Okay. Hello. it has been a while. a few weeks. a few months? maybe a year?
sorry. well. Life kind of got in the way for a while.
and blogging — and reading — definitely got stuck on the back-burner. for a long-ass time. and I’ve been thinking about reading and getting back into reading. (how many times am I going to say ‘reading’?)
ANYWAYS. I was inspired by a video by Jack Edwards (linked here) where he reads the highest and lowest rated books on his TBR (according to goodreads average ratings). it got me thinking, whether or not all the books I’ve read — and my ratings — fit the general rating on GR.
and then I thought… lets write a post about it even though hardly anyone will read it!!
THE ‘BEST OF THE BEST’
1) Heartstopper (comic)
GR Average: 4.71/5
My Rating: 5/5
I am pleasantly surprised. I am actually giving these gr people a slow clap. I am impressed. though future me already knows that its all downhill from here. BUT the Heartstopper comic is wholesome- but-sad gay energy and what more could a queer ask for?
2) A Court Of Mist And Fury
GR Average: 4. 59
My Rating: 2/5
this is shit hitting the fan. this series is loved and for the life of me — it makes me speechless. and not in a good way. there are some merits to this book, but they are drowned by the problematic nature of SJM more generally and her general not-so-nice-ness when it comes to the queer community and utter LACK of representation. and the writing is just tedious and all the characters seem the same?
world building? could be fantastic if it was more inclusive.
3) The King’s Men
GR Average: 4.59/5
My Rating: 3.5/5
now. I love a LOT about this series. this book is my favourite from this series. and you may be looking at that 3.5 rating and thinking ‘??? kdvjk things don’t add up here’. its messy af in a good way?
the thing is, with this series there is a problem with ablism (use of ableist slurs). and I cannot say one thing about SJM and not hold other authors accountable as well. the characters are SUPER problematic and do VERY bad things, and maybe takes showing people realistically a tough to far and a touch too extreme for YA?
[and the not-so-amazing writing (which the author admits to).]
this book is messy. I’m lowkey obsessed with the so much of it but hate so much of it? Look at GR reviews.
THE ‘WORST OF THE WORST’
1) Just Like Heaven
GR Average: 3.39/5
My Rating: 2/5
can we talk about that the LOWEST rated book I’ve read is ONLY 3.39? and boy have I read some TrAsh.
I don’t even remember this book? and that’s just me being brutally honest. I literally do not recall a THING about this book and I’m kind of glad that it’s not taking up space in my brain? was only a two star for me after all. kind of fitting that this is the lowest rating? tho there are definitely books that should be in this one’s place.
overall thoughts: blissfully forgettable.
2) This Is Kind of An Epic Love Story.
GR Av: 3.42/5
My Rating: 2/5
OKAY. this was probably my most HATED book of last year. JUST. I have never (okay maybe not never) disliked a bunch of characters more. SO immature. SO SO SO immature. just. did. not. like. them. I thought that the book had a lovely premise. Truly, really, I did. but JUST. RUINED BY CHARACTER EXECUTION. (not the beheading-kind of execution).
3) The 12 Days of Dash and Lily
GR Av: 3.46/5
My Rating: 4/5 apparently.
in all truth, I remember little of this book. and by ‘little’ I mean absolutely nothing apart from the first chapter or so. but, at the time I thought it was ‘a great follow up to Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares!’ — that’s my WHOLE review. but, I READ THIS IN 2016 SO I THINK IM ALLOWED TO FORGET SOME DETAILS ( or the whole book…)
OVERALL
SO.
out of the highest rated… there were some mixed opinions. and the lowest rated… well. they weren’t books that I had LOVED (or stood out to me at least). but its surprising that 14 year old me LOVED a book that’s nearly the ‘worst’ book I’ve read according to GR. and that some of the highest ranked books according to GR are SO problematic *cough*SJM*cough* — but that’s not surprising considering the cult followings…
BUT. Kind of interesting to note? I was kind of surprised at this? Definitely thought that the lowest book overall would be a HELL of a lot lower than 3.39/5?!?!?
out of curiosity, I looked at my lowest ranked books and apart from a lot of guilty pleasure trashy romance books that I’ve binged recently, my lowest ranked books are TMI, ToG, Eleanor and Park, Girl Online, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and We Contain Multitudes (which has an unsettling age gap between a MINOR and a senior in high school. *shuddder*). SO yeah. and most of them have a 4+/5 average.
RATINGS ON GR are a HOT MESS. they don’t mean shitttttt. raaaaaa.
anyways.
that’s that.
until next year, folks.
it’s lu again 
So nice to see a post from you!! Great minds think alike too because I also saw Jack’s video and am planning on doing a similar post.
The ACOTAR series is so odd because it’s one of the most hyped but also so hated so I don’t know what to think. I keep thinking about trying the series (or book 1) just to see what it’s about but I doubt I will.
Loved reading this and it’s such a fun post idea – funny how mixed ratings on GoodReads are though, you just can’t use them to judge a book even though that’s the sole purpose.
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this post was so interesting it actually prompted me to check out my own goodreads and what books i had read that had the highest/lowest average ratings.
one thing i noticed is that a lot of books with high average ratings tended to be the last book in the series, which i think is a bit unfair? because like, whoever read the first book and gave it 2 stars never carried on with the series. so obv the last book is going to have a better rating, because less people have read it and they’re more likely to give it a high rating based on their attachment to the series/characters/author.
still, it was a fun journey! and it makes me happy seeing how high the average rating for heartstopper is, because honestly alice oseman deserves it! that series is so well-done & adorable!
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