Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Read Because of the Hype

It’s Tuesday again, so let’s put together a list, shall we? This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about hyped books and which we have read or apparently avoided to read because of the hype. I’m very sensitive to hypes, so this topic is quite interesting!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

  1. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – Yes, I’ve read this one and I enjoyed it. Yarros is one of the authors whose books I most likely end up reading anyway.
  2. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara – There was such a buzz around this book close to publication and as I found A Little Life such a 5-star read, I was curious for this book as well. Unfortunately for me, this was not worth the hype. I was bored and didn’t really get what the author was doing with this chonker of a novel.
  3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Yes, even have reread it.
  4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – Of course I enjoyed this read!
  5. Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko – So many people were raging about this book and I therefore wanted to give this one a go. I’m all for diversifying my reading, but I was underwhelmed and never read the second book.
  6. Twisted Love by Ana Huang – I was surprised by the enjoyment I got from this reading experience, but this didn’t apply to all books in the series. I keep postponing reading Twisted Lies, because I didn’t really enjoy Twisted Hate that much.
  7. Book Lovers by Emily Henry – This book was utterly disappointing, it felt like an exact copy of Beach Read to me. However, I’ve still tried Happy Place, and this one was a little better but not exciting either.
  8. Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney – I think Rooney’s books are not for me, they feel too formulaic to me. I had the feeling these characters and this story could have been Normal People, which I read as well. I’m certainly not interested in reading Intermezzo.
  9. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover – I actually read this back in 2018, before BookTok hyped this one up. Back then, I thought it was really good, but I didn’t have the reading experience I do have now. So, naturally it would have been good because of this. Now, years later, I don’t think it’s this good, albeit for the controversy surrounding this author. Don’t get me wrong, the story addresses such an important topic, but I’ve read better books overall.
  10. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – I never intended to even read this book, but I got it as a present, so I did. Well, I’ve never been so bored in my life. This is way too slow for my liking! And yet again, this author is quite controversial.

I’ve read much more books because of the hype, but I narrowed it down to just these 10. What books have you read because of the hype? Or what books did you avoid for the exact same reason?


Comments

21 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Read Because of the Hype”

  1. Definitely agree on Sally Rooney, I think I’m just too old now – I have a feeling in my 20s I’d have loved her but they make my eyes roll in my 30s lol

    I’m enjoying reading everyone’s answers to this prompt, it’s providing a good barometer to see how preferences align!

  2. While I’ve heard of all of these, I have read none. Some are because of their genre (I’m not a fantasy fan), and others because I have no interest in them. For me, hyped books are ones I tend to avoid because, to me, they aren’t as good as they claim to be.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/lets-hype-these-books-ten-books-deserving-more-hype/

  3. Oh, wow, that’s a great endorsement for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I clearly pay no attention because I had no idea there was any controversy around Colleen Hoover.

  4. I laughed at you saying Emily Henry’s book felt like an exact copy xD I’m pretty sure they all are, essentially, with just slightly different premises. It’s on my list too but as one I ended up liking! Hey, I know what to expect from them, right? 😀 A lot of the ones you have are ones I’ve dealt with as well though

    Here’s my post for this week as well!

  5. Fourth Wing has been on several lists this week.

  6. I didn’t know that the author Delia Owens is controversial! I will have to go read about that!

  7. I am also susceptible to hype, at least as far as buying books goes…whether I get around to reading them is another story. Although I’ve read four of the books from your list (two for book club meetings). I hope you have a great week.

  8. Great list! I really enjoyed Evelyn Hugo and have been thinking I should re-read it sometime soon!

  9. I read Book Lovers because of the hype and found it ok. I have got a couple of others just in case they are better…

    Fourth Wing is on my TBR pile.

    I love the ACOTAR series but I read the first one maybe a year before I got to the second one.

    Have a great week!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
    My post:
    https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/10/01/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-read-because-of-the-hype/

  10. I bought a copy of To Paradise after reading A Little Life but I haven’t read it yet. It’s….very big lol. I also did not like Beautiful World, Where Are You? and I don’t think Sally Rooney is for me. That book was so self indulgent.

  11. I tried Raybearer too because I was curious. I ended up liking it though.

  12. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was a favourite too. I really should reread like you have, but I just have never gotten around to it.

  13. Great list, Laurie! Emily Henry is a always a hit or miss with me. I enjoyed Book Lovers and People We Meet On Vacation, but Happy Place and Funny Story were awful. Have a great Wednesday!

  14. I read a couple of books also around 2018 or before by Colleen Hoover, but I was not completely convinced, I had It Ends with Us pending for many years until I decided to unhaul it. If I didn’t read it when I was a young adult, I’m not going to read it now.

  15. Poinsettia Avatar
    Poinsettia

    I tend to avoid hype, or at least wait until it dies down before I read the book. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

  16. omgosh I agree with you about Where the Crawdads Sing so much! This is one of the rare occurrences where I thought the movie was better than the book, because the pacing was faster and I wasn’t as bored 😂

    1. I only rent the movie for the title song LOL

  17. FOURTH WING has been on most of the TTT lists I’ve seen so far this week. Funny enough, it’s one that I bought because of hype even though I’m usually pretty immune to hype and it’s not even in a genre I like. I haven’t read it yet and I’m still not really sure I will. It will likely end up in my Little Free Library instead. Ha ha.

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  18. I haven’t read any of these. Glad you liked some.

  19. Fourth Wing, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and ACOTAR are all books I’ve read and loved too! 🙂

  20. I find Emily Henry’s books very enjoyable but not very memorable somehow. Sally Rooney’s books are good, I think, but also not for me. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid though!

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