Book Surprises and Disappointments of 2018

As with any year there have been numerous books that surprised or disappointed me in 2018.

 

SURPRISES

To Kill a Kingdom, The Nowhere Girls, City of Brass and Sadie were all books that I didn't think would live up to the hype - I usually have unpopular opinions when it comes to hyped/popular books, so I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) when I enjoyed these three.
And they're actually all in my Top Ten Books of 2018, which can be found here.

Adrift was a surprise because it doesn't have the best Goodreads rating and I wasn't expecting it to hold my attention, but I thought it was action-packed and suspenseful. I had no idea what was going to happen next. 
Read my review here.

Kindred was a surprise because I didn't expect it to hit me emotionally the way it did.
The plot was interesting and tough to read at times.
The main character, Dana, went through a lot and her relationship with Rufus was very complicated but intriguing.
My review can be read here.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

There were quite a few books that I could have added to this list, but I've shortened it to the most disappointing otherwise this post could go on forever.
 

 

 Mortal Engines, Crazy Rich Asians and Ready Player One were all books that I read in preparation of watching the films.
In the end I only saw Crazy Rich Asians at the cinema and I definitely preferred the film to the book.
The Mortal Engines and Crazy Rich Asians books were disappointing because I didn't like the wrting styles and struggled to stay interested. Mortal Engines had a very middle grade feel to me.
And while I did enjoy Ready Player One overall, I didn't enjoy it as much as everyone else seemed to.

 I expected to love The Wrath and the Dawn, Mirage and The Poppy War, but all three were disappointing.
In the case of The Wrath and the Dawn, I think that I waited too long to read it and that I'd built it up a lot in my head and expected something mind-blowing. I did like it, but not enough to want to read the sequel.
Mirage started off well and I liked the sci-fi aspects and the mythology but the romance ruined the book for me and I have no intention of continuing with the sequel. Read my review here.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to The Poppy War. It wasn't really what I expected but there were some things that I liked about it. My review can be found here.

Children of Blood and Bone is another book where the romance ruined it for me. It seemed forced and unnecessary. 
Read my review here.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is very popular, but I don't really get what the fuss is about. I think this is another case where it wasn't what I expected.

So that's it!
Are there any books that disappointed or surprised you this year?