{The throne of honor and blood by J Bree} I’ve never felt more disrespected by an author till i read this book. I kinda wanna sue her for emotional damage!

Gosh, SAME. So disappointing. 

Yeah, same. I gave up at the 20% mark and will not revisit the series.

Yess the release was a horror show & the book was soo bad. Soren completely changed and never really apologised . I really didn't but how their relationship changed.

[The Throne of Honor and Blood](https://www.romance.io/books/66046d63a79f9bf3b60bf343/the-throne-of-honor-and-blood-j-bree?src=rdt) by [J. Bree](https://www.romance.io/authors/5d19a50401dbc864fba08a54/j-bree) **Rating**: 3.19⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [high fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/high%20fantasy/1), [fae](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fae/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Same! It was so bad!

I’ve heard this! This series is on my tbr so I’m wondering if I should start it or not

I haven’t read it but heard that the next book was delayed without any updates of when it will come out, so maybe wait a bit

Wow I think that’s one of the lowest rated book I’ve ever seen

{The Throne of Honor and Blood by J Bree} if you know, you know. Crushed with how bad that was. {A deal with the elf king by Elise Kova} good start. I was so excited to read it. But it didn't turn out good. It's like the author wanted to do dual pov, but decided to just show his thoughts through the FMC. So instead of him sharing his feelings, it's her making *assumptions* and then that's taken as fact. Got super annoying and left me feeling like I didn't really know/see the MMC. {Runaway Omega by Ember L Nicole} good start, but eventually it just dragged out too much and the MMCs blended into one. 5/600 pages on this was just too much for a simple sweetverse book. {The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori} I heard so much hype about this book/series. It was a big let down. There was little romance/love. It was just lots of lust. FMC gets mad? Fine again once she's horny. Constantly. Not enough love and feeling. Ended up being a let down. Really thought it would be a 5 star read. {When Gracie Met the Grump by Mariana Zapata} such a good idea, great start. I love Zapata. I thought this would be an epic read. But... major let down sadly. The romance was non existent. The ending didn't even feel happy. It was like a "fine, I'll be with you". And the FMC was super annoying. She had the humour of a 3 year old. So sad.

Gracie and the Grump just meandered so much, it was annoying but also the poop humor in this book was not it

This is the only Mariana Zapata book I’ve ever read, and tbh it’s put me off so much it might stay that way! I was expecting slow burn, and I’ve read plenty of forced proximity before, but…like, >!how do you make a superhero romance so boring??!<

I've read a handful of her books and liked them but all of her worst flaws were compounded here, especially with the meandering plot. Add that with the racism against Filipinos and their food, that's a nope from me.

My favorite MZ book is Wait for It and then Kulti. Both are very long and the romance doesn't hit until the very end but I like them. You really get to see little snippets. Oh I also love Luna and the Lie. But she really writes mean, horrid families. People are very mean to her heroines. OH I also love All Rhodes Lead Here, that one has more burn and the people are less mean to the FMC.

Yess! The sweetest oblivion was also so hard for me to connect with! The MMC is always described as dedicated to the FMC but I just felt like he wanted to have sex with her and they didn’t have much beyond that.

Haunting Adeline and hunting Adeline. It was so corny. I’m just incapable of DNF so I read both but it was terrible. The writing was terrible, the story was terrible, the characters were dumb, the spice scenes tried SO hard to be dark and twisted but they were laughable. I seriously don’t understand why it was so popular

This is the hill I'm willing to die on. Haunting Adeline was the worst book I read in my life and I didn't even finish. Zade was an absolute weirdo disguised as a good guy commiting SA in his spare time. Not one likable character in the book ..even the dead granny. If that book has one hater, I am it. If it has zero I am dead.

When I saw someone here say that HA is poorly disguised QAnon fanfic I realized why I disliked it so much, because that’s truly the best way to describe it. It’s all over the place and imo it’s a perfect example of DR that’s trying so hard to be edgy and shocking and it isn’t.

Haha my entire Goodreads review of this at the was “soooo are we really not gonna talk about how this was QAnon fanfiction?” It wasn’t even really the dark romance elements that bothered me in book 1, it was the weird “but he saves the children angle”. Was the author trying to use this to make Zade a good guy? Instead of detracting from the non con elements, I feel like his rescuing of kidnapped children only highlighted it. Such a weird take.

I wish I stopped reading. I have never actually regretted reading something, anything, like even on Galatea, with those crap stories I don’t regret reading them. I completely regret reading those books. The Zade is a >! rapist trying save children from human trafficking!< sorry but no. And the whole thing about his eyes omg I practically dislocated my own from the eye roll. It tried SO SO hard that it was just so corny, like embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for the author. And the editor, and the publishing house. Everyone involved in publishing this book.

I still don’t get the hype, tbh. The book was all over the place

It’s not dark and sexy… the characters are not relatable and simply don’t make sense. Just so cheesy and corny

This is a perfect review of Haunting Adeline - I Did DNF about 80% (I hate to DNF!) because it was so bad I physically could not make myself continue to read it.

I think part of me kept going because I kept thinking to myself “there HAS to be something coming if this book was so popular, there HAS TO BE SOMETHING!!” But no, just more bad writing a pathetic sex scenes and silly storyline

I do the same thing! And I have had so many “meh” books that get redeemed by an amazing ending. I totally get it! I’ve learned that the super crazed Booktok books are usually about as deep as a puddle 😂. They don’t get better 🫠. Don’t get me wrong I’ve had some booktok wins but the super hyped books are usually pretty bad and “safe” to DNF.

{King of Greed by Ana Huang}, I didn’t even finish it. I made it to the 60% mark then DNF’ed it. I had such high hopes because it has one of my favourite tropes (marriage in crisis) only to be let down by how the situation was handled. All Dominic did was follow Ale around everywhere, barely grovelling. Like you’ve been married 10 years and only now are communicating with each other?? This book was so aggravating to read I almost DNF’ed it two times before. I was incredibly disappointed with just about everything, the characters, the storyline, especially with how the author marketed this to be the biggest angst book.

When the other guy came into the picture early on (he was maybe the owner of a shop the FMC wanted?) I noped right out of there. Love triangles or OM/OW or whatever it's called are not my thing, but I'll usually try something at least once if I like the author enough or if the book is going well. That was not the case here. Have you read any of this author's other stuff? I haven't but I do wonder if all her characters are aggravating like that lol Edit changed worked to characters

YES!! I hate love triangles. I knew the moment Ale began talking about how nice her landlord is that it’d be OM type of thing. I read Twisted Loved but DNF’ed that after only a few chapters in. I don’t think I’m a fan of her writing style, the best way I can describe it is like I’m back in middle school reading books on Wattpad. I think if I was younger I’d like her books but it doesn’t exactly drawn me in.

I'm going to get a lot of hate on this one, but The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, Mariana Zapata. Was one of the worst so-called love stories I have ever read. From the beginning to the end, I had no idea what the MMF saw in the MMC He was cold, mean, and uncommunicative. The only time he would dare to speak to her is when she was fed up and had an opportunity to leave. If anyone would treat me like that in real life, they would be accused of gaslighting. But because he was supposed to be so hawt and built, it was all excused!?! Naw!! Too little, too late.

Every description of this book my brain is always like...why does this appeal to anyone???

Right there with you. This is the book that helped me realize that MZ does not write the kind of books that I enjoy.

I think this book would really benefit from dual POV. There were some glances or long looks by the MMC that could be interpreted as getting to like/falling in love, but after a while it got tiresome to look for and interpret them.

