Hello, bookworms!

As promised, today I am here to talk about the 21 worst books I've read in 2021. In case you have missed it, you can click here to read a happier article about the 21 best books I've read last year. Anyways, as for the last post, I'll be talking about the books in read date order, except for the top three worst books, which will be numbered. Without further ado, let's get started, as these tend to be extremely long and I can't shut up.

💔 Men, Murder & Makeup by Shane K. Morton [1★]
Okay, so. This was admittedly a fun read, but it was fun in a "So bad I have to laugh" way. I have no idea where I heard about this book from, but I picked it up because it is part of a series titled Drag Queen Detective; if you know me, you know I love mystery and you might also know I love the drag world in all of its forms, so I had to read this one. Unfortunately, I ended up hating it. The mystery was predictable and the writing style was not for me at all, I think it needed a lot of editing (there was literally a "you're" spelled as "your"). The idea was there, but the execution… well, not as much. I definitely won't be reading the other two books in the series, but if you want to laugh you can try this one.

💔 The Cousins by Karen M. McManus [1★]
Usually, I give Karen M. McManus' books 2/2.5 stars, because they are objectively bad, but still entertaining and quick to read. This book, however, was just terrible. I think that is the most unbelievable out of all the books this author has published (which are hardly ever believable) and I hated every single character in it. It felt like a more dramatic version of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, which is already so dramatic I didn't think it possible to beat that. The plot was boring and I wasn't invested, but at least it was a standalone and I really hope Karen M. McManus and Delacorte Press won't decide to add on and make it a companion series or something, because I can totally see it happening…

💔 The Boyband Murder Mystery by Ava Eldred [1★]
Yes, mystery is my favourite genre. Yes, this list is made of three mystery books so far. I promise I have read good mysteries as well, just check out my previous article, if you need proof. Anyways, I was so disappointed by this book, which I had an e-ARC of. The mystery was once again predictable, but the worst thing about the book was the main character. She was one of the most annoying protagonists I have ever had the displeasure of following. I also found a lot of things about the LGBT+ rep very problematic and I hope they fixed it in the finished copy, because otherwise… Yikes. Won't be reading anything else by this author and I would definitely not recommend this book, unless you are prepared to hate the MC.

💔 Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers [2★]
Another huge disappointment. At the end of 2020, I had made a list of the 21 books I really wanted to read in 2021, and this was one of them. I was so excited, because the premise sounded everything I had ever wanted from an adult contemporary. Plus, the cover was so gorgeous. Sadly, the content of the book did not match the beautiful illustration, because it was extremely boring and some things were handled poorly, in my opinion. Also, the book was pitched wrong, if you ask me, because what the marketing promised, it did not give. I, once again, hated the main character and I really didn't care for the other characters. I may give this author another chance, if and when they announce another book.

💔 Everstinna by Rosa Liksom [1★]
I wasn't sure whether to include this book in the list or not, because I wouldn't have read it, if it weren't for a university exam. I had to read it to redesign its cover, but I would never have picked it up otherwise. However, I wasn't expecting it to be this bad, so here I am. Other than being extremely boring and written in a super dry style which wasn't for me, I disliked the way domestic abuse was depicted. I don't know how to explain it, but I think it came out as justified, since the book was set through the 1900s. I also did not care for the story at all and I wish I had an ebook for it, but the publisher only has physical copies, so I have to see it on my shelves all the times. I really should unhaul it, but I paid for it.

💔 A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas [1★]
I hate Sarah J. Maas and yet I feel this strange urge to keep reading her ACOTAR books. I don't know if it's masochism, curiosity or what, but I really need to know what she comes up with next for her characters. I listened to this one on audio and it was the first time ever I've read a SJM book on audio and it was interesting to say the least. I hate how she writes smut and listening to it made me laugh out loud several times. I also of course hated everything else, but no one is surprised. Will I still read the next book when it comes out? Yes, of course, and if I manage to find it, I will listen to it on audio as well, because it really is an experience. I honestly can't wait, even if I actually don't care.

💔 If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich [1★]
Something I have discovered this year, is that books centering bands or singers are really hit or miss for me. In previous years, I have read and loved some of them, but this year I hated two of them (the ones in this list) and felt meh about another (the manga Given), so maybe I have to pick better. This one in particular was weirdly constructed, I found the plot to be off balance and the writing style did not work at all for me, especially the dialogue. The characters were annoying, Zach more than everyone else, and they were extremely stereotypical, even if they were written to reverse stereotypes. And finally, the ending was just a big fat nope for me and, while I think some people will love it, this book wasn't for me.

