“I’d always welcomed war, but in battle my passion rose unbidden.
First line in Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
The title of this post is pretty self-explanatory: I’m removing books from my TBR today. If you’ve been reading my wrap-ups this year, you know I haven’t been loving that many books and that’s actually continuing a trend from 2021. I don’t want all books to be 5-star reads, but I think it’s time I remove some books from my TBR that I’m sure aren’t going to be 5 stars because I also don’t need that many 3-star reads. Scouring my list of books I want to read, I found ten books that I no longer want to read, and they seemed to fall into two categories so let’s look at them.
The Hyped YA Releases That Lost Their Magic
Some YA books get a lot of attention around their release date and all the hype sometimes got to me. However, if you wait a year or two, it turns out it was all marketing, and most people don’t actually love the book.
Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan
I don’t specifically remember what made me put this on my TBR but after reading the synopsis, I know for a fact it was this line: “A prince in danger must decide who to trust.” Like, that’s my favorite trope right there.
It was a release that was very hyped but I just remember so many people not liking it after it came out, and it was the characters especially they had a problem with. I was stubborn because it was dark and marketed as enemies-to-lovers, but now three years later and with an average rating of 3.57, I’m admitting to myself that I’ll probably hate this book.
Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano
This one has a very interesting premise as seasons are personified and winter and spring are in love because why not. There was a lot of comparing this book to the animated movie Rise of the Guardians and the Jack Frost character in that, and yes, I wanted to read that.
Now though, I’m very worried about the average rating of 3.48. It’s not that I rely completely on the average ratings when deciding on a book, but for YA books, I’ve often found the low ratings to be accurate. And I’m not that into the star-crossed lovers plotline if I’m being honest, so I’d only be reading it to see how this whole seasons-as-people thing worked.
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
I might have added this to my TBR only because of the cover. It’s described as Les Mis meets Six of Crows, and I’m not actually that interested in Les Mis. I’ve only watched the movie but it left me with no desire to read the original or a retelling of it. This book also seems to focus on a relationship between two sisters and I know that’s gonna bore me to tears. And it’s not like it has great reviews either.
The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos
This one has an average rating of 3.34… How is that even possible for a YA book with a m/m romance? I’m so shocked. On Goodreads, I can see people have shelved this as both fantasy and magical realism and that could explain some of it. It might actually be that this book is magical realism but for people expecting fantasy, magical realism can feel like badly written fantasy. With a cover like that though, I would also have expected fantasy. And with a rating that low, I just can’t imagine it would be a 5-star book for me.
The How-Did-They-Get-Onto-My-TBR-In-The-First-Place?
The title of this category could also be Line-was-being-optimistic-but-now-that-they’ve-been-on-her-TBR-for-years-she-realizes-she’s-not-going-to-read-them.
Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater and Morgan Beem
This is a graphic novel about the DC Comics character Swamp Thing, and yes, it is only on my TBR because of Maggie Stiefvater. I’m not interested in Swamp Thing. I could still read it as a graphic novel would be very quick, but since neither my library nor Scribd has it, I would have to buy it, and I’m not going to do that.
Sherwood by Meagan Spooner
I don’t know how I read this line in the synopsis: “a kick-***, gender-flipped feminist retelling.” and thought I would love this book. I rarely enjoy female protagonists, especially not when they seem to be summed up in the words “kick-***” and “feminist”. What were you thinking, Line?
Guardian by Alex London
This is the sequel to Proxy which I actually really enjoyed but it’s been years since I read it. I would have to reread it which I, at a time, figured couldn’t be that hard because I own the book and I felt I could very easily finish this duology. It’s now been three years since I had that thought, and I’m obviously not going to do it.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
I don’t read memoirs. I just got caught up in the hype around this when it came out, so maybe this could be the one memoir I did read. Almost four years later, I haven’t once felt inclined to pick it up, so it’s going off the TBR.
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
This was recommended to me by my brother who doesn’t read books but apparently, there’s a video game based on this? But since my brother and I no longer talk, I don’t see myself ever getting to this.
Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward
Reading the synopsis for this one now, it sounds like the most generic epic fantasy book ever. It sounds like the book is just one big war with battles all the time and then the big climax is just a bigger battle. I don’t read such books anymore. It’s also huge so I just can’t see myself ever dedicating the time to it.