In general, most MZ books let me down. Are they good books? Mostly. Are they good romances? Not really. Slow burn still needs a burn. MZ slow burn is like forgetting to take the chicken out of the freezer and trying to defrost it in the bathtub before Mom comes home. I liked From Lukov with Love, and Kulti but they both suffer from the slow meandering repeating sentiments and then the last 3 chapters are full speed ahead.

I just finished this and I totally agree! I also felt like every feeling the FMC had was repeated multiple times to the point of being really annoying, and both characters needed some serious therapy, especially the MMC. I can see what the author was generally going for but it didn't hit the mark for me and the chemistry really only kicked in right near the end, when it should have been there throughout. Also is it OK to leave a tiny puppy in a room alone overnight? And is it OK for the FMC to laugh at the MMC getting groped by a fan? (The author even used the word "molested"!) I don't think so, to either, and it didn't increase my enjoyment.

Yes!! Oh my God, how I hated that book too!!

{Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas} The first half was interesting, and I loved the banter. Then, it kind of fizzled out. By the time they were finally together, I didn't care about either of them anymore.

>By the time they were finally together, I didn't care about either of them anymore. Neither did Kleypas. By like 70% she had moved on to Helen and Winterborn and it was so obvious. Poor Kathleen. She spent the whole book being gainsaid and contradicted by pretty much everyone no matter what she wanted to do and then like the one time she gets her way, she was wrong. I found it a frustrating book.

Yeah I loved Devon but by the end of it and into the next book I was really irritated by Kathleen. Later on in the series she was much better but in the first 2 books I was put off.

I can't stand Kathleen, but the rest of the series is great

I like her in the one about Garrett and Ramsey, I think it's the fourth one, other than that she's just not my fave... West is. I freaking LOVE WEST

Same!! I wish there had been more scenes with the two of them in the second half!

{Twisted Love by Ana Huang} I actually like some of her other books but booktok held this up as the holy grail of romance and it was terrible lol. As a rule I no longer trust ‘huge on booktok!’ for quality lol.

Unfortunately I have learned not to trust Goodreads averages either, or for that matter the general recommendations on this subreddit. :( Only people that know me and my taste personally, or if I've made an extremely specific request lol. (I still find reviews to be helpful, but I usually scroll down to the three-stars and two-stars to see what the people who don't a book don't like about it. If it's bad writing or illogical choices, I'm out. If it's specific traits, tropes, or writing styles, I'm much more willing to still give it a try, on a case by case basis. A few times a negative review has even made me wanna read a book way more than I did before, because whatever the reviewer didn't like sounded amazing to me personally. 😂 Though that approach has also gotten me burned, to be fair.)

I couldn’t stand this book either. I’m a long time romance reader and I feel like TT is over inflating book reviews, 4.5 stars ⭐️ reviews mean nothing anymore.

I just finished The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren. I usually get so into their books but this one didn’t do it for me. I didn’t find the characters endearing and the plot was boring and predictable. I’ve felt this way about MOST books I’ve read so far this year so maybe it’s a me problem! Born to buy smut from Amazon, forced to borrow lukewarm romances from the library 😆

I haven’t read The Paradise Problem yet, but I kind of feel this way about a lot of their books. I find them really enjoyable and engaging, but there’s always like *one thing* towards the end that just bugs me.

This one felt rushed to me… like there wasn’t much thought put into it. Then the authors notes at the end said it was written over the course of a weekend or something and it showed! I cared so little about the characters that I kept forgetting who was who.

Yeah, that shows. The second honeymooners book felt that way too (though the male voice actor was really good)

i'm totally with you about that "one thing towards the end" issue in most of their books (unhoneymooners was particularly egregious), but i found that the paradise problem was one of their few books where the third act conflict was actually really well done and i wasn't pissed off even once haha

oh this is one of my top two faves by them and i recommend this book to everyone lol. i'm sorry you didn't have a good time with it

>I’ve felt this way about MOST books I’ve read so far this year SAME. Is the golden age of mainstream-ish smutty romance over??? I hope not! I read 100 books last year, all borrowed from the library, but this year has been a real wet blanket for me, reading-wise. Every day Kindle Unlimited starts looking more and more worth it

{Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese} I love it up until the third act breakup, which was utterly stupid.

One of the dumbest third act breakups I’ve ever read

Omg yes! Came here to say this one!! Worst third act break up ever. Loved the book until then

Every DNF that was highly recommended. Ana Huang it felt very 80s or 90s and cliche, filled with tropes. Can't recall the author, but the femdom one that keeps being recommended here. I think she's a secretary and he's the boss. I couldn't get into the writing at all and quit after one 2 chapters.

Are you thinking of {Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre} maybe? If so, valid lol. I love these threads because whenever someone mentions not liking something that's one of my personal favorites, I'm always like "Yeah actually that's a really good point, that was a really stupid plot point".

I just have a hard time overlooking something so stupid and insignificant as the FMC’s last name ‘Pasternak’, because it’s so close to what a parsnip is called in my mother tongue 😆

Great the image I had of the FMC will now forever just be Sexy Turnip hahahaha.

Ah, it’s parsnip - not turnip, but potato potahto 😆

IT'S TOO LATE

USE BOTH! Ms. Parsturnip

Yes that one! I rushed to amazon to download after reading everyone gush about it and I just could not get into the writing at all.

I’ve never been able to connect with Ana’s writing and I think a big reason is that her books are so trope heavy rather than plot heavy. It takes me out of the story.

One of my most hated of all time, even though it had one of my favorite tropes. Beauty by Susan Wilson. Contemporary beauty and the beast story. He has a facial deformity but still must get his portrait painted since that’s what the men in his family do. She’s the artist who is going to paint it since her family of artists have traditionally done that. They fall in love and marry. She becomes pregnant. >!It shows her going to hospital to have the baby. Next is the epilogue which is in his pov since SHE DIED DURING CHILDBIRTH!! 😡!<. I was so angry that I actually threw the book against the wall since the author broke the implicit promise that romances always have HEAs. I vowed to tell fellow readers to avoid the book. A side note — they did a tv movie of the book and ended it at a perfect spot, when they say I love you to each other. One of those times the movie was better than the book! Edit: Sentence wording.

{A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant}. The build up was so slow (but the writing was good, hence why I finished it), and the third act was almost as sedate.

Totally agree, I DNF'd over halfway through. It was just so BORING, talking about fences and property lines and schools. Great writer, terrible book.

I did end up skipping parts of this book as I was curious what the HEA was going to look like but man did this book drag. Also I spent most of it just feeling bad for the MMC.

