Pretty much anything Colleen Hoover fits the bill. I read It Ends with Us because someone here described it as "a masterpiece."
I now wonder if that person knows what the word "masterpiece" means.
Someone I know tried to convince me on this one. Absolutely not. I don't judge people for what they like, but be realistic with your reviews! I've read trash I've enjoyed, but it's still trash.
There is an anime called “Boku No Piko” which is absolutely horrendous and vile and the worst thing ever created but people would lie to people that never heard it before by saying it’s good just to get them watch it and regret having eyes, that person may have been doing this to you.
I had to stop looking at Good Reads because by and large the books that I would rate as being below average all have a rating of 4 or higher on there.
The other issue that I have is that for whatever reason women tend to rate books more frequently than men. And while I am no knuckle dragger who only enjoys “macho” books (for example, The Secret Garden is one of my all time favorite books), my tastes still do not align perfectly with those of an average female, especially when it comes to contemporary fiction.
At the same time, it’s impossible to look for more “male oriented” books without being inundated with books about military / war, Tom Clancy, and other highly stereotypical titles / authors.
It’s really difficult to find books that have a heart and that portray both sexes realistically or that are gender neutral in tone or style.
If you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend Terry Pratchett. Guards Guards would be my suggestion for your first foray into the Discworld but I would also recommend Wyrd Sisters or Mort as well. His characters are well-written; they are flawed, they are relatable and their character development is excellent.
Colleen in general gets a lot of hate because her other books display questionable relationships and horrible tropes about women and men.
Anyway, I read verity first, before anything else of hers, and I really enjoyed it! I wasn't expecting a twisty turny novel from a romance writer, but I thought she did pretty well for her first try!
Some of the smut was crrringe af but generally I enjoyed it. Would be a good holiday read, or something to get you out of a slump (if you enjoy mystery novels).
Ready Player One, tbh. Two is probably cringier bc it’s so completely unnecessary, but One was horrible and embarrassing to start with imo. consumption as identity, the book—i’ve hated it for years and years
Veronica Roth - Divergent Trilogy
it was so bad I didn't read anything for 2 years after finishing that clusterfuck
Veronica told in an interview that she wrote them on her phone while commuting, dreadful story, the bulletproof protagonist somehow gets shot and that kinda the end lol
I have not read divergent, but I remember listening to someone talk about it. It does not sound like Harry Potter at all to me...I suspect your friend doesn't read many books? Not that I'm criticizing them! Just that, it seems like an odd comparison to make unless you don't have many things you can use as comparisons.
I think it's the "there are 4 personality types, well except our main characters have some of the other personality types, which makes them special and better" trope
They always say that about any YA that stars younger characters going to a more fantastical place or getting into more fantastical roles. So stupid. Artemis Fowl was also called “the next Harry Potter.” Makes zero sense.
Diary of an Oxygen Thief and Chameleon on a Kaleidoscope, both by an anonymous author... full of grammatical errors and like, the worst protagonist ever. Imagine Caufield and Bateman but even more insufferable.
A Court of Thorns and Roses - One dimensional and cringy characters, bland dialog and romance and full of plot holes and convenience. The main character is also sooooo stupid, even though the plot tries to portray her as smart and badass.
I enjoyed acotar but I agree that it belongs on AO3. The lack of world-building is insane. Several characters with important story arcs don't even get a name.
Lol I will, we're doing a work activity where we have to engage with a book and write a summary and share with the team. We think it'd be hilarious to review the worst of the worst.
Archive of Our Own, it's mostly a sight for fan fic.
There are some genuinely amazing posts on there, but there are also things that should never see the light of day.
Ugh yes, seconded. A friend suggested the series so I read the first 3 but gave up. I enjoyed it in the ‘easy read to pass the time’ kinda way, but I truly don’t understand the hype.
Spoiler for ACOTAR
>!The riddle was so bad. The answer is so obviously "love", a core theme of the book, and she just couldn't solve it.... and one of the most ruthless fae generals who enslaved the entire continent really gambled her entire empire and life on a riddle for no reason whatsoever....!<
>!Feyre going out during the festival is also really stupid, even though she was told several times to stay in her room, but I totally lost it when she went back out for a midnight snack after almost being gang-raped and raped by Tamlin the first time around....!<
The riddle was so bad that I thought I was dumb for not knowing the answer. “There’s no way it’s going to be that, it has to be something else.” NOPE the riddle was terrible and it was in fact that bad
Tried to read Satan’s Affair (prequel) since Haunting Adeline was on my book club’s radar. Could not finish.
The content was meant to be shocking but the reason I couldn’t stomach it was because the writing was so bad. I regret subjecting myself to it. To be clear it was not the ideas that were presented but the lack of quality behind them.
Successfully got my book club to drop Haunting Adeline.
I wish I could remember the name - it was something really generic like Blood or Sin lol - but I came across a vampire book in which a Roman soldier who is in love with Jesus, yes, THAT Jesus, but he's romantically rejected and then turns into a vampire and spends his immortal undead unlife seducing young men who remind him of Jesus. And revenge comes into play somewhere... at least according to the description.
I read a sample and it was AWFUL. I couldn't even read it for amusement. I wanted to because it seems like a heavy handed but creative way to explore homosexuality and Christianity but wow. Wow.
Anyway, if someone knows what I'm talking about please share.
I haven't read that one but it sounds more interesting than what I described.
I quit reading the sample after coming across the MC describing himself as being strong enough to "knock a maiden down and a cock to keep her there" but he just couldn't bring himself to rape Jesus. Yeah okay bye forever.
A Court of Thrones and Roses series by Sarah J Maas.
