So I’m starting a new meme. Again. But this one’s totally awesome! (They’re all totally awesome. I didn’t say that.) It’s going to be dedicated to all those bookish problems and their solutions! It’s also all about discussion posts as well, but I wanted to make a separate column for this. Hope you enjoy the WHAT DO??? meme! And today we’re talking about…
Now I know all of you must have had this happen to you once or twice in your life kidding, it’s probably happening on a weekly basis. A lot of books are hyped, and you’re pressured to like them. But you don’t always just flat out like them. Sometimes you… *gasp!* hate them. Or worse – what if you don’t like an acclaimed diversity book?? (I’m not even talking about the unfortunate instance of you possibly liking a book deemed problematic. Let’s not get too depressive here, okay?) So what do you do when you realize you didn’t make the hype train?
Step 1. Keep calm and consume comfort food.
I know you feel embarrassed and worried. Do not berate yourself. You are allowed to have opinions!!! Even if those opinions are different from your friends’, as well as your bookish nemesis!
(Here is a handy picture of a nemesis. Not *quite* bookish, but you know.)
Step 2. Decide against not telling anyone.
Despite feeling off about not liking a hyped book, you shouldn’t just say “oh, maybe I won’t post a review this time”. We still want to know what you thought! It’s not like we’re all supposed to have the same opinion. What would be the point of reviews then?? Perhaps by having a negative one this time, you will point out a few problems that we haven’t noticed before. Refrain from just keeping your ideas to yourself!
Step 3. Take your time with the review.
When this happens, it’s sometimes harder to write the review. (Although personally, I struggle with reviews for 5 star books more often myself! 😅) So, if it does happen, just give yourself space and time to write a review. Don’t be afraid to tell us your opinion, but do take care not to come across sounding mean. (I’ve accidentally done that in the past! I still feel bad about it.)
Step 4. Yes, you still have to push that publish button.
Oh, just do it already!
Step 5. Do not mind the haters.
Chances are, you won’t even have to do this step! Most of the times, the community is really nice about accepting your feelings – even if they’re different. (Unless you disregarded what I said about being mean in Step 3!) But sometimes we have to deal with trolls anyway, especially if we have a bigger audience. So don’t forget you’re allowed to have an opinion! Especially if you’re from a diversity branch and just felt like a hyped book trampled on your identity. Or if you are just big enough a blogger to deal with constant trolls on social media (I’d like to shout out to Paper Fury here because I know she constantly has to deal with this!) No matter what they say, remember that you’ll probably have at least 10 friends who have your back for every troll you encounter. So chin up!
In the bottom, you can link up your review posts for hyped books you hated!
What’s your typical process of writing a review like that? If you’ve had these feels, don’t hesitate to tell me in the comments! I’d love to hear about them.
I’m Evelina and I blog about books that made an impression on me. I love middle grade, women’s, scifi and some literary too.
I LOVE this!! What a great idea! I have a few hyped books that I ended up disliking…
😀 glad you love it!
I also find it more difficult to write 5 star reviews than, say, 2 star reviews, I think because I know specific reasons why I give a book a bad review, whereas with 5 stars, I just love EVERYTHING!, which isn’t very specific! I never received any backlash from a bad star review until I started reviewing pregnancy books. Several pregnancy books I read didn’t use sources and had generic information easily found on Web MD, and some people found offense with those reviews! However, I find that kind of review very helpful, so I will continue to write them!… Read more »
Hi Margaret, nice to hear from you again 🙂
Oh yes, I can see how factual information being correct in pregnancy books is super important. Is it like.. instructional nonfiction? I also see how people would get angry. It’s kind of a… tough topic.
I find giving 5 star reviews hard because whatever I write doesn’t seem to do the book justice 😀 it’s just… better than anything I could say about it? Haha 😀
This is a great idea!
But what are some of the popular books you didn’t like?
I’ve linked above to my review of Ready Player One
Oh! You didn’t like Ready Player One? I haven’t read it yet, but I am going to one day, cause I’ve heard so many good things about it. I’ll have to check out your review 🙂
I didn’t like The Golden House, also I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Both of those reviews are coming out soon. To be fair, I didn’t even like TBDATE that much, and it was so hyped 🙂 also The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. You don’t just blatantly dislike one of Atwood’s books! Hah.
