Most Disappointing Reads of 2023: 2023 Reading Wrap Up #2

 Happy Monday Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and that your 2024 is off to a great start!

I'm so thankful you've taken the time to join me (Kirby) here on The Preppy Book Princess today for another bookish post.

Last Monday, I started off the year by sharing my first 2023 reading wrap up with you all.

I shared my most anticipated reads of 2024, and I hope you'll all go check out that post if you haven't already. 

Today we're going to move right along with our 2023 reading wrap ups, and I'm going to be sharing today my most disappointing reads of 2023.

This is never a fun post to compose, as it's never fun to have to go over again all the books you didn't enjoy reading in a year, but I do still like to be honest and transparent on my blog, and that does include mentioning the books that I didn't end up enjoying.

Now there was a time that I wasn't quite as fussy with the type of materials I would allow myself to read. Back in those days, I'd end up having a ton of one or two star reads throughout the year, as I always ended up being disgusted with the type of content making its way into so many titles.

Now that I'm more picky about the books I pick up, I usually don't find quite as many titles that I don't end up enjoying.

However, unfortunately, even the Christian fiction and clean reads genres have started to incorporate more unnecessary content, and as such, there's still quite a few titles that get lower ratings from me.

I won't go into too much detail about each title, as I don't want this post to end up basically being a book itself. If I've posted a review of the title on my blog, it will be linked below.

With those disclaimers aside, let's go ahead and jump right into my disappointing reads of 2023.

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey:

I started off 2023 with a one star read unfortunately. This one had been sitting on my shelf for quite a few years, and I finally decided to give it a chance. It was dark, disturbing, and full of unnecessary content. As a Christian reader it made me so uncomfortable that I didn't even want to take the time to review it. Definitely don't recommend.

1/5.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

The Room on Rue Amelie by Kristen Harmel:

I've loved many of Kristen Harmel's books, but this one didn't end up being one of them. I've written a review of this one that will be posted on my blog soon, but for now I'll just say that I wanted to read a wonderful World War Two historical fiction, and instead I got to read a completely unbelievable romance that dragged on and on and lost me early on in the story.

Final Rating: 2/5

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund:

This one was bad. There's literally no other words to describe it. The plot was terrible, the characters were worse, the content was atrocious, and there was absolutely nothing redeeming about it. Another title that I didn't feel comfortable even taking the time to review. Another title that I probably wouldn't have read if it hadn't had been sitting on my bookshelves for quite sometime. 

Final Rating: 1/5.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Paranomal

Laura's Shadow by Allison Pittman:

I have a review of this one that will be posted shortly on my blog. For now I'm just going to say that the characters were unlikeable, the writing style was lackluster, the faith element was non existent, and it literally tries to ruin one of my favorite literary characters of all time (who was actually a real person). One of my least favorite titles in my favorite Doors to the Past series.

Final Rating: 2/5

Genre: Christian Fiction/Dual Timeline

The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand:

I'm sure you're starting to notice a trend of the fact that I didn't enjoy the majority of the young adult secular titles I read last year. This was another one that had been sitting on my shelf for quite sometime, and it ended up being a disappointment. I didn't think certain issues were handled properly, the content was atrocious, and some of the characters weren't the easiest to want to root for.

Final Rating: 2/5

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Contemporary

Letters to Juliet by Lise Friedman and Ceil Friedman:

I ended up purchasing this one from Book Outlet several years back after loving the movie so much. The format of this one is more like a textbook telling the history of the Juliet writers. While the book had some interesting history, the format made it kind of boring and hard to follow, and I didn't like the fact that it was almost immortalizing Juliet as some kind of goddess.

Final Rating: 2/5.

Genre: Non-Fiction

Remember Me Always by Renee Collins:

And shock of all shock, it's another secular young adult title. Although, in my defense, I really did enjoy a previous title I read from this author, and was hoping this would be the same. I have a review of this one I'll be sharing shortly, but long story short, the plot was implausible, the romance was toxic and abusive, and the ending made absolutely no sense. 

Final Rating: 2/5.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Contemporary/Speculative

Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike:

Another title that had been on my bookshelves for quite sometime, and another title that ended up being nothing like what I was expecting. I thought this one was going to be about time travel (one of my all time favorite tropes!) and it wasn't. It was about creepy stuff that made me uncomfortable, and I definitely don't recommend this one. I've got a review I'll be sharing in the next little while.

