Worst Reads of 2023

Every year I find myself setting some sort of reading goal. Typically, it’s measured by number, as most readers tend to find themselves doing. And, in more ways than one, that ends up being my downfall. As my Goodreads bio states: “I never meet my reading goals.” What can I say? I’m not built to follow numbers and strictly measured ambitions. You can call it poor management. I prefer the term free spirited. Besides, the point of reading is to have fun doing it, so that’s why the second half of 2023 I focused on finding the fun of reading again. I completed a total of 12 books last year, and DNF many more. By November, I was grabbing at every short romantasy book I could get my hands on, which offered me many opportunities to experience the absolute horror of chaotic, unedited writing. Which lead to me writing two blog posts for my 2023 reads instead of one. The list would not be complete without my worst reads of the year being front and center.

(The first draft of this contained a synopsis of each book, which made the post entirely too long. I decided to take pity on my readers and removed those summaries. So, if you’re curious about the plot of a particular novel I’m reviewing, you’ll have to google the synopsis. However, for a full comedic impact, I recommend going into this blind.)

A little note before we get into the nitty gritty details of this list: Mother…father…if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. It’s not my fault poorly written smut is too entertaining for its own good. Take this as me confessing my sins.

Reviews:

1. DARLING VENOM by Parker S. Huntington

-   My rating: 1 star

Let me start off by saying this book was the beginning and end of two aspects of my life. It was the beginning of my Goodreads account because the book was so horrid, I had to share my opinions with the public. Parker Huntington is also personally responsible for me not taking any book suggestions from TikTok ever again. I haven’t been so angry about a book since I read the entire Hush, Hush series freshman year of high school out of pure spite. My dislike of the mere existence of this novel transcends time. It’s been 8 months since I finished it, and I still go on long tangents about every triggering detail of the plot. In fact, my opinion has gotten worse as time passes. I originally gave the book two stars in my Goodreads review, but the more I’ve talked about it, I’ve decided it doesn’t deserve more than one. I don’t know if that demonstrates how bad the book was or is impressive in the larger scheme of things.

However, allow me to make a few points summarizing my opinion on this story, the writing, and the editorial changes I would have made before the book’s release.

The Story:

I originally bought this book because the plot sounded like it had an interesting premise. Even after reading, I will admit with a full chest the story holds a large degree of potential, which makes the lack of quality that much more disappointing. It’s unique enough to grab an audience’s attention without the care to see it through. The largest source of this poor execution—I believe—stems from the chosen genre. The author wrote Darling Venom as a dark romance. I don’t think it should have had any serious romantic plot at all, unless subtle and fleeting, and instead should focus on the characters traveling through this difficult time in their lives. The author could have created an interesting character dynamic as Charlie (the female lead) and Tate (the love interest) struggle to heal from a huge loss. There should have never been any romantic feelings between Charlie and Tate (this comes down to their poor chemistry and the dynamic feeling wrong in their time of grief) or displayed as not working and them moving down separate paths as their time together closes. The two characters getting involved with each other as a result of a loved one passing felt entirely too wrong and inappropriate. If the author wanted to leave the smutty scenes and romantic intrigue, I believe it would have been much more meaningful if Charlie and Tate became involved during their grief, found that they didn’t fit and only needed that time to heal, and moved on to greater things by the end of the book. All in all, changing the genre would shift the tone of the novel to be more tasteful and have a greater impact on the audience.

The Writing:

There are far too many details to cover in this section, so I am defaulting to bullet points.

• The characters needed to be developed further. The only likable person in this novel was Kellen, and he dies forty pages in. We need to like the other characters, or at least understand why they are the way they are. Both main characters need to be held accountable for their actions. Tate especially fell too heavily on the cliché, male love interest stereotype. Whereas, he is an ass who is secretly hurting and just doesn’t know how to communicate or get psychological help. I am exhausted by this cliché. Writers, we can do better than this.

• I have a lot of concerns and questions on why Tate was written to be an OBGYN. Not to say men cannot fill these professional positions, it’s just an odd one to choose and there was no explanation as to why. (My theory is that the author wanted to give an explanation on how Tate is such a good lover, but whatever.)

• The first-person point-of-view was the wrong choice for this plot. It made the writing sound immature and didn’t work for the tone. I would have loved to see the story written in third-person.

