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Disappointing Bestsellers

678 replies

LittlleMy · 22/08/2025 12:13

Hello everyone 🙂

I just wondered if anyone else has bought a ‘bestseller’ that otherwise wouldn’t have appealed without that status only to be hugely disappointed?

So I realise I’m slightly late to the party but I just finished ‘The Housemaid’ by Freida McFadden and it was such a struggle to get through! It felt more like it was written for the Young Adult market. Barely any descriptive text, always telling rather than showing, ridiculous coincidences, underdeveloped characters, juvenile writing especially sentences like ‘’there was something about that room that was very scary” “his expression sent a chill down my spine”. Highly predictable in parts, silly in others and just so very average!

Don’t come after me if you loved it, this is just my opinion of a recent book that really shocked me that it was able to reach the dizzying heights of becoming a bestseller.

I thought it might be fun to hear from any fellow disgruntled readers if they’ve had similar experiences! With Autumn just round the corner, and me needing a new list of books to read, this post may help some of us avoid similar disappointments!

OP posts:
TammyinCork · 22/08/2025 18:00

WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing · 22/08/2025 13:17

Always found Lucy Foley a basic beach read. Nothing original, but nothing taxing. I keep reading the new ones though, and then wonder why I did 😂

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Really enjoyed her novel The Guest List! Now that was a fun thriller - and I liked the dark Irish island setting!

Mumwithbaggage · 22/08/2025 18:00

Susan Hill books - can't get past her poor use of commas
Harry Potter
The Time Traveller's Wife

I enjoyed How to Kill Your Family (holiday read) but just can't get into Bella Mackie's new book. I'm currently thoroughly enjoying We Are Here.

Catinabeanbag · 22/08/2025 18:01

TheFairyCaravan · 22/08/2025 12:16

I couldn’t finish The Thursday Murder Club.

Same. I couldn't get into it enough to want to know who dunnit.

EnglishGirlApproximately · 22/08/2025 18:01

fairfat40 · 22/08/2025 17:38

Ah! Well if we have similar tastes, I did enjoy Dream count by chimamanda ngozi - good, similar to Americana , the silence in between (about the rape of Berlin), the husband by maud Ventura, green dot, shy creatures by Claire chambers. Another excellent one is Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.

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I'll check those out!

the80sweregreat · 22/08/2025 18:02

I imagined the TTMC to be more frothy somehow , much more lighthearted. I liked the Ron character and did get to the end, but it was also disappointing too in a way I can’t explain!

NotEnoughKnittingTime · 22/08/2025 18:03

GiddyDog · 22/08/2025 12:26

Anything I've tried to read so far by Colleen Hoover has been laughably awful but she has a huge following and movie adaptations being made so other people obviously see something I don't in her work.
Sally Rooney can write but I find her characters insufferable and haven't managed to finish any of her books other than Normal People.

Yeah I am finding the Lily and Atlas stories a bit boring. Not my normal genre to be fair though.

CoffeeCantata · 22/08/2025 18:03

DareDevil223 · 22/08/2025 17:58

I'm amazed at the hatred for Wolf Hall, it's one of my all-time favourite books. I've read it more than once (and Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light), watched the tv series multiple times AND listened to Ben Miles read the whole trilogy on Audible. I think her writing is exquisite.

My main issue (apart from being unconvincible about the merits of T Cromwell) was that her style created a barrier between me and the world she was trying to recreate. I always think that if you are always conscious of the writing, rather than going straight through it to what’s being described, there’s something wrong.

CoffeeCantata · 22/08/2025 18:04

jonthebatiste · 22/08/2025 18:00

I will waste no time on an author who thinks they're really clever because one or more previous books have been well received. So, everything by Colson Whitehead, Rachel Cusk and Donna Tartt after their first bestsellers, for example.

Ugh..Rachel Cusk.

LarryUnderwood · 22/08/2025 18:05

I Am Pilgrim. Biggest load of shit I have ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on. And anything by Colleen Hoover.

Hoppitydragon · 22/08/2025 18:06

I hated Demon Copperhead and just couldn't finish it.

TrulyMiss · 22/08/2025 18:06

Definitely Orbital, sooo slow!

Catinabeanbag · 22/08/2025 18:07

Da Vinci Code. It was so awful, yet there was something about it which made me stay up really late to finish it..... even though it was terrible. I hate the book (and myself) for that. 😄

Didn't like the Midnight Library much either; I worked out the ending after a couple of chapters or so and then it was just a case of getting there.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - started it but it was dreadful.

ZemblanityZen · 22/08/2025 18:10

The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Badly written and somehow didn't ring true.

Stresshead84x · 22/08/2025 18:12

REP22 · 22/08/2025 15:26

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. I hated The Salt Path too, couldn't get beyond the first couple of pages, but seems a bit of a cliché to say that now.

Aww I loved this- I read it when I was really young and I think I read it about 10 times. Might not hit the same as an adult though.

I agree with 50 shades of grey- I can't stop once i've started so I had to read the whole thing and I hated it.

It ends with us- her writing is terrible, really didn't enjoy it.

Sarah J Maas books are a bit of a guilty pleasure, she's also not a great writer but she's quite a good world builder and I quite enjoy that side of her books.

