I like to do an occasional wrap up of books that I did not finish. I am a fickle mood reader and DNFing a book doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad book, it typically just means it did not work for me at that moment. Sometimes I like to think I will go back and try it again but that has happened maybe twice in all my years of reading/reviewing.
Walk Me Home by Liza Kendall– This was out in January and I tried to read it but I couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t figure out what the story was going to be. Then there was so low grade fat-shaming and that is a firm no from me.
Forbidden Promises by Synithia Williams– This cover is beautiful and the blurb mentions the heroine falling for her sister’s ex-husband. This is a trope I normally love. In the beginning of the book, the author mentions how much she loved soap operas when she was growing up. I loved soaps too. I still watch General Hospital on sick days. But this didn’t work for me. The cover and blurb had me thinking this would be more of a SuperRomance but it was more Desire. Nothing wrong with that. Just not what I wanted. It has a 3.95 on Goodreads so if you are into soapy, OTT, family sage type romances, you would probably enjoy this.
On the Corner of Hope and Main by Beverly Jenkins– Shame on me for not doing more research before I requested this book. I wrongly assumed that this was a series that I could jump in to at any time and be fine. I was wrong. In the first few chapters there are many mentions to the previous characters and inhabitants of the town of Henry Adams and I didn’t know any of them. I felt very much out of the loop. I will need to back track and start at the beginning and then read this one. Of what I did read, it was enjoyable and I really do hope I have the chance to read the rest some day soon.
From Alaska with Love by Ally James– Cute cover with a dog got me. I was really excited about this book. It has an epistolary component which I usually ADORE. But I was quickly annoyed with how it was used here. The reader gets to see the full letter that the heroine wrote and the full letter as the hero read it. For me, the beauty of epistolary is reader the letter for the first time with the receiver of said letter. We did get to a point where the receiver was only summarizing the letters but it wasn’t working for me.
Also, the author used “females” as a noun and I hate that.
Matzah Ball Surprise by Laura Brown– I really wanted to like this book. I am here for a fake relationship book. But Some of the language disappointed me. The hero referred to the heroine as a “hot chick” to his friend. And it used female/male as nouns. I was trying to stick with it. What pushed me over the edge was when the author was describing the heroine and hero’s chemistry and I was picking up on any chemistry as the reader. It felt like I was being told and not being shown. So I opted to DNF.
Have you DNF’ed any books lately? What books? Why?
I had to DNF Erika Wilde’s NO INHIBITIONS. I was really intrigued by the book’s premise: a woman who designs boutique hotels that feature “fantasy rooms” falls for the contractor she hires to build same. Unfortunately, Wilde’s writing style is full of clunky tell-not-show and massive amounts of info-dump exposition (if you’re talking to your best friend, do you tell her everything that is going on in HER life—as if she doesn’t know what she’s got going on?—that’s exactly how the heroine and her friend in NO INHIBITIONS talk to each other). No matter how imaginative a book’s set-up is, a flat execution simply destroys the magic. Alas, NO INHIBITIONS wastes the potential of a great premise (and a really hot cover) on dull, uninspired writing.
I routinely do not finish books. Frequently I stop reading if a book does not grab me in the first fifty pages. I KNOW that I would finish if said book the only book at hand. I suspect that I am spoiled by having so many choices.
I’m the same exact way! Especially when I re-up my Kindle Unlimited subscription. I’ve found a few great books on there this time. So I have such a strong temptation to drop a book that’s going ok but not great and find a better one.
I rarely DNF but I had one last week. The book was filled with tropes I adore, most importantly, the hero and heroine were both in their 40’s. There was just one huge problem – they acted like immature teenagers instead of the mature adults they supposedly were. What’s the point of having older characters if they don’t act their age? I skimmed it to see if it ever improved but it actually got worse, not better. I was so disappointed, especially since there are so few authors writing romance with older leads, and I was really hoping this author would be a find.