Every month I'm going to list the books I did not finish (or DNFed) from the last month. I'm trying to do better about giving up on books I'm not enjoying, so I have been DNFing books a lot more.
Most of my March DNFs are older books on my TBR, though I do have two new releases that I had to DNF.
In the tradition of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, a devastating but hopeful YA debut about a ballerina who finds the courage to confront the abuse that haunts her past and threatens her future.
There are two kinds of people on the planet. Hunters and prey
I thought I would be safe after my mother died. I thought I could stop searching for new places to hide. But you can’t escape what you are, what you’ve always been.
My name is Savannah Darcy Rose.
And I am still prey.
Though Savannah Rose―Sparrow to her friends and family―is a gifted ballerina, her real talent is keeping secrets. Schooled in silence by her long-dead mother, Sparrow has always believed that her lifelong creed―“I’m not the kind of girl who tells”―will make her just like everyone else: Normal. Happy. Safe. But in the aftermath of a brutal assault by her seemingly perfect boyfriend Tristan, Sparrow must finally find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past, or lose herself forever….
How far did I get? 60 pages
DNF "Review"
| I'm sad to say that I am giving up on this book. I think this book will be loved by others, and can already see rave reviews, but it just didn't work for me and I am trying to recognize that early on in a book. The dialogue style just didn't hit with me. The book feels dialogue-heavy but the dialogue just did not feel relatable. The book jumps around, starting in March, jumping to May, then to July, etc. The book also has dual POV, Sparrow/Savannah and then her friend/dance partner Lucas. His POV rewinds, but I never got to his POV. I think this can be an interesting narrative style but it didn't really work for the topic. This is a book that discusses toxic romantic relationships and abuse, but we only really got to see the bad moments. So, we don't really get to see the moments that make Savannah want to stay in this relationship and we really don't get to understand why she loves him even when she fears him. This is a major part of toxic relationships, but it seemed to skip over the moments that would really make us understand Savannah. Instead, I felt distanced from her. I also felt like I never had enough information. For example, I thought the aunt was Savannah's stepmom. I actually didn't know she was her aunt until reading other reviews. I also didn't understand the nickname of Sparrow. I thought it was a nickname her friends and family use, but Tristan automatically uses it even when he barely knows her. Maybe this makes sense later on, but it was throwing me out of the story. Anyway, it just didn't hit me like I expected it to. I think it will hit others differently though and I honestly hope that other readers do like this book.  On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.
How far did I get? 38%
DNF "Review"
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I added this book in 2013 and even though my tastes have changed these past seven years, I was still curious about the premise. Unfortunately, the book lost my interest. The book started out interesting, but the book felt bogged down by different ideas and theories, and I found myself just not caring. The characters also read like the typical YA characters. Our female MC is an outsider in her own town because of a "curse". The town hates her because of this vague "curse" and I just found it stupid. Our male MC hears voices of the dead and the first time he met our other MC, years ago, he called her a snake (because of the voices). Yet, he desperately wants to see her after weird stuff goes down, even though they barely know each other, and they quickly bond. Their relationship just made no sense.
I just decided to move on to other books instead.
I just decided to move on to other books instead.
A week ago, Dinah’s cousin Claire cut her wrists.
Five days ago, Dinah found Claire’s diary and discovered why.
Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.
Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.
Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator’s camouflage.
Today, she’ll find the boy who broke Claire.
By tomorrow, he’ll wish he were dead.
How far did I get? 174 pages
DNF "Review"
So, yeah, I made it pretty far into this book before giving up, but I found that I kept putting this book aside and doing other things instead of reading. I spent two days in the same spot in this book. The thing is, for a mystery/thriller with a revenge plot, there is no suspense and it is pretty boring. The first half of this book is just Dinah trying to plan revenge on Brooks (who she thinks is the one to blame for her cousin's suicide), but she never actually does anything. Her friends do, but it was all kind of lame and, to be frank, her friends were annoying. It felt like the author just really wanted the reader to know that Dinah was "different", so her friends were levels of extreme, all while maintaining the outsider stereotype. As for the mystery, I figured it out really early on in the book and I realized that the only reason why I was still reading was that I was waiting for Dinah to figure it out and you know what, it just wasn't worth it.