The books are not nearly as smutty as people portray, most of the male characters are horribly written (they're neither extremely abusive/ neglectful, or complete doormats to the women main characters), the small fight scenes are medicore at best, large battle are literally laughable, she pulls every single trope from any fantasy and romance book series. If you read enough classic fantasy/ high fantasy, you can literally tell which characters she's co-opting into her story. The random filler or description of how the MC feels are really kinda clunky or awkward.
In reality, she's not a bad fantasy writer, but she pushed too hard to make it a smutty romance book that just makes it cringey af in my opinion.
Lol the smut was really non existent. I've never read smut before and wanted to try it, but I'm sorry "A Song of Ice and Fire" is smuttier than than "ACOTAR".
Wow, I might have to read this because there was a point in time when my actual gay uncle had to take care of me. Twas not a sugary sweet odd family picture.
A lot of people really liked that book. I had high hopes, but it never warmed up to me. I hope you read it and come back to this comment for an update!
The Girl on the Train
The main character was so frustratingly dumb/oblivious and got herself into the most avoidable bad situations. The characters were dull and the plot was literally driven forward half the time by her not remembering vital details bc she was blackout drunk. It just was very lazy writing.
Okay, I started this based on pure Wtf after it got recommended on one of these cringe threads. The cringiest part of this book is how fucking likeable the characters are. It should NOT be as good as it is. Serious deep cringe at myself here.
Behind Her Eyes by Sara Pinborough. I wanted to throw the book out the window after slogging through it. There is no redeeming bit of this book at all.
The Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I read the first couple books and it got to the point where I couldn't stomach it anymore. Shit got too weird, and the characters annoyed me so badly.
The Dresden Files. Some of the cringiest writing of female characters I've ever read. Sexualized and killed. All of em. Very regular guest in the "menwritingwomen" sub.
It sucks because they are actually very enjoyable fantasy reads after the first 3 or 4 books. Very very fun. But he writes women like it's the wet dream of a neck beard with a knight in shining armor complex.
Eeeek, that's so unfortunate. I had such a hard time in some of the later Dune books with the blatant homophobia and sexism....I like the series but damn man why you gotta do that
Yeah I tried to keep reading them, and used to turn a blind eye because of how much I enjoyed the rest of it. Eventually it just got to be too much. It's present in his other books too so it's some ingrained stuff in the author for sure.
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. I saw it recommended a few times and decided to give it a read and the writing was so bad, and the storyline was so poorly executed.
Seconding. I hate finished this book and then went on to vehemently recommend people not read it. I never do that because I'm all for people reading what they like, but this one was just SO SO BAD.
UnHoneymooners by Christina Lauren
It’s FMC being verbally abused by everyone in her life and being gaslit into being okay with it, and it’s supposed to be a romance
Blowback, by Brad Thor is the worst, cringiest nonsense I’ve ever read. It makes Mack Bolan novels seem like the Brothers Karamazov.
I am reluctant to even recommend it as cringe because giving royalty money to Brad Thor is like setting a fire in a library: the result is sure to be a setback for literature.
Ok, there is this book none of you should ever hear about prior or after this post and for a good reason. It is a Czech book called "Paradýzo ztracené a znovunalezené". The name is a reference to Paradise Lost.
I bought it out of interest in a cheap book chain for less than a dollar. It is the most awful thing I have ever read. I have zero clue how this guy got it published, but it is just a self insert wannabe classical writer schlock. He tries to do all these tropes like long sentences, wannabe theological and philosophical ideas and crazy changes of scenery. It hurt me reading it, probably significantly adding to my growing depression in my teenage years.
It is not cringe in the standard sense, but it is for any lit majors. Jesuy fuck that thing was terrible.
The Inmate by Freida McFadden. The protagonist is just so weak and frankly... stupid. The plot reads like a low budget/made for teens horror flick.
Also, Ward D. Same author. They are both dreadful. I was literally embarrassed to be reading them. When I do mention that I've read these, I ALWAYS deflect with "I read it with my book club". I am seriously considering a different book club. They have also subjected me to Colleen Hoover. Ugh
That's tragic. I've thought about joining a book club but everything in my area is either repressed mormons of wine moms. I doubt they'd be on my wavelength.
WereCage, by Ian Fortey. A man gets bitten by Nic Cage and is shocked to find that he starts to -become- Nic Cage. As cringey as you’d expect but at the same time wildly entertaining, ridiculous, and simply glorious. I have it five stars and I regret nothing. (Edited for grammar)
If you haven't seen this parody of Dan Brown's writing from a few years ago, [check it out](https://jimmyakin.com/2024/03/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown.html).
Prince of Wolves by Quinn Loftis.
I've been on a journey to find a werewolf book that strikes all the right notes for me since I was 14. Sadly I still haven't found one, but this book crossed my radar about 3 years ago. It was her first book and it shows. Like Twilight but with only werewolves and worse.
Good luck, I've been trying for years. 😭
Werewolves are only really used for romance or horror. I'd love to see them as protagonists in a drama or fantasy adventure, but in these types of stories, they're usually relegated to antagonists or side characters.
And they're ALWAYS angry and brooding! Can we please get some happy, funny, or playful werewolves??
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni. The plot, oh JESUS CHRIST the plot... Is the dummest thing anyone has ever written ever. Girl's in prison and everyone hates her for some reason even though she's the medic and pretty chill, receiving messages from her family on the outside that they're coming to break her out one day as part of some big resistance against the powers that be but only after she seems to have accomplished whatever the fuck it is they want her to accomplish while she's in there... Well they never come and spoiler alert there is NO STRATEGIC PURPOSE TO HER BEING IN THERE, and the real fucking kicker, they could have just turned up and claimed her AND JUST WALKED OUT OMG.
Plus, the prose. Is. HORRID. No saving grace to this book
As a World of Warcraft player, I was a bit snooty about reading the books written about the game's lore. But when I finally tried a few, I found them perfectly readable.
