Here's my list of books DNf'd in 2021 continued!
The Fourth Time by Maya Hughes I was so upset! I got this recommendation from the fabulous Steph Bohrer on Youtube and looking back on it, I have to agree that our romance tastes can be slightly different because this simply did not work for me. It wasn’t a bad book, per se, it was just very anticlimactic. It was such low angst, they got together so fast, there was no no plot and the character’s were so bland and surface level that I couldn’t really get into them as individuals either. Since, I couldn’t see reasons for why they liked each other, in the end, the pay off just didn’t feel worth it. Granted, this is the fourth book in a series so maybe it would have helped to start from book one, but in my defense, if this book is supposed to be a standalone, (despite recommendations) then it should read as such and allow me to want to get into the other books. This one didn’t do that so, back to the dusting shelf it goes. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman Now, I’m gonna chalk this one up to a poor mental state because I really want to give this series another try. All the girlies rant and rave about this graphic novel/webseries and the art is so gorgeous that I think I could really get into it. They had it at my Target recently and I was so tempted…but I got into a part in the book that mentioned depression in a little more detail than I was prepared to handle at that moment so I had to put it down. I definitely also want to be able to read it physically which I think could help with putting distance between the story and myself but that’s all it was. Ya’ll can carry on loving this book until I can actually get through it for reasons that don’t involve mental instability. 😂 Party Favors by Erin McLellan. I’ve been looking for some more sapphic, w/w romance novels, especially smutty ones! (The girlies don’t get enough justice around here for in detail smut) so I was so excited to get into this novella. But gosh, for barely a hundred pages I was sooo bored. I love holiday themed romances, and I love a good novella, but I needed more angst and chemistry and frankly, the smut wasn't even all that hot (from what I read). So I’m going to try this author one more time. Maybe. But I’ve looked into her before and I couldn’t get into the writing so it could be me, but it might just be me. lol. Hero by Lauren Rowe I was kind of disappointed by this one because it started out soo good! I love a good firefighter romance but then it got cheesy and cliche, like epically bad, epically fast. One minute they’re first meeting and now he’s in love with her (like actually). There’s no room for angst or reading between the lines of “will they, won’t they”. And sure, she has some baggage but not enough that makes me feel like their journey is worth reading to see them get together, because I genuinely already know that they will. The family aspect was cute I guess but I wished there was more time developing the chemistry, even if things were insta-love on his part. Like damn, did he have to confess those feelings to her in the first 20%? Moving on. Skin of the Night by Claire D. Bennett I just recently started this and just as quickly stopped. I should know better than to listen to TikTok. I’m rarely on there anyway so why did I decide that NOW was the time I’d listen to their bullshit recommendations. No offense. Anyways, I heard it was a smutty, office romance (which I’m realizing is a trope I don’t think I like very much ~looking at you, The Hating Game~). I think I stopped on the fifth chapter. If I’m not mistaken, the story was British, but the story was also trying too hard to be “posh and sophisticated” (because they’re lawyers). In the end it came off as way too pretentious for it to be a new adult novel. Trust me, the story had a mediocre storyline at best and the writing just made it worse. So, we shall be leaving that in 2021. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay This was my most exciting nonfiction book this year! And yet it’s sitting on my dnf shelf 😅. I talked about this briefly in my last blog post as well as one of my most surprising books I read, but the reason why I stopped reading this one is because this book is broken up in the sections of “defining areas” in a 20 year olds life. I wanted and loved the book for its career advice, trudged through the romance section and kind of just stopped there. I’m not even sure what comes after that section and I’m now definitely curious because it wasn’t a bad book. I do know that it got a little elitist when it started talking about it’s preference to treat “middle class, white 20 year olds” because I guess, they don’t come with all this socioeconomic baggage. 😬 Which like, come on. So that was the first strike. But I don’t know, I think this book just stopped being useful to me as a self help book. So maybe that means it did its job well. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey This was in my failed attempt to vlog. I know, for a second there I contemplated turning my book content into video form but I’ve realized there aren’t nearly enough days where I’m properly dressed and have the social battery to talk for an extended period of time to a camera (that’s not class related haha). So we’re here, writing from the comfort of my sweats and fuzzy socks. Either way, that failed video was me trying to read popular traditionally published books from last summer. I got through ¾ of the books but this one I just couldn’t. Maybe it’s because those other books had already killed the mood, but It wasn’t even the ditzy heroine that did me in, it was the not-quite-so-grumpy-just-judgmental-prick of a hero that made me put this one down. Maybe I’ll give it another try because I really do like the cover and I’ve heard great things (plus I want to see if I like Tessa Bailey’s books), but I’m not sure a better mood can change my opinion on the hero. Wrapped by Rebekah Weatherspoon This was another failed reading challenge event where I was trying to read only smutty santa novellas for the rest of December. Wrapped was the third book I got into and I finally just had to claim defeat after the first books I had read before this were either really bad or barely above mind dulling. I wanted to try and push through because I knew I had so many books on my dnf list so far but I was hating reading and didn’t want to end the year like that so unfortunately, I had to also let this one go. (Rebekah Westherspoon is still such a queen though). The Doctor by Nikki Sloan I read The Pool Boy first in this series and thought it was okay. It was good enough for 4 stars, but I don’t think it was anything too ground breaking. I know some people either love this book more or The Pool Boy but it depends. I didn’t think either of them were that great to be honest, and I love a good taboo romance but this one was just boring. It felt very similar to Penelope Douglas’ “Birthday Girl” with the ex-boyfriend’s dad, age gap, taboo romance sort of vibe. So it didn’t really stand out much to me. I don’t think I got past chapter five with this one either and probably won’t be coming back. Nikki Sloan is typically a 3 star and below for me anyway. Anarchy Found: Alpha Lincoln by JA Huss I completely forgot I read (or rather, didn’t read) this book until I checked my Kindle Unlimited. Alas, it was left forgotten but had such promise. I think this book is about a girl falling in love with a supervillain and it’s a series. I also could be completely wrong about this summary because the description doesn’t give much to go off of (I got the book from a BookTube recommendation) but I remember that the writing was really cheesy, so I stopped. But it’s okay because a few months later I'm now reading Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots and it’s 10xs better. Stay tuned and it might make one of my favorite books of 2022 😏. ~End~ Moral of the story, life’s too short to read boring books and most of these books were simply that: boring. I think I can suffer through a book that makes me angry if it’s intriguing and the writing is good enough but the way I had to force myself to get through some of these truly killed my soul. But I did try! But in pushing through, some of these books took me out of reading for at least a week or so so I was just feeling very slumpy most of the time. I just hated seeing my DNF list grow and grow and to be honest, I have detachment issues. Taking the book OFF of my “currently reading” list means that I can never come back to them again. But I know better, dnf’s are just like leftovers. You put them in the fridge to never eat or see them again, telling yourself that you will. But you never do. You won’t come back, no matter how many times you convince yourself, “it doesn’t taste that bad reheated in the microwave”. Anyways, cheers to a year of dnf’s, they taught me well. That’s all for today. Thanks for reading! Until Next Time. With love, Arianna
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AuthorI'm an 21 year old girl who lives in NY. I love to read and write and fashion is my life. Follow me to find out more! Archives
January 2023
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