I’m not usually someone who often speaks negatively of books (good luck? good taste? good recommendations from friends and fellow bloggers? who knows!) but sometimes being less than positive is unavoidable. Today I’ll be talking about some not so great books (in my opinion!) in the Nope Book Tag. Thanks so much to Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books for tagging me!
NOPE. ending: a book ending that made you go NOPE either in denial, rage, or simply because the ending was crappy.
Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. While I enjoyed this series overall, the ending was disappointingly anticlimactic, abrupt, and confusing. I had really hoped for more!
NOPE. protagonist: a main character you dislike and drives you crazy.
The main reason I disliked the popular Summer trilogy by Jenny Han was because the protagonist, Belly, was so annoying. Frustrating protagonists are a major bookish pet peeve of mine!
NOPE. pairing: a “ship” you don’t support.
Controversial opinion coming your way, folks: I’ve never been a huge fan of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. THERE. I SAID IT. Their relationship has always felt rather rushed and forced to me, especially when compared to some of the other relationships and friendships in that series.
NOPE. plot twist: a twist you didn’t see coming and didn’t like.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth. If you’ve read this trilogy, then you probably know which plot twist I’m talking about. For some reason I just didn’t feel as though it went with the rest of the series and seemed like it was just done for the shock value of it.
NOPE. genre: a genre you will never read.
I don’t generally like to say that I’ll never read something, but I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be reading any Westerns in the near future. They just don’t appeal to me at all!
NOPE. book format: book formatting you hate and avoid buying until it comes out in a different edition.
Hardcovers. I definitely prefer paperbacks (not only are they more comfortable to read and easier to carry around, but they’re also a lot cheaper), so I’ll usually wait until the paperback edition of a book comes out before buying it.
NOPE. trope: a trope that makes you go NOPE.
Insta-love and love triangles. Often these two tropes go hand in hand, which makes a book twice as annoying as it would be otherwise. Why must writers insist on using these tropes over and over and over again?
NOPE. recommendation: a book recommendation that is constantly pushed at you, that you simply refuse to read.
This is going to sound horrible (especially coming from an English major) but I always cringe a little inside whenever someone recommends something by Shakespeare to me. If you’ve read this post, then you’ll know all about my love-hate relationship with the Bard!
NOPE. cliché: a cliché or writing pet peeve that always makes you roll your eyes.
Definitely the really dramatic, obvious statements that everyone always makes fun of (example: “I let out a breath I forgot I was holding,” etc.). They’re just so unnecessary!
NOPE. love interest: the love interest that’s not worthy of being one.
Basically all of the characters in Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. This also goes along with my insta-love/love triangle aversion. Nothing about these relationships made sense to me…
NOPE. book: a book that shouldn’t have existed.
To be honest, I feel like the rest of James Dashner’s Maze Runner series could have been left unwritten. The first book was fantastic, but the rest of the series was such a disappointment. If only the first book had been longer!
NOPE. villain: a villain you would hate to cross.
So many to choose from! I think I’ll have to go with Lord Voldemort because he’s a) intimidating b) creepy and c) has the formidable skill of attracting followers to blindly do his bidding. I definitely wouldn’t want to be up against him!
NOPE. death: a character death that still haunts you.
I won’t mention the specific character because I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone, but it happened in John Green’s debut novel Looking for Alaska. So many conflicting feelings! So many unanswered questions! AGH.
NOPE. author: an author you had a bad experience reading and have decided to quit.
As much as people have told me to give her another chance, I think I’m going to have to go with Jenny Han due to my negative experience reading her Summer trilogy.
- Angela @ The cat with a book
- Joce @ Write Through the Night
- Charley @ booksandbakes1
- Emma @ Emma Reads
Thanks again to Marie for tagging me! ❤
What are your answers to these questions? What do you think of mine? Let me know in the comments section below!
Yours,
HOLLY
I think its safe to say that most people hate instal-love, they’re just so cringe >.<. I remember reading the Maze Runner a really long time ago and I could never get into it, but I did love the movies. Love this tag 🙂
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Definitely! It’s the worst!
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OMG now I know I’m not alone on Harry and Ginny. I don’t like them and I don’t think they should be together!
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A lot of people seem to feel this way too if the comments are anything to go by! 🙂 Always nice to know you’re not alone with opinions like this!
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Thank you! I hate Harry and Ginny together!
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I had no idea that so many people feel this same way! 🙂
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Ooh, I love this tag! I’m not a big fan of Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione. I agree about the end of Allegiant. It did feel like it was done for shock value.