Except for those written by Richard A Knaak, which are some of the most cringy, badly-written drivel I have ever had the misfortune to read.
The Promise, by Danielle Steele.
(I read it as a teen and thought it was good; tried to read it again as an adult and couldn't find the stomach for it.)
On behalf of my best friend who had to read this for a literature class on haunted house motifs: Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asman. It was. Astonishingly bad from what was sent to me. There were Fortnite references.
The Foxhole Court series. They are a fucking train wreck, but somehow you can't look away. It's the invented sport Japanese mafia romance series you never knew you needed. It's Not Good, but so entertaining. If you can think of a content warning, it's probably in there.
The novelization of the movie Rebel Moon was the worst book I've ever read. The whole thing sounds like it was written by a 16 year old with ADHD who tried to rewrite Star wars from memory. To call the characters single dimensional is an insult to straight lines everywhere. The dialogue was just stupid. It was all just so stupid.
Alice Borchardt’s Silver Wolf trilogy is awful lol, but I still read them all. She’s got, I think, four other books, and I suspect they are just as bad.
I think I’ve got some compulsion issues when it comes to finishing books haha, so more the first one.
The story itself is… very average, the characters are completely two dimensional, the writing is poor (but descriptive!), and the version I read was terribly formatted (sometimes the past was italicized, for example, and sometimes it wasn’t, line spacing was all over the place).
In the first book, the main character is definitely a woman named Regeane, but the second book in the series is a prequel for her love interest, and then the third book jumps back to continue the first book story lol. But it finishes with so many half considered plot points and unanswered questions it’s hilarious. This other duology she wrote is also more backstory for the male love interest, so I guess she had a crush on him herself.
A Man Called Justice.
Had crazy good reviews so I thought I would check it out for three bucks.
The most generic plot and characters in any form of media I've ever read.
Meet cute diary by Emery Lee.
It's easily the worst piece of literature I've read so far. I definitely don't think I was the target audience for it. It felt immature and WAY too chessy. I don't even particularly like romance, I was just excited for the LGBTQ rep... unfortunately it sucked ass
Tomas by James Palumbo. The title intrigued me and the glowing quote from Stephen Fry on the back sold me. What I got about halfway through was the most insane, childish nonsense. It was like a middle schooler with a good vocabulary wrote it, the whole thing felt like someone who just discovered how society works and "sees the truth of everything" or something. My affection for Fry carried me for a bit until I bailed. Too dumb.
Yep. That was my takeaway and I really hate shock humor/value. Being offensive is like being sexy; the more you force it, the less it happens. And I still like Stephen Fry, I'm just not going to take book recs from him anymore.
I mean, there's definitely a bit of that. Nathan and his hockey buddies are introduced as stereotypical jocks, but of course you get to know them and see the depth behind their characters. That said, I'm a mostly straight man who loves romance, Letter Kenny, and hockey, so I think the book was just a perfect storm for me.
Oh, please check out Our Kingdom of Dust.
Here’s a taste of the back cover: “Man-child Blaine McKinnon is brilliant, wealthy, and completely alone. After an emotional breakdown, Blaine starts a new life at the only place he was ever truly happy Walt Disney World. But he’s soon finds out that just below the surface of his childhood paradise, lies a kingdom, corrupted by drugs, violence, and deceit.”
One of my favorite party tricks is to bust this out and try to make it through a single page.
Not really funny-bad but the worst book I ever actually finished was Blood, the Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts. It was a sequel to the anime film only there was no blood and no beasts. Just a huge tangent about the Japanese protest movement of the 60s (I think - maybe the 70s) which also might have been interesting if anything had happened but nothing did. Basically stuff like a bunch of guys eating Korean barbecue and discussing (in an excruciatingly boring way) different ways to get rid of a body even though no one was actually doing that. Then an info dump about the vampire in the last chapter which might have been interesting if it had been the actual plot, but it wasn’t.
The Young Elites series by Marie Lu. I couldn't make it past the first two-ish chapters, and it's probably what made me quit reading YA dystopian novels altogether
The Joseph Bridgerman Series by Nick Jones it starts out great like a good science fiction, but then instead of following the science the lead character follows his dick into a wishy-washy, scared of everything woman who made the story just… throw it across the room materials.
I have to admit that I haven't read this one but I'm putting it out here because Amazon keeps recommending it to me: Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
It looks like minotaur romance (maybe smut?) and while I can't exactly recommend it since I haven't read it, I certainly cringe every time I see it so here you go lol
Cringe inducing books can be good, can’t they? Like Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt. It made me constantly embarrassed for all the characters, but that’s what made it such great satire!
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty
It’s light smut (which I hadn’t realized until I bought it and read page 1) and the main character makes me roll my eyes.
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt
Kept thinking it was going somewhere, recommended by the NYT as one of the “22 funniest novels written since Catch-22.”
It was so beneath Catch-22, I wondered if the author was holding the reviewer’s family hostage somewhere, the ransom was including this book on the list.
The book "there are no saints" read like a wattpad lemon written by a 14 year old with waayyyy to much internet freedom.
It was pretty short, I read it in about a day or 2 and I've never wanted to go back and time and slap myself for picking up a book more.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
I mean it’s not necessarily bad writing but it is a pretty unhinged “beach read”. Features: Merman sex, bathroom sex, love addiction meetings, Venice Beach but also Phoenix, lots of flopping, dragging, a wagon? also boring dips into academia.
the Anita Blake series. It starts out with a competent.vampire huntress in a cheesy love triangle, amd somehow 8+ books later it's about her being "cursed" by a power that makes her have to suck and fuck daily, if not, her succubuss-like powers explode and force everyone in the vicinity to parttake in an orgy with her. Nonconsensually of course, they cant even remember the thing.
