The Lowest Rated Pick From The Read With Jenna Book Club, According To Reviews

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Since its launch in 2019, the Read With Jenna Book Club has helped so many titles get recognized and even soar to bestseller status. With a spotlight from Jenna Bush Hager and the "Today" show, each and every pick encases a fresh perspective, brings some major buzz, and often, even glowing reviews. Many of the books have become instant favorites with readers from all over the world.

"Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver" is a title that stands out above the rest as it holds the honor of being the highest rated pick of all time from the Read With Jenna Book Club. But while every year delivers a crowd favorite, there are also titles that just don't bring about such a resounding stamp of approval from the book club. Some picks have left readers divided, while others have simply fallen short of expectations, despite being the pick of the month.

We combed through the list of the club's picks to date and compared Goodreads ratings. Among all the selections, one book, despite all of the buzz, didn't sit well with readers and ended up as the lowest ranked book from the Read With Jenna library: "Leave the World Behind" by Rumaan Alam. Its bold premise, combined with the fact that it was adapted into a Netflix film just weren't good enough for readers, and ultimately became the lowest-rated Read with Jenna pick to date.

Not only was "Leave the World Behind" by Rumaan Alam presented as Jenna's October '20 pick, but it was also a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in fiction. On paper, it honestly has all the makings of a hit, so what went wrong?

Read With Jenna frequently features pulse-pounding mystery and thriller novels as part of its book-of-the-month, with the book club founder gravitating toward riveting reads that keep one on the edge of their seat. And Alam's "Leave the World Behind" does check all of those boxes, as it's an eerie story that unfolds with the kind of tension that slowly creeps on you and keeps you guessing. But according to many reviews, the book never really delivers on the suspenseful storyline.

At a 3.15-star average and more than 160,000 ratings on Goodreads, only 11% of reviewers awarded it 5-stars, while the majority settled on a 3-star rating. One reviewer called it "one of the biggest disappointments of 2020 for me in the book world... It just did not hit the mark." Many didn't even finish it as they felt the prose was a bit pretentious. Those who did finish were often left feeling frustrated and upset that there was no real ending, with one reader that said, "This book was just not for me. I hated the way it just abruptly ended." The strong reactions definitely prove the book struck a chord, but it just might not have been the one readers expected.