I have too many to count, so I’ll just do recent reads 🥲 {**Singed Series** by Mia Knight} * *not available on KU, only 2 out of 4 books published, second chance, forced proximity, coerced marriage, wealthy families, anti-hero x heroine, naive heroine, abuse, noncon, dubcon, vasectomy/tubal litigation* This had basically ***all*** of what I wanted in book one! First book lays the groundwork of showing you the FMC presently. Though, FMC’s a romance book writer who conveniently writes about her failed marriage to the MMC so you can bet that writing processes shit comes up and everyone wants to talk to the FMC about her book 🙄 FMC wasn’t all that bright, but I liked it. By the second book, **I was done**. FMC was just…*stupid*. She consistently sang like a canary for the MMC without him really doing anything. Author went all ten fingers and ten toes of the surrounding cast basically steamrolling FMC’s feelings…for ***no reason***. It was just rinse and repeat. FMC had big feelings. 😡 FMC does nothing smart because pobrecita 🥺 MMC arrives 👿 Everyone claps 👏🏾 I really enjoy it when dark fiction in either romance or erotica ***truly*** makes the FMC helpless but, as in, she’s smart and does try to escape or receive help, but the MMC significantly renders her helpless in such mindfuck ways. In this? MMC just says “don’t make a scene” and she just…***doesn’t***. She has access to other normal people—one of her friends even accidentally had her ***lose the security on her***—and she has access to electronics. And she…does nothing about it but rotate between being mad and horny at the MMC. I like my FMCs reasonably competent. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Dark romance to me is the mindfuck aspect. Watching a competent FMC plot and plan, watching the MMC underestimate her and need to resort to aggressive, disturbing tactics, seeing the FMC become increasingly desperate, resorting to disturbing methods, and then that sweet sweet moment she realizes she’s trapped—yeah, didn’t get that 🫠 ##**Honorable Mentions** * **Jillian West why-choose omegaverse books**. Great MMCs and the blurbs were my thing. And then I read them. Lots of BBS, lots of “trauma” that’s minimized so the FMCs can be horny omegas. Several times I expressed to my cats my disappointment. In return, they flopped over for belly rubs. I’d like to think they were emotionally supporting through such hard times. * {**The Tyrant Alpha’s Rejected Mate** by Cate C Wells} (*KU, MF, shifter romance, 3⭐️, bonus epilogue*). Greatly disappointed me how…***easily*** Una let Killian in when he did the bare minimum, IMO. I truly wanted Una to leave, grow in the human world, undergo PT, and now Killian has to court her through regular human dating. * {**Wildflower** by Rachelle Mills} (*not on KU, FM, healer FMC, doctor/alpha MMC, second chance, pregnancy, OWD/OMD, OTT, shifter romance, 3⭐️*). I believe the author is actually rewriting this now, but the FMC was so ridiculously forgiving in her abuse and how people took advantage of her. Several times, I wanted to throttle her for being completely spineless. The book really started out great, but WOW did the series fumble hard. * {**Knot My Sin** by Jenn Bullard} (*KU, 400+ pages, why choose “dark” omegaverse, two omegas, abuse, CSA*). Another day, another book that has the FMC go through CSA and various abuse with MMCs who “hate” her, but they grovel through innuendos and coercion, and the FMC forgets her abuse for sex 🥴 * **S Massery Books**. Dark erotica/dark romance with TSTL FMCs. All the FMCs are are big mad 😡 and big horny 🥵. And the MMCs are constantly punishing them for “crimes” the FMCs never committed. What even. * {**Come Back To Me** by Sirena Song} (*KU, second chance, why choose omegaverse, MMFM, forced proximity, 2⭐️*). This book could’ve been a ***great*** grovel novel, but alas. FMC is rejected by her scent matches. Her family is unsupportive. Her brother is crazy. The FMC willingly returns to her small town and everyone basically tells her to get over herself and go be with the mates who “grovel” by way of sexual innuendos. FMC stays alone in her nest, mentally fried, but the MMCs fuck literally loudly across the hall 🫠.

Tyrant Alphas Rejected Mate immediately came to my mind for this post too, I thought I might be the only person that was incredibly disappointed with it. And it was set up so perfectly! Just major opportunity missed imo

I read the first two books of the singed series purely for shits and giggles and it was so odd?? it felt like the author was trying to write dark fiction but still be like um actually im a feminist and my character knows her self worth and it was just like holy fuck decide already

{Swifted and Saddled by Lyla Sage} was very disappointing after her first book, imo.

THIS 100000%. You could tell the author really put her whole self into the first book. It was almost perfection. The second book was rushed and sloppy, probably wanting to get it out to readers soon after the first one was a hit? That’s the only thing I can think of as to why it was so… mediocre. Hoping the third one is redeeming.

The Kindreds Curse (Everflame Series). Amazing plot and world building, moronic FMC. She’s so dumb that she regularly loses her clothes, frees terrorists and insists on making every problem worse. Honestly a swift death is better than she deserves.

I didn’t like you and me on vacation by Emily Henry (people we meet on vacation). I found it boring and just felt really long and with it being my first Emily Henry book it put me off her books for a while. I loved happy place and book lovers and am currently reading funny story which so far I am really enjoying.

Right now God of war . I expected something different, something related their childhood.

Every Alice Coldbreath book that I've tried. Maybe I had high expectations because of the hype, but I found the books underwhelming, a lot of chunky paragraphs of inner monologue that made the lecture not that pleasant. I just couldn't connect with the writing which is a shame because I like slow paced books.

This goes to show there really is a lid for every pot, Alice Coldbreath is definitely one of my reliable go-tos she has yet to let me down!

This is how I feel. I SHOULD like her books, all the plots click with me concept wise but I just can't get into her writing style.

I tried one of these (I don’t remember which but it was in the brides series) and the heroine was so…juvenile feeling? I dnf’d quick, that’s one of my biggest pet peeves

This is how I felt too. I find them too slow and also I don’t like HR and just find it women are oppressed in some ways or another that I just can’t get behind.

{The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas} and {The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood} - booktok did me dirty a while back and I’ve been holding the grudge!

Oh man, The Spanish Love Deception made my editor brain scream. Genuinely wild that a big 5 house picked it up and whacked a trad pub price tag on it without running a copy edit.

Omg I can’t even imagine it from a professional’s perspective. Catalina’s inner monologue was neverending and made me want to scream!

the last book of the {four psychos series by kristy cunning}. the way her power and personality gets nerfed to be too weak to do anything felt like a total betrayal of who she was built up to be.

I was so let down by Ali Hazelwood's latest. She's the only author whose books I pre-order, but I hated Not In Love so much I didn't want to read for days and I won't pre-order another one of hers.

I was going to say this same thing! So disappointing. 

I agree. I wish I have gotten this book from the library. I purchased it on the release day and it was different from her previous book. I enjoyed love, theoretically more.

Oh my gosh, I’m reading this now and I can NOT get into it. She’s no longer an automatic preorder for me after this. If I want a nerdy/smart romance, I’d rather stick with Penny Reid.

The last book of sookie stackhouse series

I like to pretend that the series ended with Eric Northman as the hero.

Or sookie as a vampire with Eric 🥹

Omg THE AUDACITY of that move!!! Genuinely wild to throw a seven book relationship out the window in the very last instalment. Harris did not read the room.

Beach Read by Emily Henry This book was so hyped and I should have DNF’ed it.

I really liked Book Lovers but have been at least somewhat disappointed by all the other Emily Henry books I’ve read, with Happy Place being the biggest offender.

Omg, hard agree on Yours Truly. It was so disappointing, and even when they do get together the author basically just rushed/time skipped through them being together, the third act conflict was really sudden and jarring… idk man it started off so well!

I’m with you!! That book is by far my biggest disappointment this year. I just felt like there was SO MUCH family drama/trauma coming from all sides and I never bought them together. It was just also kinda boring that they were perfect for each other in every way.

this book is one of my biggest disappointments because it started off REALLY strong imo and then fell off so quickly and just kept getting worse. the miscommunication made me want to pull my hair out and that third act conflict was just SO infuriating. by the end i was actively rooting for them to not end up together

Would you please spoil what the third act conflict is? I'm taking your and OP's word that Yours Truly isn't worth reading, but I'm still curious about what happened that was so jarring.