💔 All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell [1★]
I had this book on my TBR for the longest time and finally decided to give it a chance, but I ended up hating almost every single short story in this one. I think I enjoyed only one, but by now I have forgotten which one it was, so that's saying a lot. The most annoying thing about this book, is the lack of rep. I know it doesn't make sens, seeing as it is an anthology about queer stories in history, but I believe most of the stories had the same kind of rep and a lot of people were left out of it. I will be reading the other two books, because they are still something I am interested in and the contributors changed, and maybe I will have some more luck with Out Now and Out There. Out There I am especially excited about, since it's set in the future and you could literally do anything with it, so we shall see.

💔 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides [1★]
I bought this book years ago because it was part of a 2 for 1 deal without actually reading the plot. I was intrigued by the title and I knew there was a movie by Sofia Coppola based on this book, so I just picked it up. I then proceeded not to read it until September of this year, when I decided I needed to read at least one book from my Italian bookshelf (aka the book I own translated in Italian, since I am from Italy, if you didn't know). I wish I had unhauled it without ever bothering to read it, because it was atrocious. All I want to say is that it is a book about a bunch of girls clearly written by a man and I hated every single sentence of it. I hate when you can tell the gender of the author, especially if you can tell because how badly the write the opposite gender, so yeah. I wish I didn't read this one.

💔 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson [1★]
A gothic classic, I know, I know. While I can appreciate what this book did when it came out, I did not like my reading experience at all. I had loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle by this author a couple years ago, so I had high hopes for this title as well. Sadly, I was bored from beginning to end, and I did not like the characters at all. I wasn't creeped out or scared, not even thrilled or spooked. While the other book by this author I've read was weird and unsettling, this one completely fell flat for me. I will read The Lottery by her sometime this year — since I own a physical copy of it, and I'm trying to get better at reading the books I buy — and I will then decide if her writing is for me or not.

💔 Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz [1★]
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was one of the first queer books I have ever read and it meant a lot to me at the time. Upon rereading it, I can admit it has some problems, but it still is very special to me. This sequel, however, was completely unnecessary and I will keep on pretending the first book is a standalone and this one doesn't exist. It was a total mess, it did not add anything relevant and some of the themes introduced would have been better suited for a new book with different characters. It is clear to me that this book was written for the money and not for anything else, so I am very mad. I won't even buy myself a physical copy, which is saying something, if you know me.

💔 The Ivies by Alexa Donne [1★]
Here we go with another disappointing mystery. It sounded so good from the synopsis, but the execution was so bad. The writing style was uninspired and you could tell that the author usually works as an editor, in my opinion. The mystery was pretty predictable, but my two main issues were the characters and the motive of the murderer. The characters were basic and stereotypical, while the motive of the murderer was offensive, outlandish and stupid. I had come up with a better one myself and it is something that really bothers me when reading mysteries. I can move past a basic resolution, but if there's an obvious way to make it better, it really pisses me off. Not going to read anything more by this author.

💔 The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling [1★]
Another huge disappointment, yay. I have really enjoyed the These Witches duology by this author and I was really excited to read a new story by her. I don't usually like vampires, because most of the times they are straight and I don't think vampires and heterosexuality should coexist, but being this a queer vampire story, I thought I would enjoy it. Sadly, it was not the case. As you can maybe tell from all these books I did not like, if I don't care about your characters, it is really hard for me to care about the story. This plot wasn't engaging to begin with, but had the characters been better constructed, I would have maybe given this book a higher rating. Also, on a side note: can we talk about how ugly the covers are?

💔 Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan [1★]
Do I have to say it? I was really disappointed by this book, because it sounded so interesting. I admittedly wouldn't have read it if it weren't for the alphabetical challenge, but I was really intrigued by the plot anyways. The intertwining of immigration problems and queer issues sounded so good in theory, but in practice the author has a writing style which is way to basic for my taste; I felt like this book was written by a 10 years-old and no one thought about editing it to make it read more grown up. All the themes were barely grazed upon and I am really sad, because they were important, but written in this way they lost all their power, in my opinion. I had another book by this author on my TBR, but it was a previous work, so probably worst than this one, and I removed it.

