Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme officiated in November 2013 by Lainey @ gingerreadslainey on Youtube. There is a topic for each Wednesday of the year to complete, which are usually bookish-related.
Hello bookworms and welcome back! It’s Wednesday and I feel as though it’s been a while since I participated in Top Five Wednesday, so here we are! You’re possibly curious about the title of this post: Beautiful Disasters – trust me, it’ll make sense as soon as you know the topic for this week’s Top Five Wednesday…
Oh! You wanted to know the topic for this week? Woops, that’s right! This week we are discussing “Disappointing Eye Candy” or: the top five books that look absolutely gorgeous but were a let down/awful.
Shall we get started?
1. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
Look at the beauty of this book, just look. Sadly, the cover is probably the only thing I really like about this book, as the story had no impact on me and I can hardly remember anything that happened in this novel. But the COVER. Everything from the typography to the colour choices and artwork is just fabulous and I can tolerate having this book on my shelves for that reason.
2. Waterfall by Lauren Kate
This is the second book in the Teardrop duology and while I loved Teardrop, this book was a total flop in the water (get it? oh man, I’m so lame). Half the time, I didn’t even know what the heck was going on. It was frustrating, confusing and the ending made me drop the book with fury – WHAT EVEN WAS THAT ENDING, ARGH. Buuuut, taking it down a notch, this was a beautiful book that definitely turned out to be a disaster.
3. Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz
I love this cover – the colour hues work so nicely together and it attracts my eye so much, which is the reason I came around and picked this up. Also, the premise sounded great – I mean, what can go wrong if you’ve got Fae in your story? While this book wasn’t awful exactly, it was a slight disappointment. I felt that the entire situation of this story was a little anticlimactic and it felt slightly awkward. There was instalove and I couldn’t connect to the main character. Another beautiful disaster.
4. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
For such a cute cover, I was also expecting a cute story – I liked the sound of that little quote on the cover: “One wish, with a side of trouble”, but instead I was presented with a very juvenile situation, and immature characters. The high school setting was stereotypical and the idea of the ‘wish’ was a little confusing and I couldn’t tell whether it was an inclusion of magic in the story or if it was simply reality. I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped to, unfortunately. Beautiful disaster #4!
5. The Light That Gets Lost by Natasha Carthew
It makes me very sad that this beautiful book didn’t work out for me. Look at the cover, and gaze upon its magnificence! It looks whimsical and deep and I expected the same from the story. Granted, the writing was beautiful and there was a distinct grittiness to the entire story, but it was so slow-paced that I couldn’t stand it, nothing was happening and I couldn’t even get through 50% of it. I had no idea what the main character’s motives were, no idea who he really was or why he was in the situation he was in.
I have not had the chance to read any of these titles. Magnoia has definitely caught my eye a few times based on its cover alone. After reading your post, maybe I will take it off the TBR! 😉
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Id like you to read Magonia, so that I can see if you had similar or different thoughts to my own! 😊
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I haven’t read Magonia yet, but it was a book that I was super excited about last year and never got around to picking it up off my shelf.
Aww it sucks you didn’t love Shattered Blue all too much. I really loved that book so much and impatiently waiting for the next book.
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Maybe you’ll enjoy Magonia more than me!
I mean, Shattered Blue was okay, it just fell a little too flat for me. I really do still want to read the sequel though! I want to see more of Judah!
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I’ve see Magonia on a couple lists already. That’s not a good sign haha
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Well, I am glad I’m not the only one! Yeah, it was sadly quite disappointing. The writing was lovely, but it just felt so confusing and the pace was so off. The characters were not memorable or easy to connect with either.
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Damn! Oh well. Many more books in the library 😉
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I actually adored Magonia. Plus the cover is eyegasmic. As for Shattered Blue – I did not like it at all. Albeit, the cover was super gorgeous. I haven’t read the other three you have up there. I’m sorry to hear they lacked in one way or another – but the covers are divine!
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Really? Well, I’m glad that you did, it’s a shame that I couldn’t share that enjoyment with you.
The only thing I liked about Shattered Blue was Judah. He was the best written character, I think.
Indeed, the covers are so beautiful!
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So sad to hear that you didn’t like Magonia! 😢 I’ve always wanted to read it.
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Maybe you might have a different perspective of it! Will you be reading it any time soon?
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No, I don’t think so!
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Ah, sad to hear you didn’t enjoy Magonia (look at me…talking as if I’ve read it LOL) but with a cover like what it is…damn :(!
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I was definitely expecting something lovely from such a stunning cover! But alas, nope!
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Haven’t read any of these books but the covers do look pretty though. I’ve seen so many readers quite disappointed by Magonia and Shattered blue.
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Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend Magonia or Shattered Blue to anyone really. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend all of these books!
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Magonia definitely has a stunning cover but sadly I’ve read far too much mixed/negative thoughts about the book so I don’t particularly care to pick it up anytime soon. I guess looks can be deceiving. 😦
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Yeah, I would say to skip Magonia. The writing is beautiful, but I just couldn’t deal with the rest of the novel.
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Magoina looks beautiful, it`s a shame the story wasn`t the same. 😦
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I know! It is such a shame! 😦
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Those first two really break my heart. I haven’t read them yet but I am dying to. I hope I like Magonia better. And when it comes to the teardrop books, I’m getting them in Kindle because the physical book covers are absolutely horrendous.
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I also hope that you like Magonia more than I did! I liked the writing, it was lovely, if I am remembering correctly.
You don’t like the Teardrop covers?!
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The covers for the physical books are awful. They’re not the same as the one you shared
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Ah, I see. I didn’t know! My physical copy of Waterfall looks exactly like the one I shared though.
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Yeah the woes of being from the US. You should look on goodreads and see the other versions so you get what I mean. I would move to Australia just to get those gorgeous covers
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Beautiful covers!! Too bad the writing didn’t love up to the cover design. Magonia and Shattered Blue are especially gorgeous!
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Yes, Magonia and Shattered Blue are standouts in terms of covers, but not so much in terms of the actual stories.
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Finally someone who doesn’t think much of Shattered blue!
I also have it on my T5W list 😛
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High five! I don’t hear much about Shattered Blue – do you see a lot of people who really like it?
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Yea, I’ve seen some very positive reviews and I really can’t understand why they liked it
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If these books are the only ones that deceived you with their beautiful covers, you’re very lucky 😀 I wish they’d reserve the pretty covers for the good books though 😦
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I feel very lucky that these are the only ones… so far, anyway.
I know right?! Sometimes the amazing books have horrible covers/mediocre covers. Ugh.
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Ohhh, if I did this topic, I would have put Magonia on my list, too. It’s a shame it has such a gorgeous cover, and that the Inside turned out so disappointing 😦
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I’m so sad that Magonia wasn’t that great. It really did have potential! 😦
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Haven’t read any of those books but I guess I don’t really have to either … I hate it when books turn out to be just eye candy!
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Yeah, it’s the worst! Sometimes book covers can be so deceiving.
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It’s a sad truth …
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