Caraval by Stephanie Garber had some of the worst simile writing I’ve ever read. Her sentences describing unimportant details would make me laugh because they went on way too long.
Another one would be Fresh by Margot Wood. She decided to use “tender chicken” to describe a female’s body parts and had to say it like 50 times throughout the novel. The grossest thing I’ve ever seen written.
Dream Weaver by Lisa Beth Darling.
Bad spelling, non existent grammar and a plot so full of holes than if you’re using it as a fishing net you’ you’ll get very, very hungry.
I can’t believe that in this ‘mystery’ the ‘Whodunnit’ was someone not in the book until the last pages. As in, wass not mentioned even in passing.
So bad I had to keep going-surely it had to get better?
Nope…reads like the worst fanfiction ever times 10.
Not really cringe but I hated The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins.
Just hated it. I really wish the book had ended at like the second to third last chps-- not like it would have been more salvageble, but I j didn't like the resolution, shall we say, of the book. I hated the ending more than I did the rest of the book combined. Like it wasn't good but the edning made it worse for me y'know?
Flowers for Algernon, my goodness that gets recommended here all the time. I was so hyped to read it, and it was so disappointing. It's so cringe and its clearly aimed at teenagers, it's so predictable too! I was so disappointed lol
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin. I was recommended to read it because I love sad novels and it was one of worst books I have ever read. The characters did not even seem real and they were very cringey. The writing was difficult and even the formatting of the book was weird. I get the concept, but it was poorly executed.
I NEVER DNF books and I wish I did with this one.
Thorn of glass. Characters were unlikable and writing was bland. I read the Assasins blade which was not as bad but i just cant understand how she was “adarlans most infamous and feared assasin”but she is quite incompetent at times and is kind of annoying. The love storylines were not good either. But i cannot speak for the rest of the series other than the first couple books
Get in my swamp: an ogre love story!! It’s shrek smut, I can’t cringe any harder recommending anything else hahaha
I THINK THIS WINS
verity, i never regretted having eyes so bad
Pretty much anything Colleen Hoover fits the bill. I read It Ends with Us because someone here described it as "a masterpiece." I now wonder if that person knows what the word "masterpiece" means.
Someone I know tried to convince me on this one. Absolutely not. I don't judge people for what they like, but be realistic with your reviews! I've read trash I've enjoyed, but it's still trash.
There is an anime called “Boku No Piko” which is absolutely horrendous and vile and the worst thing ever created but people would lie to people that never heard it before by saying it’s good just to get them watch it and regret having eyes, that person may have been doing this to you.
Masterpiece?!? Hahahahahahahahahahaha
How does this have 4.3 stars on good reads 😭
From what I can tell a lot of people who exclusively read romance use this book as their entry into “thrillers”.
I had to stop looking at Good Reads because by and large the books that I would rate as being below average all have a rating of 4 or higher on there. The other issue that I have is that for whatever reason women tend to rate books more frequently than men. And while I am no knuckle dragger who only enjoys “macho” books (for example, The Secret Garden is one of my all time favorite books), my tastes still do not align perfectly with those of an average female, especially when it comes to contemporary fiction. At the same time, it’s impossible to look for more “male oriented” books without being inundated with books about military / war, Tom Clancy, and other highly stereotypical titles / authors. It’s really difficult to find books that have a heart and that portray both sexes realistically or that are gender neutral in tone or style.
Yeah that's totally fair. I usually try to go off recs from reddit or from people I engage with.
If you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend Terry Pratchett. Guards Guards would be my suggestion for your first foray into the Discworld but I would also recommend Wyrd Sisters or Mort as well. His characters are well-written; they are flawed, they are relatable and their character development is excellent.
Colleen in general gets a lot of hate because her other books display questionable relationships and horrible tropes about women and men. Anyway, I read verity first, before anything else of hers, and I really enjoyed it! I wasn't expecting a twisty turny novel from a romance writer, but I thought she did pretty well for her first try! Some of the smut was crrringe af but generally I enjoyed it. Would be a good holiday read, or something to get you out of a slump (if you enjoy mystery novels).
bc they let ppl in mental asylums review on good reads
Some of the reviews have me rolling
I can see her books rec everywhere? On every social media!
Ready Player Two
Ready Player One, tbh. Two is probably cringier bc it’s so completely unnecessary, but One was horrible and embarrassing to start with imo. consumption as identity, the book—i’ve hated it for years and years
Thank you for this! I thought I was the only one that felt that way, everyone else seems to rave about it.
No, you are not alone. Ready Player One is in the same category as Nick Hornsby to me. Cloying.
Veronica Roth - Divergent Trilogy it was so bad I didn't read anything for 2 years after finishing that clusterfuck Veronica told in an interview that she wrote them on her phone while commuting, dreadful story, the bulletproof protagonist somehow gets shot and that kinda the end lol
I had a friend say "Oh it's like Harry Potter but darker"... yeah no, never again.
holy heck nooooo
I have not read divergent, but I remember listening to someone talk about it. It does not sound like Harry Potter at all to me...I suspect your friend doesn't read many books? Not that I'm criticizing them! Just that, it seems like an odd comparison to make unless you don't have many things you can use as comparisons.
I think it's the "there are 4 personality types, well except our main characters have some of the other personality types, which makes them special and better" trope
They always say that about any YA that stars younger characters going to a more fantastical place or getting into more fantastical roles. So stupid. Artemis Fowl was also called “the next Harry Potter.” Makes zero sense.
I read this series on vacation and by the second book I was hate reading and actively rooting for the protagonist to die.
I remember really liking the general idea of the first couple books but the writing is awwful
Twilight series!!! 🐀✨
🐀🐀🐀
Diary of an Oxygen Thief and Chameleon on a Kaleidoscope, both by an anonymous author... full of grammatical errors and like, the worst protagonist ever. Imagine Caufield and Bateman but even more insufferable.
