2020 was a great reading year for both of us, but you can’t like everything you read. And that’s something that happened to us as well. We don’t want to speak bad of these books and we’re sure there are readers that will like them because of the reasons we don’t. So keep on reading to find out what our 2020 most disappointing reads turned out to be!

Candyce

2020 wasn’t a bad year when it came to reading. Out of the 250+ books I read, there are only 12 books that I rated 2 or 2,5 stars and I had one DNF! I’m always someone that feels bad when I don’t like a book, but sometimes it just isn’t a match. Let’s take a look at my list!

A Wicked Magic – Sasha Laurens

This was a book I was really looking forward to. Books about witches and magic are ones I always want to read. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t do it for me and was my only DNF last year. I can really understand that people would love this one, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters or story.

Fighting for Rain – B.B. Easton

I remember seeing this trilogy everywhere when the third book was about to come out. The first book already had some issues for me and in the sequel it only got worse. I finished this story, but decided not to read the third one.

Hunted – Meagan Spooner

Hunted was on my bookshelf for way too long, but look at this stunning cover. Unfortunately, the cover doesn’t match what I thought of the story. The characters are interesting and what action there was kept me reading, but I missed some development with the characters and their relationship.

The Prophecy – Jennifer L. Armentrout

I was so upset that this one ended up on this list. Armentrout is one of my favorite authors, but the ending of the Titan series was just really disappointing. At a certain point there was too much focus on some relationship drama and how certain things played out are things that annoy me. Luckily I love most of her books!

Magic Unleashed – Devri Walls

Magic Unleashed sounded really good, but in the end it just wasn’t for me. In 400+ pages I don’t feel like we really got to know the characters or what was really going on. The concept was really interesting, it just didn’t come out in the story.

All the Stars and Teeth – Adalyn Grace

I loved the author’s writing and the world she created, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters. It’s hard for me to enjoy the story when I can’t connect. Even when stories have unlikable characters it’s still possible to connect. Also, some things just moved too fast and too easy for me.

The Court of Miracles – Kester Grant

The Court of Miracles was so hyped before it released and I think that’s part of the problem. So many people were loving this book that I think my expectations were way too high. On top of that I can honestly say I was confused while reading this story. The jumps in time and more descriptions than story were things that just didn’t work for me.

B*Witch – Paige McKenzie & Nancy Ohlin

Again, another story with witches and magic that I was excited for. B*Witch has a really interesting plot, but the constant switch of POV really distracted me and made it hard for me to know what the main focus of the plot was.

Confessions of a Bookaholic – Joslyn Westbrook

This was a book that sounded like a lot of fun, but just didn’t match the synopsis at all. On top of that I still can’t get over this cover. I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but this one doesn’t match the story at all either. Sorry, but I’m not a fan.

Where Dreams Descend – Janella Angeles

Just like with The Court of Miracles, I think this one was hyped too much for me to love. I loved the concept and the mysterious world, but I think it was just missing some things for me. I’m not sure if I’ll continue with the sequel or not.

Kind of a Big Deal – Shannon Hale

First of all the cover of this book is what caught my attention. I love the colors! Reading about a character getting sucked into the stories she was reading sounded like a lot of fun. Unfortunately it wasn’t what I was expecting and I didn’t love it as much as I hoped.

The Tigers in the Tower – Julie Golding

When I read about this and signed up for the blog tour I was expecting a magical adventure. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. This book turned out to have a lot of religious and racist moments and there wasn’t much of an adventure. I also don’t feel that the main character ever got the justice she deserved.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things – Carolyn Mackler

I requested the sequel of this book when I first started Netgalley. I want to get my feedback ratio up, so I decided to listen to this one on Storytel. There are a lot of things about this story I loved, but there are also many problematic issues that don’t get any attention when they should.

 

Isabelle

This was a really good reading year actually and there weren’t a lot of books I rated low. In this list I included one 2,5 stars book and 2 DNF’s but I also decided to add some 3 or 3,5 star books I just expected more from. They are books I thought would be 4 stars or maybe even 5 but just didn’t meet those expectations. Let’s take a look.

7. Over the Woodward Wall – A. Deborah Baker
3,5 stars

I love Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series and rated them all very highly. When this book was announced I was of course very excited and especially after seeing some great reviews. Unfortunately this was not as good as I was expecting. The story was okay and I liked the main characters but other than that I guess I just didn’t ‘get’ it. This wasn’t really for me and I’m not sure if I will read the sequel.

6. Love, Creekwood – Becky Albertalli
3 stars

I really liked the full length novels in the Creekwood world and I was excited for this novella. It was available as an audiobook so I decided to listen to it that way. The story is told in emails and I really enjoyed that format. But having all of the main stories rated quite high, I was expecting to love this so much more than I did. The ending was were I finally got excited and then it just stopped!!

5. Of Curses and Kisses – Sandhya Menon
3 stars

Everyone always raves about Sandhya Manon and while her usual books don’t really appeal to my tastes, this one seemed right up my alley. It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling and it’s set at a boarding school. I love both those things so I had high expectations! Looking back I think my rating was actually quite soft and I might’ve rated it lower if I had read it later in the year haha. This was just very disappointing! I might read the next book because it follows a different main character and I didn’t like our current MC.

4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer vol. 2: Once Bitten – Jordie Bellaire
3 stars

I gave the first volume 5 stars last year so of course I was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately I felt like the art style changed? And that was part of what I loved so much last year so that was very disappointing. The plot was also not great, it felt like a bit of a filler. I will read the next volume but if it doesn’t improve that is where this story and I will part ways.

3. The Other Side – Sarah Hocut
2,5 stars

I got an eARC for this one and I was expecting a cute, fun, and quick read. Unfortunately that was not the case. I wasn’t that invested, it took me a lot longer than I was hoping and I didn’t really connect with the MC. This just turned out not to be a book for me. It wasn’t bad but just not my thing. And that is okay!

2. Master of One – Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett
DNF

I was so excited to be part of the blog tour for this one and even more after reading the prologue. It was brutal and I loved it a lot. The story was a lot slower after that but that’s okay for the first couple of chapters of a book. Unfortunately it never picked up for me and I felt very disconnected from the story. We got some scenes that could be very cool but they just didn’t work. So at some point I decided this wasn’t for me and I DNf’ed it.

1. A Wicked Magic – Sasha Lauren
DNF

I hardly ever DNF books, but this was another one I just couldn’t get through. It’s one of my personal goals going forward to DNF more books. I usually try to plough through no matter how little I enjoy a book and that just doesn’t benefit anyone haha. This book had a synopsis I loved and I really thought I would love the book. But I just didn’t care about the MC’s and I didn’t care about the story either. There was one side character I liked but that wasn’t enough for me to continue the book. I will still try this author if she writes another book though!

So these are the 2020 reads that disappointed us. We’re sure that many people did enjoy these books and we’re happy about that. What were some of your disappointing 2020 reads. Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!