I have read hundred of books, sadly I come across a few I don't like. I have a fifty page rule, where if I don't like it by the fiftieth page, I find a different book. These books made the list, because I like them at first but I hated the rest. Therefore, they're worse because they wasted my time.
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
This book is about a woman named Alice who is pregnant and married to the love of her life. One day she wakes up on a gym floor and quickly realizes that she has forgotten an entire decade of her life. She goes to the hospital and meets small humans who call her mom. She also realizes that she and her husband are no longer together. Stop here if you don't want any spoilers about why I hated it.
I hated this book because I thought information about her former life would slowly reveal itself. It could've been about 30% shorter if people actually revealed information about her life instead of making her figure it out on her own. Instead, for a majority of the book, I had misleading information or none at all. It was very frustrating and I had to remind myself to be courteous because she lost a huge chunk of her memory. She also gets all of her memories back faster than you can say Quidditch and it was extremely random.
Also the main character had no character growth. In the beginning of the book she is down-to-earth and kind. Like I said earlier, she and her husband are divorced. The main people she was connected with was her very serious boyfriend Dominick, her kids, the PTA, and her good friend Gina. One of her children seems closed-off and moody all the time, I thought she was upset due to her parents divorce. As it turns out, Alice's friend Gina died and Alice blamed her daughter. Alice even told her daughter that it was her fault that Gina was dead. It's an incredibly bitchy move to blame anyone for a persons death, especially a child. That isn't character growth somehow she somehow moved in the opposite direction. It was also very unrealistic. She apologized to her daughter, her daughter forgives her, and then it's like nothing happened.
Also the ending and the epilogue both had very different endings. I felt like I lost 20-30 pages of the book.
Also like every other stereotypical romantic comedy, Alice and her ex husband make up in about 5 pages. Never mind that at the beginning of the book, they despised each other.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
To me, this book was worse. I loved the first half but the second half was completely different. It's worse because it wasted my time. This book is about a 14 year old girl named Susie who was brutally raped then murdered in the late 70's. She watches from heaven as people work to catch her killer and how her family is affected. (Kudos to the author for putting the book during the 70's. Back then, people weren't paranoid about serial killers because the media wasn't publicizing people like Ted Bundy and the Zodiac. That was the 80's and 90's.)
I have to caution you because fairly early in the book, Susie is raped and then murdered. The way the author described the rape was immensely graphic. So graphic I put the book down and got back to it later. As it turns out, the author is a rape survivor. She may have been describing her rape. The rape was far, far more graphic than Susie's murder. Stop here if you don't want any spoilers.
I was intrigued by the book because her killer was obviously a serial killer and a pedophile. I felt I couldn't read the book fast enough. I was curious about how they were going to catch this sick bastard.
At one point her family became convinced of who it was. The evidence they had was extremely circumstantial but it was evidence nonetheless. Her sister breaks into the killers house, (by the way it was their creepy neighbor) and steals evidence. The killer saw Susie's sister leave his house by escaping out the window and he watched her sprint back to her house. He knew who it was because of her soccer jersey and because he would creep during her games. The killer goes on the run and I should've stopped here. No one did anything. It was like no one but me, gave a damn that a serial killer was on the loose. That's partially because the detective assigned to Susie's case, is beyond an idiot.
I felt this book was written by two different people. The first half was about finding her killer and Susie would watch from heaven. The second half was about how Susie's murder affected her family, psychologically speaking. Her parents marriage falls apart, her mom starts sleeping with the detective, her mother also leaves her family and began living a different life, her siblings despise her mother for leaving them, her sister moves on from Susie's murder, and her father becomes severely depressed.
Her killer was never brought to justice. At the end of the book, he is leaving a diner and following a potential victim, he gets hit by an icicle, falls into a river, and drowns. The only closure her family has is the bracelet she was wearing when she was raped then murdered, is found and given to her family. This book unanimously received the award for book I wanted to throw across the room.
I forgot one thing about The Lovely Bones. Years after Susie died, she possessed a girl who she always felt was pretty. She then compelled the girl into sleeping with the guy she had a crush on. When you're possessed, you're unaware of your actions. That girl couldn't consent, so she was raped. Why the bloody hell would a rape victim be okay with getting another girl raped? She could've done anything for more productive. Like possessing her killer and make him go into a police station and confess to his crimes. Or possess a neighbor and let her family know she is okay.
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