Disappointing Books In Disguise

I thought this would be kind of a fun post idea! Essentially these are books that I’ve read where I thought the covers were gorgeous but overall I didn’t enjoy the story. Pretty simple but hopefully you all will enjoy it!

These are listed in no particular order and I will link my full reviews to each book as well.

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The Tombs by Deborah Schaumberg

I loved all of the intricate little flourishes on this cover and the font but oh boy did I not enjoy this one. It was incredibly slow and the story got very confusing as it progressed. I couldn’t even tell you what was going on by the end of the book.

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The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale

Look at those gorgeous colors, honestly! This is probably my favorite cover on the whole list which is why it’s even more of a bummer that I didn’t enjoy it. The story itself was incredibly confusing, even now I could not tell you what it was about at all. It was slow, vague, and there was an insta-love love interest that just appeared randomly.

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Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

This was supposed to be a dark retelling of Peter Pan with two best friends being kidnapped to Neverland with a hint of a Hook and Pan love triangle. So I was really looking forward to it: friendship! Hook and Pan love interest! dark, twisted Neverland! I didn’t really get any of that here, it was a one sided romance and that took precedence over everything else including the story, world building, and friendship. Not a fan. Love the dark, pirate ship and the green on the cover though….such a shame.

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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Between #1) by April Genevieve Tucholke

I have a love/hate relationship with this author, her stories SOUND amazing, have gorgeous covers, and her writing is beautiful. However, the stories tend to get too convoluted for me. That was the case with this book, just such an odd confusing and trope filled story. I adore the typography on the cover though, so pretty.

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Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

I’m usually not a huge fan of people or faces on covers but I really like this one with the black and gold. Also a viking YA story sounded amazing and I know pretty much everyone else loved this one but I did not. It felt way too boring for what I thought it would be (viking women, fighting, etc.) and I thought it was really slow.

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The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Berube

I thought this was a pretty enough cover and I really liked how creepy it looks as this is a YA horror, or it’s supposed to be horror anyways. I didn’t think the story was creepy in the least bit, the plot was snooze-worthy, and there was an involuntary outing of a LGTBQ+ character which was distressing. Overall not a good book.

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The Queen Underneath by Stacey Filak

Oh boy, this book. This book was NOT good! Actually it was laughably bad at times. I really love the pink and blue color scheme on the cover and in general it’s pretty. The story though, it was a mess. Nothing about it made sense whatsoever, there is some disturbing and triggering content, the characters were a disaster, and it was (in my opinion) not a Sleeping Beauty retelling in any way, shape, or form.

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Blood, Ink, & Fire by Ashley Mansour

It’s not the prettiest cover ever but there’s something about the black and silver and the crumbling (stuff?) that looks appealing. This was actually one of the first review copies I ever received and that was exciting but it was not very enjoyable. It was inconsistent, full of plot holes, the main character is a special snowflake, tons of info-dumping and yet nothing ever made sense. Overall just a jumbled mess.

Have you read any of these books as well? What did you think? 
What are some books that you didn’t enjoy but loved the cover?
Let me know in the comments! 

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