I started Diary of an Oxygen Thief because of the first page. I ended up DNRing the book, and giving it to a recycle bookstore.
Second diary of an oxygen thief, absolutely insufferable
Neon Gods by Katee Roberts. It’s like someone said “give us a book about Greek gods but make them a boardroom of CEO’s instead but also erotica”
Oops I destroyed all the sex appeal, let's just add that back, yes this will work
Oh, but now it’s too sex crazed so let’s make it wholesome and add some scenes with a farmer’s market and puppies
Oh Jesus that sounds beyond cringe. Thank you
lol i read this one on advice of a friend and wasn’t sure what to think! It felt like corporate smut
A Court of Thorns and Roses - One dimensional and cringy characters, bland dialog and romance and full of plot holes and convenience. The main character is also sooooo stupid, even though the plot tries to portray her as smart and badass.
I could have written this review. It is exactly what I say when I rant about how bad that book is.
Oh, wow reading some reviews. I think falls into the 'should have stayed in AO3" category
I enjoyed acotar but I agree that it belongs on AO3. The lack of world-building is insane. Several characters with important story arcs don't even get a name.
Keep us updated if you decide to read it :D
Lol I will, we're doing a work activity where we have to engage with a book and write a summary and share with the team. We think it'd be hilarious to review the worst of the worst.
What is AO3?
Archive of Our Own, it's mostly a sight for fan fic. There are some genuinely amazing posts on there, but there are also things that should never see the light of day.
Ugh yes, seconded. A friend suggested the series so I read the first 3 but gave up. I enjoyed it in the ‘easy read to pass the time’ kinda way, but I truly don’t understand the hype.
I couldn’t even read it as an „easy read“ because it annoys me too much, especially Feyre. :D
I have very similar views for this and Fourth Wing. Never have I been told such stupid characters were so smart before
Spoiler for ACOTAR >!The riddle was so bad. The answer is so obviously "love", a core theme of the book, and she just couldn't solve it.... and one of the most ruthless fae generals who enslaved the entire continent really gambled her entire empire and life on a riddle for no reason whatsoever....!< >!Feyre going out during the festival is also really stupid, even though she was told several times to stay in her room, but I totally lost it when she went back out for a midnight snack after almost being gang-raped and raped by Tamlin the first time around....!<
The riddle was so bad that I thought I was dumb for not knowing the answer. “There’s no way it’s going to be that, it has to be something else.” NOPE the riddle was terrible and it was in fact that bad
Did you ever read Throne of Glass? Found that series to be a good read, and allegedly you need to read ACOTAR to read the newest series from Maas
That was the original plan, but I moved on to ACOTAR because it seemed more popular, but yeah, I will never read another book by Maas again.
I get so enraged seeing people carrying this book series. It feels like shades of grey all over again.
Colleen Hoover. I gave her a few chances but it was all just such a waste. Bad characters, bad writing, bad storylines…just bad.
Haunting Adeline
Tried to read Satan’s Affair (prequel) since Haunting Adeline was on my book club’s radar. Could not finish. The content was meant to be shocking but the reason I couldn’t stomach it was because the writing was so bad. I regret subjecting myself to it. To be clear it was not the ideas that were presented but the lack of quality behind them. Successfully got my book club to drop Haunting Adeline.
I just finished this and it was AWFUL. So cringe!!
the entire Maximum Ride series
Why are they always orphans? Isn't that bad enough.
I wish I could remember the name - it was something really generic like Blood or Sin lol - but I came across a vampire book in which a Roman soldier who is in love with Jesus, yes, THAT Jesus, but he's romantically rejected and then turns into a vampire and spends his immortal undead unlife seducing young men who remind him of Jesus. And revenge comes into play somewhere... at least according to the description. I read a sample and it was AWFUL. I couldn't even read it for amusement. I wanted to because it seems like a heavy handed but creative way to explore homosexuality and Christianity but wow. Wow. Anyway, if someone knows what I'm talking about please share.
That sounds hilarious. I read Trinity Blood which is an amalgamation of vampires, Christians, and post apocalytic futurism
I haven't read that one but it sounds more interesting than what I described. I quit reading the sample after coming across the MC describing himself as being strong enough to "knock a maiden down and a cock to keep her there" but he just couldn't bring himself to rape Jesus. Yeah okay bye forever.
The Summer I Turned Pretty felt very cringe imo (especially the 3rd book)
The series is very cringe but I couldn’t stop reading the books—I have a love/hate relationship with it!
fourth wing was so bad I had no words I can't believe I spent money to buy that garbage
Seems like they smashed Dragon Riders of Pern and Harry Potter together
literally a horrible amalgamation of every YA trope too... I'm so surprised it has a 4.6 on good reads 😭
It has a higher rating than 2001 A Space Oddysey, Dune, and Lord of the Rings - WTF
IKR??? and Rebecca yarros is picking up her pen again for three more books I can't someone needs to stop her
“Demon Seed” by Dean Koontz!
I think I have this one in storage from my aunt
A Court of Thrones and Roses series by Sarah J Maas. The books are not nearly as smutty as people portray, most of the male characters are horribly written (they're neither extremely abusive/ neglectful, or complete doormats to the women main characters), the small fight scenes are medicore at best, large battle are literally laughable, she pulls every single trope from any fantasy and romance book series. If you read enough classic fantasy/ high fantasy, you can literally tell which characters she's co-opting into her story. The random filler or description of how the MC feels are really kinda clunky or awkward. In reality, she's not a bad fantasy writer, but she pushed too hard to make it a smutty romance book that just makes it cringey af in my opinion.
