While most #spellbooksaturday posts have been recommendations (check out my 2024 favorites!), I thought I’d be a sourpuss today and share my least favorite reads from the past year. I had more than a few lackluster titles, but the true duds of 2024 were…
💩 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself.” After hearing TJR’s work get hyped over several years, my book club selected this as our first read of 2024, recognizing that it wasn’t what any of us typically read. While not as outright bad as some of the other books on this list (it gets points for queer representation and for depicting abortion without fear-mongering), I was unimpressed by the writing, and the “twist” at the end felt hackneyed. ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
💩 Time Squared by Lesley Krueger
“Robin and Eleanor meet in 1811 at the British estate of Eleanor’s rich aunt Clara. Robin is about to leave to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, and her aunt rules out a marriage between them. Everyone Eleanor knows, including Robin, believe they’ve always lived in these times. But Eleanor has strange glimpses of other eras, dreams that aren’t dreams but memories of other lives. And their time jumps start as their romance deepens. Robin fights in the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, in Vietnam and Iraq. Meanwhile, Eleanor struggles to figure out what’s going on, finally understanding that she and Robin are being manipulated through time.” An interesting premise with a deeply muddled middle and a deeply disappointing final act. [SPOILER: I feel like the “it was all a simulation” twist is really tedious, the modern equivalent of “it was all a dream.”] ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
💩 The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
“From USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw comes The Salt Grows Heavy, a razor-sharp and bewitching fairytale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.” Let me start by saying I am generally not a squeamish person— I am not one to swoon at the sight of blood or viscera, and the horror genre has never really been a problem for me. As I read Khaw’s novella, though, I was so put off by the brutality and gore, I found it actually detracted from the overall story to such a degree as to make it practically unreadable. This one was quite the disappointment for me. ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
💩 A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
“A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.” Sounds promising, right? But… no. In what I can only assume is an attempt to make her lead relatable, Kingfisher barrels past populism to land squarely in parody. With deeply grating humor and a wildly muddled climax, this one was a big flop for me. ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Did you read any of the above? More importantly, did you enjoy any of the above? Argue your side, I’d love to hear it!
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