Final Rating: 1/5.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Paranormal

Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: The Shimmer by Ridley Pearson:

This was one of my most anticipated reads, and it ended up making this list instead. I hate when that ends up being the case. While I've loved every other title in this series, this one ended up being such a disappointment. There was so much the author could have done with the plot, and it just felt flat. As well, one of the best parts of the earlier books was the insider information about many of Disney's beloved attractions. However, since this one is set well into the future, none of those bits really came into play. I'll be sharing a full review of this one soon, but I don't honestly know if I'll be continuing on with the series or not.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Genre: Middle Grade/Fantasy

Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg:

I don't usually ever fall into the trap of running out to read Youtuber's books, but I was intrigued by this one being about time travel, and I loved the cover. And honestly, that's pretty much all I ended up liking by the end of it. The plot is a jumbled mess, the content is awful, the characters are unlikeable at best, and the romance is insta lovey and not even slightly believable. I'll be sharing a full review of this one soon, but for now I'll say please do yourself a favor and just skip this book. There's so many better time travel novels out there.

Final Rating: 1/5.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Time Travel/Paranormal

Break of Day by Colleen Coble:

I don't want to even talk about this book long enough to include it in this list. Colleen Coble used to be one of my favorite authors, and I haven't picked up one of her books since finishing this horrible story. One of the darkest books I've ever personally read, I get the shivers just thinking back about it. It kept me up with nightmares for weeks after finishing it, and yeah it was just plain awful. You can check out my full review here if you'd like, but I definitely do not recommend this horrible book.

Final Rating: 2/5.

Genre: Christian Fiction/Suspense

This is Where it Ends by Cindy K. Sproles:

I've come to the conclusion personally that this author is just not for me. While this book was not as bad as the last title I read by her (What Momma Left Behind), I just don't care for her writing style, and it makes it impossible to connect to the story with this being the case. I did think the plot was interesting, and I liked some of the characters, but I couldn't get past the writing. You can check out my full review here.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Irish Coffee Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross:

I basically only pick up these collections because of Barbara Ross' contribution, and this was another collection where hers was really the only title I enjoyed. I'll be sharing a full review of this one in the near future, but honestly, I think it's time just to stop reading the other stories and only read Barbara Ross'.

Final Rating: 2/5.

Genre: Novella Collection/Cozy Mystery

Starstruck by Amy Clipston:

Amy Clipston is one of my favorite authors within the Amish fiction market, and I was thrilled when I heard she was going to start publishing more contemporary titles. However, her contemporaries just never have been as good as her Amish titles, and a large reason for that is the lack of a faith element in my opinion. However, her newest release was not the story I was hoping for, and I really struggled to get invested in this one when the romance felt so heavily insta lovey.

You can check out my full review here, if you would like to do so.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Genre: Christian Fiction/Contemporary

Merry Ex-Mas by Courtney Walsh:

I truly thought this was going to be one of my favorite reads of the year, and boy was I proved wrong. I've read many of this author's previous titles and loved them, but this one was a hot mess. The romance is problematic, the content was unnecessary, and the faith element was completely non existent. Now I admit that's on me, as I didn't realize this book was a different type of genre than her usual Christian fiction titles. She basically wrote a "cleaner" version of the trending secular romance titles, and it didn't end up working for me. I'll be sharing a full review of this one shortly.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Genre: Clean Contemporary

Christmas by the Book by Anne Marie Ryan:

My last pick for this year's most disappointing reads is this Christmas title by a new to me author. My hubby gave me this for Christmas last year, and I waited the entire year to read it during the following Christmas season. I was expecting a heartwarming, Christmas read, and that wasn't remotely what this was. It felt more like reading a political based book that had to check every box than anything else. The story wasn't great, the plot wasn't developed, the characters weren't likeable, and the ending was implausible. Plus the content was unnecessary and honestly grated on my nerves. 

Final Rating: 2/5.

Genre: Contemporary/Christmas Read

And that does it for my most disappointing reads of 2023 guys! I'd love if you'd drop me a comment below telling me what your most disappointing reads were, and I'd be curious to know if any of these titles made your list as well.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I look forward to sharing my best reads of 2023 post with you all in the very near future.