- Feb 24, 2026
- 594
- 611
After hours studying Japanese on Ankidroid and Enshuu and preparing lunch, I went to replenish my dopamine with short videos on YouTube and ended up stumbling upon a YouTube short showing some books with very... peculiar writing.
the one about "Jude" from the book The Cruel Prince always cracks me up XD I know the video is a meme and all that, but it reminded me of some romance novels I picked up to read last year that left me frustrated and astonished by such bad writing. Partly my fault for looking for book suggestions in the wrong places (namely Instagram and YouTube), but I kept thinking, "is this really interesting and cool enough to be successful?" For example, I picked up a book that was always recommended called The Fourth Wing. I can't even find words to describe how awful the reading experience was. It all boils down to smut, Hunger Games-style challenges but more boring and without any impact or relevance, smut, how idiotic but handsome the protagonist's love interest is, and... did I mention smut? I feel like I haven't mentioned it enough. There's nothing else in the story. The only somewhat cool thing is the dragons, but even that's not enough to captivate the reader, at least in my case. There were other recommended books that I tried to read, but they had terrible and boring writing similar to this one. I think the only one I read among those popular ones that I found somewhat enjoyable was Once Upon a Broken Heart, but even then I felt like something was missing for you to root for the couple. I remember that in my pre-teen years, Twilight was all the rage (yes, I was part of the shameful group that liked Twilight, and surprisingly, I still like it today, however cheesy it may be! I've always been Team Edward!). The story was quite interesting and didn't need to resort to smut scenes, something I've noticed is standard in these popular romance novels.
Now, if you've read this far, thank you for reading the long text and the rant XD Here are some book recommendations that I enjoyed.
It's not a romance novel, but this is my favorite I've read so far: The Picture of Dorian Gray. I love this book and everything it addresses, from superficiality to immorality, how it explores the dark and depraved side of human beings. I love the duality it presents: while the appearance, the external side, remains intact, the soul, the external side, deteriorates. And although I felt bad watching Dorian gradually go from a pure person to something horrendous, at the same time it was interesting. Seriously, if you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend it! (My biased side speaking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ).
This one is a romance and fantasy book; I read and reread it many times during my adolescence, so much so that even the cover is worn out, haha. It's called The Tiger's Curse. I think when it comes to romance novels, this one is the one I enjoyed reading the most, and Ren is a sweetheart. I read the whole series and enjoyed it a lot, especially for showcasing Indian culture. This is worthwhile for anyone looking for a good romance and fantasy book (although you might end up not liking the protagonist very much. I like her, but I've seen reviews of this book where people didn't seem to like her, but I don't know why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).
I didn't finish reading this one because while I was reading it, I went through a bad time in my life, and it (along with the game Yakuza 2 lol) kind of marked that moment, so I ended up abandoning the reading (and playing Yakuza 2). One day I'll come back to finish it! It's called The Travelling Cat Tales. As far as I read and remember, it's a really cool and exciting book, and I loved the fact that the story is narrated from the kitten's point of view. I wanted to enter the book and adopt him myself lol.
And lastly, I recommend The Book Thief. I read this when I was about 13 years old, so I don't remember much about it and I ended up losing it :/ but I remember that I liked this book a lot, even though the ending was a little sad, from what I remember.
It's been a long time since I read a book that really impacted me. Although I really like romance and fantasy books, I appreciate all kinds of books, so feel free to share your favorites here (or just yap about a bad or good book experience here!)
the one about "Jude" from the book The Cruel Prince always cracks me up XD I know the video is a meme and all that, but it reminded me of some romance novels I picked up to read last year that left me frustrated and astonished by such bad writing. Partly my fault for looking for book suggestions in the wrong places (namely Instagram and YouTube), but I kept thinking, "is this really interesting and cool enough to be successful?" For example, I picked up a book that was always recommended called The Fourth Wing. I can't even find words to describe how awful the reading experience was. It all boils down to smut, Hunger Games-style challenges but more boring and without any impact or relevance, smut, how idiotic but handsome the protagonist's love interest is, and... did I mention smut? I feel like I haven't mentioned it enough. There's nothing else in the story. The only somewhat cool thing is the dragons, but even that's not enough to captivate the reader, at least in my case. There were other recommended books that I tried to read, but they had terrible and boring writing similar to this one. I think the only one I read among those popular ones that I found somewhat enjoyable was Once Upon a Broken Heart, but even then I felt like something was missing for you to root for the couple. I remember that in my pre-teen years, Twilight was all the rage (yes, I was part of the shameful group that liked Twilight, and surprisingly, I still like it today, however cheesy it may be! I've always been Team Edward!). The story was quite interesting and didn't need to resort to smut scenes, something I've noticed is standard in these popular romance novels.
Now, if you've read this far, thank you for reading the long text and the rant XD Here are some book recommendations that I enjoyed.
It's not a romance novel, but this is my favorite I've read so far: The Picture of Dorian Gray. I love this book and everything it addresses, from superficiality to immorality, how it explores the dark and depraved side of human beings. I love the duality it presents: while the appearance, the external side, remains intact, the soul, the external side, deteriorates. And although I felt bad watching Dorian gradually go from a pure person to something horrendous, at the same time it was interesting. Seriously, if you haven't read this book yet, I highly recommend it! (My biased side speaking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ).
This one is a romance and fantasy book; I read and reread it many times during my adolescence, so much so that even the cover is worn out, haha. It's called The Tiger's Curse. I think when it comes to romance novels, this one is the one I enjoyed reading the most, and Ren is a sweetheart. I read the whole series and enjoyed it a lot, especially for showcasing Indian culture. This is worthwhile for anyone looking for a good romance and fantasy book (although you might end up not liking the protagonist very much. I like her, but I've seen reviews of this book where people didn't seem to like her, but I don't know why ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).
I didn't finish reading this one because while I was reading it, I went through a bad time in my life, and it (along with the game Yakuza 2 lol) kind of marked that moment, so I ended up abandoning the reading (and playing Yakuza 2). One day I'll come back to finish it! It's called The Travelling Cat Tales. As far as I read and remember, it's a really cool and exciting book, and I loved the fact that the story is narrated from the kitten's point of view. I wanted to enter the book and adopt him myself lol.
And lastly, I recommend The Book Thief. I read this when I was about 13 years old, so I don't remember much about it and I ended up losing it :/ but I remember that I liked this book a lot, even though the ending was a little sad, from what I remember.
It's been a long time since I read a book that really impacted me. Although I really like romance and fantasy books, I appreciate all kinds of books, so feel free to share your favorites here (or just yap about a bad or good book experience here!)