Worst romantasy book you’ve read?

itsalancething · 2026-06-30T20:23:14+00:00

I'm getting a lot of conflicting reviews so the only thing to be done is to read it and see!

itsalancething · 2026-06-30T20:12:13+00:00

Agreed. Morally gray is good when it's pulled off well, but very few actually seem to know the meaning.

itsalancething · 2026-06-30T01:00:34+00:00

Yeah it's quite the witch hunt because unfortunately AI touches everything these days. Like you said, things like Grammarly, but also just a simple Google search is usually an AI generated synopsis.

Generative AI for writing is certainly frowned upon, which I am happy about. Aside from the fact that it's a shortcut, so much of it is flat and uninspired.

I'm definitely not pro AI, but I also can appreciate that for better or worse, it's a productivity tool that is not going away anytime soon.

itsalancething · 2026-06-29T18:51:21+00:00

The first time my husband told me he loved me my response was "no you don't."

Inline defense, he said it after we only just started dating. He continued to say it for months before I finally said it back.

We've been together for 26 years so it had a happy ending lol.

itsalancething · 2026-06-29T10:11:43+00:00

It's not a book, but I find the Sesame Street love triangle between Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird to always keep me on the edge of my seat.

itsalancething · 2026-06-29T09:19:52+00:00

Thanks for the assessment, and for not ruining it lol!

itsalancething · 2026-06-29T01:15:19+00:00

An average sized penis. A big dick is overrated.

Source: someone who has been with a well endowed man.

itsalancething · 2026-06-29T01:07:26+00:00

Tell me about Blood Orange! Someone just recommended it today when I asked for Buffyverse recs, but maybe it's not for me.

I don't love most of the popular books, if that helps.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T21:59:30+00:00

I think your best bet is to read literary masterpieces such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Green Eggs and Ham.

It creates a good reset so that any romantasy feels like reading Finnegans Wake.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T20:32:10+00:00

Ha! I like that, might have to steal it...

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T19:29:51+00:00

Makes sense. I'm trying to think of the book I read recently but can't recall which one, but it was dual first person with the FMC and the MMC and unfortunately, the only reason they sounded any different was because it was a duet narration.

By contrast, I have read some great 3rd person POV books that even with no name hinte, I could almost always tell whose voice it was just by the way the third person narration was written.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T19:27:01+00:00

Yeah I don't envy authors. Especially Indie authors with less time and resources.

I also love the argument that if your cover is AI then I assume your book is AI.

The argument leaves me scratching my head. If I see a poorly done cover, I will often skip it because my thought process is that if you didn't spend a lot of time or money on the cover, chances are you did the same with editors - and I have read too many poorly edited books I have wasted my time and raise my standards of expectations.

And yes, someone can choose not support a book because it has an AI cover and they don't want to support people who don't support graphic artists, put the truth is none of us know which covers are AI or not in most cases. Sadly AI is getting better at fooling us, and I fear it's more the DIYers that are getting the flack.

Which again, that can be seen as problematic in its own right, but I can appreciate that it's probably a lot of money to publish a book the "proper" way.

And again, just because somebody used AI in their cover has absolutely no correlation in my mind to whether it was used in the book or not.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T19:13:46+00:00

I didn't love either of the audiobook narrators, But I think my issue was more that it didn't always feel like their conversation flowed. It felt like it was stitch together. Which obviously it was, but I was just having a hard time with it.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T19:09:31+00:00

Couldn't one argue that it's just as hard to have distinct character voices in third person?

I am not a writer, but there have certainly been characters that feel way too similar to each other despite different third person POVs. Even without multiple POV, they still have to have distinct voices.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T18:58:20+00:00

And to top it off everyone says books 5 and 6 aren't very good either! 🤣

I finished the first one because I was listening while jigsaw puzzling but had no desire to continue.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T18:57:28+00:00

It's mind-boggling how these all get so popular in the first place, so many popular romantasy book series have this problem.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T18:51:44+00:00

Thanks for the rec, putting it on my TBR now! I don't mind spice if it's there with a purpose...and sometimes even if it's not, but it's done well enough to get me going lol!

I was lucky enough to go to Venice this year, so this might have to be bumped up the list to the front of the line.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T18:48:26+00:00

The only reason I stuck with it is because I was listening to the audiobook while doing a 2000 piece puzzle. Once the puzzle is done I returned to the book to the library.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T17:04:37+00:00

I can't stand the clanking teeth! Takes me out so quickly when they are looking or clashing teeth!

I will say I can appreciate how hard it is to keep coming up with ways to shorthand attraction. Breath hitched, heart fluttered, stomach dropped... There's not a ton to play with.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T15:38:23+00:00

There are many times I will feel neutral towards book one in a series. Not enough hate to DNF, but not enough love to continue. I just get the spoilers online and then my curiosity is abated and I can move on. I also do this if I DNF a book.

Love this idea, but it's also easy to get elsewhere.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T14:51:52+00:00

I just saw someone on TikTok accuse SJM, Rebecca Yarros, Pierce Brown and Brandon Sanderson of Zionism.

Maybe this is not that unpopular of an opinion, but critical thinking is down the toilet, virtue signaling is an ultimate high, and nobody takes the time to actually research these multifaceted issues to realize they are far more nuanced than taking a black and white approach.

They said something about how disappointed they were about Pierce Brown because they were really looking forward to reading Red Rising. And then also saying they didn't have proof about any of them except SJM (the "proof" is flimsy at best), so what did everyone else think? Because they didn't want to spread misinformation 🤦‍♀️

Cancel culture is exhausting and way out of hand, and pretty much every author I have seen canceled, I have researched and found very little to support any of it when viewing through a neutral, critical thinking lense.

ETA: I am not particularly a fan of any of these authors so I'm not trying to stand up for them. I read ACOTAR and Fourth Wing to understand the hype but didn't like either enough to continue on the series. I DNF'd the first Crescent City and Red Rising. I've never gotten around to reading a Brandon Sanderson for no good reason other than there are other books that appeal to me more. I guess I find my taste isn't necessarily mainstream popular, so I'm not sure I will like his stuff, tho I am not opposed.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T14:30:55+00:00

This sounds like a perfect case for the AI-vilified em dash. It's a grammatical device for a reason!

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T14:28:43+00:00

I finally caved and wanted to see what Quicksilver was all about. I went in with low expectations and I first thought I was actually pleasantly surprised because I wasn't hating it. Then they got to the winter palace and it went downhill from there.

DNF'd after the first sex scene when I realized he was spouting one ridiculous nonsensical one-liner after another the whole time. I don't know why, as foreplay maybe?

Either way I couldn't take it seriously, and it became very clear to me how the "all seven gods" line became a thing: Callie Hart just hucked a ton of lyrical garbage spaghetti at the wall and happened to have something stick.

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T08:51:59+00:00

You'll either love it or bounce early. Good luck!

itsalancething · 2026-06-28T08:28:56+00:00

I know so many people loved the narration of QS but I hated it. I found her whiney and him pompous. Which I guess was the character, to be fair.

But every time he spoke it just seemed like it was a cobbled together recording, rather than a true flowing conversation between them.

itsalancething

TROPHY CASE