I appreciate that you mention the need to post negative book reviews. I feel people who only share their favorite books lose credibility.
Yeah, you’re right. And it’s like cherry picking then… you have to know how to give a tough negative review as well.
Great topic. And it’s so nice to know someone else feels and acts the same way I do about this dilemma! I’d link up a post but I’m still stuck on writing the reviews. LOL
Haha xD you can always link up later lol
I love this idea, as I DNF’d both famous books I tried to read in August (The Remnant Chronicles and The Winner’s Curse series). Usually, I don’t make it far enough into the book to write a review, but then I spend HOURS researching the next book I’m going to read so I don’t make the same mistake again (would this be step #6?). No fun reading two disappointing books in a row! 🙂
I haven’t reviewed a book a couldn’t finish yet, but it’s happened a few times in my book club and I always argue that if you couldn’t finish a book that in itself is a critique of the book! But I heard someone else in the blogosphere voice a similar opinion to yours, that if you DNF’d it then you don’t have a complete opinion ? Is this like book blogger etiquette or something?
I definitely think it constitutes a full opinion. Maybe it’s best to refrain from a star rating – but giving a review and saying why you couldn’t bear the thought of finishing it? Totally, absolutely relevant.
I agree! I think it says something if you can’t finish a book!!!! I’ve been especially nervous to review YA books if I don’t like them because I hear that the backlash can be vicious (ewww!) And I’m soo confused on book blogger etiquette, so if you have advice PLEASE pass it on ;). (It looks like you blog about dragons, so I’ll clearly listen to anything you say)
😀 dragons!
Yeah, you’re right, if you don’t like a hyped YA book, it’s… best to be extra careful about your review, as people tend to react quite dramatically sometimes :/ thankfully, it hasn’t happened to me!… yet. LOL
No fun indeed! Yeah, that’s why I almost never DNF though! I still want to rate and write a review 🙂 plus, if I’ve already invested in reading maybe half of it, it should totally count towards my yearly goals xD so I make a point of finishing it. But yes, you are totally right – if we research more, we minimize the chances the next one will suck. Makes more good reviews 😀
I used to get the same way…. I mean, those goals are there for a reason, right? This year I’ve been doing a 60 page rule – if I’m 60 pages in and I don’t like it. I DNF it. I had a HUGE reading goal this year, but just don’t think I’m going to hit it because I’ve been struggling to find books that I like.
And the downside of doing too much research is that I find spoilers. Which is why I read good book blogs… like yours 🙂
That’s true! Too much research does mean spoilers! Aww, thank you so much <3 I try especially hard not to give any spoilers, cause who likes that, right 🙂
Do you count the books you DNF towards your goal? Maybe you should 🙂 I used to have a 50-100 page rule too, but then I read this one book that I stuck out with, and I only started liking it after 250 pages (I swear...), but after that!! It became the best book ever!! After that I just sort of try to stick with it, unless it's absolutely bad.
Aww haha, thank you for the shoutout. It is absolutely crap that a lot of us have been kind of conditioned be SCARED of having opposite opinions to the crowd. I mean whyyyyyy. What’s the big deal about having a different opinion?! I was absolutely abused on twitter about hating A Well of Ascension, and it still boggles my mind because the book is like completely white/straight + extremely sexist + religious preachy … and yet a whole lot of diverse-blogger-advocates were being absolute trolls at me. (I wouldn’t even repeat what they called me and the threads they started… Read more »
That’s awful that happened to you! I happened to like that book but we’re all different! There wouldn’t be so many different and various genres if we were all the same!!
Aw my, that really sucks. I mean, I think it’s fair to say you were abused about more than one low star review. Meh! Really too bad.
Glad you loved the post 🙂 and for better or worse (definitely better? :D) I don’t even know that book you mentioned!
