This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is: The Last Ten Books I Abandoned. I decided to go with The Last Ten Books I DNF-ed.
1. The Best Mistake by Cookie O’Gorman. DNF @ 26%. I wanted to like this, but it just wasn’t for me. The dialogue made me cringe and everything the main character did just made me roll my eyes. I’ve seen some really good reviews on it, though, so it could just be me.
2. Teardrop Shot by Tijan. DNF @ 10%. I just couldn’t get into this. I found the main character really off-putting and couldn’t take any more of her.
3. Doughn’t Let Me Go by Teagan Hunter. DNF @ 21%. I didn’t really like either of the characters. Porter was way more skeezy than I can appreciate and I was just rolling my eyes at Dory and her whole Pretty Woman “sex is fine, but no kissing” thing. I also am not a fan of the Single Dad / Nanny trope. I’ve enjoyed several other books by this author, but this one just isn’t for me.
4. Pretty Reckless by L.J. Shen. DNF @ 7%. Whenever I sign up for Kindle Unlimted, I try a lot of books that I probably wouldn’t otherwise ever read and this book definitely fell into that category. I’ve seen so many great reviews of LJ Shen books and I wanted to see what the fuss was about, but I think it’s safe to say this author isn’t for me.
5. By the Book by Amanda Sellet. DNF @ 5%. I try to go 25% before I give up on an ARC, but I couldn’t even make it through two chapters of this book. It was just trying way too hard. The main character was insufferable. I will say I’m also a lot older than the target audience for this book, so a younger, quirkier crowd may enjoy this much more.
6. My Best Friend’s Royal Wedding by Romy Summer. DNF @ 15%. I just couldn’t get into it and didn’t like any of the characters.
7. Hate Notes by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward. DNF @ 19%. I thought this sounded cute and I have heard good things about it, but the main character just drove me absolutely nuts.
8. A Billion Times No by Kenzie Reed. DNF @ 33%. I thought this sounded kind of cute, but it’s just really not for me. I didn’t really care for any of the characters and there was some major cheesiness going on.
9. The Allure of Dean Harper by R.S. Grey. DNF @ 14%. A couple chapters in Dean goes on and on about how he only hires attractive people to work in his restaurants and even says it goes looks first and then experience when it comes to the hiring process. It just came off as so disgusting to me. And then there’s Lily. I thought I was going to have problems with her based on the previous book and I was right. Anybody who has ever worked in the service industry knows that you are going to have to deal with a lot of horrible customers and that you have to suck it up and do your job, no matter how much of a jerk they are. And while Dean was deliberately trying to fluster her, I think he was 100% in his right to fire her for her behavior and it REALLY annoyed me that he came off as the bad guy in that scenario (and it was just before that that I decided he was disgusting and didn’t like him, so that really says something that I feel the need to defend him).
10. Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson. DNF @ 8%. I read one chapter and kind of hated everything about it. I was going to try to read at least one more chapter, but my library loan expired and I know I’m never going to request this one again.
Disliking the main character is one of the reasons I gave for DNF’ing one of the books on my list. You’re not alone.
My TTT .
I think when it comes to characters you either need to love them or love to hate them for a book to work.
I haven’t actually DNF’ed anything this year!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/top-ten-tuesday-263/
That’s pretty impressive! Some of these went into last year, but I had like a weekend not too long ago where several of these were started and DNF-ed.
I mean, I am stubborn and do tend to push through for the sake of my reading challenge, but by and large I have enjoyed most of the books I’ve read this year.
I’m planning to pick up By the Book soon, but now you have me wondering if I’ll actually like it 😅
I hope that you can enjoy it more than me! I look forward to hearing what you think of it.
It blows my mind to think you read Pretty Reckless — or tried to. I don’t think that series would be for you AT ALL. If i was going to tell you try a book of hers, it might be Vicious. Even tat might be pushing it.
I think I made it through the first chapter (or maybe it was the prologue) and then a few pages after that and then decided it wasn’t for me haha. Her books always pop up when I look through KU so I felt like I had to try one, but I think I’ll probably pass on her from now on. I’ll keep Vicious in mind, though, in case I ever change my mind.
Yeah, you might not like that one either. I think she might be too shock value for you.
Great list! I was scared to pick up that Tijan book!
I know people that love it, but also another friend that DNF-ed it, too. I just didn’t have any patience for the main character. I’ll be interested to hear what you think if you ever decide to read it.
I have it on my kindle. I have quite a few unread books of hers on my kindle. I’ve been going back and forth on if I want to try and reread and finish the Fallen Crest series or jump to Crew.
I haven’t made it the Crew series yet, either. Have you read Anti-Stepbrother? It’s a standalone and probably my favorite of hers.
So according to Goodreads I read it back in 2017. I might do a reread because I don’t remember all of it lmao!
I’m sorry the Best Mistake didn’t work out for you! I haven’t read it yet but I’m planning to pick it up very soon!
I hope you enjoy it! I have seen really good reviews for it, so maybe it’s just me?
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