Ten Books That Nearly Killed Me : ft. mean books, crying readers, and typos

I will never understand why the phrase “this book was good” is generally equivalent to “this book ruined my life”.

 

 

What I don’t quite get is: is it a euphemism of sorts? Is it implied in the meaning? Or are my fellow bookish friends so very used to the fact that their emotions get wrung-out (I know I am) that we automatically associate it with goodness. Think of it like a coffee addiction of sorts.

 

(Actual footage of me getting ready for the torturous phenomenon called college courses. *shudders*)

 

But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

 

(And, side note: Am I the only one addicted to watching and re-watching that GIF above? It’s diSTRATCTING ME. Focus, Nina, why won’t you focus.)

 

Anyways.

 

As the title of this post has helpfully implied, today I’ll be talking about torturous books. And this goes both ways: the good torture (AKA suspenseful suspense, emotional emotions, tense tensions, etc) or bad torture (AKA a plot moving at a snail’s pace, characters that are as likable as my aforementioned college courses, or weird formats that burn my eyes).

 

Today I will be also be debuting the fabulous thing called the “How-Much-Did-This-Book-Kill-Nina-O-Meter”, or the HMDTBKNOM for short. The empty doily-thingy will be filled with the appropriate number of skulls corresponding to how much I have been slayed by the book in question. For the positives: the more skulls, the better. For the negatives: the more skulls, the worse. It’s very scientifically accurate. National Geographic used it once, under my permission. Trust me on this.

 

And oh! Today I’ll be joining up with (for my first time, wooo!) Top Ten Tuesday ! The prompt is Ten Books That Were A Chore To Get Through with my own weirdly positive spin, so I’m making it into “5 Books That Killed Me Positively, and 5 Books That Killed Me Negatively”.

 

Let’s do this.

 

 

1. A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

 

 

 

When I everyone I love is being stabbed, threatened to be stabbed, possessed, or threatened to be possessed, I GET ANXIOUS, OKAY? Plus, Schwab does not play nice with her characters. I wasn’t even a chapter in before things got reeeally out of hand, and I just – I don’t know, okay? All I know is that this book was NOT good for my blood pressure. Or fragile emotions. Or general well-being.

 

What is the HMDTBKNOM reading?

 

We’re starting strong, aren’t we? 5 skulls/ 5

 

 

2. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a brief summary of this book.

 

Maybe Illuminae has the highest death toll of any book I’d read? Maybe I am protective of my MCs? Maybe I am freaked out by zombie-stories-set-in-the-cold-hard-blackness-of-outer-space-where-everyone-and-everything-dies? Maybe I also don’t like abundant typos in my books? Maybe. But we can never be sure.

 

The reading on the HMDTBKNOM says:

 

4 skulls/5 seems a bit right, doesn’t it?

 

 

3. The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

 

 

I’d probably blame the feeling of imminent doom on the fact that this is a war book. An actual war book. Meaning: battle tactics. Psychological warfare. And open battle where people gut each others’ horses and cut down others’ limbs while screaming YAAAAARGH! Yeah. Not quite soothing to the nerves, is it? I didn’t think so either. But at least Marie gives us time to breathe between one battle scene to the next. But stiiiiill.

 

Meter, what do you say?

 

4. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

 

 

(ME trying to keep up with the sociopathic genius that is Kaz and all his back-up plans and back-ups of back-up plans *cries*).

 

Okay, so. If there’s one thing CK (not Calvin Klein, mind you) taught me, is that I AM NOT AN INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEING. I always thought myself smart, and Leigh just went “ha! you thought) and confused the ever-loving hell out me in CK. I had to repeatedly flip back, see what plan went wrong where, and then go back and try to discern what the heck Kaz is doing instead of Plan G because NINA IS LOST AND NEEDS SOMEONE TO KEEP UP WITH HER. How inconsiderate.

 

Roll in my meter, please.

