DNF: Did Not Finish.
We’ve all experienced this in one way or another. The book was too boring. The book was too graphic. The book was a walking cliche. The book was nothing like you expected — none of the characters, the plot twists, the writing.
Over time, I’ve learned to just stop reading something if I haven’t enjoyed it. I’ve rarely come across this issue, and as you can see from the blog, this is the first DNF post I’ve made since the formation of this blog in December 2011. I always manage to find a reason to keep reading books. But with Life knocking at the door, time constraints on digital ARCs, and the simple fact that one should spend time enjoying life’s pleasures, I’ve had to close books early.
These two particular books — both ARCs due out this month — met such unfortunate endings.
Royally Lost by Angie Stanton 
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publishing Date: TODAY, May 6
Genre: young adult, romance, travel
Goodreads
Why I DNF: Becca whines and complains quite often – it’s a wonder Nikolai is attracted to her at all. She’s got a very first-world-problems thing going on for not enjoying a trip to Europe, as well (even one with emotionally distant family members and old folks). Nikolai is a good enough character, but Becca was incredibly difficult, and so I cannot finish.
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publishing Date: May 13
Genre: young adult
Goodreads
Why I DNF: The premise was enticing, and it seemed like it would be a nice, enjoyable, fun summer read. While the first 100 pages felt promising, the rest of the book came across like a completely different story, with a different voice, purpose, narration, characters…
The motivation for the characters seemed unrealistic and petty, too. While I can completely understand an 11-year-old girl’s vengeful actions and blinding guilt, I cannot comprehend how a person five years later can plan revenge on the off-chance she’d stumble across the person again — and then execute the plan.
Maybe this is how classic villains are made. Maybe this is what’s so entertaining about trashy teen TV shows. Whatever the case may be, the book was not for me. I had to stop reading it entirely and instead skimmed to the end.
Thank you, Edelweiss and MacKids, for providing these books for review. I’m so sorry that I did not enjoy them and could not finish them.
Have you received ARCs for these books? What did you think of them? In what scenario would you stop reading a book?
Scribbles & Wanderlust 
6 thoughts on “Unfortunate Case of DNFs”
internetdiderot
I seldom find a book that doesn’t give me ANY reason to keep reading, even if it’s terrible– except when I have to return it to the library. 😦 These two, though, sound like things you really wouldn’t want to take the time to finish.
Laura
It just breaks my heart any time I give a poor review for a book — and even more so when I can’t finish it. Good for you for being able to keep on reading! That’s excellent.
Emily @ Books & Cleverness
Sorry to hear that you didn’t finish these two. I was really looking forward to reading both of these, but I’ll twice about them now. I tend to persevere through books, but with that being said I haven’t read a book that I’ve absolutely HATED. I tend to know what I’ll like and what I won’t and don’t read much out of my comfort zone. 🙂
Laura
Hmmm…I wouldn’t say I hated these books. Sometimes I finish books I loathe, just so I can see what happens. But these two did absolutely nothing for me. No excitement, no hatred, just…blah. So much potential. And maybe they just weren’t my cup of tea after all.
Lark
Sorry the books weren’t enjoyable enough to finish; it happens sometimes. I stopped reading that book The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards last week because I just didn’t like any of the characters, not much was happening, and I felt like I’d read it before. Hopefully your next round of ARCs will be better.
Sarah @ The Bookshelf Pirate
Gotta say I am weirdly interested in seeing what books people DNF. It saves me the trouble of reading them myself, and sometimes there’s a lot more to say about why a book didn’t work than why it did. Even non-reviewers routinely tell each other why they put down a book and forgot about it, just as part of natural conversation in a bookshop. Can’t help eavesdropping when they do. That first one especially was one I had been looking at ((it’s on the ARC shelf at my bookshop right now), but your reasons for stopping have kept me from wasting my time!