I ranked these 8 books from my least to most disappointing. If their plots interest you then I encourage you to read other reviews on them as well. This is just the opinion of one person.
1. The Ghostly Grounds: Murder and Breakfast by Sophie Love
This is a cozy mystery about Marie, who decides to open a bed and breakfast in her late great-aunt’s house. If you’re interested in a story about the opening and saving of a bed and breakfast then you’d enjoy this book. If you’re reading it for the mystery then you’ve got a ways to wait as it doesn’t start until over halfway through the novel. Once it does start, it’s pretty predictable. There’s nothing truly egregious in this book, but there’s nothing special, either.
2. Be My Ghost by Carol J. Perry
This is another haunted cozy inn mystery. In this one, protagonist Maureen inherits an already open inn. Shortly after her arrival, she comes across a dead body. There was a Goodreads’ reviewer who nailed the reason this book is lackluster – Maureen has no curiosity. The little mystery we get is predicable. I almost DNF’d this book and I kind of wish I had. Good thing it was short.
3. An Elderly Woman is up to No Good by Helene Tursten
This book is actually a series of short stories all revolving around an elderly woman named Maud. Our protagonist is morally grey which is typically my favorite character archetype. Maud herself is an interesting study, but she’s the only thing that grabbed my attention in these stories. The physical feats this octogenarian is capable of are so unrealistic.
The stories feel like they are all the same with just slight tweaks between them so it gets boring. Not to mention, the mental health representation is so atrocious that it is downright offensive.
4. Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
This is a small town thriller about an isolated girl (Ruth) with an uber religious father. The town believes in a vampiric figure known as the Low Man and believe he is responsible when a skull is discovered in the swamp.
The plot is too dramatic and all over the place. Winstead’s books have shown she doesn’t understand the art of subtly. She believes if she doesn’t scream the message at the reader they won’t grasp it. She needs to tone her writing down and learn to trust her reader.
5. Dark Corner by Megan Goldin
This book was so disappointing because it is the ‘sequel’ to a book by this author that I strongly liked, Night Swim. The protagonist is podcaster Rachel Krall and she’s recruited by the FBI to help solve the case of a missing influencer.
This book does NOT work as a mystery/thriller. It has the killer as a POV character and this leads to the spoiling of the mystery that is supposed to be the heart of the novel. Also, the very idea of an influencer who broadcasts her life but is trying to hide from a killer is inherently flawed. It simply makes zero sense.
6. Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould
This is Gould's sophomore novel. Her debut was stellar so i had high expectations going into this book. It's about Beck Birschling and her sister who travel to a small, isolated, and strange desert town known as Backravel, Arizona. Gould is a talented writer when it comes to symbolism, but this book makes her seem like a one trick pony. The plot is so similar to her debut that it's like reading a less good version of that first book.
7. The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow This was one of my most anticipated YA fantasy reads of 2024 and if you know me you know that YA fantasy is my favorite genre. This is a debut, so I don’t want to be too harsh. The book is about Ying Yue who discovers a hidden mirror world on the eve of her arranged wedding.
Ying Yue was the WORST. She was what largely ruined the book for me. She’s naïve, impulsive, and refuses to communicate maturely. The other thing I really didn’t like was how the antagonists were like cartoon villains.
8. Homeward: Volume 1 by Nina K. Zhao
This adult fantasy is self-published so I feel especially bad putting it on this list. To not do so, however, would be disingenuous. I was so hyped to read this book as it sounded like it had everything I look for in a fantasy. I was so confident it would become a top favorite fantasy for me. It’s about a princess who is framed for the death of her infant brother by her own twin sister. The novel follows both the banished princess (Vienna) and her evil twin (Vaunell).
The writing was okay, but it was very repetitive and could have greatly benefited from having an editor. Vienna’s storyline is too stagnant and boring and the character really lacks motivation. She’s a bland protagonist. What perturbed me the most was the way mental illness, specifically suicidal ideation, was grossly mishandled by Zhao in a way that could be harmful.
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