Casee
- Forgotten Sins by Rebecca Zanetti: O.M.G. Not only was this a Worst Of book, but it had a TSTL heroine and an amnesia plot. God help me.
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Dark Promises by Christine Feehan. Please read my review. The heroine was TSTL and the hero was Feehan’s worst Carpathian to date.
Holly
Surprisingly, this was the hardest category for me this year. I didn’t read many books, which contributed, but I also didn’t read many bad books. These really weren’t terrible – in fact I think they were all 3 star or above reads – but they were the ones I enjoyed the least in 2016.
- Midnight Soul by Kristen Ashley: This wasn’t a bad read, really, I just found parts of it predictable and somewhat boring. It definitely isn’t the best book in the series.
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Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells: The premise of this book was interesting, but I found a the actions of the main characters to be frustrating and confusing most of the time. Plus, the romance thread wasn’t well done and it didn’t flow well.
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Phoenix Reborn by J.D. Tyler: Both main characters drove me crazy. Nix needed more self-confidence and Noah needed to recognize the damage he was inflicting on his mate by not accepting him as he was.
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Diablo Lake: Moonstruck by Lauren Dane: This wasn’t a bad read, really, but the story kept going in circles. That, combined with the unexpected cliffhanger ending, killed a lot of my goodwill toward it.
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Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews: The premise was interesting, but the story suffered for being short. There was a lot crammed into a small page count, which made the story feel rushed while also suffering from info-dumps that bogged it down. If it had been longer, or a prequel to a longer story, it may have worked better.
Rowena
- A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean: This book pissed me off. From beginning to end, I was pissed about something. In the beginning, it was the heroine that I wanted to punch in the throat and in the end, it was the hero that I wanted to knee in the balls. It was disappointing all the way around for me and that sucks because I loved the hell out of the first book.
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Just One Week by Alice Gaines: I wasn’t a fan of the writing style of this book. I thought it would be good, after reading the blurb but…the book just fell flat on its face for me. Between the hero making my eyes roll all over the room and the heroine getting on my nerves in her own way, this one just wasn’t for me.
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Four Letter Word by J. Daniels: Gah, this book drove me crazy. The heroine’s definition of cheating made me roll my eyes and her unjustified rant against her ex-husband made me stabby and the hero’s handling of just about every damn thing under the sun bothered me and I just did not enjoy this book.
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Dare to Run by Jen McLaughlin: I did not like this book at all. I didn’t like it so much that I couldn’t even finish it. I got about a third into this book before I gave up on it. I’m all for a strong heroine but I’m not a fan of the strong heroines who think they know best and smart off to the very people who tried to rape and kill her. I’m not buying that shit one bit so I’m throwing the towel in on this one.
What books made your worst of list of 2016?
I disliked A Scot in the Dark as well. I usually love Sarah MacLean so I was shocked to not like it. I feel like there’s so much that should have worked and that just made it more disappointing. I couldn’t stand the hero right from the beginning and while there where a lot of aspects of the heroine that I normally would have liked, she never worked for me either. I also never really felt any chemistry between them.
Alphas: Origins was just okay for me. It wouldn’t make my worst of the year list, but I barely remember it.
Like I said, this was a hard list for me. Alphas: Origins wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t as good as others I read.
Yeah, the hero pissed me off the in the end but the heroine is the one I wanted to punch in the neck in the beginning. Her attitude made me want to smack her like the child she was acting like. The chemistry is another thing. Like you, I didn’t really feel it sizzling along like in her other books. *shrugs*
My least favorite book of the year was not a romance. It was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It won all kinds of accolades, but I found it to be 700+ pages of misery reading. Sadly, it was for my bookclub so I felt obligated to finish, but what a waste of time.
In romance, my least favorite book (not including DNFs) was The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata. It just didn’t work for me at any level. One of the reasons I stuck with it instead of just putting it down was because I’d seen people raving about it and I kept thinking that it had to get better, but it never did. I’ve since seen it included on several “best of the year” posts, so I guess I was in the minority on my opinion.
It’s funny you list The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. I read it because everyone else seemed to love it, and I liked it, but really didn’t understand the hype. Some parts of it were good, but it wasn’t a fabulous read. After a second read, it was downright bad. The hero and heroine both drove me crazy and the writing was so slooow. I haven’t read another book by her yet. I just can’t bring myself to do it.
I didn’t hate the Wall of Winnipeg but it was a little slow for me in some places. I liked that she was a book cover designer and went to a book conference and he came so she wasn’t alone but that’s really all I remember of the book. I’m hoping Kulti is a better read. That’s on my list to read this year.
You know I used to LOVE Sarah MacLean, but the past couple books I have really struggled with her.
This was the first book by MacLean that I really struggled with. I’ve liked some more than others but I have never hated a book by her so this book surprised the heck out of me.
Casee, I can see your points about Forgotten Sins but overall I still enjoyed it. Haha, maybe it was just because Jory was in it. I’ll follow him to any book. 😉
I was looking back over my 2016 reads and I guess I’m pretty lucky because really didn’t have many bad ones! There were the usual rushed/nonsensical Harlequin Intrigues but since I read a lot of them (and since there are so many not-great ones) I always expect some that don’t blow me away. But there were no books last year that I hated–nothing that made me angry or that were just plain idiotic, at least not that I recorded in my reading log. Hopefully 2017 continues that trend!