Contradictions Book Tag

I have been seeing this book tag make the rounds and I thought I would join in! It was originally created by Daniela at Only If For a Page on BookTube.

I love this genre but I didn’t like this book

Though I haven’t been reading as many thrillers lately, I really do love the genre! That said, my worst books of the year tend to be thrillers, and I think that is just because of the nature of the genre. No Exit made me realize that I don’t tend to enjoy thrillers where we know the antagonist and are following our main character trying to escape. It is too much action for me! The Wives had a lot of potential and could have been really interesting but I hated the twist. For a book called The Maidens, the Maidens themselves played such a small role in the story. I also just didn’t like the main character or where the story went.

 I rarely read this genre but I loved this book

I am new to horror and I have not read of ton of it, but I do tend to love the horror that I do pick up! My Best Friend’s Exorcism was so campy and fun and I loved the setting. Plain Bad Heroines is one of my favourite books ever and I am in awe of everything that Emily M. Danforth did with this book. I will never look at wasps the same way! I think Dead Silence is the only SciFi horror I have ever read, but that needs to change!

 I love this trope but I didn’t like this book

I am a huge fan of hate-to-love romance, but I do think that it can be taken too far- to the point that I actively root against the characters being together. That was definitely the case for me with The Simple Wild. I love the setting and the father/daughter relationship, but the hate-to-love aspect felt cruel to me and I couldn’t see how these two characters could ever be together. Also, I was so distracted by Jonah’s obsession with that fact that Calla wore makeup and he hated it- to the point that he hid her makeup from her. No thanks!

I hate this trope but I loved this book

I tend to avoid books with the groundhog day trope (where the same day repeats itself over and over again) because I find them very tedious, but something about The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle called out to me. I ended up loving this and I thought that Stuart Turton did some original and interesting things with this trope!

I love this author but I didn’t like this book

The Themis Files is my favourite series and I also adored Sylvain Neuvel’s novella, The Test, but I have tried to read A History of What Comes Next many times and just cannot get through it. Many reviewers seem to agree with me, so I have officially decided to give up on it for good. I will be curious to see what Neuvel writes next!

I previously disliked a book by this author but I loved this book

I was sent an ARC of The Dinner List and, while I thought the premise was interesting, I struggled to connect with this story. I think it felt too gimmicky for me! So, when I was eventually sent an ARC of In Five Years I was reluctant to read it but thought I should give it a chance. I am so glad that I did because I adored it. I was an emotional wreck by the end! I just read One Italian Summer, her newest release, and also really liked it. I think it took me a while to get used to her writing and the light magical elements that she adds to each of her stories. I have learned that you simply have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy her books!

I love this cover but I didn’t like this book

I think it is no coincidence that both of these books are Beauty and the Beast retellings. These kinds of books always have stunning covers but the stories themselves rarely work for me. I always struggle to get over the issues with the relationship, and this was especially true for me in both Echo North and Uprooted! I did like the writing for both of these though, so I would be open to trying something else from each of these authors.

 I don’t like this cover but I loved this book

Darling was a fun Peter Pan retelling with a thriller twist, but the cover does nothing for me and I don’t think it captures the feeling of the story. There is something cheesy about it if I am being honest.

I do not love either the US or UK covers for My Dark Vanessa. That said, with the subject matter of this story, I think it would be difficult to create a cover that perfectly captures the seriousness of the story itself.

The Language of Flowers is an older novel, so that explains this very generic cover. I would love to see this book get a new edition because I think you could do some really stunning this with this book!

The hardscover edition of The Humans is terrible! I had to search everywhere to find a paperback copy because I adore this book but did not want this cover on my shelves!

If you have done this tag, please leave a link in the comments! I would love to see your answers.

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