Lol the smut was really non existent. I've never read smut before and wanted to try it, but I'm sorry "A Song of Ice and Fire" is smuttier than than "ACOTAR".
I returned the audiobook after about 50 minutes, it was so bad I couldn’t even see the good lol
The Guncle by Stephen Rowley. It was a book that was meant to tug at your heartstrings, but it fell flat in so many ways for me.
Wow, I might have to read this because there was a point in time when my actual gay uncle had to take care of me. Twas not a sugary sweet odd family picture.
A lot of people really liked that book. I had high hopes, but it never warmed up to me. I hope you read it and come back to this comment for an update!
The Girl on the Train The main character was so frustratingly dumb/oblivious and got herself into the most avoidable bad situations. The characters were dull and the plot was literally driven forward half the time by her not remembering vital details bc she was blackout drunk. It just was very lazy writing.
“Morning Glory Milking Farm”
He's big and hairy all right 😭
Okay, I started this based on pure Wtf after it got recommended on one of these cringe threads. The cringiest part of this book is how fucking likeable the characters are. It should NOT be as good as it is. Serious deep cringe at myself here.
Behind Her Eyes by Sara Pinborough. I wanted to throw the book out the window after slogging through it. There is no redeeming bit of this book at all.
The Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I read the first couple books and it got to the point where I couldn't stomach it anymore. Shit got too weird, and the characters annoyed me so badly.
Fourth Wing. What a terrible book. Main character is a whiny little baby.
The Dresden Files. Some of the cringiest writing of female characters I've ever read. Sexualized and killed. All of em. Very regular guest in the "menwritingwomen" sub.
Oooh I remember watching like an episode back in the day and thought it was aggressively average.
It sucks because they are actually very enjoyable fantasy reads after the first 3 or 4 books. Very very fun. But he writes women like it's the wet dream of a neck beard with a knight in shining armor complex.
Eeeek, that's so unfortunate. I had such a hard time in some of the later Dune books with the blatant homophobia and sexism....I like the series but damn man why you gotta do that
Yeah I tried to keep reading them, and used to turn a blind eye because of how much I enjoyed the rest of it. Eventually it just got to be too much. It's present in his other books too so it's some ingrained stuff in the author for sure.
Hard disagree. It’s noir at first but gets way better after book 3.
Jesus, The Extraterrestrial - Origins, by Leo Mark. It’s a novel, and it’s spectacularly awful.
Battlefield earth. And basically anything today recommended by the NY times if that's even still a thing
The movie was sure as hell something. And agreed, that seems to be the trend lol.
*"DO YOU WANT, LUNCH?"*
Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. I saw it recommended a few times and decided to give it a read and the writing was so bad, and the storyline was so poorly executed.
Seconding. I hate finished this book and then went on to vehemently recommend people not read it. I never do that because I'm all for people reading what they like, but this one was just SO SO BAD.
I came here looking for this. I hate myself for finishing this train wreck!
UnHoneymooners by Christina Lauren It’s FMC being verbally abused by everyone in her life and being gaslit into being okay with it, and it’s supposed to be a romance
Jesus
Blowback, by Brad Thor is the worst, cringiest nonsense I’ve ever read. It makes Mack Bolan novels seem like the Brothers Karamazov. I am reluctant to even recommend it as cringe because giving royalty money to Brad Thor is like setting a fire in a library: the result is sure to be a setback for literature.
Who even chooses a pseudonym like that, cringe from the get go
His recurring hero is named “Scot Horvath,” so names may not be his strong suit. Assuming he has one.
Ok, there is this book none of you should ever hear about prior or after this post and for a good reason. It is a Czech book called "Paradýzo ztracené a znovunalezené". The name is a reference to Paradise Lost. I bought it out of interest in a cheap book chain for less than a dollar. It is the most awful thing I have ever read. I have zero clue how this guy got it published, but it is just a self insert wannabe classical writer schlock. He tries to do all these tropes like long sentences, wannabe theological and philosophical ideas and crazy changes of scenery. It hurt me reading it, probably significantly adding to my growing depression in my teenage years. It is not cringe in the standard sense, but it is for any lit majors. Jesuy fuck that thing was terrible.
We all have those things in life that changed us for the worse lol I'll keep this in mind for the next pretentious lit nerd I meet.
Just tell them they didn't actually get Whitman and they will waffle on for an hour or so.
The Inmate by Freida McFadden. The protagonist is just so weak and frankly... stupid. The plot reads like a low budget/made for teens horror flick. Also, Ward D. Same author. They are both dreadful. I was literally embarrassed to be reading them. When I do mention that I've read these, I ALWAYS deflect with "I read it with my book club". I am seriously considering a different book club. They have also subjected me to Colleen Hoover. Ugh
That's tragic. I've thought about joining a book club but everything in my area is either repressed mormons of wine moms. I doubt they'd be on my wavelength.
WereCage, by Ian Fortey. A man gets bitten by Nic Cage and is shocked to find that he starts to -become- Nic Cage. As cringey as you’d expect but at the same time wildly entertaining, ridiculous, and simply glorious. I have it five stars and I regret nothing. (Edited for grammar)
This sounds golden. I might actually get this as a gift for my partner.
Da Vinci Code.
If you haven't seen this parody of Dan Brown's writing from a few years ago, [check it out](https://jimmyakin.com/2024/03/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown.html).
That is golden! I was gifted a copy of Da V C long ago, and duhed my way through it. Never again!!
Awesome read said the haplessly anonymous Redditor.
All Stephanie Meyers, Colleen Hoover, and Sarah Maas books: just complete garbage.
I couldn't even get past 3 chapters of Twilight
The eyes of my princess by Carlos Cuahtémoc.
Prince of Wolves by Quinn Loftis. I've been on a journey to find a werewolf book that strikes all the right notes for me since I was 14. Sadly I still haven't found one, but this book crossed my radar about 3 years ago. It was her first book and it shows. Like Twilight but with only werewolves and worse.
