10 Books I Read Only Because of the Hype

Hey everyone!

You better believe that I have been waiting to talk about this for a long time. I always wanted to talk about books I read because of the hype and whether I liked them or not. Never got to it though, until today.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blogging meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl and this week’s topic is “Books I Bought/Borrowed Because…” I changed the title to “read” so I can include both bought and borrowed.

There are many books that I can talk about, but I’m choosing the books that made the most impression on me.

[1] A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

When A Court of Thorns and Roses released, I was a huge fan of the Throne of Glass. Hence, I read ACOTAR with high hopes. But I did not like it. In fact, I really disliked ACOTAR.

So when ACOMAF released, I had no plans of reading it and wasting my time. But after MONTHS of listening to other readers hype it up and say that “it’s so much better than ACOTAR”, I had to give it a shot. I wanted to see if it’s actually good.

And it was! I LOVED ACOMAF. Unfortunate that I hated the third book A Court of Wings and Ruin, but ACOMAF will forever have a good place in my heart.

[2] Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This book is SUPER HYPED. By the time this book released, I had been burned by the hype multiple times and was wary of reading it. After months of contemplating, I finally picked it up because I had heard zero negative reviews.

And I hated it.

I hated it so much that I was annotating my frustration in the book’s pages using a pencil, and I had many notes. After finishing it, I sold it back to the second hand bookstore (after erasing my annotations, of course) as soon as I could. I wanted it gone.

Read my review to know the details.

[3] The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

This book’s hype was mainly on Instagram. I was seeing it EVERYWHERE, and eventually I couldn’t hold myself back from it’s cute cover and premise.

With The Flatshare, the hype did NOT leave me wrong. It was so good y’all. I loved it. Now I’m one of the people hyping it up and shoving it in everyone’s faces.

Check out my glowing review of The Flatshare!

[4] A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Until the Game of Thrones TV show ended, the hype for it kept increasing year by year. It became so huge!

I finally succumbed to the hype when the show had completed airing 6 seasons. And since I’m a reader, of course I read the book first. And I hate myself for it.

The book was huge, had too many details, and was boring as heck. I hated it. I don’t know how I completed book 1, but at least I did not even try to read the rest.

I also watched the TV show until a few episodes into season 5 before quitting. It was so not my thing. As I binged the show, I was actually making paper lucky stars for my Instagram. I was that bored by the show.

Click here to see a full review on the book, along with a podcast* of the same if you’d rather listen than read.

*this was back when I tried doing a podcast on SoundCloud. It didn’t last long lol.

[5] Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

This book was quite popular until almost everyone read it and loved it. And I’ve heard no negative review about it. Everyone at least thought it was an okay read, but most readers liked it.

And this book definitely deserves the hype. I really liked it. It was thoughtful and profound.

Click here to read my review.

[6] Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufmann

What drew me to this book was it’s promise. They’re not heroes, but they’re the only ones available. A very diverse group of kids pushed together and having to save everyone in their galaxy because of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But I wasn’t impressed by this book. At times it was trying too hard, and there was a constant struggle between being plot-driven and character-driven. I couldn’t like it.

Read my review to know the details.

[7] The Poet X by Alizabeth Acevedo

This. Book. Deserves. ALL. The. Hype.

My hesitation in picking up this book was because I don’t enjoy poetry but once I did start reading it? I was floored. Apparently the audiobook narrated by the author is even better than just reading the book.

The Poet X is a beautiful book where the story is told in poetry, with strong words and emotions. I loved it.

Click here to read my review.

[8] The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

This book was quite hyped up on Instagram. Readers had either loved it or wanted to read it.

But I was skeptical about it. One, it is a BIG book. And two, it’s known to be quite dark. So I took my time to get into the right mood and then picked it up.

The book did not disappoint me at all. It was really good. The plot was detailed and well thought-out. The characters were developed and described well. And the writing sucked me into the story.

Read my review to know all my thoughts.

[9] Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Remember a few years back when this book was EVERYWHERE? Every single YA reader and then some had read it and praised it. I couldn’t go a day without hearing or reading about this book.

There were raves and a few rants. But no matter what, this book was on every’s read shelf or to-read shelf. After a few months of it being shoved in my face, I finally acquiesced and read it. And I loved it so darn much.

The hype was so right. It’s barely spoken about now because everyone in the target market read it. If you like Young Adult books and haven’t read it yet, you’ve been living under a rock.

Click here to read my review.

[10] Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This list is not complete without this book.

Let’s be honest. Almost everyone who has read this book read it because of the hype. Only the first few readers picked it up on their own, and they began the hype which took over the New Adult readers like a wave.

Almost everyone has read it. Many liked it, and quite a few readers didn’t like it. But it was widely read. Within MONTHS of it’s release, hundreds of readers had read it and reviewed it. I’d say it’s one of the books that has successfully mastered and lived through the hype without being widely dissected.

I personally loved it, and shouted my love for it online.

Click here to read my review which is basically me shouting about why you should read this book.

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What books did you read because of the hype or peer pressure? Have you read any of the books I mentioned above?