I can’t believe it is finally time for my end of the year posts, but here we are. And today I am talking about the books that disappointed me the most this year. These are not my least favorite books of the year – I’ll have a separate post up soon. And if you’ve been following this blog all year, you know there is some tea. But this is a list of the books I was excited to read – maybe even expected to be favorites – and sadly didn’t love.

We’ve all encountered books like these. There are quite a few on this list by authors I’d loved before but weren’t impressed by this time around. And there are books I’d heard a lot about and was convinced I’d really enjoy… and just didn’t. Either way, is is disappointing. There aren’t really that many of them this year, which is nice. Though to be fair, I didn’t read as many books this year as I usually do, so that might have something to do with it. Or maybe I was better at choosing my books this year, who knows?

These are the books that disappointed me the most in 2022 (in the order in which I read them):

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Back in January, I definitely had a “new year, new me!” phase. I wanted to read books for self improvement and work on being a better person. So I picked up this book, which the internet assured me was amazing and would change my life and magically turn me into the successful person I could be. And… it did not. I honestly didn’t find any of the information in this book particularly groundbreaking or insightful. A lot of it seemed fairly common sense to me. And most of the “magical, life-changing habits” in this book were things that I’d tried and found didn’t work for me.

To be completely fair to this book, I found out there was a reason I was failing at having good habits and being productive. I was diagnosed with ADHD about a month after reading this. Now that I know more about that and can look back, I don’t think this book is very ADHD friendly. It’s definitely aimed at neurotypical people. Which is fine. I know a lot of people have found this book helpful.

But apart from that, I really didn’t find this book to be worth the money. It was a little preachy at times, and I don’t think it offered anything that you can’t find anywhere else. Or even think up yourself. Because seriously, nothing in this book is crazy groundbreaking. I can see this book being useful for people who find it helpful when other people teach them things. Overall, it was just a meh book. Probably a 2.5-star read for me. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Then we have this book, which is one of the few books on this list by an author I hadn’t read before. However, you all know I love dark, weird books. And this one was supposed to be dark and weird. It’s about a woman living a perfect life with her perfect husband, who she knows she was made for. The synopsis has to include the word “perfect” like sixteen times. But then strange things start happening.

It totally gave me Stepford Wives vibes, which I’m absolutely into. Now I can say this book is much more Don’t Worry Darling, which I didn’t love. But what made this book so disappointing was the ending. There was a point towards the end where I saw where it was headed and thought “please let there be a twist that isn’t that one.” But no. It was that twist. And I don’t know. It kind of cheapened the book for me. Which was sad because I liked the writing and the dark, creepiness of it so much. I didn’t hate it. But this is definitely not the perfect book.

This Might Hurt by Stephanie Wrobel

Back in 2020, I read Stephanie Wrobel’s debut novel, Darling Rose Gold. Which is based on the Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard story (if you like true crime, definitely look it up). And I really enjoyed it! It was intriguing and slightly creepy, with a twist ending that was so incredibly satisfying. So I was definitely looking froward to this one, which involves two sisters and a maybe cult. The synopsis reminded me a bit of The Project by Courtney Summers, which I really liked (though I know I’m in the minority there).

I was expecting a creepy cult thriller going into this book. But I was so. bored. This book is a bit over three-hundred pages, but I swear it felt twice as long. I know authors like to slow down the pace of thrillers to up the creepy factor. Which does work sometimes. Other times, your readers are so bored by the time the action happens, they don’t care at all. Which is what happened to me here. In retrospect, I probably should have just DNF’d this one. But I don’t like doing that for books I’ve received review copies of. Which leads me to the next book on this list…

In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power

I absolutely loved Rory Power’s Wilder Girls and Burn Our Bodies Down. I read very little YA nowadays, but Rory Power’s YA books will always be an exception. That’s not what this book is. Honestly, I was a little apprehensive seeing that she’d branched out and started an adult high fantasy series. But I was really hoping she could turn it into something amazing and weird, since that’s what she did with her other books. Sadly, this book was another fail for me.