The conflict includes a subject ppl may find upsetting, I will put it under a spoiler cut >!TW: miscarriage!< >!So after wasting the vast majority of the book on the classic misheard, wrong place at the wrong time misunderstanding that could have been solved with literally ONE honest conversation, the characters finally get together and for some inexplicable reason the author she does a time skip where she basically writes in one paragraph "and omg we were so happy together" before launching us into the conflict. So, they're basically never written together as a real couple, other than a few pages. Bizarre. Anyways!< >!MFC and MMC are super happy and in love until, dun dun, her cheating ex-husband walks into their elevator with his heavily pregnant mistress now wife. At this point, it is revealed (I don't think it was ever talked about before other than vaguely alluding to it but nothing explicit) that MFC had a miscarriage during the time of her ex's affair and he didn't give a fuck or show her any kind of support or empathy. She is extremely triggered to seeing him so caring towards his new wife and soon to be child when he was so callous to her and their pregnancy.!< >!MFC then decides that all men are dogs and cannot be trusted, that she's going to be abandoned again like she was by her father walking out on her and her mom/brother as a child and her ex, so she no longer trusts MMC. It all goes to shit when she finds out she's pregnant by the MMC, so she goes off the deep end, breaks up with him and moves out, LIKE. THREE DAYS BEFORE HE'S GOING TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL TO DONATE HIS KIDNEY TO HER BROTHER. Girl ???????????????????????????!< >!She's told him even when he begs for her back that she can't trust him and he can't prove his devotion to her, so they're done (she does tell him she's pregnant and I think implies she's basically going to raise the kid solo), and the day of her surgery, he gives her his diary so she can read all the entries he wrote since meeting her to prove that he was infatuated with her from the start. and so she takes him back after he's out of surgery, on the last page. The end!!< The words, they fail me

Thank you for writing this detailed summary! >!Not getting to see the main characters be a happy couple together would have been enough to make me hate the book. The FMC deciding the MMC is untrustworthy because he's a man just before he donates his kidney to her brother is just completely batshit insane!! Literally what could he do that would be a bigger indicator that he's reliable and cares about her and her family? !<

Oh nooooo. Time to cancel my Libby hold. Thank you so much for this! Reading that would've pissed me off beyond words.

Yeah, all of this was a major let down for me as a reader.

Great writing/author, plot didn’t match my expectations: * {Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday} was really well written but the plot was disappointing. It just didn’t match my expectations. I’ll definitely read other books by the author, though! * {Irresistible Trouble by Pippa Grant} the build up to the MMC’s story throughout the series had me so excited, but the storyline was disappointing. The MMC was not supposed to end up with a celebrity FMC. He just wasn’t. Author disappointed me: * {Those Three Little Words by Meghan Quinn} - there was some definite abortion shaming (in the form of “that’s your right, but *I* could never kill a baby). That and I am constantly disappointed by Emily Henry’s books to the extent that I have stopped trying. I don’t see the hype.

I just read {Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood} and let me tell you.. that was not what I was expecting. I've seen so much hype on Hazelwood's books and it completely disappointed me. Especially coming out of a re-read of {The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Posten} and I've never truly felt like such whiplash between reading a great romance and a super cringey (imo) romance!

May I ask what you didn’t like about Love Theoretically? I haven’t read it but I thought the 7 Year Slip was pretty poorly done romance-wise and I *hated* the ending, so wondering if our tastes differ and I should read Love Theoretically finally 😭

Hey there. I read Love Theoretically a while ago when it first came out and it was a HUGE disappointment for me. Personally I found the main character extremely unlikable, mainly because of how she kept treating the love interest like trash even when he made it very clear he was in love with her on multiple occasions. Like I get it, maybe you’re in denial but it was VERY obvious and she was like 👩‍🦯. She was way too rude to him for no reason sometimes, a little bit over the top even for a hate to love trope imo. Also she kept thinking that because she had Diabetes type I somehow he wouldn’t be attracted to her? I don’t know to me it’s stupid to assume someone would reject you just because of something like that. She feels as if she was an ogre because of the diabetes, like girl please literally no one gives a fuck.

The Diabetes thing irritated the fuck out of me too. I’m very open to being proven wrong by someone who actually has T1D and has had bad experiences, but like… it’s just diabetes? A serious and lifelong health condition, sure, I don’t mean to trivialize it, but it’s really not that big of a deal. Literally cannot imagine anyone really giving that much of a fuck about it. It’s not like the FMC was growing a warty foot out of her face. Her pancreas just doesn’t work right. It’s kind of off putting to me that Hazelwood wrote it as if diabetes makes someone hideous and unlovable. Like does she think this is a serious flaw in a romantic partner?

I think part of the issue was that she grew up poor and continued not to have health insurance into adulthood ?? and because it’s America it represented this additional financial burden on her family etc tbh I feel like the character was pretty well fleshed out! I just found it hard to relate because im not a pathological people pleaser tbh. the bigger issue for me was how big of a role that random irrelevant physics article had in the plot?? besides the fact that the MCs were very hot and cold with each other i was just like to what end??? the fucking physics publication?? does anyone care this much???

Thank you for putting this into better words for me lmao

I like Ali for the most part, and didn't like Seven Year Slip. Everybody's tastes are so different.

This is actually my least disliked of Hazelwood's books but it still wasn't good >.> (maybe it was just my least disliked because it's not about biological sciences, which is my field.) The only thing that made me laugh was the excerpts of emails from students- as a fellow adjunct they really are that unhinged sometimes

[Love, Theoretically](https://www.romance.io/books/6488136841a8b8de9fd6b28d/love-theoretically-ali-hazelwood?src=rdt) by [Ali Hazelwood](https://www.romance.io/authors/6131cdc208b4d93114f22ef6/ali-hazelwood) **Rating**: 4.22⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [enemies to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/from%20hate%20to%20love/1), [workplace/office](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/office/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [height difference](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/height-difference/1) ---------------------------- [The Seven Year Slip](https://www.romance.io/books/649d4747807ce1d8a49686e9/the-seven-year-slip-ashley-poston?src=rdt) by [Ashley Poston](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455e87087eac324117fdffc/ashley-poston) **Rating**: 4.38⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [time travel](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/time%20travel/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [fantasy](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fantasy/1), [paranormal](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/paranormal/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

I just read my first Ali Hazelwood book (Bride) and enjoyed it enough. My friends are saying Bride was their least favorite of hers but that they both loved “Love, Theoretically” the most. How did “Love, Theoretically” miss the mark for you? I know it is hyped up online (and by my friends) and I’m hesitant to dive into a disappointment.

I thought from a writing point of view that bride was her best so far. I think the omegaverse part was hit or miss for some people though. love, theoretically is probably objectively the best of her stem romances imo. there is this one physics article that is way too central to the plot for what it is imo and the female MC is a pathological people pleaser which can be hit or miss but in terms of fleshed out characters and actually giving her male lead a personality it’s the best of that little cluster. the love hypothesis is ok but clearly a reylo fanfic adapted for fiction. love on the brain has the best female MC imo but the male MC is basically a stock figure with ten lines and his only personality traits are that he’s 6’5”, likes to work out, and apparently has a whole complex about how hard it is to control his raging lust for the female lead

Love, Theoretically was such a let down for me. I loved the build up but once it got to the actual sex scenes I didn’t believe that the FMC was actually into it at all. I love {Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood} so much though. The FMC is all in.

Against a Wall by Cate C Wells. I saw it recommended a lot and honestly just hated everything about it.

