Hi friends,
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Today’s theme is : reviews I never wrote because the book was too good.
Well, sorry but I am going rogue!
It’s true that if a book is very good AND part of a series I’ll jump to the sequel and never write the book for the first but more likely a global review because, you know, I just want to read!
By the way, that’s happening now as I am reading the Zodiac Academy series.
But I choose today to talk about the ten, okay more like…eleven, most difficult reviews I had to write! PS click on the graphic to read the review.
The reasons why it was so difficult can vary.
1)Either it’s because the book had so many twists and turns and was not at all what it seemed to be that I had to be cryptic to avoid spoiling anyone’s fun (Black Lies by Alessandra Torre and Never Never by Colleen Hoover).
I’m finished or more accurately, I can’t believe it ends like that! Holy crap,that’s not human to let the readers in such an emotional state! I don’t know what happened and I’m very frustrated and very impatient right now…
My head is reeling with questions, too much questions… Pact with the devil? Drugs? Car crash? Voodoo for a second chance? Blank slate? They don’t like who they seem to be… and I don’t like who they seemed to be (past tense important).
Advice: it’s mind blowing so you should buy it and read it but only if you don’t mind being frustrated by big cliffhanger. Otherwise, buy it (yes, yes, it’s a must read) but wait till the next one is published before reading.
Now Mrs Hoover and Fisher, I do hope you write very, very fast, like a million words an hour, to let us have our answers!
2)Either it was poorly written or rather completely lost me for whatever reason. Like The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johanson (click on the picture to read the full review).
Excerpt of the review:
Just know that I gave 5 stars to the other books of this trilogy, so:
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ERIKA JOHANSEN??????
If you follow me usually you must know by now that I always try to be constructive in my reviews. Even when I did not like a book. Fortunately it does not happen often. Either I’m pretty easy to please either I choose my reads wisely, take your pick.
But right now, I’m so fuming mad it will be really difficult to tame my anger and try to write something that could be useful for the readers and the author. Even if it’s highly unlikely she would read my review.
Why do I write this review then? Because I loved the first two books so much that I just feel betrayed by the author and need to vent my frustration.
3)Either it’s because I had a very unpopular opinion and didn’t want to hurt the fans nor the writer but still wanted to be honest! Like Credence by Penelope Douglas.
4)Either it was simply because the book destroyed me and I had no words! Like A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole.
Infinite stars…
I’ve never cried so much over a book.
I have no words…
Tillie, right now I hate you and I love you just as fiercely.
5)Either it was because I was so excited, like a kid on a sugar high, that I just wrote some words vomit! Like Lifel1k3 by Jay Kristoff.
6)Either it’s because the author’s writing is so beautiful, so outstanding that I can’t help but feel so undeserving of writing a review conveying the beauty of their work! It’s usually happening for Amy Harmon’s books like The Law of Moses and From Sand and Ash, or Suanne Laqueur with A Charm of Finches or my very first MM romance by TJ Klune: Wolfsong!
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
Its always so interesting to see what makes a book more difficult or easy for a book reviewer to write. The books that are either the worst books or the best books are the most difficult. The books in between those levels are the easiest haha I either want to rave and gush about a book or I want to complain about one and I try to contain that energy when it comes to the extreme ends of the rating spectrum.
Loved reading your thoughts on this one though. I do think that Wolfsong was a very difficult book to review for.
And yes sometimes we want to gush and can’t stop LOL
Zodiac Academy is a series I keep hearing so much about! Everyone seems to love it!
It’s fun to read!
I never reviewed the Never Never trilogy, either. I think it’s the only CoHo book that fell a bit flat for me. I remember finishing the third books and thinking, :That was it?”
I relate to so many of your responses! I usually have a hard time writing about a book that I didn’t like because sometimes it makes me feel guilty about upsetting others or the author, too. Ahh! The struggles!! 😉
I agree, some books are almost impossible to review for the reasons you gave, and also because you may know the author and not want to hurt them but still remain honest- tough to do.
I love that you featured a few different reasons why these books were hard to review. Also, yay WOLFSONG (I’m obsessed now haha)
Lifelike! I do miss Lemon Fresh.
Me too! So much!
It’s so disappointing when a sequel lets you down!
Exactly!!
I’ve not read any of these but I really want to read the TJ Klune book.
TJ writes amazing books!
Another list I have read zero books from. I need to fix that. I have Moses, but never seem to get to it. Maybe soon.
A Charm of Finches, yes!
Right??