It wasn’t at all hard to find these ten books, so I might have to do this again in a year’s time to see which books I’m obviously not prioritizing. By removing these, I’ve gotten my official TBR down to 58 books (although series are only represented by one book). For now, though, are there any of these you are sad to see go? Let me know if you’ve read any of them and what you thought.
First Line Reader 
This post has made me super relieved I don’t have an official TBR-list anywhere – otherwise it would end up being cluttered with books just like these, I would probably never end up reading them, and then I would feel very guilty for not following through with my plans… Having vague ideas on what I could potentially read and only considering something as part of my TBR once I actually have access to a copy works so much better! 🤣 (Even if I do end up forgetting about a ton of books I was initially interested in because I didn’t write them down…)
As for your list, I think you’ve probably gathered that I am not particularly excited about any of the books on it, either 😅 Well, with the exception of Becoming, which I really enjoyed ( I do like to pick up memoirs every once in a while, though, so I still wouldn’t necessarily recommend it if you don’t like the genre…), and Metro 2033, which my Russian teacher said was a staple Russian science-fiction novel (This, obviously, immediately piqued my interest – I fully intend to read this in Russian once my language skills are good enough! And since I am now at the point where I understand enough to get upset about Stranger Things’ not entirely accurate subtitling, maybe I’m slowly getting there? 🙃). But the rest – No thanks! 😂 That Sherwood description already had me rolling my eyes big time; like you, I’ve heard a ton of negative things about Wicked Saints; and although I liked Proxy back in the day, I have never reread it, have forgotten almost everything, and, like you, just don’t see myself getting back to it. In fact, that book is currently in the huge pile of books on my floor that I’m trying to unhaul 😅 And the rest of these books don’t exactly have me intrigued, either… So yeah, I definitely think it’s smart to make room for some better stuff!
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Without a TBR-list, I would forget everything or spend so much energy trying to remember what I need to read. Even with a list, I have the tendency to pick up the most recent additions to it, so I feel like there must be gems just sitting on that list waiting for me to pay attention to them. I do also feel that guilt of not following through with my plans for these books, which is also why I feel like I’ve become extremely picky about what actually gets added to that official list. I’ve just made mistakes with these books 😅
And I guess I should have known that you’d want to read Metro 2033. I just remember that when my brother talked about it, I asked if it was more about the characters or the plot, and then he looked at me all funny because why would I want a book that was only about characters 🙃 So maybe I’ve never actually wanted to read it and there’s also something about you saying it was recommended by a teacher that confirms me in that choice 😅
I was actually laughing at the Sherwood description because of that ‘kick***’. Like, she’s a kickass but she can’t say ass? 😂😂 She sounds terrifying!
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Well, there’d better also be focus on the characters in Metro 2033, because who wants plot when you could have characters instead? 😇 My Russian teacher generally had some pretty trustworthy literature opinions, though, so I am hoping she’s right about this one…
And I actually thought you might’ve censored that Sherwood synopsis for a second there because the whole idea of using that word only to leave off its “oh so inappropriate” second half is absolutely ludicrous 🙈🙄😂 Like, if you think that word is so terrible, why use it? You’re right, it makes me absolutely terrified of this protagonist! 😁🤣
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I read The Court of Miracles about a year back and it wasn’t my cup of tea—I just remember it being rather boring? glad we’re both disinterested in it though lol
great post!
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Well, I’m sorry you didn’t love Court of Miracles but also glad you’re confirming that I’m making the right decision 😄 Thank you!
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I am almost done with legacy of ash and as an epic fantasy reader, I find it to be quite interesting. I feel like Ward does a great job at character building. In comparison to Sandersons stormlight archive series it does a better job. But then again the cast system is a little different. There is a great deal of magical powers at play but the history is kind of rocky and cloudy. He kind of fails to instill this history of where it comes from. Where stormlight archive is hardcore established history… in my opinion. But I will probably keep going with the sequels.
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That’s interesting to know. I haven’t heard that many people talk about that book, so I don’t know much about it besides the synopsis. I’m not a fan of Sanderson’s character work so I’ll definitely believe Legacy of Ash is better on that front. But no one can compare with Sanderson on the worldbuilding and I don’t think a book necessarily needs to. I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
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