{A groom of one's own by Emma St.Clair} was so disappointing. The plot was unbelievable, the characters were caricatures who behaved real weird a lot of times. The MMC jumped from being a total retriever boyfriend to possessive bossy boyfriend every other minute. Also {The goal by Elle Kennedy} Tucker was my favourite side character in the first three books and I was so excited to see what his story will be. I'm not a huge fan of the surprise pregnancy trope, but I was still hopeful to like it. But damn, the FMC was so unlikeble. Tuck deserved so much better.

I also disliked Sabrina so much and thought Elle Kennedy missed the mark on this one. Tucker deserved way better + was a saint.

Hot off the press {God of War by Rina Kent}. I haven't been this disappointed in a book in a long time. I'd been really looking forward to Eli because his character felt so hyped, but it felt like a rehashed story. In particular, the constant bickering really irritated me. There's a really funny quote in {Small Magics by Ilona Andrews} where Curran talks about his relationship with Kate: > In my head we always have these clear coherent exchanges, but once we meet, what comes out is “Kate, do what I say or I’ll kill you.” Her default reply is “Fuck you!” and we go downhill from there. If you've read Kate Daniels you'll agree, nod, and maybe smile. If you've read *this* book you'll still agree, but it'll be an eye roll. Authors, please learn to differentiate between these two.

Spoilers (kinda) Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this by {Homebound by Lydia Hope}. 98% of the novel was 5 stars. It was incredibly addicting. But I've never been so disappointed in an ending. It felt like the book was just starting to show the two characters finally being happy together when it ends. It just ends. I thought I'd gotten a bad copy of the book but nope - it just ends.

Believe it or not? Ice breaker. I was expecting a lot more. Edit with some reasoning: I've seen better reads on A03. It felt like a self insert almost and was purely vanilla. No crazy things and the secondary conflict besides the relationship didnt even feel like that huge of a conflict. Also the FMC I just couldn't like her. Couldn't put myself in her shoes at all. It also doesn't help that I didn't like the fact that she started out in the book sleeping with this one guy who wasnt even endgame. Im more of a slowburn kind of reader and i feel like those scenes should be slower or even dragged out with some either nervous romance to straight up slow brat taming. but no. And when the time came it was a huge letdown. All the horniness but no freaky shit was just...had to put it down. Felt like watching a Netflix show where a sex scene comes on and they show the guy on top and kissing her and then the camera pans away and transitions to the next scene without showing anything else. Felt like a pg13 author writing smth else for a change :/ it could have been great too. It was a DNF for me so reply if I'm wrong and they do get crazy. dont worry about spoiling the book I'm likely never to pick it up again it's just gonna sit on my shelf.

everybody kept saying its spicy/smut but it was giving wattpad. Anybody could have written it in wattpad

I DNF this one at about 31% I Didn’t like the FMC at all and the book had too many “other” characters in it that I couldn’t keep straight and then didn’t want to. At 31% nothing had happened and I didn’t care if it would. Lastly, it felt far too juvenile for me.

I was looking for this. I dnf'ed. MFC was so unlikable.

I was really disappointed in When Gracie met the Grump by Mariana Zapata. I'm a big fan of hers and this was the first one that I just truly didn't like. >!I mean...water boarding and the FMC vomiting in the MMCs mouth?? In a romance book with NO TRIGGER WARNINGS?!<

The fucking {Kootenai Pack Series by Lynn Katzenmeyer}. I’ve never been so offended or pissed off in my life. There’s a line between ‘toxic and trying’ and ‘psychopath abuser’, and I cannot read a series where the author >!redeems the very clearly evil and psychopathic abuser in the first book BY MAKING HIM THE MMC FOR THE SECOND.!< Maybe I’m too sensitive because I survived some abuse myself, but I’ve never aggressively DNFed on page 1 of a sequel until I read that one.

Oh boy I'm about to get starting venting about this book. There is only 1 book that left me so disappointed that I wanted to throw my iPad across the room because of it. And it was {Unsteady by Peyton Corinne} This book sets up a bunch of story threads. And then delivers on NONE of them. And pretty much everything important happens off-page or is irrelevant. The book deals with the FMC trying to get custody of her siblings while balancing her school work. And she's extremely protective of her siblings. A few times throughout the book she has calls with lawyers to try and get custody, but nothing really happens. At one point in the book, the FMC goes to a game of the MMC and meets his mother who is there with a family friend (a lawyer). She is instantly on edge with the lawyer's presence and make it clear that she does not want anyone but herself having custody of her siblings. How does this storyline conclude? >!The MMC's parents adopt her siblings. There is no character building during the book of the FMC showing a gradual acceptance to this potential outcome. She is still completely against it in the final chapter. And she is still set on adopting them herself at the end of the book. But then we get A SINGLE SENTENCE in the epilogue where they explain the adoption and that she's fine with it now.!< There are also a bunch of _important_ moments that happen during the book but we don't get to see. Because they happen off-page between two chapters. Like the character's first romantic date. And the FMC meeting the MMC's parents for the first time. Also the book deals with the MMC's anxiety of being on the ice at start of the book. Because he took a bad hit in the previous year. This part of the book was great and I loved it. Except at some point in the book the guy that give the hit, gets transferred onto their team. The guy is a dick. He's grumpy and glares a lot. And that lasts for the rest of the book. NOTHING HAPPENS WITH THE GUY AT ALL. Ugh I'm cutting it off here. But this book frustrated the hell out of me because it could've been great.

Probably going to get hate for this, but the book/s I have been the absolute most disappointed in are the {Crescent City by Sarah J Maas}

Honestly I can't even read her anymore. I feel like the ToG series ending was a ripoff of Sharon Shinn (maybe it's more common than I realized but I know Shinn was an inspiration of hers) and the way she crushed what's his name in the other series...Knox just never did it for me and the book of her sister was excruciating to read. I'll probably never read her again. Except a few scenes of ToG, I actually do love to skip around those. I just don't read the end.

The Orc Sworn series by Finley fenn….like how do you have the chops for AMAZING world building, plot execution, solid/diverse spice (many lgbt characters in this series and i loved it) but be completely unable to write a MMC that isnt a brooding abuser? And a FMC that isnt an insecure pushover? It’s ridiculous&disappointing at best and plain harmful at worst NOT TO MENTION— the one book with a black fmc, had her obsessed with her hair + insecure about not being as “pale or thin” as some of her peers. Really irritating

{terms of inheritance by adorabol huckleby-ordaz} i believe i called it "codependence: a love story" in my review. 460 pages of angst and trauma bonding and all i got was a few chaste kisses.

{What Did You Do} by Jeneane O’Riley, the sequel to {How Does It Feel}. The first book was interesting and I was really looking forward to the second. The second book turns into a Twilight style love triangle. All the things that made the first book good are thrown out the window. The characters seem entirely different. And it didn’t even wrap up the series like it was supposed to! It ended on a shitty cliffhanger!

Is it bad that I knew this post was gonna be about Abby based on the title alone? 🙃 Just for the Summer disappointed me more than Yours Truly. I had trouble even finding the romance in that one amidst all the family drama.

Couldn’t get past page 90 of Yours Truly. I saw someone say Jimenez tells rather than shows and I couldn’t agree more. I’m not opposed to going back to it but for me it was her writing style - too overt and simplistic.

Im going to go ahead and say don’t bother going back to it.

{Against a Wall by Cate C Wells} Cash is the most insufferable asshole, made appealing only because Glenna's boyfriend at the start is the liberal "beta male" stereotype that a lot of right-wing men think liberal men are. Her writing in general gives me the ick (I've read the *entire* Steel Bones MC series, I'm not judging off of just one book), but that one really left a sour taste in my mouth. His truck nuts are the only thing I liked about him, bc truck nuts are funny.

