Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Books I DNF

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week’s topic is top ten books that I decided to DNF (did not finish) too quickly.

This one’s going to be a little bit weird because, while I’m not afraid to put a book down unfinished, I don’t remember which ones I’ve done it to. Usually when I DNF a book it’s right at the beginning so I just consider it unread and put it out of my mind. So this is going to be a list of five books I didn’t like enough to finish the series.

 
1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon- I really liked this book. It was unique and had a great love story but made me extremely sad. My mother and sister ensured me over and over that it gets better but the fact that Jamie and Claire have to live apart for twenty years wasn’t okay with me so I never read any of the other books.
2. Fallen by Lauren Kate- I go into detail why I didn’t like this book in my review.
3. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin- I love the show and I love the story but I’ve never been able to read the books. I couldn’t get into the first one but that was mostly because I’d seen the show and I have trouble reading books after I’ve seen the show/movie. Then I tried picking up the books where the show had left off and still couldn’t get through them.
4. Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest- I read the first three in the series but couldn’t make myself get past that. I don’t absolutely hate these books. I just had some trouble with the frequently immature characters. I might try to get back into them eventually.
5. Defiance by C.J. Redwine- I’m not entirely sure why this one’s on this list. I vaguely remember liking this book but apparently not enough to want to finish the series.

Well that’s my Top Five for this week. Sorry it’s a short one. Tell me what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading!

-Antonia

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Books I disliked/hated but am Glad I read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish (feel free to put your own spin on it). This week’s prompt is “Books I Disliked/Hated but Am Really Glad I Read (maybe just for bragging rights)”. This one was really hard for me so I only have five this week. I had a few problems with it: 1. I’m not afraid to DNF a book when I don’t like it. 2. Because of that, I don’t often hate books that I’ve read all the way through. 3. I’ve never really considered bragging rights to be a thing when it comes to books. Brag about reading in general, but I don’t think it matters what you’re reading as long as you’re reading. To me no book is more important than any other just because it’s trending or because some scholars said it is.
With that being said, my list is going to be skewed more towards books I disliked but finished reading anyway since that’s something of a feat for me in and of itself.

1. Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest- This one actually fits into the original prompt for me. I read the first three books in the series but stopped during the fourth. While it’s another YA vampire series, I found it actually had a lot of unique ideas. I think my main problem was that a lot of the characters seemed really immature to me- not just the teenagers. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to this series (sorry Amanda) but am still interested in reading some of her other books. However I am glad I read them because I’d been in a serious reading lull for awhile and they got me back into using my Kindle.

2. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson- I just found this one a little annoying and hard to get through but the other two books in the trilogy were really good and I loved where she ended up taking the story so I’m glad I pushed through the first book despite my reluctance.

3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger- I’ve never understood why this one is so popular. Holden is an immature, big, dumb jerk (we’re trying not to swear anymore) and I absolutely despised this book. But I actually finished it which I didn’t often do with the assigned reading from school.

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald- This one was just so irritating. Nothing much happened until the end and the MC was SO DULL.

5. Fallen by Lauren Kate- You can read my somewhat angry review here. Amanda was a little annoyed that I didn’t finish this series but I’m just proud I managed to get through the first book. This is one of only a handful of books that I can honestly say I hated.

Well there’s my top five for this week. Let me know what you agree/disagree with. I love hearing your thoughts. As always, thanks for visiting our blog.
-Antonia

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Goodreads Summary: There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce – he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret…even if it kills her.
Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, FALLEN is a page-turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

I’m really not sure how much I’m going to have to say about Fallen by Lauren Kate. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of it. It’s not overall a bad book. And I have it on good authority (Amanda) that this series is wonderful. Personally, though, it was hard for me to get through this first book in the series. I found the first three hundred pages or so rather slow. One or two exciting things happen, but these events are surrounded by slightly monotonous and barely relevant details.
I loved pretty much all of the secondary characters. Arriane was hilarious in her insanity and Roland (though his part in this book was small) intrigued me. Penn was the only character who was completely sane and I enjoyed having those little bits of “normal” whenever she was around.
As for the main characters, Daniel was so aggravating I couldn’t even stand it. He has to be bipolar. I mean, I understand he was trying to stay away from Luce for her own good, but the entire time I just imagined shouting at him, “Just fucking pick one already!” Either be an asshole or not. The back and forth between the two was just irritating.
And Luce… she just annoyed the shit out of me. I don’t know what it is about her character, but I just REALLY didn’t like her. She’s kind of whiny and is one of those characters where you literally just sit there like, “Did she really just do that? That was so stupid!” Also, the way she fell in love with Daniel bothered me so much. Okay, I get it. They’re star-crossed. She’s loved him in all her past lives. She has REALLY vague recollections of knowing him in past lives. I can see Daniel already loving her in this life because he remembers everything from their past. But Luce doesn’t. Even all the feelings that come back from the past wouldn’t have been enough for me. I wouldn’t disregard them, but I’d tell him patience is a goddamn virtue and I’m going to take some time to get to know him in THIS life before I blindly followed the poster boy for assholes.
Alright, sorry. I’m done ranting now. I don’t think I’m going to finish this series. Like I said, it’s not necessarily bad, but it’s not my kind of book. It was too slow for me and Luce and Daniel annoy me too much. I wouldn’t let this review put you off this book, though. Amanda loved this series and is seriously angry with me for not finishing it. If you’ve been meaning to read this book, I still think you should try it. Personally, I just wouldn’t put it on my favorites list.
-Antonia

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