Tag: Rowena’s Worst of Lists

Worst of 2020: The Books

Posted January 11, 2021 by Casee in Features | 2 Comments

When you read as much as we do, you come across some books that just don’t work for you. Maybe you DNF’d the book because it wasn’t for you or you rage read the entire story and hated the story or the characters with every fiber of your being. Whatever the case may be, you’ll find the books that didn’t work for us here. Check out our not so great list of the year.

Casee

I had an unfortunate year when it came to bad books. There are other books I didn’t like, but these are the ones that really stayed with me.

Perfection by Kitty Thomas: It had the lamest plot. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Hawk’s Property by Chiah Wilder: The hero was unbearable as was the heroine. I finished the book, but it was hard.

Guard Me by J.L. Beck: This book was effing horrendous. The hero was a sex trafficker who was sleeping with the heroine all while planning on selling her off.

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley: Holy hell, but this book was simply awful. The heroine was terrible and I hated the ending.

Breathe by Kristen Ashley: Yes, KA actually made it on this list. The hero was terrible. A complete asswipe. I wanted to junk punch him but just decided to DNF the book instead.

Holly

The Duchess in His Bed (Sins for All Seasons #4) by Lorraine Heath: The heroine ruined this book for me. I loved the Trewlove family, and I loved the hero, but her actions made me so angry. Her selfishness was too much for me.

Sin & Surrender (Demigods of San Francisco #6) by K.F. Breene: I actually didn’t dislike this book. There were parts of it I actively enjoyed, in fact. The problem is that it left a lot to be desired as the end of a great series. I really loved the series and this book didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Enthroned (King Arthur and Her Knights #1) by K.M. Shea: The first half was boring and featured a lot of tell, don’t show. There wasn’t much emotion or connection to the characters. It was like reading script. I actually went on to read the rest of this series, but this book was a mess.

Wishing for a Highlander (Highland Wishes #1) by Jessi Gage: This book was campy and ridiculous. I don’t know why I didn’t DNF it. It was just too over-the-top for me to enjoy.

Whiskey Holiday (Mistletoe Montana #11) by Crystal Daniels and Sandy Alvarez: This is a last minute addition. I thought the blurb sounded cute, but it turned out to be a ridiculous farce of a romance. The hero was so jealous and high-key stalkerish I had a hard time understanding why the heroine didn’t call the police. Instead? She let him move himself into her house 24 hours after they met. There was a whole lotta nope here.

Rowena

I didn’t read a whole lot of books last year but I only really hated two of the books that I read so I’m only listing those two since I don’t have five. Check it out.

Devious Lies by Parker S. Huntington: I did not like this book, not even a little bit. Read my review of the book and it’ll explain why I hated it so much.

The Kissing Game by Marie Harte: This book didn’t work out for me. There were too many little things that annoyed me so it messed with my enjoyment of the story.

What were some of your least favorite reads of 2020?

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Worst of 2019: The Books

Posted January 11, 2020 by Rowena in Features | 10 Comments

Casee

Live for you by Michele Mills: Both the hero and heroine ruined this book for me. They were both unbearable. Not to mention the time spent describing the hero’s junk. I ended up wanting to punch his junk.

Lies by Kylie Scott: The heroine here was TSTL. I couldn’t deal. I liked her “go get ’em” attitude, but it didn’t work in this situation. At all.

More Than Want You by Shayla Black: The hero was awful. Simply awful. I couldn’t stand him or the plot. It was all very off-putting.

Keep Me Safe by Maya Banks: This couple didn’t work for me at all. I didn’t understand what they saw in each other. Their relationship was so forced that it hurt to read.

Fever by Maya Banks: I didn’t like Jace at all. He was such an ass. He had so much more power in the relationship than he did and it was just awful to read. Yuck.

Dishonorable Mentions: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, Still Not Over You by Nicole Snow, and Filty English by Ilsa Madden-Mills.

Holly

Good Girl by Lauren Layne: Rowena told me not to read this book, but I forgot and read it anyway. So.Much.Regret. The “hero” was such a fucking dick I wanted to junk punch him for the majority of the book.

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey: Annie, the heroine, ruined this book for me. She was condescending and judgmental throughout the entire book. She jumped to conclusions and refused to admit when she was wrong. And that was before she seriously breached the hero’s privacy and completely ruined the book for me.

First Contact by Kat Green: Between the TSTL heroine and the predictable plot, this book didn’t work for me at all. I was sort of vaguely interested in the mystery behind the ghosts at first, but that didn’t last long.

Free by Kristen Ashley: KA has been more miss than hit with me for her last few releases, but Free was just so far outside of what I was expecting, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. The villain of the series had more page time getting pegged than the romance had. It was pretty bad.

