Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I Avoid Reading And Why

Hi and welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday post! Just like last week, I’m going rogue this week as the original topic sounds way too hard. I can’t come up with any unpopular bookish opinions! So, I checked the archives again and I choose the topic for September 9, 2019: Books On My TBR I Avoid Reading and Why. So, it’s time to spill some tea I guess!

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. A Promised Land by Barack Obama – I have no idea how I got this one, but I have the ebook. However, it’s a chonker and I’m not the biggest nonfiction reader out there. So, I keep avoiding it. Will I ever read it? I’m not sure at this point.
  2. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender – I have this on my TBR for forever, but I keep forgetting about it. Not anymore, nope. I will finally be reading this one soon I suppose!
  3. Code of Honor by Alan Gratz – I have this book on my TBR for years as well, but I keep looking for the longer books so I can catch up on my reviews and therefore keep forgetting about it.
  4. Till Death by Jennifer L. Armentrout – I got this book as a present many years ago, but the reviews aren’t that great, so I keep avoiding it.
  5. Golden Throne by Julie Johnson – This is book 2 in the “Forbidden Royals” series and whereas I really enjoyed the first book, I avoid picking up the others. This is not a case of plainly avoiding, but just prioritizing other books it seems.
  6. Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab – I read This Savage Song years ago but found it so so. I therefore keep avoiding the sequel. I own it, but I think I removed it from my reading tracker apps.
  7. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab – I think this is not the author for me. I read Vicious and wasn’t the biggest fan either. So naturally I keep avoiding the sequel.
  8. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas – Of course I read The Hate U Give once it was released, even saw the movie, but I never picked up the prequel. I own it but keep avoiding it somehow. I have no idea why actually.
  9. The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig – Another book I’ve been owning for a longer while now but keep avoiding. I think I just forgot about it, although I liked other books by this author. But this is a YA novel, and I might have outgrown it by now.
  10. Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer – I keep avoiding this book because it’s contemporary with a touch of magic and I’m not sure if this will be for me in the end. This author is mostly known for her fantasy stories and this is something different. I still own the audiobook though.

Are there any books on your TBR you avoid reading and if so, why?


Comments

20 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My TBR I Avoid Reading And Why”

  1. A Promised Land was a DNF for me due to how long it was. Someday I do hope to go back to it, though.

  2. Reading this post, I too realized I have most of these on my goodreads tbr but am not likely to read them! Though I did read Concrete Rose and loved it – a powerful story!
    I tried Instant Karma but it just seemed a bit too young for me – definitely geared towards younger readers. And I think Our Dark Duet is fine to skip as well haha

  3. I read The Hate U Give and found it impactful. I don’t desire to read Concrete Rose because I don’t think it needed a prequel.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/books-that-dont-deserve-the-hype-my-unpopular-opinon/

    1. I can agree on that 🙂

  4. I had to twist the topic a bit too.

    I have so many books that I don’t have time for at the moment.

    Have a great week!

    Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
    My post:
    https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2025/04/15/top-ten-tuesday-my-unpopular-bookish-opinions/

  5. Concrete Rose is one that I’ve had and still haven’t read yet! I hope to get to it one day, but I feel that way about so many books. lol

  6. I haven’t read that particular Gratz book, but I love what I have read!

  7. I listened to the Obama book and he was the narrator. He speaks slowly so I bumped up the speed of narration to 1.25. It still was very long.

    I am off-topic today: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/04/ttt-excerpts-from-new-to-me-poems-i-like.html

  8. I have Obama’s book on my shelf and haven’t finished it either! I don’t know why – I started it and liked what I read, I think it was just a bit too long and I wasn’t in the mood to commit to it! I have Vicious on my shelf and haven’t read it, and I also took a while to get to Concrete Rose. I think I was worried that it would somehow spoil The Hate U Give, because I liked it so much. I liked it, not quite as much, but it was its own thing. It’s got some of the same characters, but it’s really not that connected, so I was glad I read it, in case that helps!

  9. Felix Ever After and Concrete Rose were both outstanding. I hope you enjoy them whenever you get to them!

  10. Athena @ OneReadingNurse Avatar
    Athena @ OneReadingNurse

    I liked Instant Karma but definitely agree about VE Schwab, I don’t love her either!

    https://onereadingnurse.com/2025/04/15/top-ten-tuesday-my-unpopular-bookish-opinions/

  11. I like this topic too. I haven’t had read any of these books but I have had Outlander on my TBR since forever and keep avoiding it. Happy reading if you get to any of these!

  12. I only read Our Dark Duet–mainly because I was binging the duology at the time…I think…lol. It was definitely interesting. I also read Till Death! I remember enjoying that one so I guess I missed the reviews that hated it.

    Thanks for visiting my TTT!

  13. I recommend listening to the Obama book! He’s just such a great speaker. And I’m not American and don’t care much about American policy but I still found it incredibly interesting.

  14. Marwah @ The Booklore Fairy Avatar
    Marwah @ The Booklore Fairy

    I love this idea! As for books I’m avoiding, I’ll say A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnette though I love The Secret Garden. I have no idea why, except that I saw a movie adaptation when I was a child so I don’t feel like reading the book as of now 🙂

    If you’d like to visit, here’s my TTT: https://thebooklorefairyreads.wordpress.com/2025/04/15/top-ten-tuesday-unpopular-bookish-opinions/

  15. Great topic and interesting list! I’ve also avoided reading Concrete Rose, and I”m not sure why. I thought The Hate U Give was great, but just haven’t convinced myself to start the other.

  16. I’m a nonfiction reader, but I don’t know if I could make it through A Promised Land. It’s too big!

  17. I loved THUG but couldn’t find myself as caught up in Concrete Rose either.

  18. I haven’t read any of these either!

  19. I don’t think there are any books on my TBR possibility pile that I’m intentionally avoiding…but I definitely have lots of books that get pushed further down the pile in favor or newer, shinier books. I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by my blog earlier.

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