real life murders of thirteen women. Tasteless is the word I’d use
Butter – the food descriptions made me feel nauseous rather than hungry
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Wow, okay, I’d never heard of The List of Suspicious Things but to call it heartwarming when it’s about that… Yikes! 😬 Doesn’t sound like it’s for me! I have Butter on my TBR still and although I haven’t heard many talk about it, I’m curious to see how I’ll feel about these descriptions, lol.
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Oh, I thought most people liked A Darker Shade of Magic! Totally agree with your points about clunky writing, it’s an immediate nope out of a book for me. But also, everyone’s idea of clunky is different, which is part of the fun! Thank you for linking back to my post, I enjoyed this topic 😊💚
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Back in the day, there were a bunch of people who had disliked it so much that I was kind of shocked! 😳 I loved this series so much and upon recently re-reading it, it still lives up to my feelings from all those years ago! Yes, everyone’s version of all the reasons that everyone wrote today will probably be different, but like you said, that’s the fun part! 🤭 Thanks for joining this week! 💜
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I loved The Darker Shade of Magic series as well as Tomorrow x 3. I know that A little Life is quite divisive and I’m fairly sure that it’s not for me. It’s always fun seeing what books people dislike and like compared to your own feelings.
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I read A Little Life before knowing of the online book community so I was very uninfluenced about the discord around it. It’s a book I wouldn’t recommend to people because of how intensely traumatizing it can be but it’s still one of my all-time favourites (as weird as that sounds, lol)! 🫣 I also enjoy seeing people’s opinions on books, which made this topic quite fun to do this week, hehe.
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I always think likability is so important to me, but if it’s a plot driven book, I can deal with horrible characters if it drives the plot forward. There are a few authors I have tried and are not for me (Klune and Zapata quickly come to mind), but different readers, different tastes. It’s all good.
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Exactly that! If it’s plot-driven I’m more forgiving with poor character development and vice-versa, but if both are lacking then it’s a nope for me. While I still enjoy Klune’s books, I feel like Zapata is an author that I’ve grown out. Slowly joining that list are Meghan Quinn and Tessa Bailey, but I’ll still pick up one of their books now and again to see if those feelings have changed or not. 🤭 And yep, different strokes for different folks and all that!
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I love the Shades of Magic trilogy, but I’ve been reading Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow for thre months now.. and it might be time for me to be truthful with myself and admit that I’m not loving it as much as I wanted to..
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Oh fair enough! As much as I loved Tomorrowx3, I can see why it wouldn’t work for everyone. The characters aren’t exactly the most likeable and it covers a very niche topic that not a lot of people would probably be interested in? I’m sorry to hear that it hasn’t worked for you though! I would recommend the audiobook, but it wasn’t so amazing that it changed the reading experience for me, so if you can’t borrow it, I don’t know that I’d say it’s worth buying!
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Daisy Jones and the Six, didn’t work for me, and some books like, Get a Life Chloe Brown were a turn off due to the language in the first chapter. I also don’t enjoy books where there is a lot of verbal bullying, even if it is supposedly just joking. But as you say, Dini, everyone likes different things or there wouldn’t be so many books and genres out there.
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Oh, I’m also not a fan of bullying in books. That’s why I don’t get bully romances because it’s just… So… Off putting! 🤭 But yeah, to each their own! It’s nice to have all the options for everyone!
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Nice points! I’m usually good to gage weather or not I’ll like a book- having few DNFs and bad reviews.
However, the one i’m forever salty about is the no show. But thats because nobody told me it had time travelling until the end.
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Ooh… The No Show is still on my TBR. I had no idea it was about time-travel… 😅
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See! 🙈 yes it dangle between past & present (all 3 woman isnt at the same time… as I thought)
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[…] Let’s Talk Bookish: The Book(s) Everyone Loved… But Me! […]
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I try to avoid super hyped books because to me they don’t live up to the hype. There are a few that I did read, and I loved. There are so many books written because we all have different tastes and experiences. And honestly, that’s what I love about the bookish community.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
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Sometimes it seems that reading a super-hyped book during the peak hype is a guaranteed way for me to not like it, LOL. 😀
I’m with you on unlikeable characters and love triangles. Both of those make it hard for me to appreciate a book.
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I super relate with not liking love triangles at all or insta-anything you’re right that it doesn’t just relate to love. Like in a series I’m currently rereading, I just realized that suddenly in book 2 we’re supposed to believe that two characters we never see on the page together and suddenly super close and as the reader we missed seeing their friendship develop because it just happened off-book and it’s SO annoying! lol Insta-besties? yeah ok sure…
Anyways sorry I’m so incredibly late in commenting on this post I’m so behind on blog stuff 😅.
Oh, I didn’t realize you hadn’t loved Anatomy: A Love Story 🤔 Interesting! And what a bummer that the end of the Poppy War trilogy was anticlimactic 😦 Oh no, do a lot of people dislike Voyage of the Damned? I feel like I have only heard good things about that one so I’m glad you loved it too coz I really want to read it too! Great post and thanks for linking to my post 🙂
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[…] Let’s Talk Bookish Hosted by Book Nook Bits & Dinipandareads […]
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Great post! I agree that poorly developed characters put me off so much because I’m such a character-oriented reader! I’ve also had a few books with such clunky, awkward writing, it immediately took me out of the story 🙈
I also enjoyed Voyage of the Damned! I listened to the audiobook and had a great time 😄
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