Tag: Worst Reads

Worst of 2014: The Books

Posted January 9, 2015 by Rowena in Features | 8 Comments

worst of 2014_books

Rowena: I read a lot of great books this year, but I also read some duds. Here are the books that made my not so best list of 2014.

  1. An Outlaw in Wonderland by Lori Austin. I read this book for a buddy review with Ames but I couldn’t get past the first few chapters. The whole thing started off boring and by day 3 of trying to force myself to read it, I threw in the towel.

  2. Waiting on You by Kristan Higgins. This book pissed me off. Colleen got on my nerves, Lucas’ Aunt and Uncle got on my nerves and so did Lucas. I hated that Colleen got diarrhea of the mouth every time Lucas was in the same space as her and I hated that Lucas never told his Aunt and his Uncle to shove it. I hated the games that Colleen played to get Paulie and Bryce together and then as if that wasn’t enough, we find out some dirty crap went down between Colleen and Bryce? Ugh, this whole book just didn’t work for me. At all.

  3. Irresistible Force by D.D. Ayres. Every time I start a Romantic Suspense, I hope and pray that stupid shenanigans don’t go down. The kind of shenanigans that make me want to roll my eyes down the street. You know, the whole we’re fleeing for our lives because the bad guys are shooting at us and trying to kill us but I can’t stop thinking about the heroine’s ass in those jeans. Let me stop dodging bullets so that I can push the heroine up against the wall and bang her real quick. That happened in this book and I wanted to throw my iPad at the wall. On top of that, I got a good chunk into the book and still didn’t care about either the hero or the heroine.

  4. Before We Fall by Courtney Cole. I couldn’t get into this book. I’m not even sure why. I just kept trying to get into the story and then I’d get thrown out of the story because stupid crap kept happening until finally, I just quit. I thought Dom was such a dick in the beginning and after a while, I just stopped caring.

  5. I’ve Fallen and There’s a Tentacle in My Butt by Edward Naughty. I have no words for this book and I’m not even going to explain why I read this book…just know that I hated it. A lot. Probably the most of all the books I hated this year.

Holly: I still can’t believe Rowena read I’ve Fallen and There’s a Tentacle in My Butt. Hilarious. I read some really great books this year, but most of them were just okay. There were a few that definitely made my “worst of” list, though.

  1. Rhett by J.S. Cooper. Y’all, this book was  a trainwreck. The writing was choppy,  editing was terrible, the characters were a hot mess and the plot made zero sense. Not to mention the misogyny, double standards and plain old wtfery.

  2. Meeting Trouble by Emme Rollins. The premise was good, but the lack of maturity on the part of the heroine, poor editing and blatant disregard for the merits of safe-sex killed it.

  3. Torn by K.A. Robinson. The heroine was an immature baby who whined a lot and made terrible decisions, and the hero was controlling and acted the jerk more often than not.

  4. Against the Cage by Sydney Halston. I wanted to like this book, but the characters all read like teenagers, even though they were all established adults in their (near) 30’s. The lack of communication, constant giggling and avoidance tactics used by all parties drove me crazy.

  5. The Promise by Kristen Ashley. This wasn’t the worst book I read in 2014, but it was the one that disappointed me the most. I’d been waiting years for Benny and Frankie’s book, and I was severely disappointed. Benny acted like an inconsiderate jerk and Frankie allowed herself to be walked all over. I really expected more.

There you have it, our worst reads from 2014. Have any wallbangers you want to share? 


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Worst of 2013: The Books.

Posted January 3, 2014 by Rowena in Features | 0 Comments

Worst of 2013

Rowena: I read a lot of books and I loved a lot of the books that I read. However, there were some pretty craptastic books that just didn’t work for me, at all.

Here are those books:

  1. Fallen too Far by Abbi Glines
  2. Breaking Nova by Jessica Sorensen
  3. Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines
  4. Play by Play by Kate Donovan
  5. Cover Mine by Catherine Mann

Holly: I read a lot of good books this year. Unfortunately I also read some pretty bad ones. I don’t know what it says about me that I have no problem coming up with my Worst of list every year but I struggled to come up with my Best.

  1. The Rocker That Holds Me by Terri Anne Browning
  2. Away From the Spotlight by Tamara Carlisle
  3. Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
  4. Trying to Score by Toni Aleo
  5. Raid by Kristen Ashley

Dishonorable mention goes to Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan. It wasn’t a bad book, really, but it wasn’t what I was expecting for Skylar and Dmitri.

Which books made it onto your Worst Reads of the Year lists?


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Worst of 2012: The Books.

Posted December 21, 2012 by Rowena in Features | 4 Comments

 

The books.
Rowena:  And we end our week of Best Of lists with a list of the books that just didn’t work for us.  Our worst reads of the year.

Here are the books that I just could not for the life of me like.

  • Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl: The characters left a lot to be desired.  I wanted to punch the heroine in her face too many times to count, the hero made me want to puke with how he’d just roll over for the heroine and well, I could go on.
  • Finally Home by Helen Scott Taylor: The heroine drove me to want to drink myself dead.  She drove me up the wall with her excuses for pushing the hero away and when she took her kid away from the hero at the end, I wanted to run her ass over.
  • Blaze of Winter by Elisabeth Barrett: Both the hero and the heroine drove me crazy.  So much so that I almost didn’t finish it.
The other books that I didn’t really care for are YA so I’ll be posting about those on my YA book blog but here are the romance novels that didn’t make the cut for me.  Either the characters drove me nuts or the story just didn’t work for me.    So there you go, my list.

Holly: Every year Rowena makes me feel like a raging beeyotch when we do these Worst Of lists. She’s all “oh, I didn’t really have that many” and I’m all “OMG, I can only list five?!?!”. Sigh.