 

2 skulls/5. Not very emotional damage was done, moreΒ  that.. cognitive shortcomings were brought into light. Still though. CK nearly killed me, so that’s that.

 

 

5. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

(And here we see a picture of ME, not two pages into Girl in Pieces).

 

Okay, so this book might be the odd one out on this list because the level of emotional destruction in this one was so high that I .. straight-up DNFed it. Why? Because it bordered on just plain graphic, and I am somehow the person that can endure bloody stabby scenes, but not scenes like the one in this book. Don’t ask me why (because I honestly do not know), but that’s just how I’m wired, apparently.

 

What does the HMDTBKNOM say?

 

Oh my god the book broke my meter IT BROKE MY METER, MY UNBREAKABLE METER, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE AAAAAAAHHHHHHH –

 

 

*sweeping shards of my broken meter off the floor*

 

*gazes solemnely*

 

I bought a new meter.

 

For the next round.

 

Let’s do this.

 

 

 

1. The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

 

 

Oh no. Oh no no NO. We have a severe insta-hate relationship, this book and I. Severe. In fact, if you want me to leave a room, crank up the audiobook of this thing on high. I guarantee you, I shall flee from the room clutching my ears like my life depends on it. Make no mistake.

 

*shudders*

 

HMDTBKNOM, what is the reading?

 

You shouldn’t be surprised.

 

 

 

2. Heartless by Marissa Meyer

 

 

(My reaction to this book’s shenanigans, trying hard not to roll my eyes. Or fall asleep.)

 

Oh, Marissa Meyer. I know you’re capable of better than this. Waaaay better. I do not know what happened here, but it would be so cordially appreciated should you not resort to formulizing stories in this fashion anywhere in the near future (there, I even said it nicely).

 

3 skulls. Not too shabby. But about as underwhelming as biting into a cream puff and finding no cream.

 

*squints up at last simile*

 

Okay, I hate cream puffs. What was I thinking?

 

 

 

3. Caraval by Stephanie Garber

 

 

Okay, I get that this is a severly unpopular opinion, but guys. Guys. I couldn’t do it. I tried to love it, and couldn’t. I cried from the effort of trying to force myself to like this book. It was also my 2nd most anticipated read of 2017 (after the flawless ACoL), and it turned out to be so anticlimactically bad that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

 

Forgive me, friends. But it’s a no from me.

 

Yeah. Seems about right.

 

4. I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin

 

 

This was actually a recent DNF from me, unfortunately. Between the ambition-less plot and the horrendously unlikable characters, I gave up. Sorry not sorry.

 

Plus, that cover is hideous. And too similar to the cover of Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner (which I seriously need to get around to reading).

 

Has anyone seen my meter? Come on, I just bought a new one honestly that thing isn’t cheap –

 

Ah. There it is.

 

 

 

5. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

 

 

I am conflicted on this one.

 

Please mind my unpopular opinion, but I hated Shatter Me. Feverently. And yet, it was one of those books that I know I shouldn’t love (technically speaking) but I kind of .. do? I mean, no, I’ll never read another book of that series, but it’s amusing. Come on, guys.

 

HMDTBKNOM, what do you say?

 

Shatter Me killed me softly, I guess you’d say.

 

 

 

 

So, let’s talk! Add to my list.
Are there books that
killed you emotionally? Not-so-emotionally?
Your last DNF? And oh! a fun one: DID MY METER GLITCH
on any one of these ratings? I’m all ears.

 

 

12 thoughts on “Ten Books That Nearly Killed Me : ft. mean books, crying readers, and typos

  1. I do appreciate the way you brought up how and why those books broke your meter,but please get a stronger one next time! love it!