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez: This fucking book, man. I can’t even. The heroine was such an awful person with all the games she played, I was shaking with rage by the time I finished it. It gets a bit fat NOPE from me.

Rowena

Bad Reputation (Bad Bachelors #2) by Stefanie London: I hated this book. I hated a lot about this book. The heroine’s taste in friends for one, then there was that shitty thing that the hero does, that pissed me off and there was also the way that I understood why the heroine felt the way that she felt but was still frustrated that she was real dumb about it. This whole book was a mess and I didn’t like any of it.

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez: Ugh, I haven’t thought about this book since I finished it. Like, I don’t even know where to start with how much I hated this book. I couldn’t stand the heroine and her stupid ass games, her stupid ass lies, and her stupid ass behavior throughout this entire book. Don’t even get me started on Brandon and the heroine of the next book. Just, don’t even get me started. I fucking hated this book and that’s that.

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfree: Another book on my list with a heroine that pissed me the hell off. I remember wanting to pull her damn hair right out. All of it. She was ridiculous and the way she treated Drew, the way that she acted throughout the entire book, including writing a freaking screenplay about her best friend and her best friend’s boss and THEN SOLD the manuscript BEFORE she told her best friend? Yeah, I thought this book was trash buckets and I didn’t like it at all.

The Wrong Game by Kandi Steiner: This wasn’t the worst book that I read in 2019 but it was nowhere near close to the best. I just didn’t really connect with much outside of the hero. I thought the hero was a good one but the heroine left a lot to be desired and her game playing pissed me off far too often.

Heidi’s Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec & Andi Arndt: Heidi was raised in a small town, lived a very sheltered life and throughout this entire book, she annoyed the snot out of me. The shit that her hero found cute and adorably sweet? I thought was stupid. Just, this entire book had a lot of potential but it didn’t hit at all. The more I listened, the more I wanted to karate chop everyone and everything. Blech.

What were some books that missed the mark for you in 2019? Any books make it onto your worst reads of the year list? We’d love to hear all about them in the comments!

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Worst of 2018: The Books

Posted January 6, 2019 by Rowena in Features | 1 Comment

Casee

Rookie Move (Brooklyn Bruisers #1) by Sarina Bowen: Holy hell, but I hated the heroine in this book. It was hard to reconcile my feelings for this book because I really liked the hero. A lot. I didn’t understand what he saw in her. She was so bitchy.

Consumed (Firefighters #1) by J.R. Ward: Ugh. This book though. It was hard to read. I really thought the heroine was TSTL at the end, though many disagreed with me. I really disliked the heroine and how hardheaded she was. I thought it really took away from the book as did her bitterness from her childhood and her feelings for her mother.

Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of the One #2) by Nora Roberts: This book just wasn’t what I was expecting, which is why it’s on this list. It’s probably not that bad of a read for most people. For me, it was a major disappointment.

Shadow and Ice (Gods of War #1) by Gena Showalter: I was so disappointed with this book. It was just so boring. I didn’t really care for either the hero or the heroine.

Devil’s Cut by J.R. Ward (The Bourbon Kings #3): I was so looking forward to this book because I loved the first two in this series. This one was an extreme let down. It just didn’t have the magic that the first two did for me. It was like the author just wanted to finish up the series as quickly as possible and tie it with a neat little bow. That didn’t work for me at all.

Holly

I read some really great books in 2018. Sadly, I also read some pretty terrible ones.

Ache for You by J.T. Geissinger: The heroine of this book was such a whingeing bitch she ruined the whole book for me. From beginning to end she was selfish, angry and unpleasant. I have no idea why the hero wanted to be with her, or how she managed to keep any friends.

Raphael by D.B. Reynolds: I love Casee so much, but sometimes I question her taste in books. From the too stupid to live heroine to the giant plot holes, this was a total miss for me.

Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter: Honestly, this wasn’t a terrible book. It was mostly just boring and slow.

Hot Dad by Whitley Cox: This started off well, but it quickly went downhill. The plot went from cute to WTF in a hurry. I don’t know what happened, but it was super disappointing.

The Only One by Lauren Blakely: I loved a lot of books by Blakely in 2018, but this wasn’t one of them. The heroine was so immature she completely killed the book for me.

Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet: Everyone raved about this series, so maybe I had high expectations going in. Maybe that worked against me. I’m not sure. Whatever the case, this book was a major disappointment. The heroine acted like an idiot for 90% of the book and it should have been at least 100 (maybe 200) pages shorter.

Rowena

If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say by Leila Sales: Ugh, this book drove me up the freaking wall. It was a mess and the delivery didn’t work for me at all. I need to not think about it and get myself worked up all over again. I’m so glad to be leaving this book in 2018.