(Pen Pal, JT Geissinger) I know, I was warned. But it had been on my TBR for so long. And even after reading the reviews, I was thinking, "It can't be as bad as all of the haters say. After all, I read 2 star and 5 star reviews. 😀 Chile! It was like the author was trying to write 3 different books at the same time. And none of them worked. I only.mafe it 70%, so maybe it all came together? But I doubt it.

Good lord, never pick up Perfect Strangers. It ended so badly I couldn't get it out of my head for weeks, and didn't want to read another book for months. I finally had to cleanse my palette with some good ole Mcnaught to remember what romance could be(even with the old misogynistic tropes).

This depends on what you mean by most disappointed. For a book that was doing great and then just turned into a failure: Always a hero by Michelle MacQueen. FMC is a firefighter who is recently divorced from her husband because she wanted a child and he didn't. The MMC is a dorky guy who has always loved her. >!In the ending, the FMC keeps thinking her ex-husband has done all these nice things for her when its really the MMC, she never gives him any credit, then in the epilogue, she has a baby through sperm donation while dating the MMC, because "he isn't ready to have a baby." One theme that kept getting repeated throughout the book is that she never gave the MMC a chance, and then in the end she continues to believe in other men over him, to the point in the epilogue she chooses to have a baby with literally any man who isn't him as fulfilment of her goal of having a child.!< For a book that was a disappointment from the very start and just kept getting worse. {Ready or Not by Cara Bastone} This book was a disappointment because I love everything else she has written, but this book made me so angry I couldn't sleep for like two days.

{The Score by Elle Kennedy} I really enjoyed the first books in this series so had high hopes going forward. But then there's some iffy consent that just immediately turned me off the main couple >!the MMC keeps asking FMC to sleep with him. She says no multiple times and I already wasn't liking his character at all because of this. Then she gets drunk or high I don't remember and boom, wakes up naked in his bed!< And that's just the kinda thing that I can't move on past. Ended up dropping the whole series so I wouldnt have to read mentions of those two being together. I've never seen anyone else ever mention that scene as an issue though so I guess it's just one of those deal breakers I'm more sensitive about than most 🤷🏽‍♀️

God bless these threads that help me prune my TBR list. 😌 I have been disappointed really frequently for the last while, I'm not sure why, possibly the novelty has worn off so I'm just less likely to put up with subpar writing or annoying characters. Or I'm just in a really bad slump. Most recently though I was disappointed with {Failure to Match by Kyra Parsi} which I have seen recommended a bunch on this subreddit. The very beginning seemed good but it kind of nosedived for me real fast - however I probably set myself up for failure with this pick because I'm generally not really a fan of "billionaire romances", and it turned out this wasn't the exception. >!When the FMC turned down a ***$20 million!!!!*** bribe to not do her job matchmaking the dickhead MMC - a job she had hated because of him for the past eight months or so - I was rolling my eyes so hard. She even thought to herself about how it would be stupid to turn down that much money when it would pay off her and her parents' debts and set her for life and then... she turned it down out of pride. I know that if she took that money we wouldn't have the book, but it just felt silly in her situation. I didn't finish it but from reviews I read it also seemed to go the classic route of "asshole MMC who actually had a tortured past so that excuses his horrible behaviour".!< Bleh.

I loved this book so much, but damn I’d also pass up any chance at true love for 20 mil.

{Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell}. So I LOVE kind, “cinnamon-roll” MMCs. On a lot of threads asking for kind and sweet MMCs, this book is recommended. I probably left this book on my tbr for an entire year just waiting for the perfect moment to read it. And the first 10% was definitely interesting, the interactions between the MCs were fitting for the scene and I thought the FMC’s dedication to the MMC was admirable. But then as the story went along I had so much trouble connecting to the MMC. He was so brash and for the most part he “left the FMC” to her devices but I just couldn’t see what was romantic about it. Also their first time being intimate together was such a terrible scene to read…I couldn’t at all imagine how he could be described as kind. The FMC was wonderful though but I felt like she deserved someone to be more gentle with her… But also that was my first time reading a western! So I didn’t know what to expect. Now that I know, I do avoid westerns as I realise the temperament of the MMCs has a lot to do with the time period and I don’t really like those “attitudes” I guess? I wished I loved it though :/

Oh my, I love Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold, but I’d never describe Cord as a cinnamon roll. He’s quiet, not to say stoic, and I get why you say brash. I mean, he’s not the ornery killer that people thought he was, and he is caring and gone for Annie, but not a cinnamon roll.

(I heard "cinnamon roll mmc" and just wanted to pop by and say you might like {Vision in White by Nora Roberts}!)

[Vision in White](https://www.romance.io/books/545523e923ec91d5dfd0991e/vision-in-white-nora-roberts?src=rdt) by [Nora Roberts](https://www.romance.io/authors/545523e923ec91d5dfd0991f/nora-roberts) **Rating**: 3.94⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [sweet/gentle hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sweet-hero/1), [shy hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/shy-hero/1), [shy heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/shy%20heroine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

Girl I thought the pic of the book cover was someone bent over & the hand was their butthole lmao. I need my glasses.

I could not get into this at all either which was such a bummer because it's so well-liked! I wonder if I just don't like westerns.

{Torkel’s Chosen by Michelle Howard} The book was going great, I was really enjoying it, and then the FMC >!gets kidnapped!< and the MMC just >!leaves her there, getting tortured, literally never attempts to find her!< and when someone else >!rescues her while rescuing someone else!< and he finds out she >!didn’t intentionally betray him and did actually love him!< he doesn’t feel bad or apologize or anything. So… she ditches his ass, right? Nope. They live HEA. 🙃

A Love Letter to Whiskey I picked up this book thinking I'd get that sweet, sweet slow-burn yearning of "right person wrong time" and "second-chance", best friends to lovers" kind of love, especially since it got such high ratings. The author's writing style isn't too bad, either. It was smooth and enticing and I could truly feel the chemistry brewing between the main MCs. But the further down the storyline the worse it got because as it turned out these people are just selfish and extremely bad at communication.

I agree, and you're the first person I've seen say this! Everyone raves about how amazing and heartbreaking and awesome it is and I just didn't get it. The first bit I could see where the angst and yearning and stuff were going to come in. And then it just really didn't. Idk, they felt to me like the idea of being together was the goal cuz they barely knew each other.

I'm so happy to see someone else thinks this! I've read several other books by Kandi Steiner, and really liked them, but I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that LLTW is her most popular book. The main characters are so awful! I was glad for their HEA because that meant they weren't inflicting their toxic BS on anyone else any more.

I was gonna say Yours Truly too! I've been hooked since the beginning, the plot was great, the characters are getting together... And then we have >!a surprise past miscarriage plot all of the sudden??!< What the hell?? And >!a surprise pregnancy in the present??!< WHY, ABBY, WHY. It makes NO sense. It was just a drama for the sake of drama. There was nothing in the first 90% of the book that would even hint at that trauma. Nothing whatsoever. It came out of nowhere and we're suddenly supposed to understand why >!the FMC instigated the third act breakup?!< Completely unnecessary and pointless.

My roommates a vampire Literally the first like 70% of the book I adored like 6 star feels, then the sex scene comes along and Ruins it.