In 2015, a race of alien Others conquered Earth. They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots.
Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone.
Then she meets Lucas, everything changes.
Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race.
It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what.
And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.
How far did I get? 32 pages
DNF "Review"
I remember first adding this book to my TBR in 2013 and how intrigued I was. I remembering asking Barnes & Noble is they had a copy (and of course they didn't), getting the ebook instead, and then adding the book to my monthly TBR. But then the book kept getting pushed off my TBR. I'm not sure why I never got to reading it, maybe I was just so much more focused on my physical TBR, but whatever happened, it took me over seven years to get to this book.
Which is a shame because now I don't want to read this book. In 2013, I was in high school. I loved reading dystopian books, especially with aliens! Now, I'm an adult, graduated from college, and I am sick and tired of dystopians. That's the main reason why I DNfed this book. The book has an interesting concept. Our MC, Althea, switches families every season (with the exception of summer), living pieces of three different lives. No one seems to notice this oddity, and no one seems to notice her. I would've loved this book to focus on this idea, but instead, it turned into a cliche dystopian, full of mind-control humans which no freedom. Our MC is Special and I got tired of hearing about how Special she is. Every other word starts with a Capital Letter for Emphasis. I also saw some warning signs for some insta-love.
So, if I read it when I first got this book I probably would have enjoyed it, but now it's just not for me.
I remember first adding this book to my TBR in 2013 and how intrigued I was. I remembering asking Barnes & Noble is they had a copy (and of course they didn't), getting the ebook instead, and then adding the book to my monthly TBR. But then the book kept getting pushed off my TBR. I'm not sure why I never got to reading it, maybe I was just so much more focused on my physical TBR, but whatever happened, it took me over seven years to get to this book.
Which is a shame because now I don't want to read this book. In 2013, I was in high school. I loved reading dystopian books, especially with aliens! Now, I'm an adult, graduated from college, and I am sick and tired of dystopians. That's the main reason why I DNfed this book. The book has an interesting concept. Our MC, Althea, switches families every season (with the exception of summer), living pieces of three different lives. No one seems to notice this oddity, and no one seems to notice her. I would've loved this book to focus on this idea, but instead, it turned into a cliche dystopian, full of mind-control humans which no freedom. Our MC is Special and I got tired of hearing about how Special she is. Every other word starts with a Capital Letter for Emphasis. I also saw some warning signs for some insta-love.
So, if I read it when I first got this book I probably would have enjoyed it, but now it's just not for me.
The sequel to Dread Nation is a journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.
After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.
But nothing is easy when you're a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880's America.
What's more, this safe haven is not what it appears - as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.
But she won't be in it alone.
Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by - and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.
Watching Jane's back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it's up to Katherine to keep hope alive - even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.
How far did I get? 118 pages
DNF "Review"
I know this series gets a lot of rave reviews and I’m going to be the odd one out, but I think this series is just not for me. I liked the first book well enough, I gave it 3.5 stars, but when this book came out I was on the fence about reading it because I just didn’t feel interested. The idea behind this series is great, it has an interesting alternative history and discusses race candidly. But, it is also a zombie book and I’m not the biggest fan of zombie books (anymore). I thought this book might’ve been solid three stars from me, but when I started the book I just couldn’t get into the story. There were emotional scenes where I just didn’t feel emotions that I should have, and the pacing was slow. I made it about 118 pages in and I stayed around that page mark for three days. I felt like I was forcing myself to read this book. Maybe it is just me, maybe I’m in a reading slump. Maybe this series is just not the kind of book I like to read anymore, and maybe I’ll give it another chance in a few years. Whatever the case, I’m not going to force myself to finish a book if I’m not enjoying it.