Poobs2022 · 22/08/2025 18:12

It ends with us. Sooooo boring and I stupidly bought both books.

LillyPJ · 22/08/2025 18:12

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 22/08/2025 17:09

Too easy to read, predictable and cringey. Guess Richard knew this is what the people wanted. I wonder if he would have got published if he was wasn't who he is 🤔

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The answer to that is 'No'. Likewise David Williams, Katie Price or most other 'celebrities' who somehow find the time to knock off a novel or three in their spare time.

NotEnoughKnittingTime · 22/08/2025 18:15

Mini2025 · 22/08/2025 17:48

My 18 year old DD read this and said it was really really bad. Hated it. Worst book she'd read in a long time.

Said it was only the cover and the title that must have got so many people to buy it as the thing itself was such a bad story and prose was terrible!

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Apparently the second one is better. We shall see as I did buy it cheap!

TammyinCork · 22/08/2025 18:15

Bearlionfalcon · 22/08/2025 13:39

Very interesting thread for someone in a publishing adjacent job!

re: 50 shades - that was unusually bad writing because it was a very unusual publishing journey - it was an extremely unusual self-publishing success which made it to mainstream without a traditional publisher - when it started to do huge numbers a publisher very quickly gave her a big deal but there was no time for the normal editing process to take place, they just put it out as she’d written it to capitalise on the existing momentum. That’s why the writing is utterly awful. Many books start out like that but they usually go through multiple rounds of edits - structural edits (sometimes several), then line edits, then copy edits, then proof reads.

I’m not at all surprised that people are finding some of these bestsellers disappointing. Publishing is in a strange space at the moment. Lots of publishing deals are being handed out to celebrity or celebrity -adjacent ‘writers’ and to people with big Twitter or Instagram followings. The logic is that these people bring their own publicity machine and that it’s easier to get people to buy a book written by someone they’ve heard of, so the books are more likely to sell. However, they’re not more likely to be good!

I think publishers are also very nervous about our attention spans now so we have fewer ‘quiet’ books being published and pressure on authors to come up with a big grabby one-line pitch or ‘hook’ - as a huge priority over and above the overall quality of the manuscript.

There are lots of great authors out there - for example loads of great writers of thrillers whose books you might argue are better than Lucy Foley’s (not that I have anything against her and I quite enjoyed the midnight feast one!) … but if the marketing and publicity campaign is spot on then a mediocre book can do incredibly well. With Foley’s first book the branding and cover was genius - the image was incredibly bold and powerful and memorable and it really stood out. Some authors from privileged backgrounds also fund their own marketing and PR machine on top of the publisher’s - which is why you might see them popping up on places like BBC breakfast or The One Show, when other perhaps better writers will simply never get a look-in.

I find it helpful to have a relationship with a good bookseller at a decent bookshop who can advise you on what’s really a good read.

Waterstones thriller of the month / book of the month titles do tend to be quite well chosen based on merit. And reader reviews to help but of course these can be quite variable in quality.

Edited

As a writer who has finished the third draft of my first novel and will be pitching to agents later in the year, this is incredibly useful - thank you!

NotEnoughKnittingTime · 22/08/2025 18:15

Most Jane Austen or Charles Dickens books.

TammyinCork · 22/08/2025 18:17

CoffeeCantata · 22/08/2025 18:04

Ugh..Rachel Cusk.

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Started her memoir on motherhood and again, the overly cynical attitude taken to quite reasonable things (in my opinion) meant that I only got halfway through.

capybaraforlife · 22/08/2025 18:17

Anything by sally Rooney.

Daisy jones and the six.

Gliblet · 22/08/2025 18:17

Another one for Captain Corelli's interminably boring Mandolin. I'm increasingly convinced that when critics and culture pundits don't understand something they describe it as important and/or powerful, and when they can't finish it because it's deathly boring they witter on about it's complexity and richness safe in the knowledge no-one will dare contradict them for fear they've missed something nuanced and will sound thick. Whether it becomes a bestseller or not very rarely depends on quality, it's about marketing and timing.

SunflowerLife · 22/08/2025 18:17

I do like Freida McFadden books. They aren't intended to be highbrow literature. They are a quick, fun read as intended. The thriller equivalent of a light, romance novel.
One of my friends had never read a book in her life until she got hooked on these, she has struggled with reading and writing previously but she's starting to develop an enjoyment of reading through these books which can only be a good thing. I like them because they occupy me without taking a lot of time and energy. They fit their target market. The book I thought massively overrated was " Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes, boring.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 22/08/2025 18:18

CarpeVitam · 22/08/2025 12:19

Yes. The Midnight Library, Matt Haigh.

So boring!

I couldn’t make head or tail of that. Weird!

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 22/08/2025 18:19

Debsthegardener · 22/08/2025 17:44

The Thursday Murder Club! So glad others found it dull. I found the characters, particularly females, unconvincing. I generally find male authors don’t do female characterisation well.
Still haven’t finished it and not sure I ever will, I just couldn’t give a sh*t who did it.

Don't bother finishing it, find a Beano or a Bunty to read 😂