• My greatest grievance is with the detail of Kellen’s writing. There are small snippets of the character’s writing scattered throughout the book. He is described as being a prodigy for the future of literature as a genre. However, the author did not even change her personal writing style for those excerpts, so those moments didn’t feel meaningful or genuine. Instead, it had me questioning how this character was viewed as being a prolific writer.

My Editorial Changes:

This was covered in the earlier sections, but the novel desperately needed an editor. Or, not even an editor, but a proofreader. The book reads as though the author did her own edits and didn’t get a second or third (or fourth) opinion. There were plot inconsistencies and issues with tone. To me, Darling Venom is a book chasing trends. The author wrote it because dark romances are on the rise, and she knew it would sell. And I have to give her credit, the synopsis sold me. But she could have done so much more with this story if she’d only sat back and found ways to be original.

2. CRY WOLF by Patricia Briggs

-    My Rating: 2 Stars

My review of this book is going to be far shorter compared to the first due to my lack of passion. Passionate hatred often leads to long rants for me and the books I despise. Cry Wolf  possesses nothing but utter indifference and a desire to move onward. So, here are my thoughts in the form of short points (your welcome):

• It is a major red flag when the reader can tell the writer is white based on how they describe BIPOC characters. This novel contained several Indigenous characters and there were moments when the female lead (who is white) would describe something about them or their home that would have me closing the book and staring at the wall for several moments. These details weren’t explicitly offensive, but just…wrong. Which, truthfully, could be offensive enough.

• I would bet large money that there was not a single editor that put their eyes on this novel. Did I go into the book expecting perfect writing? No. I wanted a fast read. Did I at least want the writing to be bearable? I think most readers would say yes.  

• The only reason this book got a two-star rating compared to one is because the fist half of the book was truly addicting. Unfortunately, that addicting affect was lost in the second half. The final part of the book was truly torturous to get through. I am surprised that I actually made it.

3. CITY OF GHOSTS by V. E. Schwab

-    My Rating: 3 Stars

V. E. Schwab has been one of my favorite authors since I read their novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and it has become a goal of mine to read all of her books. Last summer I decided to pick up the middle grade novel City of Ghosts which was sadly a mediocre read. This comes down to the targeted age range. The book was written with middle schoolers in mind, and I am, in fact, not a middle schooler any longer. No, I’ve graduated to adult status. And while there is a time and place to enjoy simpler reads, I just don’t think I will be “wowed” by them anymore. I’ve outgrown the simple writing style and the conflicts of a child. Unless the author manages to do something truly different, I don’t think books of this age range will make it on my list of best reads. City of Ghosts was not a bad book. Three stars tends to be my default rating. It was simply okay, making it on my worst books of the year list by default. But working at a bookstore means I now have another novel to recommend to kids who don’t know what they’re looking for, which is one of my favorite things.

Honorable Mention List of Books I DNF:

4. THE SUMMER I DIED by Ryan C. Thomas

I managed to get a whole three chapters into this book before I couldn’t stand to go any further. I will be completely honest with my very small audience and say I am always hesitant to read books written by men. The male authors that will always be an exception to this are Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, and Brandon Sanderson. However, I have read a lot of books, and I have noticed a trend. Most male authors do not write women in a respectful manner. I have very strong opinions about this, and it will probably stay that way for a very long time. I had hoped this book would be a fun slasher novel, and maybe it is overall, but I could not get past the personalities of the main characters. They were insufferable from the beginning. The way the main character immediately started sexualizing women from page one is not something I care to use my personal time consuming. Perhaps the author wrote them that way to make the horrors they experience more deserved, but I did not have the patience nor the desire to continue and see if that was the case.

5. THE FLAMES OF LATHE by Lexie Talionis

To be fair to this book and the author, I stopped reading because I forgot it existed, not because I necessarily found it bad. I got 70 pages or so in before I started another book and forgot to continue reading, however, I also don’t really care to finish the book. It didn’t do anything to really keep me interested and carried enough smutty stereotypes to be annoying. I don’t really have any further opinions than this.

Final Thoughts:

That now concludes my list of “Worst Reads of 2023”. It can be safe to say most of the issues with the books on this list came down to editorial issues. I was really glad everyone voted for me to release this post first because if there’s one thing I love, it’s talking about the things I hate. Though, I did read some really good books last year too and I am looking forward to sharing those with you all. I always enjoy hearing other people’s opinions, so feel free to DM me on Instagram with your thoughts! I hope you all are well, and I’ll see you on Monday with my next post!