Fun meme! Love the haters video 😉 I could probably fill the link up with hyped books I didn’t like The problem is I usually don’t finish books I don’t like so I don’t usually have reviews 🙂 but let me see… I’ll be right back.
I see you found quite a few in the end 😀 and since I’m replying comments in backwards order… lol 😀
ok I’m back. I think I found one. EVERYONE in this universe loved this book but me: Milk and Honey. 🙂 linked!
Wait, that’s a poetry book, right? I just don’t dig poetry in general 😀 I’ll go see your review!
Great idea. There are more than a few books I just haven’t got but others have. One is my boss’ favourite book and whilst we normally agree on reading I cannot get away with it at all.
I know what you mean! Especially if said book is literary 😀 then the other person can float all they want that you’re not sophisticated enough or something 😀 grr!
AWW YOU ARE SO CUTE YES I NEDD THIS PUSH SOMETIMES I can totally relate to this post and the funny gifs along with it!
Awww thanks Lori 🙂 glad you approve!
To write a typical review like that I usually take longer to publish than others. I like to be honest, but people can take it as negative or attacking them but it’s not what I’m trying to do. Just honesty♀️✨
You are right, I also try very hard to make it as neutral as I can. But it still needs to be funny for my readers! Who will read the post otherwise xD so it’s a veeeery delicate balance.
I love this idea Avalinah! I had to post two because I have been out of the majority for a few very popular books. I should probably mention here that I DNFed quite a few that other people raved about (Nevernight, Frannie and Tru, and The Game of Love and Death just to name a few). I like the idea of honest opinions, so sometimes it won’t match what other people think. I also think that some people feel a lot of pressure to review with the majority like rate up or down to match what most other bloggers rate.… Read more »
I know what you mean. I didn’t enjoy They Both Die At The End so much, so even though I gave it 3 stars, even that felt hard, cause everyone else is just gushing about it. It’s why it’s just not easy to give a bad review… or even a middling review. And especially with classics! A classic that covers topics like racism, women’s rights? You’ll get called on it! But what if you didn’t like the writing style? What if it was just plain boring to read and not for you, despite the goof subject matter and the fact… Read more »
Unpopular opinions happen. I review everything and am not afraid to leave a bad review. It is kind of funny that some of my most popular reviews on goodreads are the negative one. I get a lot of comments from other people that share the same thoughts. I agree completely that reviews should go ahead and say what they think of a book even if it is the popular thought.
Oh really! That’s pretty cool, actually. Did you leave a link in the linkup? (I won’t see this before I’m done replying comments xD) as I am now curious about which books and which reviews those popular ones are 🙂
What a great idea to include a link-up in this post. We’ve all got one or two hyped books that we just didn’t like. My latest was The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (and, yep, it was a diverse book. Sorry, folks!).
I feel like I’ve heard about that one, but can’t quite remember about it 🙂 yeah, a linkup is a cool idea cause I can go check out all your posts now 😀 plus, I got a plugin. Gotta use it for something, right? XD
Great idea!
Step 1 is just good advice in general. I don’t read very many hyped books in all honesty. Two that were semi-hyped at the time and I didn’t like were In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Hmm, odd that they both have “dark” in the title.
Ah, I want to read Dark Matter. But yeah, I’ve heard people are either hot or cold about that book. But all in all, it’s probably a good idea not to read that many hyped books 🙂
This was so me with The Hunger Games!
Haha, that’s why I’m not even going to attempt to read that series 😀 I just know I’d probably roll my eyes quite a bit.
This is sooo true! When I was pretty new to blogging, I was really afraid that people were not going to like if I had an unpopular opinion but this community proved me wrong. Usually, when this happens, I state the facts due to which I disliked the book in the first place and every one of us has a different opinion, not all of us will end up enjoying the same book.
Loved this post! <3
Thanks! Glad you liked it 🙂
Yes, I believe that as long as you state your opinion in a respectful and polite manner, it will be okay. Of course, it’s not easy if you want to also make the post amusing to your audience 😀 it’s a fine balance… but you gotta maintain it 🙂
Thanks for visiting!
ok I’m back again because I realized I have a good one! “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” Tons of great reviews and I’m like WTH??? This is downright romanticizing pedophilia!!!