This book isn’t bad. And to be fair, it’s been a while since I’ve delved into high fantasy (just haven’t been in the mood for it at all recently). But I was just so bored. I didn’t care about a single one of these characters and was ready for it to be over the entire time I was reading it. I will absolutely read more of Rory Power’s YA books, but I have zero interest in continuing this series. Which I’m extra disappointed about because not only was I excited about this book, I planned on buying a finished copy (I had a digital advanced copy) if I liked it because the cover is gorgeous. But I can’t justify this book sitting on my shelves, sadly.

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

One of my reading goals for this year was to read more books about trans characters and/or by trans authors. So when I heard about this debut book, I added it to my list immediately. It’s about a gang of trans women living in a dystopian world where the men have basically become zombies and a gang of murderous TERFs are out to get them. But this book was a fail. Which is so sad because I wanted to support a trans woman author and advocate for more books like this one.

This book was super controversial earlier this year, so I just want to say up front: the reasons I didn’t like this book had absolutely nothing to do with it being queer or trans. Or the fact that the head of the TERFs – who happens to be a VERY famous author – is killed. (Though to be honest, that kind of felt like a cheap publicity stunt to me.) I had a hard time reviewing this book because I didn’t want to contribute to the negative review bombing by anti-trans reviewers. Seriously, after I finished this book and realized I really didn’t like it, it felt like I was sitting on a powder keg.

But I always try to be honest in my reviews, and this book was a hard no. I understand this was meant to be shocking and “edgy” and violent. I think extreme violence or gore or language in books can be used to make a point, but this book just wouldn’t stop. There are multiple extremely graphic and brutal rape scenes in this book. The author inflicts an insane amount of violence on the female characters in this book (both trans and cis), hits the point where it feels like overkill, and then keeps going. The author took a premise that could have been interesting and fun, and ruined it for the sake of shock value.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

I was so looking forward to this book! I read Freshwater back when it came out, and was planning on reading The Death of Vivek Oji since I hadn’t gotten around to it yet (though I still expect to like that one). And perhaps this book ending up on this list was a little bit my fault. I saw the author and the title and picked it up. And I don’t think I totally understood that this book doesn’t just have romance in it, it is a romance novel. Which I do enjoy from time to time, so I didn’t have a problem with it.

My problem with this book was… well, almost everything else. I know the author pushed back a bit on the negative reviews. But I kind of understand where they were coming from – this book was not at all marketed as a spicy romance, which threw me off since I was not expecting it. Once I realized – which was pretty quick since there is a steamy scene in chapter one – I wasn’t mad about it. But the accusation that people just didn’t like Black romance novels is kind of bs. I adore Rebekah Weatherspoon and Talia Hibbert, and even did an entire blog post about reading just romance novels by Black authors. (If you read that post you’ll know I also hated some of those books, too.)

But what ruined this for me was how much I hated the main character. She’s kind of an awful person, and the teensy amount of character growth we get is only to justify her actions. The storyline itself made me mad, and I don’t think I would have read this book had I known where it was going. Any romance novel where the happily ever after makes me mad and the sex scenes make me cringe is not one I’m going to love. I’m extra salty about this one because I disliked it so much that it ended up tanking the reading experiment post I had planned around this book.

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

Finally, we have a book that, while still disappointing, is much less drama. I loved Exit West when I read it a few years ago. And am very excited that it’s being adapted into a movie with Riz Ahmed. So when I saw that Mohsin Hamid was releasing a new book this year, I knew I had to read it. Especially since the premise was so intriguing. It’s about a man who wakes up one day who finds that his skin has suddenly become dark. Basically The Metamorphosis, but about race. Yes, please!

But this book just didn’t quite do it for me. I was expecting a lot of social commentary based on the premise of this book, but it didn’t really go there. It felt more like a story about the main character than it was about race. Which isn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Overall, it was fine. Not bad, but nowhere close to Exit West.

And that’s it for my most disappointing books of 2022. Hopefully my reading in the next few weeks goes well and there aren’t any books to be added to this list! Stay tuned for my lease favorite books, as well as all my favorites for 2022.

What were your most disappointing reads this year?

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