Top Ten Tuesday (#11) Books I Decided to DNF too Quickly
2:00 AM
Basically, it's been a hectic year so far and I've been staying busy. That being said, this particular Top Ten Tuesday is going to be posted on Wednesday around midnight and not on Tuesday. I'm fake like that. And, if you couldn't tell from the spiffy new banner in honor of spring and summer, Booked J is going to be getting a serious makeover by the end of June.
For those of you who are new to Top Ten Tuesday, it is a weekly entry amongst the book community in which we get to know each other a little better. Originally, it was hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and nowadays you can find it at its new home at The Artsy Reader Girl. Every week, or every entry, centers around a specific topic in which we list our--you guessed it--top ten favourites.
Exciting! This week's topic is Books I Decided to DNF too Quickly. Which was a bit of a difficult one for me, personally. It's like Loretta over at Laughing Listener said: I rarely leave something unfinished. Especially books. But, after doing a little digging, and by a little I mean I am presently covered in the dirt and dust of my mind, I think I found just enough to include on my personal list.
THE BOOKS
There were two simple reasons I bought both Bite Me and The Luxe: (1) They were from genres I was, at the time, deeply immersed in. (2) Cover buys. The aesthetic of both of the cover art were just super appealing to me. I am a relatively fickle person in phases and both Bite Me and The Luxe were books I probably unfairly lost interest in. I can't even pinpoint why or when I did, but they were cast aside pretty quickly after purchasing. I'd say that maybe it wasn't my time for either release but I can't say that I'm interested or disinterested in either of them at this point.
Neither of these books are necessarily my cup of tea on a regular basis. Although I have grown to appreciate more NA and/or romance slash erotica based books, Mad Love 2 and Beautiful Disaster did absolutely nothing for me. I don't think that I regret either of these being part of my DNF pile except maybe Mad Love 2. Only because I did enjoy (loosely) the first book in the series, which had the makings of a perfectly delicious guilty pleasure.
I wanted to love Shadowlands by Kate Brian. Mainly because her books were such a massive part of my teenage years once I truly got into reading. For some reason, Shadowlands didn't connect with me on many levels. At the time I first read it, I was going through a weird time--which is why I believe I gave up on it too quickly and believe that, one day in the future, I may pick it up again to give it a proper shot. The Spring Girls by Anna Todd, however, was not for me. It was a massive miss in terms of retellings (it is a modernized version of Little Women) and that's all I'll say. I wanted to enjoy it but did not so it reached DNF by 30% in.
I feel like me including both of these is going to be a bit controversial because I know how beloved they both are. In the case of The 5th Wave, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I can't explain it. I loved the premise and the design of the book but beyond that, I couldn't get into it. About 10% in, I put it down and forgot about it until literally today. I would say there may be a chance that I'd pick it up again in the future and feel guilty over shelving it (or in this case, donating it to Goodwill) but I am pretty certain I won't. The Fever Code absolutely pains me to put it on my list--I was such a huge fan of The Maze Runner (minus the OG prequel that didn't center on the characters we know from the trilogy) and bought a copy the day it was released. For some reason, I procrastinated reading it--and then the allegations against the author, James Dashner, came out and turned my stomach a little too much to pick it back up.
I know, I know, both of these authors have a hugely dedicated fanbase. In particular, Jenny Han--who I genuinely ADORE as a person and an author. Her series To All the Boys I've Loved Before is one of my favourite contemporary YA trilogies. But we'll get to that in a minute: I should definitely go in order. Melissa Marr's The Arrivals was a spur of the moment purchase. I had never read anything by her but many of my friends and fellow book bloggers have raved about her work in the past, so I saw this particular book and brought it home with me. One day, riding the train into the city, I tried to read it and made it no less than 20 pages in before deciding it wasn't for me. As for The Summer I turned Pretty, I think it is the case of another "it just wans't my time" to pick it up moments and deeply regret donating my copy of the book. I may purchase a new copy, get back to it at some point. I probably judged it too quickly.
What about you guys? What are some books that you decided to DNF too quickly and either regret or... you know, don't? (And why?)
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