She was seven and lying in a meadow watching the stars when the 20-something pedophile crashed with his motorcycle and he saw her and “she looked so pretty, like an angel” and just like that “love story between two unlikely people” was written and got many awesome reviews. and I’m like NO WAY!
What?? Oh my god! That actually sounds so bad!!! Woooooooooow
Ugh, YES. I have definitely struggled with this. I’ll admit, I have avoiding writing reviews sometimes when it’s a book that I see people posting about like crazy and it’s super hyped… Sometimes I do, and try to stay really nice and understanding, but you know. I shouldn’t have to apologize or be meek in my opinions, but I don’t want people taking it personally either. And I totally agree, it’s sometimes harder to write reviews for 5 star books! Out of my favorite books, I’ve probably written reviews on about a quarter of them. Which is just crazy! I’ve… Read more »
Yep, it’s SUCH a fine line, isn’t it? And still, I definitely believe in the need for negative reviews, as long as they’re respectful and not bashing anyone. Because we need all sorts of opinions. If a book only has glowing opinions, I don’t know if it’s even legit then… sometimes it doesn’t seem like it is.
I’m also sitting on a pile of unwritten 5 star reviews. Terrible 😀 it’s worse when they’re for ARCs and actually need to be given!
Hi Evelina, In some ways I think it would be much better if a rating system alone would suffice in raising the profile of a book, to the satisfaction of author, publisher and promoter; rather than having the obligation of writing a review as the only way to make your thoughts count. A review of any description is after all, purely subjective, as opinions are completely personal and no two people will have identical likes and dislikes about a story line or cast of characters. I get more annoyed about bad spelling, punctuation, continuity and grammar than one or two… Read more »
Glad you liked the post! I know what you mean about punctuation. But I try to pay less attention to it now as I get a lot of ARCs, and those are often pre-editing, at least before the final editing and proofreading. So I try to pay more attention to the story itself.
Great post and I love the clip of The Nanny, I loved that show. I tend to not like most popular books
I loved The Nanny too! It’s such a great show.
[…] But the review’s gotta be honest. So honest it will be. In fact, I’ve recently written a post about how to write a review for a book that you didn’t like, when it happens to be famo…. It wasn’t inspired by The Golden […]
[…] Evelina @ Avalinah’s Books has a fun post and link-up: Oops, I Don’t Like A Famous Book. WHAT DO I DO??? […]
This is fabulous! It’s so true, it can be rough when everyone and their mom seems to be gushing over a book and you’re just.. meh. Or even worse, absolutely hate the thing! I feel like I *have* sounded mean in negative reviews too- not that I meant to, but snark never really sounds super nice, I guess? I mean, I never ever say anything about the author, of course! But sometimes… harsher words are necessary. I cannot stand the trolls and haters though! What IS that!? You are so right too, Cait deals with wayyy more than her fair… Read more »
Yes, you’re right, snark.. can’t sound good 😀 especially if you like it and the one who wrote it doesn’t 😀
I also don’t get why Cait deals with so much hate. She’s positively adorable. People are weird, and… too literal?
Oh, you linked something up? Yay! I’ll have to go check. This linkup really worked out 🙂
This has been me the last few months and I feel so baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. There was a debut diverse book I read recently that I couldn’t in good conscience give it more than a 1 star because I genuinely was bored to tears and miserable reading it – but I pushed through because I really wanted to give it a chance and to write a proper review for the publisher that gave me the ARC. While I have the review scheduled for around release date as I do with all ARC reviews, I’m not going to lie, I’m anxious about it,… Read more »
What book is it? Now I’m curious. BTW, I actually post my Goodreads reviews along with my blog post, do you post them early? I totally get you about the 3 star one. That’s why I generally won’t even read problematic books. I just kind of want to steer clear of all of that hate or people who have nothing better to do than police the internet. Sometimes it’s got good intentions, sometimes it’s deserved, but most of the time it’s just Twitter warfare between people who have too much energy to spare on hate. The good thing about being… Read more »
Totally agree with avoiding controversy. That’s why I typically don’t talk too much when there’s a lot of drama going on, I just feel bad for bloggers or authors that get attacked. With my Goodreads reviews in the past I tended to forget to post my reviews on there, and when I did I did so in bulk. The last couple of days though I’ve decided it was time to fix that and have been posting 2-3 reviews a day with blog links + disclaimers for books I got arcs/review copies for. When it comes to ARCs I usually try… Read more »
I haven’t heard of that one, actually. A lot of times a book will be praised for its diversity, but solely for it. Disregarding the writing and story. Meh.