  2. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I think I finally found someone who didn’t like The Sun is Also a Star, Shatter Me and Caraval. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WORLD! I haaaaaaaaaaaate Insta-love! It’s nonsensical and unrealistic. I just cringed at the romance in Shatter Me and I was spoilt for the “love triangle,” which made me cringe even more. Same with Caravel, I hate (what’s that guy’s name? Jason? Jamie?) as he was so freaking controlling and acted like he was the best of them all. It also tried way too hard to be “whimsical” and “unpredictable” that it turned into a confusing mess.

    And yes, Illuminae freaking broke my heart into so many pieces, Gemina was a bit tamer but still, the feels man. Obsidio is going to shatter my soul and send it into tartarus. I need to read A Gathering of Shadows and a Conjuring of Light so bad.

    AMAZING POST! *claps for eternity*

    Rekha @ Million Book Mill

    1. YOU ARE SOOOO WELCOME. Those books, gah! I’m glad I’m not alone in my (very) unpopular opinion! Caraval’s love interest (his name is Julian πŸ˜‰) was quite more of an archetype than a character, honestly. And the plot line was supposed to be plot-twisty but it was just .. *shakes head*

      And oh! I still need to read Gemina, but AGoS and ACoL are just PERFECTION 😍. Reeeead them so we can yELL ABOUT ARE DESTROYED EMOTIONS TOGETHER #HealthyBookwormHobbies
      #KindOf

  3. I love this post – I think it’s so important to talk about books you didn’t enjoy too. Also love the DNF concept, there are so many amazing books in the world, don’t waste time reading one you hate! Great post, also your photos are AMAZING xxx

    1. Oh, I’m glad! 😊 And yes, there are definitely some books (*side-eyes I Hate Everyone But You* ) where stopping makes much more sense that needlessly pushing on – it’s a bit more .. fair to the book to simply DNF it when that happens. (And thank you! 😊)

  4. I relate to the HMDTKNOM strongly. I do agree that Shatter Me was a slow death and I have no intention of continuing the series any time soon (ughhh that love triangleee), Craval was painful and I CANNOT understand the hype train AT ALL and Heartless bored me to death and I never finished it soooo. ALL THE ADORATION FOR THIS POST!!
    Illumiane and Crooked Kingdom played with my emotions and left me heartbroken and I WANT MOREEE! Why do we do this to ourselves?!??
    This is such an amazing and creative post <3!!

    1. I’m so glad you like the HMDTBKNOM because that was .. interesting to set up for sure πŸ˜† And oh my goodness, Shatter Me was an absolute mess and not continuing the series is probably the best option in our case! And oh, Heartless is something else entirely. I mean, it’s Marissa Meyer? Who is Queen of Retellingsβ„’?? So I don’t know what happened there.

      And Crooked Kingdom is that one book that managed to combine so much emotions, I couldn’t even begin to sort them out πŸ’œ

  5. Omg I’m just about to start I Have Everyone But You.πŸ˜‚ SAVE ME THEN. hahha. *glances at it dubiously* But like I’m strangely relieved you didn’t love The Sun Is Also A Star either. It was so pretentious, I thought. Like just…gah. Nope. The instalove wasn’t working for me either. (Also Daniel was a bit stalkery?!) And Heartless was disappointing.

    OMG ILLUMINAE AND CROOKED KINGDOM AND ACOL KILLED ME IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAYS TOO. β€οΈπŸ’”

    1. Oh my goodness GOOD LUCK, CAIT. I reeeeally hope you end up liking I Hate Everyone But You more than I did, but in case you don’t .. well. You won’t be alone there πŸ™ˆ
      And oh, The Sun Is Also a Star. That one annoys me, big time. Daniel was so creepily stubborn – like, no, you don’t run after someone you just met yelling, “But I CAN make you love me!” That is just .. disturbing. And weird. πŸ™„

      And ACoL made me feel waaaay to much emotion?? Like, isn’t there a limit somewhere?? And if so, it has totally crossed it and I WANT A REFUND I NEVER ASKED FOR THESE EMOTIONS 😭 (my definition of a “good book” scares me sometimes)

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