Popular Books Everyone Loved, But I Did Not

I am all about keeping it real, so I am sharing books everyone loved but I did not.

Maybe saying everyone loved them is a bit dramatic, but sometimes it feels that way.

Sometimes, it seems we are the only ones who didn’t enjoy a book that gets tons of four and five-star reviews.

I often see books and book reviews on social media that people love, but I did not love them. Or did not love them as much as others did.

When I look up reviews of books that I did not enjoy I often find that they have thousands of four and five star reviews.

Then I wonder what is wrong with me. Why don’t I love a book that so many other enjoyed. .

The reality is that you are rarely alone. Rarely are you the only one that did not enjoy a specific book.

When it comes to books, there are strong opinions, and people love to share those opinions. But it is often about books that they enjoyed not ones they did not.

I have found, though, that people often don’t like to talk about books they don’t enjoy because they are afraid to hurt an author’s feelings.

Or they are afraid to be the only one not liking it.

I get that, but I am also about keeping it honest and real.

I also know that just because I didn’t love a book doesn’t make it bad writing. I often enjoy the overall writing of a book, but other things about it make it not a great reading experience for me.

Books that are not for us often make for great discussion. If you love a book that I didn’t, there is usually a lot we could talk about it. Let’s talk about why a book didn’t work for us more.

Books Everyone Loved, But I Did Not

Today, I am sharing books that I did not like but many other people loved.

Some of these books might be your favorite. That is great. I love discussing books and what we love and don’t love.

If one of the books on my list is your favorite, I would love to hear why you loved it. If you agree with me, I would love to hear why you didn’t love it too.

I would also love to hear what books you didn’t enjoy that everyone else seemed to.

Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood. This book is set in New York and is about the story of the Brooklyn Bridge and a wife who helped her injured husband complete his family’s work of building the Brooklyn Bridge.

I wrote a lengthy review about why I did not enjoy The Engineer’s Wife. There is so much fiction in this book and very little fact. The author ultimately creates a story that trashes the history and character of two well-known people. 

The author made up way to much of the story for me to like this one.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. I am definitely in the minority when it comes to this book. So many people loved this book about Belle de Costa Green, who J.P. Morgan hired to curate his collection of art, books, and manuscripts at his Pierpont Morgan Library.

I enjoyed the writing in this book, but I didn’t love the amount of fiction in the book. This book is based on a real person, yet the authors added so much fiction. I know that it is historical fiction, and there will be fiction, but I thought it was too much in this book.

I also thought that they packed too many issues into this book. The book would have been better if they had not tried to focus on all the things.

I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith. So many people love this classic book that was published in 1948. I did not enjoy it and I almost did not finish it.

A lot of people compare I Capture The Castle to Jane Austen. I do not understand that comparison. It is set in England and deals with wealthy landowners and their tenants, but besides that, I did not think it was like Jane Austen.

This book also felt unrealistic to me. I didn’t think it felt like real life at all.

I also struggled to like the characters in the book. I don’t mind challenging books about difficult situations and difficult people, but I have to have at least one person that I care about. I struggled to like anyone in this book.

The Grand Design by Joy Callaway. I wanted to love this historical fiction book about Dorothy Draper and the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia.

I loved the writing and descriptions in the book, and I will read other books by Joy Callaway, but this is another case in which there is just too much fiction about a real life famous person. The whole 1908 storyline is made up. It did not happen.

Yes, it is historical fiction. I know that it is fiction. But wow, after I read the author’s notes at the end, I felt like throwing the book across the room.

Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. So many people love this book. I didn’t love it, although I will say that overall, it was well written.

My main problem with this book is that I thought it made light of some very serious topics. I think it was meant to be humorous in some ways, but it wasn’t my style of humor.

It also just felt angry to me in an unrealistic way. And it felt preachy. It bashed men, religion, and so many other things. I didn’t appreciate how it approached the topics.

I understand why so many people enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan. I love Patti Callahan’s writing. I have loved all of her books that I have read, except this one.

The main reason that I did not like this book is that it is about a very famous person, really two people, Joy Davidson and C.S. Lewis. And once again I don’t like historical fiction that adds a lot of fiction to real people.

I also couldn’t get past the sexual stuff in this book and some of the things it glorified, or at least seemed to. Some people call this a Christian romance, and I disagree with that. In my opinion, it has too many details for the Christian romance category.

I knew C.S. Lewis was human, but I realized that I did not need to know about his love life, especially one that involved so much fiction.

The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis. Set in New York City and Grand Central Station, I learned a lot reading this book, but it was way more descriptive when it came to sexual stuff than I realized it would be.

I would say that there are a few paragraphs that could be removed from this book, and it would be just fine.

It seems like many modern fiction books add sex and sexual content to sell them. I don’t feel like that makes a great book. Excellent writing should stand on its own. It doesn’t need sex to sell it.

Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason. I love WWI historical fiction, but this one was not one of my favorites.

The writing in this book was great, but the overall storyline was unrealistic. I like my fiction to feel like it could actually happen.

This book also reminded me that I like books to wrap up nicely. Or at least wrap it up in a way that doesn’t leave you hanging. This book did not end all wrapped up nicely, and I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the ending at all.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang. The Phoenix Crown is set in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake.

I wanted to love this book because I love Kate Quinn’s writing, but this book seemed unrealistic to me. It wasn’t just realistic, I thought much of the story was unrealistic to the 1906 timeline.

The Phoenix Crow took today’s topics, some of which were also in 1906, but wrote them in a 2024 way. It was like a modern-day story, and modern-day people dropped into 1906. It made the whole book feel off to me. 

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams. This book about books is on many people’s favorites list. It is also a popular book club book. However, I did not enjoy it. In fact, I didn’t finish. I have picked this book up to read multiple times and every time I quit reading it.

I am unsure why, except I just couldn’t get into the story. I made it over 100 pages, which I usually read before DNFing a book, but the story just did not draw me in.

I found it boring. I know that I am in the minority, but I just couldn’t get into this one.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Marilynn Robison is an author that I have been wanting to read for years. I finally picked up this one as my first book by her to read.

I can see why people love her writing. It is beautiful, and she draws you into the characters and setting.

However, I did not enjoy this book. One Instagram follower described it as depressing, while another said that it had an eerie and lonely vibe that they loved. I didn’t like the eerie, lonely vibe at all. .

I have also realized that I need to like at least one character in a book to enjoy it. In this book, I struggled to like any of the characters, which is why I didn’t enjoy the book.

Now, I would love to hear your thoughts. Is there a book that you loved that I did not? Or is there a book that you did not enjoy but others loved?