Say You’ll Stay by Corinne Michaels: Here’s another book that pissed me off with how dumb the characters acted. You can read my review of the book to see why I hated this book so much. This book gets a great big, “BYE FELISHA!”

Hot Dad by Whitley Cox: Holly and I went through a phase in 2018 where we wanted to read all of the single Dad romances and this one made its way onto our radar so we had to read it together and well, it was a hot fucking mess and never again will this book find its way onto my Currently Reading shelf on Goodreads. No thank you.

Ache for You by J.T. Geissinger: The heroine in this book was so bad that she ruined the entire book for me. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to smack anyone as much as I wanted to smack her this past year. I mean, the characters in the above could give this heroine a run for her money but ugh…this book pissed me off.

Save the Date by Carrie Aarons: Gah, I wanted to like this book because I adored the cover and have been looking forward to trying out this author but this one just didn’t work for me. The best friends thing started off pretty great but the heroine started being dumb and the hero started to look a bit desperate over the relationship and it just didn’t make any sense. So yeah, blah.

Dishonorable Mentions: Other books that were flops for me were The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, Love Between Enemies by Molly E. Lee, and Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter.

What were some of your worst reads of 2018?

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Worst of 2017: The Books

Posted January 6, 2018 by Rowena in Features | 3 Comments

Casee

Midnight Target by Elle Kennedy: This was the last book in the Killer Instincts series. The heroine? TSTL. I couldn’t deal. She was a spoiled brat that needed to be put out of her misery.

Going Dark by Monica McCarty: This one was supposed to be great. There was a lot of hype around it. I read about a third of it and I couldn’t get into it. It was too political for me.

Shadow Reaper by Christine Feehan: I love this series, but Ricco’s book was a huge disappointment. I wasn’t into the rope play and Mariko didn’t do it for me.

Wired by Julie Garwood: I haven’t read a JG in some time so I decided to give her another try. Wired wasn’t worth my time.

Hidden Prey by Cheynne McCray: The blurb gave me hope, but I shouldn’t have had any. This book was pretty boring.

Holly

This was a hard list for me this year, since a lot of the books on my “Worst” list were ones I DNF’d. I tried to only include them here if I read at least half, but I quit one or two before that.

Hold Her Again by Shannon Stacey: The separate between the hero and heroine was way too long for me to buy his “I never stopped loving you” nonsense. I love Stacey as a writer and I’ll definitely pick up more of her books, but this one just didn’t work for me.

Elemental Mating by Milly Taiden: This book was way too campy for me. I know others read and enjoyed it, but I just couldn’t get into it.

All I Ever Wanted by Luanne McLane: This book landed on my Worst list because of the heroine. Her refusal to communicate with the hero and the way she ran at any hint of strife killed the book for me.

Flirting Under a Full Moon by Ashlyn Chase: This is another book that was way too campy for me. Plus, it was all over the place and none of it made sense.

Wolf’s Mate by Celia Kyle: I really wanted to like this book, but the incompetence of the hero and the way the heroine constantly put herself in danger killed it for me.

Rowena

Solo by Jill Mansell: Gah, this book got on my hot damn nerves. All the infidelity, the lies and just all over dumb ass shit got on my nerves and I couldn’t like any damn thing in here. Still bugs the shit out of me all these months later.

Shadow Reaper (Shadow #2) by Christine Feehan: This book is Ricco’s book and even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the first book in this series, I wanted to read Ricco’s book. I liked Ricco and I wanted to know his story but, TBH, his book was boring. I just couldn’t drum up any enthusiasm to read this book and found every reason to put it down before I finally gave up on it. Such a disappointment.

Fallen Heir (Royals #4) by Erin Watt: This book is responsible for me breaking up with this series. I thought I would be invested in this series until the very end but the drama, the stupid shit things that Easton gets himself into?? I’m just over it all.

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas: This book is one giant ball of WHAT THE F&CK IS GOING ON? We’ve got a dangerous hero who plans the unthinkable with his friends and I’m sorry but no fucking way. The hero, the company that he keeps and the shitty way that he treated the heroine…yeah, I’m not here for any of that shit.

Frisk Me by Lauren Layne: This one hurts me. I never thought that I’d put a Lauren Layne book on any of my worst of lists but this book was a pill to read and I hated the heroine. I just couldn’t even finish it and it was one of my worst reads of the year.

Were there any books that you read last year that you disliked? What were they? Please share!

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Worst of 2016: The Books

Posted January 8, 2017 by Rowena in Features | 9 Comments

Casee

1. Moonstruck by Lauren Dane: This was my only DNF book of the year. I just couldn’t get into it, which is a shame because I love Lauren Dane.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

 

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

1. The Forbidden Temptation by Anne Mather: This book didn’t do anything for me. Besides having an okay hero, the story didn’t move me or interest me for that matter and the heroine was just blah.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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?

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