Least Favourite Books Of 2020

 We've talked about my favourite books of 2020, but of course there were some books that were just not for me. I don't usually talk about my least favourites of the year. However, I figured just because these books were not something I enjoyed, others might like everything I don't so why not still talk about them. I have five books that I would consider my least favourites of the year. These are not necessarily bad books, they were just, as I said, not for me. 

1. Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

I am most definitely in the minority for this one! I have seen nothing but rave reviews for this one but, unfortunately, this was my least favourite book of the year. This book and I just didn't click. It follows Rob, a former popular lacrosse player who becomes a social pariah after his father is caught embezzling funds from people in town, and Maegan, an overachiever with a secret who's sister has come home from college pregnant. The two are paired together for a school project and develop a bit of an enemies to lovers relationship while helping each other through their personal problems. I hated these characters! They were just generally unbearable to me, but also made awful decisions. They were trying really hard to prove they're respective scandals do not make them terrible people, and in doing so became terrible people. I was so infuriated by the comparison between Maegan and Rob's situations. Rob's father's failed suicide attempt has left their lives completely changed and Rob is struggling with the fact his life has essentially fallen apart. Maegan made a mistake a year ago and has a pregnant sister, yet her situation is considered comparable to Rob's. I appreciate that everyone is dealing with different situations and one person's struggles do not negate the struggles of another. However, Maegan whining to Rob about how hard her life was despite knowing the situation he is living in just didn't sit right with me. I also didn't really love the plot and the big plot twists were not surprising to me. I have really enjoyed a Brigid Kemmerer book before, so it was disappointing that I didn't enjoy this one.

2. Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

I really thought this was one I was going to love! This follows Nadia and Daniel who regularly take the same train to work. When Daniel notices Nadia one day, he decides to put a missed connections note in the newspaper and a story of near misses ensues. This premise sounded so intriguing to me but ended up being a bit disappointing. The main characters were really annoying, and had me wanting to DNF pretty early on, and the side characters just felt so under-developed that they were irrelevant. It also made me a little uncomfortable that Daniel knew a bit about Nadia, while she had no idea who the notes were from. It just felt kind of creepy. My biggest issue, though, was the near miss situation. I obviously knew that would be part of the story going into it, but it went on for far too long for me. The story ended up dragging when the near misses went on for so long and I just ended up getting bored. Again, this one was definitely just a me thing. Everyone else seems to really enjoy this book but it wasn't for me.

3. Evidence Of The Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is a short story told in the form of letters by one of the most popular authors of 2019. After a woman finds letters to her husband from the woman he is having an affair with, she writes to that woman's husband to inform him. The two then begin writing to each other and strike up a friendship through letters. This was boring and I didn't find it to be anything special. I knew where it was going straight away, nothing was surprising about it at all and I didn't find the writing to be anything special. I just don't understand the point of this short story. I will likely try something else from Taylor Jenkins Reid but this wasn't great for me.

4. Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

This is the first book in the Heather Wells series and it was on my TBR for years, which makes it even more disappointing that it made this list. This is about Heather Wells, a former teen pop sensation who now finds herself working in a college dorm. When some of the dorm residents start dying and the police believe them all to be accidents, Heather enlists the help of her flatmate, who happens to be a private detective and the brother of her ex-boyfriend, to try and solve the mystery. Oh and her ex-boyfriend is also famous and shows up throughout the book to add to the drama. In case you couldn't tell from that synopsis, this book was a lot! It is a rom-com with a mystery and a main character who has a lot going on. It tried to be too many things and didn't really succeed all that well. The mystery was quite interesting but I really didn't care for any other part of the plot. The writing was also very much not for me and I found it incredibly irritating for the most part. The whole book was very juvenile and over-dramatic and just too much for me.

5. One Family Christmas by Bella Osbourne

I'm so sad that I have a Christmas book on this list! Christmas is my favourite time of year so I typically love reading books set during Christmas. This follows Lottie who wants to throw one last family Christmas in the manor house she grew up in after the death of her grandmother. However, when her family arrives, chaos ensues. This is another one that was just too over-dramatic and juvenile. Everything that could go wrong did and it just made it annoying instead of funny. Every other aspect of the plot was just completely overshadowed by the dramatics. The book also deals with grief and has a sweet second chance romance, which both could have been really great aspects of the plot but didn't get the chance to be. This one definitely wasn't my thing.

Those were my five least favourite books of 2020. Like I said many times, these are not necessarily bad books, they just weren't right for me. Just because I didn't enjoy them doesn't mean others won't. If one of the books I mentioned happens to be a favourite of yours, that's great and I'm glad you loved it.

Have you read any of these books? Did you love them?

Sophie :)