I actually schedule and email to myself, which arrives at the time I have to boost the Goodreads review for a post that just came out 😀 it works most of the time, I notice it on my blog even if I had forgotten it completely cause I scheduled it a month back 🙂 (well okay, maybe not a month… lol)
Very amusing and creative post as always Avalinah.
This meme is also a neat idea. Many books are way over hyped. Plus everyone has different tastes. Folks should not be afraid to express opinions, even if they are not positive.
Thank you so much, I’m glad to hear you enjoy my posts 🙂
Yeah! A lot of young adult books are especially overhyped!
I’d like to throw it out there that I did not like Red Queen OR The Selection series…. there, I said it 🙂
Haven’t read those, but isn’t The Selection about women fighting to be chosen as brides for a prince? I wouldn’t even read that cause it already deeply offends my understanding of emancipation xD so I’m with you 😀
PS. This is a brilliant idea. Kuddos my friend!
Thank you! 🙂
[…] don’t feel good. Hey, I’ve actually written a whole post about how to deal with this situation. So now I’ll be following my own advice and still sharing this review with all of you. Hope […]
Hahaha. I love that you posted this BEFORE your review of Rushdie’s new book. You are my favorite. And BEFORE your review of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. You are the best. This is a cool post series idea. Do you expect that others will also take up the mantle of these series in a meme-like fashion? As in, do you hope that others continue these posts? Or is this more intended like my Building Better Book Clubs series? Just clarifying! I totally get you on this. Actually, this really closely mimics my philosophy on why I publish… Read more »
YEEEES. I posted it in anticipation when I knew I’d already hated the books, and also so I could link the post in the reviews xD the one that inspired this post though, was Maya Angelou’s book. This is sort of just a discussion meme series I’ll be doing (I had some other topic ideas scribbled somewhere). I would like to do a linkup in every single one because a lot of people actually linked their reviews! It was fun. The bad thing though, seems to be that only ONE linky seems to be free at any point. So you… Read more »
Hahaha this is all so true! I wrote something similar about how to write a review and what happened if you did not like it. You are spot on 😉
Oh, cool! Would you share a link of your post with me then? I want to read it 🙂
AMEN to all what you said. Before, I am honestly not keen on posting reviews for hyped up books if my opinions are against that of the general public. I guess, I am afraid I might get some lashback especially from rabid fans of the book. But now, I am learning to swim against the tides, so to speak and have been voicing my opinions more in Goodreads and in my blog. So far, I haven’t been receiving any negative comments because unlike Cait of Paper Fury, I am relatively a “smol” blog. I love these meme that you have.… Read more »
Yes! It really depends on the book, the genre and the fan base too, though. You might get in trouble with certain YA books, especially in the diversity area, because people are so willing to just attack. It’s sad. Yes, I think the only reason we are able to live cozily like that is because we are not as big as Cait! Oh well, fame has a dark side too, huh? 🙂 Yay! Thanks for linking up, I will check out your post 🙂 I also invite you to check out my meme State of the ARC – this link… Read more »
[…] 8 Types of Schools in YA + Quiz (Paper Fury) • Oops, I Don’t Like A Famous Book WHAT DO??? (Avalinah’s Books) • Webcomics I love […]
[…] […]
Every book good or bad has its own fans and of “enemies” so don’t worry, it is normal to feel like that.
In another day you may find the book interesting.
[…] Bonus: tips and triks despre cum să reacționezi față de o carte care nu îți place: https://avalinahsbooks.space/oops-i-dont-like-a-famous-book/ […]