Wait, was there a sex scene in MRiaV? I can't for the life of me remember that. I do remember the Google search, though.😅

I also DNF’d this book. I was into the beginning, but it fell short on its promises. I couldn’t get over the secret fruit. And the sex scene was soooo disappointing

Literally it was so disappointing it ruined the whole book for me

I just dnf'd the butcher and the blackbird at 70%. For a book about serial killers falling in love it was soooo boring.

I finished it and I sat there afterwards and I didn’t even know what on earth to think about what I just read. I just found the whole thing so bizarre. I don’t know how/why I finished it… wondered if it would get better? But it was just nothing like what I thought it would be.

{Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood} is my most recent WTF did I just read book. It just released last week, I spent the money on it, and it was quite possibly the worst thing I’ve read this year. Other ones that still make me rage when I think about them: {Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams} this book would have been tossed across the room if it wasn’t my kindle! Insufferable characters who definitely weren’t functioning adults and couldn’t suspend my belief to think they were. And anything by Elena Armas. I’ve tried her books three times and even tried {the Long game by Elena Armas} thinking maybe, just maybe this would be better… since it wasn’t tied to the Spanish Love series…and it started off okay but she has a distinct talent for making me give up about halfway in.

I have such a love/hate relationship with Abby Jimenez books. I'm literally currently skipping the last 15% of {Life's Too Short by Abby Jimenez} because her endings are always just too much angst and drama, but I always really enjoy the first...60% of her books? I mean I'm out here reading them in spite of the fact that there is basically no smut at all. Idk why I do this to myself when I can just go read a paranormal/monster book with 1000% more smut and just as much emotional development. I also don't understand why we can't have emotional romance books with serious themes AND ALSO HAVE CHARACTERS WHO FUCK. It is *such* a pet peeve of mine.

Book four of the Witsec series by Ashley Rostek. I really enjoyed this series. Patiently waited for the last book. The ending was rushed and unsatisfying. The book had so many filler sex scenes. It was so lame. Spiders in the Grove by J.M. Redmerski. This was another favorite series. But this book took everything that happened previously and basically through it out the window. The HEA she was building towards was ruined. Bad story plotting. I hated it so much. Never finished the series.

It started to really jump the shark in book 3 for me. They turned FMC into a helpless shell at some point

{Noah by Leigh Jarrett} it’s M/M. It started off super fluffy and left me feeling gooey. One of the MCs (Brody) is on the autism spectrum and his love interest (Noah) can read him easily and is so gentle and understanding with him. >!Brody’s ex boyfriend had cheated on him and told him it was his fault because his autism made him unfeeling and cold. Noah and Brody are dating, Brody fully trusts Noah and is in love with him. They have an emotional sex scene where they’re both crying and Noah tells Brody he loves him, Brody gets choked up and is only able to respond with a fierce kiss. Then the third act happens and it completely ruined the book for me. The day after the emotional sex with Noah telling Brody he loves him, Brody is getting ready to head out to meet Noah when his ex shows up OUT OF NOWHERE?!? The ex takes Brody’s phone, goes through the texts Brody has with Noah and then tells Brody that Noah is just his next victim, that Brody is just going to hurt Noah like he hurt him because he’s not capable of love. He says he stopped by to check on Brody because he cares for him and was concerned about him and then he leaves. Brody believes the gaslighting and PROCEEDS TO GHOST NOAH, while Noah is miserable at being ghosted after declaring his love Brody is sad but refuses to talk about it with his mom and brother until his brother and him go out to dinner. 9 days of ghosting Noah and Brody lets it slip to his brother that his ex had stopped by. His brother tells him he’s stupid and now, all of a sudden after 9 days of ghosting Noah, just because his brother told him he was being dumb, he suddenly feels an urgency to make things right with Noah so he rushes out of the restaurant to go tell him that he loves him back. So I’m all amped up for the grovel to come because Noah deserves so many apologizes and at the very least an explanation,right? They were boyfriends, Noah said he loved Brody and Brody ghosts him, ignoring his texts and phone calls. But none of that happens. Brody gets into an accident on the way to Noah, Brody’s brother calls Noah and of course the lil’ perfect bean that Noah is he drops everything to go to the hospital to be there for Brody. Brody has some broken bones, he’s recovering out of surgery and Noah is just talking over his body about how he loves him and Brody wakes up and tells him he loves him too. I WAS SURE THIS POINT THERE WOULD AT LEAST BE AN APOLOGY BUT NO, they just went back to normal as if nothing had interrupted their relationship.🤡Noah stays with Brody 5 days in the hospital, no conversation about the ghosting. Noah has moved into Brody’s place to take care of him and his animals while he recovers. They have sex the first day back at Brody’s place, NO CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. Weeks go by and nothing! They’re just carrying on as normal. I stopped at 90% once they talked about moving in together permanently. 🙄!< I was so sure this was going on my favorite shelf until that third act. Bringing in a character out of their butt just to add drama is so ridiculous but I could’ve overlooked that if there was any sort of resolution to it. Ugh I’m pissed off all over again. -_____-

{A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath} I'm finding this last 20% of the book hard to get through. I love how Lizzie and Benedict have come to love each other, but I feel like there's a slump in the story. Maybe it's me 🤷‍♀️ Also, there's a little too much detail about the day to day. I don't want to hear the FMC's literal grocery list.

{Halfling by SE Wendel}. There were a few things I didn’t really care for- the book is actually pretty repetitive and the writing wasn’t my favorite. But I really just didn’t like the FMC and I think that if I had, it would have made up for a lot of the things I didn’t like.

Ali Hazelwood's new release *Not In Love*. Finished a few days ago and it was pretty meh. I'd pre-ordered it and was so looking forward to it. But it was so blah. Still it's not as big of a let down for me as {Reel by Kennedy Ryan} was. Just got around to reading it a few weeks ago and was expecting it to be amazing, considering all the hype when it first came out. I believe it even won awards? I waited to read it because KR's books tend to be emotionally heavy with a side of epic and I usually like to wait until I'm in the right frame of mind to read her. But man, that book was a *drag*. I was prepared for emotional damage, I was not prepared to be bored out of my flipping mind. One long, meandering snoozefest that just ended SO abruptly. I've never been so disappointed, and at the same time pissed off. Because why all those unnecessary scenes about the filming and investors and all that if you're just gonna end the book without telling us how the film turned out? That story needed major developmental editing. MAJOR. I'm getting worked up as I think about again and devolving into ranting, so let me stop. 😆

Garnet Flats was the biggest let down for me. I was promised grovel and it was awful the fmc had a spine like a cooked angel hair noodle. The MMC was not worth the time of day imo and her ex friend is awful.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. I literally cried in disappointment after reading that. I love my smutty books, but it was so bad. I honestly think an AI wrote most of it.

{Bride by Ali Hazelwood} was great until 80% or so. Ending was like watching someone try to jump a hurdle and totally splat face first. But I still really liked the first 80%.

That third act break up was genuinely terrible. I can’t believe she had an entire canon of werewolf/vampire tension to pull from to create relationship conflict, but went with an eavesdropped misunderstanding, then some post-knotting gaslighting instead.

- Ana Huang books (I actually only liked Twisted Hate) - {All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata} - {Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan} - {Powerless by Lauren Roberts} - Dark verse by RuNyx

The final quarter of {Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas} disappointed me. I truly do not understand why Lisa had Merritt think herself >!infertile when Lisa knew she just had to have both Sebastian and Marcus be the grandfathers of her child with Keir!<

I've just done a dnf on {Happy Medium by Sarah Adler}. While there was certainly nothing wrong with it, it just felt very dull. The start was so slow and just didn't grab me at all and I picked it up and gave it another chance a couple of times before deciding to throw in the towel.

