Nators Discuss! Being the Black Sheep

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on May 11, 2013 | 13 Comments


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[Inky] Hey Hey Hey! It’s Saturday! To be more specific, the SECOND Saturday. Meaning…It’s Nators Discuss time! We’re gonna kick it off with the Jessinator talking about sheep. A perfectly appropriate topic for a book blog, if I do say so myself. 

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On being the Black Sheep….

Have you ever been super hyped for a book that all of your friends adored, only to end up being disappointed? 

[Jessi] For some reason when EVERYONE else loves something – I’m talking 4 and 5 star ratings almost everywhere and ALL my friends adore it – I end up being that one pessimist that doesn’t like it. Take *coughs* Sweet Evil, for instance. I know, I know. Please hold on your tomatoes for the moment. I hated it. In fact, hate isn’t even a strong enough word. Despised with the fire of a thousand suns.

Raaaawrrr. Nator twin on the loose!

Seriously! Every time I see another person give it a glowing rating, my soul dies a little more. Guys, this book has a 4.23 average Goodreads rating, with 4 and 5 star reviews almost across the board (and maybe a 3 star every here and there). And I just. plain. hated it. I’m not going into it any further, because this isn’t a discussion about how much Jessi hates Sweet Evil (and alright, I did kinda get off on a bit of a tangent there).
*ahem* Anywho. There have been plenty of others that received stunning ratings that I read and either a) felt totally meh or b) ended up giving a sarcastic rant review for it. To name a few:

  • Die for Me by Amy Plum – My rating: 1 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.05
  • Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck – My rating: 2 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.18
  • Croak by Gina Damico – My rating: 2 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.00
  • Born at Midnight by C.C. Hunter – My rating: 2.5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.17
  • Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead – My rating: 2.5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.21
  • Unearthly by Cynthia Hand – My rating: 3 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.16
  • Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake – My rating: 3 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.01
  • Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – My rating: 3 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.14
  • Nightshade by Andrea Cremer – My rating: 3 starfish  | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.06 

And there’s plenty more that are really popular in the blogosphere that I didn’t like or wasn’t impressed with. Any time I see that everyone loves a book, I’m skeptical.

But – BUT – sometimes it pays to be the black sheep! There are indeed books I loved that don’t have very good ratings.

  • Wildefire by Karsten Knight – My rating: 4.5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.76
  • City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster – My rating: 5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.75
  • Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan – My rating: 4.5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.53
  • Stung by Bethany Wiggins – My rating: 4.5 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.78
  • Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis – My rating: 4 starfish | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.48

BUT, just because you are often the black sheep doesn’t mean you are ALWAYS the black sheep. Take these for instance:

  • Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.32, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • Unravel Me by Taherah Mafi – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.32, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • Scorpio Races by Maggie Stievfater – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.08 stars, you rated it 4 starfish!
  • Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.30 stars, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.31 stars, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • Days of Blood and Sarlight by Laini Taylor  – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.31, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • Shades of Earth by Beth Revis – Avg Goodreads ratin: 4.24, you rated it 5 starfish!
  • Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins – Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.10, you rated it 5 starfish!

True that! Sometimes the books are just THAT epic that even my black sheep nature can’t ignore the awesomeness! ;D
But it IS really frustrating when everyone is all ‘OH MY GOSH this book is so amazing!’ and I’m positive I’m going to love it…then I get it and I’m just disappointed. (Too much hype, perhaps?) Sigh.

I know what you mean! I’m like that sometimes. Not as much, er luckily?, but I have my share of book sadness. *headdesk*

  • Taken by Erin Bowman – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.84
  • Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.91
  • 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.82
  • The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – My rating: 1 star | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.08
  • Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – My rating: 2 stars | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.03
  • Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.95
  • Destined by Aprilynne Pike – My rating: DNF | Avg Goodreads rating: 4.21
  • Unwind by Neal Shusterman – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 4.23
  • Haven by Kristi Cook – My rating: 2 stars | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.81
  • Passion by Lauren Kate – My rating: 2 stars | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.88
  • Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin – My rating: DNF | Avg. Goodreads rating: 3.98
  • The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors – My rating: 2 stars | Avg Goodreads Rating: 3.96

So how do we balance out being the black sheep vs the white sheep? Where do find the gray sheep?
….ADMIT IT. THAT WAS DEEP.

