Books I Didn't Love

Lately I've been watching tons of videos on BookTube (just a bunch of readers on YouTube). I noticed a tag called the Book Sacrifice and I loved the premise behind it, but I wanted to do my own twist. I will say I read different things than the BookTubers and ever since I started college my reading habits have been less than admirable. However, I've been working on it.

1. Overhyped Book/Series: Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Alright, so Twilight isn't exactly current, but it was a series that I read and liked up until the release of Breaking Dawn. Then I had that moment that rarely occurs where I closed the book in the middle of a chapter, said "no more," and never touched the series again. I read almost the entire series between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, but I could never bring myself to finish Breaking Dawn. I went to see all of the movies even though I was frustrated by Breaking Dawn. Looking back, the entire premise of the series is just creepy and I think the love Bella felt for Edward was superficial.
2. The Worst Classic: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. At my high school, there was a tradition that sophomores would be assigned to read this novel and then have a gigantic test over the book as the final exam for the end of the year. I can safely say that maybe ten percent of my grade read the book, myself included. I didn't like Crane's writing style at all. However, it has been five years so there is a chance that if I reread it that I might have different feelings... but don't hold your breath. I don't plan on rereading it.
3. Biggest Waste of Time: The Odd Sea by Frederick Reiken. I will warn you that this rant spoils the end of the book. In this book, a boy named Ethan disappears. His family is distraught when they can't figure out what happened to him. We see the world through his brother Philip's perspective and experience Philip's longing to find out what happened to Ethan. However, that answer never comes. I am the kind of person who wants a real ending to a book where something mysterious happens. I know, the point is that Philip's family is coping with the tragedy of losing a son and brother, but I thought some kind of great revelation would happen at the end and it never did. I also didn't really like any of the characters, so there's that.
4. Most Disappointing Book in a Great Series: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I am a big fan of The Hunger Games, but Mockingjay was just frustrating. That's all I'm going to say. It was still well-written, but there were so many unnecessary deaths in the book that I just finished shaking my head and wishing the book was a troll and that the real Mockingjay would be released at another time. Clearly that never happened.

That is all I have for now. If I remember to, I'll probably make a list at the end of the year of the most disappointing books. I've heard great things about the ones I have yet to read, so I don't really expect to have more than a handful, but I've already got one book that will probably end up on the list.

I swear I'll write about something other than books soon ;)