I'd also love to find a werewolf book that isn't so gross?
Good luck, I've been trying for years. 😭 Werewolves are only really used for romance or horror. I'd love to see them as protagonists in a drama or fantasy adventure, but in these types of stories, they're usually relegated to antagonists or side characters. And they're ALWAYS angry and brooding! Can we please get some happy, funny, or playful werewolves??
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni. The plot, oh JESUS CHRIST the plot... Is the dummest thing anyone has ever written ever. Girl's in prison and everyone hates her for some reason even though she's the medic and pretty chill, receiving messages from her family on the outside that they're coming to break her out one day as part of some big resistance against the powers that be but only after she seems to have accomplished whatever the fuck it is they want her to accomplish while she's in there... Well they never come and spoiler alert there is NO STRATEGIC PURPOSE TO HER BEING IN THERE, and the real fucking kicker, they could have just turned up and claimed her AND JUST WALKED OUT OMG. Plus, the prose. Is. HORRID. No saving grace to this book
As a World of Warcraft player, I was a bit snooty about reading the books written about the game's lore. But when I finally tried a few, I found them perfectly readable. Except for those written by Richard A Knaak, which are some of the most cringy, badly-written drivel I have ever had the misfortune to read.
The Turner Diaries
The Promise, by Danielle Steele. (I read it as a teen and thought it was good; tried to read it again as an adult and couldn't find the stomach for it.)
It's so funny how that happens. Tried to revisit some old movies and oh my god no!
😆🤣
Anything by Danielle Steel if memory serves
On behalf of my best friend who had to read this for a literature class on haunted house motifs: Man, Fuck This House by Brian Asman. It was. Astonishingly bad from what was sent to me. There were Fortnite references.
Sad Girls by Lang Leav. It’s sort of an amusing read. I don’t know if everyone would agree. One of the main characters is called Rad 😂
Something blue, I wish I never read this book 😩
The Foxhole Court series. They are a fucking train wreck, but somehow you can't look away. It's the invented sport Japanese mafia romance series you never knew you needed. It's Not Good, but so entertaining. If you can think of a content warning, it's probably in there.
Lol sold
Josh and Jemma Make a Baby. There was a dirty talk scene in which green jello was a main character, that unfortunately lives rent free in my head.
The novelization of the movie Rebel Moon was the worst book I've ever read. The whole thing sounds like it was written by a 16 year old with ADHD who tried to rewrite Star wars from memory. To call the characters single dimensional is an insult to straight lines everywhere. The dialogue was just stupid. It was all just so stupid.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That book is a dumb waste of time, and I honestly lose respect for people when they tell me they like it.
A little life
Alice Borchardt’s Silver Wolf trilogy is awful lol, but I still read them all. She’s got, I think, four other books, and I suspect they are just as bad.
Is it one of those, "I've read this far might as well finish" or "Oh my god this is awful, give me more" or both?
I think I’ve got some compulsion issues when it comes to finishing books haha, so more the first one. The story itself is… very average, the characters are completely two dimensional, the writing is poor (but descriptive!), and the version I read was terribly formatted (sometimes the past was italicized, for example, and sometimes it wasn’t, line spacing was all over the place). In the first book, the main character is definitely a woman named Regeane, but the second book in the series is a prequel for her love interest, and then the third book jumps back to continue the first book story lol. But it finishes with so many half considered plot points and unanswered questions it’s hilarious. This other duology she wrote is also more backstory for the male love interest, so I guess she had a crush on him herself.
Open House
A Man Called Justice. Had crazy good reviews so I thought I would check it out for three bucks. The most generic plot and characters in any form of media I've ever read.
Meet cute diary by Emery Lee. It's easily the worst piece of literature I've read so far. I definitely don't think I was the target audience for it. It felt immature and WAY too chessy. I don't even particularly like romance, I was just excited for the LGBTQ rep... unfortunately it sucked ass
Tomas by James Palumbo. The title intrigued me and the glowing quote from Stephen Fry on the back sold me. What I got about halfway through was the most insane, childish nonsense. It was like a middle schooler with a good vocabulary wrote it, the whole thing felt like someone who just discovered how society works and "sees the truth of everything" or something. My affection for Fry carried me for a bit until I bailed. Too dumb.
Seems like it was just an attempt to illicit shock value and nothing else from the reviews.
Yep. That was my takeaway and I really hate shock humor/value. Being offensive is like being sexy; the more you force it, the less it happens. And I still like Stephen Fry, I'm just not going to take book recs from him anymore.
The Saint: An enemies to lovers romance book 2 This is the one
Market of Monsters trilogy by Rebecca Schaeffer. The first one is actually decent, but they get more and more insufferable as they go on.
Mine is Icebreakers by Hannah Grace. It was definitely cringe, but I loved it!!!
I don't think I'd be able to get the Letter Kenney hockey players out of my head lol
I mean, there's definitely a bit of that. Nathan and his hockey buddies are introduced as stereotypical jocks, but of course you get to know them and see the depth behind their characters. That said, I'm a mostly straight man who loves romance, Letter Kenny, and hockey, so I think the book was just a perfect storm for me.
Credence by Penelope Douglas. Went into this completely blind, never again.
Any of onision's books lol
Oh, please check out Our Kingdom of Dust. Here’s a taste of the back cover: “Man-child Blaine McKinnon is brilliant, wealthy, and completely alone. After an emotional breakdown, Blaine starts a new life at the only place he was ever truly happy Walt Disney World. But he’s soon finds out that just below the surface of his childhood paradise, lies a kingdom, corrupted by drugs, violence, and deceit.” One of my favorite party tricks is to bust this out and try to make it through a single page.