Do any of you ever feel like you’re the black sheep of the rating bunch? When it seems like everyone else loves (or hates!) a book, you fall into the exact opposite category? Feel free to join the discussion in the comments below!

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Anything you’d like us to discuss? Submit a topic!

Be sure to check out my loverly Nator Twin’s blog, Book Haven Extraordinaire!

Jessi (Geo)

Posted in: Discussions | Tags: ,

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13 responses to “Nators Discuss! Being the Black Sheep

  1. I haven’t really noticed when I’m the black sheep for a certain book, but to think back now, yeah… It’s happened numerous times. Le gasp! Inky! *sad face* that’s a lot of DNF’s :O I hope Seventeen & Gone goes better for me.

    LOL. Jessi, you really are a black sheep (BAAAA) such a shame you didn’t like Shoadow and Bone and Sweet Evil as much as others;(

  2. Nikki Wang

    I JUST I DON’T OMG. THE BOOKS Y’ALL DNFd. OMG NO

    I hated Scorphio Races though. And The Hunger Games series.

    BUT OMG. TAKEN TIGER LILY TIGER’S CURSE? DON’T TALK TO ME

  3. LissethTorres

    well I see Nikki has dropped by! I know I talked with you [Jessi] on twitter about being a black sheep. I know a lot of people who are black sheeps and honestly i think were all black sheeps at times in our reading lives. I know I didn’t much like a certain book *cough, Venom, cough* But i think that’s what makes us readers so unique & different. Because we don’t HAVE to love EVERY book and that’s okay :)

    Hehe, Sweet Evil is still pretty on my shelf. I stopped at 50%, I might pick it up but i have lost interest, meh. I’m surprised that Wildefire has an average 3.76 rating because it was seriously great! I haven’t touched the Scorpio races [not even when it was on sale on kindle] because it sounds pretty blah, BUT maybe I’ll try it since Nator Twin Jessi did like it :) Woah Hannah a lot of DNF there in ur pile. LOL, yes, that was deep! *eek, uber long comment, will now go over to Hannah’s blog* GREAT Nator discussion :D

    • I’m sure everyone has black sheep moments! But 75% of the time, if the book has a lot of hype or high ratings across the board, I won’t like it. =/ But you’re right, that’s what makes us unique!

      I’m SO glad you didn’t like Sweet Evil, either. Every time I see someone who didn’t (which is practically never), I want to cling to them hahaha. For Scorpio Races I listened to the auiodbook and the narrators were awesome, so that may have made all the difference! I’d probably have been bored otherwise. You should try the audio :)

      • LissethTorres

        Yeah I think the hype is what really kills books for me because when i do pick them up i expect to be blown away and most of the times i am not -__- LOL, Sweet Evil black sheeps gotta stick together :P See, I’ve never heard an audiobook but I guess if ima start Scorpio Races seems like a good fit :)

        • Stupid, stupid hype!! Ruining books! *glares at hype*
          *fist bump*
          Audiobooks are hit or miss for me….it really depends on how good the narrator is. But I listened to Blood Red Road and I think that one would actually be better as audio because of all the crazy language. Been wanting to snag the audio of book 2 but my library doesn’t have it =/

  4. OMG JESSI DID YOU DO SOMETHING NEW TO YOUR BLOG BECAUSE I. LOVE. IT.

    But onto the actual post, I’ve heard you saying that you hated some of these books, and I’ve actually seen some really bad reviews for Nightshade, Tiger’s Curse, and all that. It’s okay I know it’s hard to be the black sheep most of the time but at least you have some other books that being the black sheep worked in your favor for!!

    And guess what my reaction was when I saw your rating for The Iron Knight? ;P

    Fantastic post, guys!

  5. OMG I totally agree :O I hate being the pessimist! Anyway, no need to feel sheepish… I bet it happens to many people too ;) I know lots of people loved Shatter Me, but I had such a TERRIBLE experience with it… >< Love the new design by the way :)

    • Thank you! It’s a shame you didn’t like Shatter Me…but you should still try Unravel Me! I liked SM, but wasn’t all that impressed with it, yet I absolutely loved UM! It’s worth a try, anyway :)

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