5 Read With Jenna Book Club Picks That Aren't Worth Your Time, According To Reviews

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Since launching the Read With Jenna book club in 2019, Jenna Bush Hager has strived to offer a range of genres, from romance to historical fiction, to make sure there's something for all kinds of different readers. But a range of styles and plots means that not every selection will appeal to every person. Plenty of Bush Hager's picks have been polarizing with audiences.

While just about all of the Read With Jenna book club picks are critical heavy-hitters, there's no escaping the fact that some are simply better than others. Some plots unfold a little too slowly, while others lack traditional structure or compelling characters. There's no point in forcing yourself to read a book that's just going to bog you down, especially if you're looking to read more books this year. Skipping plots that don't interest you or prose that you find tiresome is a great way to reserve your time and attention for the books that you can't put down.

This 2022 New York Times bestseller is Dr. Spock meets "The Handmaid's Tale." "The School for Good Mothers" tells the story of a young mother who makes a questionable parenting decision that lands her in a government-sponsored education camp. It's presented as satire about parenting, but the social critique might not be well executed enough to offset the disturbing dystopian premise. The book is marketed as darkly humorous, but some reviewers objected to the material, calling it more dark than funny. 

Kirsten Baritz, co-founder of Beyond the Bookends, said the story left her feeling "equal parts uneasy and angry." The ostensibly absurdist story made her uncomfortable, she added, particularly since the reform school's methods seemed harmful to both mothers and children. "I didn't find it entertaining, but rather disturbing and anger-provoking," she wrote. "The scenarios and treatment of mothers and kids were strange and unreasonable." 

Plenty seem to agree with Baritz's critique of the novel and its depiction of motherhood. "I won't say it openly offended me but wow oh WOW did it attempt some serious damage," wrote one Goodreads user. "I don't disagree with anything the author was trying to say. But the way it was being said lacked nuance and appeal in my opinion."

Susie Yang's New York Times bestselling novel, "White Ivy," is a thriller that explores the complexities — and occasionally dark realities — of the immigrant experience. But while some critics praised it for its thoughtful questions about class and race, plenty of readers criticized its dark tone and subject matter, describing this Read With Jenna book club pick as more akin to a punishing grind. "White Ivy" was not the uplifting, enjoyable reading experience they hoped for, which means it's probably a good book to skip if you're looking for something more lighthearted.

Many reviewers felt the ending was too depressing, and struggled to relate to the protagonist. "Not one character is likeable," wrote one Amazon reviewer. "WORST book I have ever read in all of my 70 years as an avid reader." While some critics praised the complex figures who populated the story, many readers found them off-putting. "I kept waiting for a likeable character, interesting occurrence, or amusing plot twist to reward my patience," reads another Amazon review. "When one finally emerged at the end, it wasn't surprising or uplifting enough to compensate for the slog through this dismal saga."

Lily King's 2020 "Writers and Lovers" is a coming-of-age story about a 31-year-old writer trying to figure out how to live a creative life even as the friends around her are getting married and having babies. Romantic turmoil and the death of her mother loom over her crisis of identity, in this novel that was nominated for Readers' Favorite Fiction in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards. But despite the nomination, this book earned split reviews among readers, many of whom felt the book's quiet plot was too subtle and navel-gazing to make for an engaging story.

If you're looking for a page-turner or an easy read, "Writers & Lovers" isn't it, which means it's definitely not making the list of the best Read With Jenna beach reads for summer. "So many things wrong with this book," wrote one Amazon reviewer. "First, and possibly most egregious, it's boring." Next to a one-star rating, one Goodreads reviewer simply quipped, "Whiners & Lovers." 

Another Goodreads reviewer felt the writing was sloppy: "I've read around 500 books in English so far and I'm here to tell you that this one had the worst writing I've ever been exposed to, which is ironic since it's supposed to be about writing ... I've honestly never seen such disjointed messy writing jumping from one sentence to another with no connection or natural flow." With plenty of can't-put-it-down options on the Read With Jenna book club list, there's no reason to fight your way through this one.

Though Rumaan Alam's "Leave the World Behind" was a finalist for the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller, it may not be as good as the accolades suggest. The 2020 thriller, about two families thrown together in the midst of a mysterious blackout, was a hit with critics at The Washington Post and The LA Times. But it was received with far more mixed reviews by audiences, with plenty of readers saying it was not worth their time.

The book earned 3.1 stars on Goodreads, relatively low for a Read With Jenna pick, since many of the books often command four or more stars. Commenters complained about what they describe as a disjointed writing style, hyper-sexual language, and a needlessly meandering plot. 

"An interesting and provocative plot wasted over nonsensical, absurd writing," wrote one disgruntled reviewer who left the book a one-star rating. "I could probably write a proper review, but I could also just copy-paste Merriam Webster's definition of 'pretentious' and call it a day." Another Goodreads reviewer was more concise, writing "Leave this Book Behind." Instead, consider reaching for one of the best thriller picks from the Read With Jenna Book Club.

"Camp Zero," by Michelle Min Sterling, is a dystopian novel that asks hard questions about how gender and class intersect with the threat posed by climate change. It follows a young woman who agrees to act as a spy while posing as a sex worker at a mysterious compound called Camp Zero. Goodreads ranked it among Readers' Most Anticipated Books of 2023, but it ultimately earned an average rating of 3.2 — not bad, but not great either.

Many readers objected to the story's bleak sense of hopelessness and lack of satisfying narrative resolution. "I found this book to be dark and depressing," wrote one Goodreads user. "The crumbs of hope that the author offered to the poor, traumatized reader at the end aren't believable and aren't enough. I couldn't bring myself to really care about any of the characters; they didn't feel real." 

Other reviewers agree that the characters felt thin and underdeveloped. "I was bored or annoyed by a lot of the tropes and character cliches in this," wrote Mel, founder of the Equal Opportunity Reader blog. "[O]verall the book is just a bit socially oblivious." That's a big problem for a book marketed as tackling social justice questions. Some of the all-time best Read With Jenna book club picks explore issues of race and gender, so consider picking up another selection and skipping "Camp Zero."

To select books for this list, consideration was given to both critical reception and audience reviews. Every book chosen for the Read With Jenna book club has enjoyed notable critical and commercial success, which means that even books included here have positive qualities and plenty of fans. This list is merely an attempt to identify the books that are relatively less worthy of your reading time. 

Consideration was given to books that received notable negative critiques or relatively low audience ratings on Goodreads. Generally, these are the Read With Jenna books that had the most polarizing reviews, with audiences feeling either strongly positive or strongly negative about the work. We also made an effort to represent a variety of reading tastes by choosing books with a diversity of form, genre, and plot.