Books I Wanted to Read but Didn’t Because of Negative Reviews

Hi everyone! I haven’t posted in about two weeks – maybe you have noticed, maybe you haven’t. I have mainly been spending my time studying, and when you spend the day writing assignments, you don’t really want to write even more stuff. Perhaps I should learn to manage my time better.

Anyway, I’ve had the idea for this post for a while now. Sometimes I really love the premise of a book and look forward to reading it, but sometimes the reviews start coming in and I feel discouraged about picking it up. This is what happened to most of the books on this list and it is unlikely that I will ever read them.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany and J. K. Rowling

I was initially very excited to read this book because I thought it was a new novel by J. k. Rowling. Then I heard that it was a screenplay. I don’t know about you, but I would rather watch the screenplay in action than read it. The actual screenplay is currently a play in London, and I thought it was a bit of a money-grab to release it as a screenplay. I felt a little bit duped, and decided that I didn’t need to read it, especially after I read negative reviews. The reviews made me think that I could do without reading it.

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

I really wanted to read Zenith! I love Sasha Alsberg and she is a great youtuber. In 2016, the authors released the first part to the book, which I decided to buy because it was only about $2. I didn’t actually read it; I’m not big on science-fiction, but I wanted to support Sasha Alsberg. Anyway, after Zenith came out two months ago, I kept checking the reviews to see if readers liked it. Unfortunately, the reviews on goodreads are mostly negative. Seeing as I never read science-fiction, there is not really much point in buying this book. But I probably would have bought it if it was a contemporary, so the next time a booktuber releases a contemporary/similar book, I will totally buy it.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

This book was really popular about two years ago. I considered reading it, so I read some goodreads reviews and somehow managed to find a spoiler. It told me what happened in the ending, which made me a bit weirded out. It kind of put me off reading it. I also watched the movie a few weeks back and feel no need to read the book. I thought the movie was pretty average and kind of ridiculous.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I really loved the Twilight series when I was twelve. It would have made sense for me to read The Host, but I think it was rather because my friend didn’t like it opposed to negative reviews that stopped me from reading it. I didn’t know about goodreads in 2009 (did it even exist?), so I based my judgement on one person’s opinion. Since then, I mostly hear that this is a good book and that people really enjoyed it (and are still waiting for a sequel).

The Selection series by Kiera Cass 

I was going to read The Selection series a few months ago and only just realised it completely slipped my mind. I have mostly read negative reviews of this series and I am unsure of whether I want to read it still. I’m reading less young adult these days because I find I’m not enjoying it as much, so maybe it’s best that I don’t read these books.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

I actually really want to read this book. It is the negative reviews on goodreads that is stopping me. I love the movie and have always thought that the book would be good. I’ve read another book by the author, Last Night at Chateau Marmont, which I kind of liked but disliked the ending. Maybe if I see this book for a good price in a bookstore one day I will but it. Surely it’s bound to be in an op shop?

• What is a book you avoided because of negative reviews?