When it comes to immensely popular books, I make it a principle to read the book in its entirety before criticising it. This did not serve me well when it came to books such as Fifty Shades of Grey. However, giving this answer is like shooting fish in a barrel, so...
When I was in my early teens and a poor bookworm, I picked up Intrigues by Sharon Green. It was on sale and had a very pretty cover. However, and I feel like Grumpy Cat in saying this -- it was awful. Awkward speech, redundant exposition, bland characters with the exception of the villains, who were at least entertainingly bad. (Somebody since explained to me that this series, of which this book is one of many, being a bit like internet crackfic.) As a fond tea-drinker though, the fixation on it in the book was amusing. And the magic was pretty cool.
When it comes to immensely popular books, I make it a principle to read the book in its entirety before criticising it. This did not serve me well when it came to books such as Fifty Shades of Grey. However, giving this answer is like shooting fish in a barrel, so...
When I was in my early teens and a poor bookworm, I picked up Intrigues by Sharon Green. It was on sale and had a very pretty cover. However, and I feel like Grumpy Cat in saying this -- it was awful. Awkward speech, redundant exposition, bland characters with the exception of the villains, who were at least entertainingly bad. (Somebody since explained to me that this series, of which this book is one of many, being a bit like internet crackfic.) As a fond tea-drinker though, the fixation on it in the book was amusing. And the magic was pretty cool.