Book Review: Because You Love To Hate Me edited by Amerie

Because You Love To Hate Me

Blurb:

Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Featuring writing from . . .

Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).

My Review:

Before this book came out I kind of wanted to preorder it right away, kind of wanted to wait until I could look at in a bookstore before deciding but I preordered it anyway to get the preorder incentive - which I haven't gotten yet. Has anyone else? 

Anyway, now I wish I would have waited or gotten it from the library. There were a few stories I liked in 'Because You Love To Hate Me' but were the few that I liked worth buying the whole book? I'm not sure. There were more stories I found boring/didn't like/ skipped over entirely that stories I enjoyed. 

Then there were the pieces from the selected Booktubers, most of which I didn't like at all. Some of it was entertaining, and I liked seeing what the challenge was they issued to the authors, but I could have done without their sections altogether. 

There's also the matter of the stories themselves. Some were written like stories, one written like texts, one like a letter, and one like poetry with no real consistency. The premise is 13 tales of villainy and although I actually liked the story written in text the most out of all, it wasn't really a story. Sure, it told a story - but it didn't read one. There were a lot of details the reader had to fill in for themselves. 

Overall, I think the point of this book was to show the side of villains that often get overlooked, the backstories that made them the way they are that are popping up in certain retellings, like Heartless by Marissa Meyer or Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige which was what initially interested me in this book but I'm still sort of dissatisfied with my decision to purchase. It did give me a chance to discover authors I've heard of but never heard a book by before and to give me a taste of their writing style, which I appreciate, but it was just kind of a meh read for me.

My Rating:

3 of 5 Stars!