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Right!! I feel like Allegiant could have gone in so many more interesting directions, but the path she choice was a rather easy way out of writing a complicated ending.
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I’m so happy I’m not alone re Twilight. And could not agree more re insta-love, I usually stop reading because of that.
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Glad you feel the same way! It’s always nice to know you’re not alone with opinions like this 🙂
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I totally agree with you about Harry and Ginny. It felt so weird that they ended up together. I never got them as a couple.
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Good to know that others feel this way about Harry and Ginny, too! I always feel like I’m in the slim minority with this opinion.
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Twighlight is a deffo nope I don’t know how people can read a story like that!
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I have no idea how sixth-grade me liked that series so much haha 🙂
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YAY I’m so glad you did this tag, Holly, loved reading your answers! I appreciated the romance between Harry and Ginny, but it did feel a little rush and underdeveloped compared to other relationships, that’s for sure. And I completely agree about Looking for Alaska, it is one of my favorite books, but…. all the unanswered questions and aaaaaaaaaaah, haha .
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Definitely!! Looking for Alaska will always be one of my favorites despite its rather ambiguous ending 🙂
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I totally agree about Looking for Alaska! I thought some of my questions would be answered…BUT NOPE lol
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Right!! I feel like this is a very John Green-esque problem to have haha 🙂
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I think that a love triangle CAN be done well (Wuthering Heights, The Age of Innocence, Gone With the Wind, A Tale of Two Cities). The problem is that they rarely ARE done well. Usually, it’s just one person endlessly trying to decide between Love Interest X and Love Interest Y, and going back and forth.
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True! However, even if they are done well I think it’s a shame if that’s the main plot point of a novel. There’s so much more to write about!
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Great post! I totally agree about the Maze Runner series!
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Thanks!! Glad to know I’m not the only one who feels that way.
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Yea, I’m not a fan of the Harry – Ginny pairing either.
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Good to know I’m not the only one! 🙂
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Hahaha. This is such a good idea for a tag. I love your answers too. Honestly finding out about the end of Allegiant was enough to make me go nope in advance to the book.
Also, damn love triangles 😡. Maybe if people actually managed to do them in an unpredictable and unannoying way they wouldn’t suck so much.
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I feel the same way… if I had known ahead of time about Allegiant I don’t know if I would have gone to the trouble of actually reading it either! So frustrating…
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Loved your answers! I completed agree with Harry and Ginny, and TMR books!
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Thanks!! 🙂
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oh my god this is one of my favorite tags ever. you almost never write negatively on books but you writing negatively on books = now my favorite thing ever??? thank you sm for the tag! i did it a while back but i can never complain too much about reading
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Yay I’m so glad you enjoyed this!! Usually I have really positive opinions about most of the books I read, but it’s nice to be able to rant a bit every once in a while… have to let off that extra steam sometimes! 🙂 Can’t wait to see your answers!!
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Allegiant as a book felt so different from Divergent, it’s just meh and the ending sucked! I guess it could be good if the book was well-written, but it wasn’t so the ending was pretty unimpressive.
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I felt the same way! I was definitely reading it just to finish up the series more than out of genuine enjoyment.
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Whoop! I totally second not shipping Harry and Ginny! I was so disappointed when Book 6 came out and their love story seemed to be rushed through. Not to mention, I was rooting for Luna and Harry instead, so… 😉
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Their relationship felt SO rushed!!
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What a fun book tag!! I agree that the rest of the Maze Runner series didn’t really need to exist. I actually only read the first two books but wasn’t impressed by book two, so the other books are still sitting unread on my shelf.
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Glad you agree! I feel like you make the right decision– the rest of the series isn’t really worth the time. 🙂
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Ahh, so sorry you didn’t like Summer, but I understand where you’re coming from, Belly was really immature and made some questionable decisions. Probably if I were to read it again now, I wouldn’t like it all that much, but To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is soooo cute. I definitely recommend it if you ever feel like reading a light contemporary book. Kind of agree about Ginny and Harry, never knew how exactly I felt about them.
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So many people have recommended To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before to me….. maybe I’ll give it a chance some day!
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Love this tag! And I agree with not shipping Harry and Ginny and the Allegiant plot twist! And Looking for Alaska I totally get why you have that on here.
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Thanks! So glad you feel the same way 🙂
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aahhh thanks for tagging me!!!!!!!! i loved reading this post hahah i agreed with so many of your controversial opinions 🙂
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No problem!! And thank you– it’s always nice to hear you’re not the only one with these controversial opinions 🙂
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