Top Ten Tuesday

TTT – Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

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Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

This week’s prompt is the ten most recent books I did not finish (DNF). I’m excited about this one because I’ve really come around to the benefits of DNFing books. At first, I really tried hard to finish every book I started, whether I was enjoying it or not. But now, I just don’t have the time or energy to devote to a book that I’m not enjoying. I DNF books for a wide variety of reasons, and I’ll briefly explain why I DNF’d these books:

  1. A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality by Kate Khavari — DNF @ 23%. This one just didn’t grab me, and I really struggled to connect to the characters or the story.
  2. Social Engagement by Avery Carpenter Forrey — DNF @ 20%. Although I liked the blurb and the idea of the story, there was so much fat shaming that I couldn’t keep listening.
  3. Killingly by Katharine Beutner — DNF @ 26%. Another one I couldn’t connect with. I struggled to keep track of all of the characters, and the story hadn’t actually gone anywhere when I stopped reading.
  4. The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller — DNF @ 22.5%. I was excited to read this book, but it was really slow moving. There wasn’t any action or progress to the plot, so I stopped reading despite loving the writing and the connection between the sisters at the heart of the story.
  5. The Ferryman by Justin Cronin — DNF @ 32%. I think this was an example of me not being the right audience for this book, because I wasn’t connected to the characters and couldn’t see any sort of plot by the time I DNF’d.
  6. Debt of Sacrifice by Piper Stone — DNF @ 34%. I like smut as much as the next person, but this one just felt like smut with some scenes thrown in to round out the spice. And I don’t have any issues with male narrators, but hearing a sex scene narrated by a male from a female POV is a bit weird for me.
  7. Santa Ana by Addison J. Chapple — DNF @ 1%. This is one of those books where in the first 6 minutes, there were multiple examples of ableism. Mental illness isn’t a punch line or a joke, and hearing the “r” slur and people joking about wishing for Asperger’s isn’t cool, and that’s not the kind of book that I’m going to read.
  8. Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall — DNF @ 33%. This book was slow-moving, full of flat characters, and a plot that doesn’t even appear until just about when I DNF’d. The fact that the narrator is also a faerie who isn’t involved in the story also created a weird distance between the characters and the reader, and it was the kind of book where I just kept putting it down and not wanting to pick it up again.
  9. A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand — DNF @ 25%. Despite the great chronic pain/illness representation, the MC doesn’t have any positive traits, making her hard to connect with. Her LI is flat, the writing feels very YA, and there was a whole lot going on as far as plot lines, yet it was still somehow boring enough to make me not want to read it.
  10. Radiant Sin by Katee Robert — DNF @ 20%. I loved Robert’s older books, but in this series, it feels like character development has gone completely out the window, making them flat and boring. There’s so much telling instead of showing, like how we hear ad nauseam how Apollo is a monster, even though we’re never shown any justification for this.

What are some of your most recent DNFs and why?

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26 replies »

  1. Still the 3 most terrifying letters I know

    The problem with DNFs is I never remember the titles. Usually because they are so not worthy.

    That said, those of us who write suffer from TIS- terminal impostor syndrome, and we incessantly worry NO ONE will finish out book . I’m getting agita just writing this!!!!!! 😆

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  2. I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these books. But I’m sorry none worked out for you. Like you, I think there is good to DNF-ing. Just have to kind of teach myself that. 🙂

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    • I mean, it’s a process. I really struggled at first, and kept hoping that they’d get better, but when enough of them never improved I decided it would be better to just start DNFing and I never looked back!

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    • It was SO cringe! Especially when he started talking about “my” female anatomy – I just couldn’t do it, and there were more sex scenes than anything else in the book!

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    • Thank you! I think it’s important to know our limits, because otherwise I’m setting myself up to finish a book I’m not enjoying just for the sake of finishing a book, which isn’t worth it to me.

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