Top 5 Wednesday #1: Misleading Synopses

Welcome to my first ever Top 5 Wednesday post! Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Samantha and Lainey. You can check the group here for more discussions and topic!

This week’s topic is all about misleading synopses. Whether you end u loving or hating said book, there must be that “WAIT, I thought this book is about…” feeling. Let’s do this!

BAD ROMEO by Leisa Rayven

Yes, I know it’s a New Adult book. But I was expecting for more drama, as in acting drama, and angsty romance. The synopsis seems like all about acting and second chances@ There’s a difference between angsty romance and asshole love interest and a girl that just can’t stop lusting over him UGH.

THE GAME OF LOVE AND DEATH by Martha Brockenbrough

The title sounds interesting yes? I expect this to be a game between Love and Death, narrated by them, and about them. In a way, it is. But it’s mostly about the players, Flora and Henry, and their story is really bland compared to Love and Death’s. The ending was bittersweet though, but it’s still not what I expected.

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS by Isabelle Allende

By the title and cover alone, I expect this book to be a gothic one like Wuthering Heights, a house full of restless spirit and tragic stories. And I’m sure most of you who never read this book or know anything about it think like that too. But it’s not! It’s a story about 3 generations of women in the same family. It’s pretty good and have that gothic atmosphere because our main character, Clara, has a gift of sight and she’s pretty otherwordly.

THE WHISPERING OF TREES by C.Y Bourgeois

Ah, this book. My first ARC ever and yet also the worst book I’ve read this year. By the synopsis, I assume it’s about a young shaman struggling to solve her real-life problem while also accepting her fate as shaman. In a way it is, but it has less shaman part of the story than I imagine, we don’t know the origin of shaman, why Aggie, why do they need shaman, etc and too many problems dealt in this book. Depression, suicide, abuse, rape, the list goes on and on. It was all very half-finished and muddy for me.

21 MYTHS (EVEN GOOD) GIRLS BELIEVE ABOUT SEX by Jennifer Strickland

Sex education is something that’s done in my country’s education system, ever since elementary school. And yet, even though we had it several times during the course of our education, it always only cover the basic topic: men/women body parts (they separate the sex ed based on gender, so boys and girls each have their own), say no to free sex and types of STDs. That’s why I wanted to read this book, being 18 and know NOTHING about it. This is a really good book, but I think it’s better for bible study or church group instead of public since it’s heavily bible-based and sometimes even sounds preachy. It’s just not something I wanted: a positive sex books that gives facts and stories about it. I knew it was mentioned in the synopsis that the writer is a best-selling christian author, but I don’t know it would be that preachy.