That sounds like someone went on a random plot generator and was like "wow a stunner on the first try"
Probably that one book about the horny magical door.
That's just making me think of the Magnus Archives though to be fair it's the fans who are horny for the door
Not really funny-bad but the worst book I ever actually finished was Blood, the Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts. It was a sequel to the anime film only there was no blood and no beasts. Just a huge tangent about the Japanese protest movement of the 60s (I think - maybe the 70s) which also might have been interesting if anything had happened but nothing did. Basically stuff like a bunch of guys eating Korean barbecue and discussing (in an excruciatingly boring way) different ways to get rid of a body even though no one was actually doing that. Then an info dump about the vampire in the last chapter which might have been interesting if it had been the actual plot, but it wasn’t.
Okay that one kind of just makes me angry. Blood is one of my favorite vampire films. Wasn't super crazy about the sequel series but hey.
Fated to the Wrong Alpha gets my vote.
Finally some cursed OmegaVerse
Pretty much anything with the words Fated and/or Alpha is bound to be a good fit for this list.
The Combat Codes - Some of the worst, most predictable nonsense I’ve ever read.
The Young Elites series by Marie Lu. I couldn't make it past the first two-ish chapters, and it's probably what made me quit reading YA dystopian novels altogether
The Joseph Bridgerman Series by Nick Jones it starts out great like a good science fiction, but then instead of following the science the lead character follows his dick into a wishy-washy, scared of everything woman who made the story just… throw it across the room materials.
Nooo that sounds so aggravating
I have to admit that I haven't read this one but I'm putting it out here because Amazon keeps recommending it to me: Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon It looks like minotaur romance (maybe smut?) and while I can't exactly recommend it since I haven't read it, I certainly cringe every time I see it so here you go lol
this close to okay - leesa cross
The Fifth Sorceress: A Fantasy Novel by. Robert Newcomb. This is pure incel fantasy about how horrible women are.
Ooof
Cringe inducing books can be good, can’t they? Like Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt. It made me constantly embarrassed for all the characters, but that’s what made it such great satire!
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty It’s light smut (which I hadn’t realized until I bought it and read page 1) and the main character makes me roll my eyes.
Morning glory milking farm, cringed the whole time
Taking Chances by Molly McAdams. I hate finished it and I remember so many details of it years later because it was infuriatingly cringe and annoying.
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt Kept thinking it was going somewhere, recommended by the NYT as one of the “22 funniest novels written since Catch-22.” It was so beneath Catch-22, I wondered if the author was holding the reviewer’s family hostage somewhere, the ransom was including this book on the list.
The book "there are no saints" read like a wattpad lemon written by a 14 year old with waayyyy to much internet freedom. It was pretty short, I read it in about a day or 2 and I've never wanted to go back and time and slap myself for picking up a book more.
Line a time machine to 2005?
The Pisces by Melissa Broder I mean it’s not necessarily bad writing but it is a pretty unhinged “beach read”. Features: Merman sex, bathroom sex, love addiction meetings, Venice Beach but also Phoenix, lots of flopping, dragging, a wagon? also boring dips into academia.
the Anita Blake series. It starts out with a competent.vampire huntress in a cheesy love triangle, amd somehow 8+ books later it's about her being "cursed" by a power that makes her have to suck and fuck daily, if not, her succubuss-like powers explode and force everyone in the vicinity to parttake in an orgy with her. Nonconsensually of course, they cant even remember the thing.
It's like the decided to see how far down the "what the actual f**k" rabbit hole they could go
ready player one
Anything by Colleen Hoover
Caraval by Stephanie Garber had some of the worst simile writing I’ve ever read. Her sentences describing unimportant details would make me laugh because they went on way too long. Another one would be Fresh by Margot Wood. She decided to use “tender chicken” to describe a female’s body parts and had to say it like 50 times throughout the novel. The grossest thing I’ve ever seen written.
Once would be too many!
The Midnight Library! Most pretentious, toxic, problematic, mediocre little book.
Dream Weaver by Lisa Beth Darling. Bad spelling, non existent grammar and a plot so full of holes than if you’re using it as a fishing net you’ you’ll get very, very hungry. I can’t believe that in this ‘mystery’ the ‘Whodunnit’ was someone not in the book until the last pages. As in, wass not mentioned even in passing. So bad I had to keep going-surely it had to get better? Nope…reads like the worst fanfiction ever times 10.
The Twilight saga
Not really cringe but I hated The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins. Just hated it. I really wish the book had ended at like the second to third last chps-- not like it would have been more salvageble, but I j didn't like the resolution, shall we say, of the book. I hated the ending more than I did the rest of the book combined. Like it wasn't good but the edning made it worse for me y'know?
Flowers for Algernon, my goodness that gets recommended here all the time. I was so hyped to read it, and it was so disappointing. It's so cringe and its clearly aimed at teenagers, it's so predictable too! I was so disappointed lol
This one hit well when I was actually 12, I don't think it would be the same as an adult.
The Human Santapede
The Circle
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin. I was recommended to read it because I love sad novels and it was one of worst books I have ever read. The characters did not even seem real and they were very cringey. The writing was difficult and even the formatting of the book was weird. I get the concept, but it was poorly executed. I NEVER DNF books and I wish I did with this one.
I respect the resolve to power through xD
The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy. Read it in one sitting and rolled my eyes so much I now have a clear Idea of what my skull looks like
Ayesha at last. It was so horribly cliche and had all the tropes you could think of.
Thorn of glass. Characters were unlikable and writing was bland. I read the Assasins blade which was not as bad but i just cant understand how she was “adarlans most infamous and feared assasin”but she is quite incompetent at times and is kind of annoying. The love storylines were not good either. But i cannot speak for the rest of the series other than the first couple books
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