Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?).
The hype machine can be crazy at times, and my first instinct is usually to avoid books where it’s in overdrive. You know the ones — the books that everyone seems to be gushing about at all possible times. And yet, sometimes those books end up being just what I need, despite my initial hesitation.
My list is focused on hyped books that I’ve read… some with good results, and some definitely the opposite.
These ultra-hyped books did not work for me:
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: I disliked so much about this book.
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I know people loved this book, but it never clicked for me. In general, I don’t do well with books about people performing magic in this way. What are the rules? What are the limits? I didn’t buy into it at all.
- It End with Us by Colleen Hoover: Hiding the fact that this book is about an abusive relationship is just one of its many faults.
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: Promoting this book as laugh-out-loud funny and then starting it off with a rape scene is not okay.
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins: I liked the sound of the setup, but too many coincidences sank this story for me.
Not to fear! Some much-hyped books really deserve all the buzz and more! Among my favorites:
- Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto: This book is so silly and over the top, but really hits the spot when you need something ridiculous to escape into.
- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: Tears! Tears everywhere! And I couldn’t put it down.
- The Martian by Andy Weir: I feel like a lot of books have tried to mimic the vibe of The Martian in the years since it was published, but the hype about this book was so well deserved.
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: Loved everything about this cozy fantasy.
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: I couldn’t decide which of these two books to include on this week’s list… so added them both! I feel like these two books pushed TJR into a whole new level of hype… and amazing writing.
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: When the buzz was building for this book, I scoffed. How could I possibly enjoy a book about gaming? Fortunately, the hype for this one was spot on, and I’m so glad I read it. One of the best books of 2022.
Yes, that’s more than ten books in all. I just couldn’t narrow down the second part of my list!
Which hyped books worked for you? Which didn’t?
If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
What a great topic for discussion! I loved Lessons in Chemistry, but I understand your comment. I remember liking The Girl on the Train but I wonder if I would like it if I read it a second time. I recently read Into the Water and did not like that. As for your positive hype books – we are in sync, except for Dial A – I guess I don’t go for over the top slapstick humor as much. But the others, a definite YES! (read them all except Legends and Lattes). Happy Tuesday, Lisa 🙂
Thanks, Barbara! Dial A was definitely over the top and ridiculous — but I read it on vacation, and it really hit the spot. Sometimes, the right time and place can make a big difference!
Oh definitely!
I’m careful with overly hyped books! There are a few I’ve loved.
Same here — I tend to be skeptical, especially when I start hearing that a book is a BookTok hit (not that I’m on TikTok at all…). Sometimes hyped books do work out, but I like to wait and see what happens once the initial buzz dies down.
I loved The Martian and Legends & Lattes, too. I tend to avoid overly hyped books, but one I did read and end up loving was The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo.
Oh, interesting — I so strongly disliked that book! I remember feeling really mad and turned off when I read it, after hearing pretty universally how great it was!
I hated the sequel; that one was way too dark for me. But I did like the first one. Must have hit it at just the right time. Twilight was another super hyped book that I read, but that one I just found ho-hum. So you never know with hyped books. 😀
True! Funny, with Twilight, I was less plugged in to the book world at the time, and only learned about it when the 4th book started getting promoted — so I was able to read 1 – 3 all in a row and got completely sucked into the stories (despite the terrible writing) without realizing how huge a phenomenon it all was 🙂
I tend to be a sucker for hype, and buy the books when I find them as Kindle daily deals for cheap or at the thrift store, and then I don’t read them for years, when the hype has died down. I hope you have a great week.
Here’s my TTT – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/09/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-bought-because.html
Buying Kindle books when they’re daily deals is a big weakness of mine… so I have plenty (including certain hyped books) that I picked up years ago and still haven’t read. Have a great week!
I didn’t find anything in Lessons in Chemistry to be funny. But yeah, starting a book with a sexual assault is not a good thing.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/lets-hype-these-books-ten-books-deserving-more-hype/
Nope, not at all. I did not get along with that book.
The Night Circus and Legends and Lattes are the only books I read on this list.
What did you think of them?
My favorite thing is to read books before the hype starts. I read both The Martian and Fourth Wing before any hype and loved them both!
That’s smart! It’s one of the things I appreciate about ARCs — there are definitely books I’ve read pre-release that turned out to be big buzz books, but I was able to read them early and without expectations. Feels like a much better way to experience a book!
FOURTH WING has been a popular pick this week! I bought a copy of the book even though it is not my genre because of FOMO and it’s still gathering dust on my bookshelf. I’m honestly not sure if I will ever read it. It may end up going straight into my Little Free Library. We’ll see.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Based on what I’d heard, I really expected to love Fourth Wing… but sadly, no. Can’t win ’em all!
Although I knew I liked Zevin’s writing, I too was surprised that I liked Tomorrow, and I too avoided reading it at first.
I loved it so much once I finally read it — which really shouldn’t have surprised me, since I’ve loved everything else i’ve read by her.
Yes, we should trust our guts about authors. Mind you, when an author totally switches genres to ones we don’t care for, that’s something else.
That’s a good point, and I have mixed experiences following favorite authors into unknown territory — although I’ve stumbled across a few new books to love that way.
I’ve heard of many of these but not read any.I had no idea Lessons in Chemistry started with a rape scene, thanks for the warning. I watched the Apple series and while I loved it, I would not have guessed that the book was “laugh out loud funny”. It was not that kind of show.
Great list and write up! Here’s mine.
Eventually I might like to check out the TV version of Lessons in Chemistry (although I still haven’t given in and tried Apple TV yet). It would be interesting to see how the tone compares to the book.
We only get Apple TV a few months out of the year. We watch what we want then turn it off. I don’t think it’s worth paying for all year long.
I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give it a try — sometime when there’s a ton of stuff I want to watch at the same time when I don’t have much else I’m involved in. Hasn’t happened yet!
Oh gosh so agree about it ends with us- I felt so blindsided! Lessons in chemistry was mismarketed as well (and in my opinion quite overrated). Girl on the train was also just okay. And I totally get why people don’t like fourth wing (even if I enjoyed some of the ridiculousness).
I cried so hard over me before you as well! The martian was great too! And omg I’m a huge fan of taylor jenkins reid!! I also really liked tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow- though I didn’t expect to!
Nice to hear we’re on the same page with so many of these!
Oops all the ones that didn’t work for you are on my TBR 😂 so hopefully I’ll have a better experience. The start of Lessons In Chemistry definitely sounds like poor advertising though and I’ve seen adaptations of two of the others so I’m not sure how that will impact my experience of them.
I’ve read Dial A For Aunties and enjoyed it too, although you definitely have to go into it with the right mindset as you can’t take it seriously 😂 those two Taylor Jenkins Reids books are on my must read list for 2025. And I liked the adaptation of Me Before You but have never read the book 🙈
Two of the most hyped books I’ve read are Addie LaRue which I absolutely adored (although it was on my TBR pre hype as I loved the sound of the premise) and Babel which I majorly struggled with and has left me wary about the Poppy War books 🙈
Oh, I loved Addie LaRue! In fact, I’d love to read it again one of these days!
I hope you get a chance to soon then. It’s one I really want to reread sometime too.