💔 Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez [1★]
I am so sad I did not like this book. Sports fiction is one of my fav subgenres of contemporary and I devour every form of media involving sports, whether real or fictional. Unfortunately, this book just was not for me: the writing style was not my thing, I found the story to be lacking and there was nothing really keeping me interested. The main character was a walking stereotype, the plot was basic and I felt like the author just decided to throw some important themes in there without caring to actually explore any of them in depth. The romance did nothing for me: the two had zero chemistry and I didn't care if they stayed together or split up. The actual sports bits were interesting, but not enough for me.

💔 Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton [1★]
Ooof. This book was just not for me, and I am very sad about it. Granted, it wasn't a five star prediction and I did not think it would become a new all times favourite, but I hoped to have a good time reading it. The main problem I had was the main character, who didn't have any personality at all. The plot was not engaging at all and it was obvious from the start how it was going to end. The "romantic" subplot was useless and badly written, the main plot was boring and all over the place. Overall, this was one of that reads that leave you staring into the void once you end it, not because you are shocked or drained, but because you are asking yourself: "Why did I waste my time with this?"

💔 A Cornish Christmas Murder by Fiona Leitch [1★]
Well. I hated this book with a burning passion. There's literally nothing positive I can say about this book, except that it finishes. If I were a reader who DNF'd book, I would totally have DNF'd this one, because from very early on I could tell that this wasn't something I would enjoy, but I wanted to be able to give an honest review, so here we are. First of all, the writing style is atrocious to say the least. The characters were fastidious and I wanted to strangle the protagonist. I also hated the plot, the "themes", the plot twists which were extremely predictable, the ending and everything in between. I will definitely won't be reading anymore books by this author, because I would actually prefer to stab myself with a sword than have to endure Jodie for one more page.

💔 Daughter of the Moon Goddes by Sue Lynn Tan [1★]
I am so sad to include this book on the list, but unfortunately this wasn't for me. At all. I found it boring and one dimensional; it actually weirdly reminded me of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas but on the YA spectrum. Maybe it was the writing style, which was very much telling and not at all showing, which is the same problem I have with SJM, or maybe it was the romance subplot, I don't really know. I won't be continuing with the series, which is supposed to be a duology, because I don't care for the characters or anything that could possibly happen. I am just glad to have read it last year, because at least it counts as a 2021 disappointment and I won't be reading it this year.

Now, onto the juciest part of the article, aka the worst three books of the year. Buckle your seat belts, some of y'all are going to hate me for these three.

3. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss [1★]
I wasn't sure if this book should be on the podium, as I hated the first one and I did not expect to love the sequel. However, this book was so damn mysoginistic, that it felt wrong not to put it here. It's even worse than The Name of the Wind, which was also on my 20 worst book of 2020 list. I just hate how Rothfuss writes female characters, they are so clearly written by a man (RE: The Virgin Suicides) and it bothers me unendingly. Also, there were some pretty cringe scenes involving Kvothe having sex and being horny, which I wish to forget, but are sadly burned on my retinas. I don't know if the author is going to ever publish the third and final book in the series, but I have decided not to read it anyways.

2. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir [1★]
This was a recent read and I totally didn't see it coming and taking the silver medal. I had really enjoyed Gideon the Ninth, even if it wasn't a 5 stars, and being Harrow (my favourite) the main character in this one, I thought I would love it even more. And yet, here we are. This was a completely useless book, weird for the sake of weirdness, without anything to say and with the most predictable plot twists. Half of the book was just a repetition of the first one, the other half was not interesting at all. The old characters lost all their appeal and the new ones I did not care for. I read the plot of Nona the Ninth and I am confused, so I don't really know if I am gonna read the last two books in the series.

1. Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat [1★]
Well, everyone was expecting this one. I have been complaining about this book for the last six months, more or less, so it was a pretty predictable to see it here, taking the cake. This is probably the biggest disappointment of the year, I will never recover from how bad this book was for me. I was willing to bet it would be one of my favourite of 2021, after having loved both Captive Prince and Fence by C.S. Pacat. I think the problem with this book was that it was written as something that should have been published years ago, with the only addition that it is more diverse. I didn't love the story and was so sad that the characters did nothing for me.

And that's it for this very long rant. See you soon with an article about my 2021 reading stats. I know no one cares, but I love stats and I wanted to share them with you!

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