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My Unpopular Bookish Opinions

Hello fellow book lovers! Today I want to tell you all about my unpopular bookish opinions. I know I’m probably a bit late in doing this, but I’ve randomly felt inspired to talk about the popular books that I just didn’t enjoy.

I’ve seen a lot of people doing the tier ranking thing recently and most of the books I’ll discuss today tend to be ranked pretty high, so I felt like trashing some peoples favorites. I’m totally kidding. I won’t be trash talking books here. (For the most part.) I just want to talk about the books that I didn’t like that most people really enjoy. Shall we jump right in?

[Please don’t hate me if one of these is your favorite book! I promise I’m not hating on you, these just weren’t for me!]

My first and possibly most controversial unpopular opinion is:

I did not care much for Cinder by Marissa Meyer…

I enjoy Marissa Meyer’s writing quite a bit, but I couldn’t get into the story. I’m a huge fan of retellings, so I went in expecting to love this, but I didn’t.

By no means did I hate this. It was just a very meh book for me. I didn’t get what all the hype was about and had no real interest in continuing the series. I didn’t care about the characters and the plot twists were not awe inspiring.

I sometimes wonder if I should try the other books in case they get better, but they really don’t excite me and I don’t want to read something I don’t thinkI will enjoy.

Next up is a book I strongly disliked. This is a book I had on my tbr for years and knew with 100% certainty I was going to love it… I was so wrong.

That book was Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

From the very beginning of this book I was not impressed. I didn’t like the constant marked through sentences and the overall writing style was not for me. I hoped the characters and plot would make up for it.

They did not.

I thought Juliet was annoying and the overall story was very boring. I so badly wanted everything to change and turn this book around, but it never happened.

I was extremely let down by the end of this book and never even considered continuing the series.

This book is a one I’ve actually tried to read twice now. The first time I DNF’d it at about 30%. The second time I finished it, but still didn’t really enjoy it. That book is The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson.

The synopsis definitely intrigued me, as well as the overall mystery of which character was the would be assassin. But everything else was kind of a let down.

I felt like the whole plot was predictable and like a lot of other books I’ve read before. There was also quite a bit about it that i found to be too unrealistic.

The characters were also not great. They made ridiculous decisions and were rather annoying. I found myself to be a mixture of bored and annoyed while reading this.

It did have some ok parts, but I don’t really think they were enough to bring this book back for me sadly.

My final unpopular bookish opinion is more character based. This is one where I absolutely love the author, the world, the idea, and the plot. But don’t like the characters and most of their decisions.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo is that book.

Alina was not my favorite. She did not make good decisions and she complained about everything. I was not feeling her character at all. Don’t even get me started on Mal. Not a good love interest. Strong dislike for his character. Wish he wasn’t in the book.

Six of Crows, also part of the grisha verse, is still one of my all time favorite books. I wish this one would have been as good as that. I think if the characters acted differently I probably would have liked this book a lot more.

This is also the only book from this list that I could be convinced to continue the series. I love this universe and the writing is so good. If the characters somehow improve in the next book, I think I would read them. Also I really want to read King of Scars and I feel likeI should finish this trilogy first. Should I give the rest of this series a chance?

I always talk about the books I love, and never really discuss those that just weren’t for me. Hopefully you found this post interesting, and don’t hate me too much for not liking one of your favorites! What are some of your unpopular bookish opinions? I’d love to hear them!
Happy reading 🖤

22 comments

  1. I totally agree with you about The Kiss of Deception. I started reading it back when I saw a lot of people talking about but the story didn’t interest me so I just DNF’d it.

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  2. Great post! Everyone has their unpopular opinions about books.
    Btw I too blog @ The Confessions Of A Music And Book Addict and would appreciate some support!
    Stay safe
    -Prutha

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  4. Totally agree on Shadow and Bone. I found it quite boring.

    I thought the same thing with Cinder but I continued the series. The rest of the series turned me from ‘meh’ to LOVING it. I urge you to continue if you can. Each book just got better.

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  7. The only one I haven’t tried on here is The Kiss of Deception. I didn’t like any of the others either. 🤣🤷‍♀️

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  8. I also disliked Shatter Me. I actually enjoyed the first book but then I heard Warren wins in the end and I was like NOPEEEEE. I hated it ever since. I really dislike when I love a love interest and then the author changes it. I feel bad for disliking the series because of this fact but it makes me so angry! I’m sorry you didn’t like Cinder though! It’s one of my favorites series. I think the 3rd book was my favorite though. XD

    Amber @ Escape Life in the Pages

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    • That’s interesting 🤔 wasn’t he kind of like the bad guy in the first book? If so, that’s actually very interesting to me 😂
      I’ve heard the other books in the lunar chronicles are better, I may have to give them a try!

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  9. Finally someone who agrees with me about Shatter Me! I strongly disliked it, and don’t really see the appeal? However, I took the whole series on holiday so I read them all because there was nothing else haha! It got better towards the end, so I’d give it a second chance if you can (but Warner won Juliette’s heart, and I can’t come to terms with that. He was really possessive and manipulative, though she couldn’t see past his ‘beautiful shape’. Ergh)
    Hope you’re safe,
    Erin 🙂

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  10. I agree with you about Shadow and Bone. I adore Leigh Bardugo, and Six of Crows is an all-time favourite, but I never felt drawn to her Shadow and Bone series. I also think a big percentage of the blogosphere would agree with your thoughts on Mal haha.

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