The WORST Books I Read in 2025! (some popular disappointments)

This story feels like it has every single trope imaginable sort of just thrown together. And honestly, at a high level, it could be a really good time, but just like the development between the characters, the pacing, the logic of the story is so flimsy that it's distracting.

First half of this book, fun, delightful. I just didn't like the dialogue and sort of the flirting between the two main characters after we reached a halfway point.

This is a situation where I didn't dislike this book, but I did feel a bit underwhelmed, especially in the context of like Emily Henry's other stories. And I would say this is by far my least favorite of her releases.

The first half of this book was actually pretty entertaining because the back and forth between Gray and Kier was actually full of a lot of tension that I appreciated. However, though, I found the second half of the story to be a bit weaker.

Again, some interesting concepts. It was thrilling at times, but given the disjointed pacing and just some of the execution, it just wasn't fully for me personally.

Just overall this book was not bad but it just sort of felt conventional to me. It had like very expected plot movements, very expected romantic pacing.

For all of the buildup and all of the talking that this book sort of had, it kind of had a copout ending, which did anger me a bit personally.