You wanted to read the book, you were excited to crack it open, you came into it with good faith and anticipation… but you ended up dnf-ing it. Which book and why?
Mine was The Maid by Nita Prose. It was for my book club and looked like a fun murder mystery. Instead I got instant manic-pixie-dream-neurodivergent-girl vibes, and I noped out before the crime scene was even found.
ACOTAR is easily the weakest book in the series. SJM is not blind to the creepy/predatory nature of the Beauty and the Beast dynamic. Every time she writes a protag or love interest that makes me raise eyebrows or I outright hate, she manages to 180 them completely by the end of the book.
I keep seeing this, but if I have to slog through garbage to get to anything resembling “good,” I’m just skipping it altogether. I read ACOTAR and I wouldn’t read another page by Maas unless I was being paid.
Definitely agree with this, the first book definitely wasn’t a 5 star for me but the rest really hit in the right spot.