Blogmas Day 2: Most Disappointing Books of 2021

On the second day of blogmas my true love gave to me…another book list! In case you missed it, I am going to be posting every day from now until January 6th for a total of twelve days of blogmas. 

Today I am going over my most disappointing books that I read in 2021. These are books that I was excited about and had high hopes for, but that I ultimately found to be a bit of a let down. If you read and loved these books, don’t let my opinions get you down. In fact, I am glad you enjoyed them more than I did! Especially since for lots of these, I thought the concept was good, it was just the execution that fell short for me. As last time, these are listed in the order that I read them, so let’s get into it!

Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis

This was one that I was so looking forward to, I thought the concept was so fun! And I did really enjoy the behind-the-scenes of the musical parts of the book. Unfortunately, the book mostly focused on the romance instead, and I did not enjoy the romance at all. It was very instalove-y, and the relationship overall didn’t seem very healthy. The age gap weirded me out. On top of that, I found the writing to be lackluster.

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton

I really enjoy watching the Agatha Raisin TV show with my mom, so I was excited to read the first book in the book series! Unfortunately, I should have just stuck with the TV show. Sometimes, things that are forty-five minutes are better. And one of the main reasons I didn’t like it was just the sheer amount of fatphobia, racism, classism, and shrouded homophobia in the book. I know it was written in the 90s, but it was not it.

Mother-Daughter Book Camp by Heather Vogel Frederick

I adored the Mother-Daughter Book Club series growing up, so when I learned that there was another book in the series that I hadn’t read, I knew I had to read it! But in the end, it didn’t really feel cohesive with the rest of the series, and it didn’t feel like a proper send-off for my girls. They were all out of character and weirdly mopey rather than coming into their own and getting prepared to take on life. Very sad, kind of made me wish I had just left it at the last one.

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions by Sheena Boekweg

I love a historical fiction, and this one has a fat protagonist and a lot of queer characters, so I was looking forward to it. However, in the end it had too much #girlboss energy, and the writing was quite weak. I didn’t like the plot, characterization, or prose. I found myself skimming a lot because I was bored and annoyed. It definitely had potential, I just think it needed more revisions.

Fresh by Margot Wood

This one is definitely my most disappointing read of the year. I was so looking forward to it! A modern retelling of Emma, set at college with a bisexual protagonist. There was so much potential! But our main character element and the voice of the writing was so immature that it read to me like a middle grade book. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, and ended up not finding it an enjoyable reading experience.

There you have it, my most disappointing books of 2021. The books I was excited for, but ultimately did not meet my expectations. I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a more positive post: my almost favorite books of 2021. The books that I loved, but didn’t quite make the cut for my favorites list. Thank you so much for reading!