DNF "Review"
For starters, I think if I read this book in 2013 when I first added it I would have enjoyed it. It has aliens and superpowers! Both things I loved to read then! But now I’m pickier about books, and despite this book starting with a great premise, I found myself bored. That’s the thing, this book started out great. We have a girl thrown into a storage world with no clue what’s going on. The beginning had that mystery and suspense and I wanted to keep turning the pages. The diary entries even worked for the story. But at some point, the mystery was lost. There were still plenty of things that were a mystery, but there didn’t seem to be a central question making me want to read the book. The alien world and technology were fascinating, but once we were in that world and our MC got used to the world, all we got was the same events over and over again. It was literally just the MC training with various Squads. It felt like I was reading the same chapter four or five times. It didn’t help that there were dozens of characters, many of which felt interchangeable. Nothing was happening and I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. I wish I didn’t have to DNF, I’ve been DNFing too many books lately, but there’s no point in continuing a book that I’m not enjoying.
I know this series gets a lot of rave reviews and I’m going to be the odd one out, but I think this series is just not for me. I liked the first book well enough, I gave it 3.5 stars, but when this book came out I was on the fence about reading it because I just didn’t feel interested. The idea behind this series is great, it has an interesting alternative history and discusses race candidly. But, it is also a zombie book and I’m not the biggest fan of zombie books (anymore). I thought this book might’ve been solid three stars from me, but when I started the book I just couldn’t get into the story. There were emotional scenes where I just didn’t feel emotions that I should have, and the pacing was slow. I made it about 118 pages in and I stayed around that page mark for three days. I felt like I was forcing myself to read this book. Maybe it is just me, maybe I’m in a reading slump. Maybe this series is just not the kind of book I like to read anymore, and maybe I’ll give it another chance in a few years. Whatever the case, I’m not going to force myself to finish a book if I’m not enjoying it.
On her last day of high school, Cassandra Devlin walked out of exams and into a forest. Surrounded by the wrong sort of trees, and animals never featured in any nature documentary, Cass is only sure of one thing: alone, she will be lucky to survive.
The sprawl of abandoned blockish buildings Cass discovers offers her only more puzzles. Where are the people? What is the intoxicating mist which drifts off the buildings in the moonlight? And why does she feel like she's being watched?
Increasingly unnerved, Cass is overjoyed at the arrival of the formidable Setari. Whisked to a world as technologically advanced as the first was primitive, where nanotech computers are grown inside people's skulls, and few have any interest in venturing outside the enormous whitestone cities, Cass finds herself processed as a 'stray', a refugee displaced by the gates torn between worlds. Struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture, she must adapt to virtual classrooms, friends who can teleport, and the ingrained attitude that strays are backward and slow.
Can Cass ever find her way home? And after the people of her new world discover her unexpected value, will they be willing to let her leave?
How far did I get? 55%
For starters, I think if I read this book in 2013 when I first added it I would have enjoyed it. It has aliens and superpowers! Both things I loved to read then! But now I’m pickier about books, and despite this book starting with a great premise, I found myself bored. That’s the thing, this book started out great. We have a girl thrown into a storage world with no clue what’s going on. The beginning had that mystery and suspense and I wanted to keep turning the pages. The diary entries even worked for the story. But at some point, the mystery was lost. There were still plenty of things that were a mystery, but there didn’t seem to be a central question making me want to read the book. The alien world and technology were fascinating, but once we were in that world and our MC got used to the world, all we got was the same events over and over again. It was literally just the MC training with various Squads. It felt like I was reading the same chapter four or five times. It didn’t help that there were dozens of characters, many of which felt interchangeable. Nothing was happening and I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. I wish I didn’t have to DNF, I’ve been DNFing too many books lately, but there’s no point in continuing a book that I’m not enjoying.
I put Sparrow aside, but I might revisit it. My mood was just not right for it then, and it probably won't be for a while. It is an odd choice not to show any of the good parts of the relationship to help the reader understand why she stayed.
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