  • The Greet Tycoon’s Ultimatum by Lucy Monroe: I generally like Monroe, but this was just wrong all the way around. The heroine was a limp dishrag and the hero was a complete ass.
  • Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire: The book started out great but fell apart halfway through. I can’t deny it worked on one level, but I was left with a bad taste in my mouth when all was said and done, which is why it ended up here.
  • Tucker’s Crossing by Marina Adair: Another book with a good premise that wasn’t executed well. I love the idea of reunited lovers, but the story was all over the place and the characters wishy-washy.
  • Rules of Engagement by Ann Bruce: This book made NO sense. The heroine shows up at a cabin in the middle of the night and the hero punches her to knock her out, then handcuffs her to the bed. When she comes to she decides she needs to give him her cherry, because that’s totally what a sane person would do, right? It was full of WTFery from beginning to end. Blergh.
  • The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L.James: This is another WTF series. To be honest, I really enjoyed the first book when I thought it was less a romance about Christian and Anna, and more a look at the darker side of relationships. Had I stopped there I probably would have given this a much higher rating. As it stands, I went on to read the rest of the trilogy and it just went from bad to worse. Awful books.
Dishonorable mention goes to Crazy on You by Rachel Gibson: I generally love Gibson’s books, but this novella fell very flat. The “I Love You’s” came way too quickly and ruined the story. Meh.

Here are the books that made it onto our guest reviewers worst reads of 2012 lists:

Thanks for sharing your lists ladies…Ames, I totally remember your rants for Gabriel’s Inferno.
What books did you not like in 2012?


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Worst of 2011: The Books.

Posted January 20, 2012 by Rowena in Features | 1 Comment

Holly: For the most part, my reading in 2011 was pretty stellar as far as quality goes. I read a lot of really great books. Unfortunately, I also read quite a few really bad books.

In no particular order:

  1. Baby, Come Home by Stephanie Bond – I enjoyed the town and hero, but the heroine totally killed it for me. Totally.
  2. Cowboy’s Like Us by Vicki Lewis Thompson – This made my “worst of” list mainly because I’m saddened at how flat the series has fallen for me.
  3. Lonestar Sanctuary by Coleen Gable – This was a free read. I wanted to like it, but the plot was all over the place and the characters a mess.
  4. Liberty Starr by Rebecca E. Grant – The hero acted like a stalker. Not hot, man. Not hot.
  5. When You Dare by Lori Foster – The fact the heroine is an author who feels the need to rant about readers and reviewers offended me. Plus, the plot was unbelievable. It did have a few redeeming qualities, but mostly it failed.

Rowena: I’m not sure if I’ll have five books but here’s what I could remember not enjoying in 2011.

  1. Tris & Ivie by Mette Ivy Harrison. I just couldn’t get into this book. I kept waiting for the book to take off but with an unlikeable main character and a strange love interest. It was a total miss for me.
  2. A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies. I read this book for my YA blog, The Book Scoop and I didn’t care for it. This was another book that I kept waiting for it to pick up and when it never did- I was bummed. The main character in this book assumed too much and drove me bat shit crazy with the way she handled just about everything that happened in the story and the back and forth between Asher and Devin drove me up the wall. This book was another miss for me.

None of the romance novels that I read in 2011 fit into my worst of list so I’m listing any of those here.

Casee: I read so few books in 2011, I’m not sure that I’ll come up with 5. Oh hell, I’ll come up with 5. I had two DNF’s at the end of the year so I don’t know how I wouldn’t be able to.

  1. A Place Called Home by Jo Goodman (I can barely address this because I love Jo Goodman to pieces).
  2. Delaney’s Shadow by Ingrid Weaver – It just didn’t do it for me. I could barely finish it.
  3. Justice by Karen Robards – I find Robards heroines TSTL. I’m surprised they don’t have heart attacks with how much their hearts jump, race, palpate, etc.
  4. When You Dare by Lori Foster – As a reader, I felt like it was a slap on the wrist for daring not to like My Man, Michael. Which was just childish.

What were your more disappointing reads of 2011?


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Worst of 2010: The Books

Posted January 4, 2011 by Holly in Features | 13 Comments


Holly

It’s hard coming up with this list. Reading is so subjective – depending on my mood, the subject matter of the book and the author’s writing style. Plus, I know I hate books others love, and vice verse. Take Crush on You by Christie Ridgway, Rowena hated that book, but Casee and I loved it.

  1. Wicked Little Game by Christine Wells
  2. Can’t Stand the Heat by Wynter Daniels
  3. Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase
  4. Shadow of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon
  5. Do You Take This Cop by Beth Andrews

Rowena

There were some books in 2010 that just didn’t work for me at all. All of the books that I hated were loved by others and that’s okay, like Holly said…it’s all subjective. Just like our Best of Lists, there are plenty of people who hate the books that we love.

Here are my picks for this category:

  1. The Other Boyfriend by Sylvia Massara
  2. Two’s Company by Jill Mansell
  3. Crush on You by Christie Ridgway

I just couldn’t get into all of these books for different reasons. The main character got on my hot damn nerves in The Other Boyfriend, the male lead in Two’s Company broke my heart and made me hate him and then there were so many different reasons why I couldn’t stand Crush On You. I wanted to like each of these books but it wasn’t in the cards for me.

Casee

Holly is right on the subjective part. The author of one of my worst books this year also ends up being in the top five of my best authors list.

  1. Nightkeepers by Jessica Andersen
  2. Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy
  3. His Darkest Embrace by Juliana Stone
  4. Killing Me Softly by Maggie Shayne
  5. Louisiana Heat by Dominique Adair

Now that you’ve seen our worst of lists…share with us some of the books that just didn’t work for you last year.


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