END OF THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Most Disappointing Books of 2017

Before the hate mail ensues, I am a huge fan of this series; however, after the intense love affair I had with A Court of Mist and Fury, I was expecting absolute perfection with this one, especially since it was originally supposed to be the end of the series. Ultimately, for me, it was still a good book, but by no means was it what I had anticipated. I was left feeling just meh about the whole thing. Some questions still remain, which is why companion books are being developed. Nothing in young adult literature can be without a series franchise anymore. I would have liked it to wrap up on its own merits and not so conveniently for a lot of characters. Definitely still a recommended series, but no longer mind-blowing in my opinion.

Again, before the hate mail starts, don’t get me wrong, this is a really good book! I’m looking forward to continuing on with the series; however, I can’t escape from how many people recommend this book/series or absolutely swoon over it every time they talk about it! So when my book club decided to read it this year, I was super excited. Perhaps because of all the hype surrounding it and how much love people have for Inspector Gamache, I again went into this with the idea that I would be blown away and find my new favorite mystery series of all time. Ultimately though, something was just missing for me. While I still enjoyed the book and will read more in the series, my expectations were so much higher and it just never lived up to what I had set myself up for.

This is the third book in the Reilly Steel series that was the first thing I marathoned through after coming out of a really bad reading slump early in the year. I came upon the first book by accident while at my local library one day and absolutely LOVED it. I quickly got my hands on the rest, which were hard to find at the time unless you read them on Kindle. They were absolute hidden gems in the serial killer fiction world and I was hooked. Then I got to this one and was so disappointed! It was like someone else was writing this entire book. The tone and pacing had slowed way down and it took me much longer to get through. The mystery aspect wasn’t very interesting either. These books are total steals on Kindle, but at the time, I wasn’t reading a lot on that device and chose to spend the extra money on the paperback copy which was fairly expensive given that it’s not edited very well and one of those hard editions that is super stiff and inflexible, so it ended up being disappointing on a multitude of levels! Luckily, the series picks right back up to awesome levels by the next book. 

Earlier in the year, I reviewed Robyn Carr’s Any Day Now and really loved it, which you can check out HERE. I had never read anything by her before nor am I typically drawn to light romance. When I was contacted to review this one before it came out, I was ecstatic! This one however didn’t work out as well. It was still a good read, but again, my expectations were way too high. You can read my full review for more.

This book was one that was billed as more of a thriller, and while it had some elements of that, it read more as literary fiction that was so much slower and underwhelming in its end result. It was still a good read, but not something that I was left feeling amazed by nor will I read again.