Happy Friday, pals! I hope your week has been lovely. Today I’m talking about some books that I rated somewhat lower but would still recommend. A lot of these were cases of “it wasn’t for me” rather than the book actually being bad.
Women Talking by Miriam Toews, rated 3 stars: this book was one of those cases of “super interesting/important topic told in a way that didn’t work for me”. I thought it was really well written and loved everything about it except the fact that it was told through meeting minutes. It just detached from the story a bit too much and made it weird at some points.
Sawkill Girls by Claire LeGrand, rated 3.5 stars: I think this was a case of “good but didn’t blow me away but might blow you away”. I honestly can’t really pin down why I didn’t love this book, I just know that I didn’t. But, I can 100% see how someone could love this. There’s great representation, the plot is super interesting, the magical elements are really cool. If those all sound like something you’d like, I’d definitely recommend this one.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, rated 3(ish) stars: so here’s the thing (we started out friends, it was cool but it was all pretend). This book has two POV: Nao, a girl in Japan, and Ruth, who lives in BC and is reading Nao’s diary. I gave all of Nao’s chapters 5 stars, and most of Ruth’s chapters 3ish stars. And I loved so much of this book. But there were some magical realism elements that I was really not a fan of. So I left this book unrated for a while and then finally gave in and gave it three stars. But you should 100% read it just for Nao.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, rated 3 stars: in all honesty, I think this book deserves 4 stars. However, I still cannot get over how poorly every woman in this book was portrayed, so I’m not changing my rating. But, there was so much good in this book that I honestly think everyone should read it.
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, rated 3 stars: I think I rated this lower because I was too young when I read it. I was in high school and hadn’t really read much other than YA romance/dystopians, so this was out there for me. But I think it’s super interesting, and if I were to reread it now (hint for tomorrow’s post), I would really enjoy it.
Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman, rated 3 stars: this was a case of “I had really high hopes going in that were unfortunately not met”. I had just heard so many good things about this book that I was slightly let down by it. But I can definitely see why people love it, and would still recommend it.
So those are some books I rated somewhat lower but would still recommend! Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts? What books have you rated lower but would still recommend? Let me know!
Ally xx
Ally Writes Things 
I totally understand it wasn’t for me because sometimes I can appreciate a book but I didn’t love it because it wasn’t my style but I want people to know that I still recommend it!!
I’ve seen Sawkill Girls around and mostly read good things, it is nice to know that the representation was good and that the magic was cool even if you didn’t love it.
I’m sorry you didn’t love Starfish as much ad everyone else!!
I think books that I rated lower but would still recommend would be The Boneless Mercies and The Boy Who Steals Houses as many aspects would good but they didn’t grip me in the way that I wanted 😊
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Exactly! Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t me it won’t work for someone else.
Sawkill Girls is super interesting! I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!
I think I just had really high expectations for Starfish and it just didn’t live up to that, unfortunately. But I definitely see why people love it.
Oooh I’ll have to look into those!
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Ah, this is a really interesting concept! I feel like there are so many books that I rated on the lower side, but def more for me-specific reasons than anything else. The only one I’ve read on here is Starfish, but I gave that 5 stars so that one def worked for me haha.
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Thank you! Exactly, for all of these it was a me issue, not a book issue.
I’m glad Starfish worked for you! I think I just had really high hopes for it going in, so it was doomed from the start
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Yeah, I think I went in with low to middling expectations, so it was a lot easier for it to blow me away!
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Great idea! I always leave a summary and recommendation at the end of the post and sometimes I do recommend books that I did not rate the highest!
I agree with Starfish for example!
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Thank you! That’s such a great idea! I usually write somewhere in my review whether I recommend a book or not, too!
So glad you agree about Starfish, though!
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Ah it’s good you still recommend sawkill girls, even if it didn’t blow you away. I definitely still want to check it out. I was in the same boat about starfish- I thought it was good, but I think my expectations were too high. I still recommend it though. Great post!
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I definitely recommend it, it was super interesting and has some great rep!
Glad you agree about Starfish, too! I was totally the same, I think my expectations were too high
Thank you!
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This is such a great way to group some book recommendations!! I still consider 3 stars to be pretty good even though others may see it as average. I think I just don’t think a certain book would be spectacular or blew me away to be 4 or 5 stars 🌟 But that book could still be the perfect read for someone else, and I think that’s a great reason to still recommend it!
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Thank you!
I’m the same! For me, three stars is a book that was good, but not amazing. Like, I enjoyed it and it was entertaining, but it didn’t blow me away or anything. But I can still recognize other people would enjoy it.
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