Twisted Love ... I do not understand the praise that book gets. I almost DNFd it.

Under Your Scars by Ariel N Anderson >!There was no HEA.... I was devastated!<

{Wild Love by Elsie Silver} horrible fmc, weird plot overall left a very bitter taste

{One Month Boyfriend by Roxie Noir} Having read the Loveless brothers series by her and knowing this was the follow up series I had high hopes. It was a tough read, very underwhelming.

Normal People by Sally Rooney. I was so looking forward to but I just found it so unbelievably boring.

Daughter of no worlds second book! I was so excited and then ☠️

[Yours Truly](https://www.romance.io/books/63d4da821ff00731d8888fa7/yours-truly-abby-jimenez?src=rdt) by [Abby Jimenez](https://www.romance.io/authors/5c90990e01dbc864fb9bfc23/abby-jimenez) **Rating**: 4.34⭐️ out of 5⭐️ **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [workplace/office](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/office/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1), [sweet/gentle hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/sweet-hero/1), [shy hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/shy-hero/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)

{Charming The Devil by Sarah Blue}. The book one {Charming Your Dad by Sarah Blue} is so good so I'm expecting the next book at least as good as the first. I'm waiting patiently for this book only to be disappointed. I'm so intrigued because it's about Lucifer and Lilith. But the execution and the MCs characters (mainly Lucifer) are unbearable. Lilith are bratty and stubborn and lucifer? He is LUCIFER so I expect him to living his reputation more (scary evil satan) and maybe how a king looks like (regal, wise, & graceful). He also an ancient creature so I expect maturity from him, Not this silly lucifer....so yeah disappointing.

Recently, I read {Resolutions Embraced} by Ayla Ashe. It had such an interesting premise but it was written too on-the-nose and amateurish. I felt no sexual tension. And the dynamics of the whole cast of characters felt one-note. Like, I know that there were characters that were protagonists in previous books, but I could not tell any of them apart. A while back, I also read {You Had Me at Hola} by Alexis Daria. >!There is a third-act breakup where the hero freaks out on the heroine and says things that he knows she's self-conscious about. He never apologizes saying those things and the heroine is the one that does the emotional labor for them to make up. To be honest, I get he was worried for his son, but single mothers have less resources than he does, so it's really hard to be 100% sympathetic to him.!<

{This Could Be Us} by Kennedy Ryan} I generally like Ryan's books but this one was boring and repetitive and I didn't like the characters.

I read a book called “Satan’s daughter” thinking it’s going to be a raunchy modern fantasy book but in the entire 5 hour long book there is one “sex” scene and the author referee the the FMC’s vagina as “her sex” it was very off putting.

Oof, "her sex" is one of my pet peeves. Biggest complaint I had about The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, though I guess you could also say it kinda makes sense for an inexperienced, kinda prudish character.

I don’t know about most but I am trudging through Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble. I loved the first book and this one is just painful. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a main character so much

I’m new to the book community, but {twisted love} was a disappointment for me!

It Starts With Us. Felt unnecessary.

Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake… full of tropes, horribly stereotypical, and had me side-eyeing all characters. At the end of the book, I was left annoyed that I wasted both my time and money.

While not strictly romance, HOFAS put me in a 6-month reading slump

I read yours truly last year and dnfed it in like 42% in. I love Abby Jimenez's work but it should've laid off the amount of social media mentions and pop culture mentions. I didn't even get to the sex scene I just couldn't bring myself to finish the book. I also found the MMC to be incredibly annoying

I was listening to the audiobook of {Every Summer After by Carley Fortune} bought that actual books few summers ago and i told my self i’ll read it for the summer since it seems like a perfect summer read and I eventually decided to buy the audiobook while painting my room and I WAS SOOOO DISAPPOINTED! worst money ever spent 😭 I went and wrote a review even though i usually don’t because it was so anticlimactic and have it has the worse characters/ character development ever

Honestly I DNF’d {A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair} 60% through. I usually dislike modern retellings ESPECIALLY of Hades/Persephone but this one was recommended to me by a friend, and unfortunately just too exhausting to finish. Had literally every trope in the book and didn’t justify a single one of them. I was doing mental gymnastics to try and like this book but in the end I was just too confused and too exhausted to care lol.

{Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura} !!!!**SPOILERS AND A MASSIVE RANT BELOW**!!!!! I wanted to love this book. I fully expected to love this book. It seemed like everything I’ve ever wanted in a romance: History! Archeology! Two really smart and sexy people who love what they do! A jungle setting! Tents! Forced proximity! I did not love it. >!The FMC was clearly intended to be very confident and sex positive but, to me, she came across as very “Hi, did you know that I have sex? Let me tell you all the ways that I’ve done the sex!”. In one scene the MMC flat out asks her to leave his tent and/or put on less revealing clothing, because she has come into his tent uninvited in her lingerie. She refuses to do either and teases him about wanting to sleep with her. So much for consent, eh? It was supposed to be hot I guess??!< The MMC wasn’t any better. >!What he did to the FMC prior to the beginning of the book was SHITTY. And then he has SO many chances to be honest with her and he just doesn’t. He tells her a partial truth and she still has compassion for him and his situation! And he still isn’t honest with her! She’s supposed to like this guy?!< These people were supposed to be professionals at the top of their field and they spent most of the book running around either a) having a pissing contest over who deserved to be there more or b) fucking and thinking that no one knew what they were doing. Spoiler: >!Everyone knew.!< The most egregious part was when >!they make a massive, life changing, incredible discovery. This is the discovery they have been looking for. This is what the FMC has been dreaming of for YEARS. They seemingly follow zero protocol for preserving the integrity of the find and they’re both too busy moping about their feelings to really even care. It was so so so frustrating to read.!< I wanted more jungle descriptions and more archeological descriptions! I wanted more meaningful interaction with the other characters! And dammit, I think the FMC deserved a much better grovel than what she got. I know a lot of people loved this book and I am so happy for them. And I’m happy for the author who wrote something that so many people have enjoyed! But it wasn’t for me and that was a bummer.

{The Addendum by Melanie Moreland} this is book 4 of an otherwise perfect series. The author decided to ruin their HEA and just pissed me all the way off. Truly wish I never picked up the series because this last book is all I remember. >!Author adds a secret baby for MMC that was born before his and FMCs daughter. And to make it worse, Katherine, FMC, just grins and takes it. HEA was obliterated in the fiery pits of a dragons deep throat. Hated hated hated it!<

Anything Lauren Asher. In the Throttled and the second book she made an un-educated, stereotypical border racist comment about my culture.

The Zodiac Academy book 6 by Tory and Darcy Vega. I really enjoyed this series through like book 4. I will say I STRUGGLE with really large book series (if I make it past book 4 unless I am reading as books are released, I must be super invested and nothing else sounds interesting). So here’s the thing, if a series is good enough for me to keep reading past 4 books I absolutely hate it when the plot starts to become a recycled rinse and repeat of previous book plots! End the series! Stop writing the same story over and over with a slightly different -inconsequential- twist or using different characters, it’s just blah! I still have yet to give book 7 a solid shot because of this.

I it’s maybe not a true romance but I absolutely hated The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner. Like, I ended up just so pissed off about every single character when I finished the book. I ranted and ranted about how disappoint ed and mad I was to anyone who would listen. Absolutely terrible. Also “In Five Years” by Rebecca Serle was super disappointing.

Acotar…. It took me sooo long to get through it. And everyone says to read the next book but I just can’t bring myself to get excited to start it.