Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week’s topic: Books I Decided to DNF (did not finish) too Quickly. Here’s the thing–I don’t think you can DNF too quickly. Do you know how many unread books I have at home? Do you know how many more are released into the world every Tuesday? If I’m not loving what I’m reading, I’m out.
Here’s the other thing–I DNF ALL THE TIME but it’s rare you’ll see a DNF review from me. Why? I don’t think it’s fair to review a book unless it was offensive or I read more than half of it. And do I usually get halfway into a book I’m not digging? You guessed it!
So anyway, this is kind of fun for me! A chance to list all of the books that just didn’t do it for me:
1.The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody. You can click through the link to see my Goodreads review, but basically I found this offensive as hell. Adorable cover, loved the concept, but within the first 100 pages I found liberal use of the words “crazy”, “schizo”, “psycho”, “insane”, “gay and doesn’t know it”, and “crazy super slut”, all used to describe people. “Crazy super slut” was on page 106 FOUR TIMES YOU GUYS.
No. Just no.
2. Reign of the Fallen by Sara Glenn Marsh. It’s truly not bad and I think many will enjoy it. I’m keeping a copy for that gorgeous cover alone. I just wasn’t into it, and it wasn’t fair to either of us.
3. Tradition by Brandon Kiely. A boarding school AND a look into rape culture? SOLD! Only…I couldn’t get invested in anyone. So it had to go.
4. No Filter by Orlagh Collins. I picked up this one in the bookstore based on the cover and a single page in the middle that I skimmed. Only…I didn’t make it very far in. Again, I do think others will like it. It’s a cute concept, it just didn’t do it for me. (Will this be the one that finally teaches me to research my book choices more? Survey says, 1000% not)
Sorry, books. You tried.
5. The Color Project by Sierra Abrams. Snore. Moving along.
6. Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman. Snooooore.
7. This is the Story of You by Beth Kephart. Books set during a storm will always get me. But…
8. Trusting You and Other Lies by Nicole Williams. The premise is 100% perfection, but one of it’s top shelves on Goodreads is DNF, so I know I’m not alone in finding this one to be a snooze.
9. What Light by Jay Asher. Romance + YA + Christmas =Katie Catnip, but I should have learned my lesson by now with this author. I don’t like his stuff. I love all of his concepts, and if Netflix makes a show surrounding this one like they did with his novel 13 Reasons Why, I’ll watch the hell out of it. Until then, though…
10. Air Awakens by Elise Kova. I tried, you guys. Fantasy! Romance! Libraries! Gorgeous cover, the first in a series of 5, and total rave reviews. And yet…
Good try, though. Really good try.
So what do you guys think? Did I quit any of these too soon? Drop it in the comments!
Pages and Pugs 
I almost DNFed The Color Project because the latter half of the book made me so annoyed and angry T_T I have no regrets, but if I dropped it, I also wouldn’t be upset… XD
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i only got maybe 10 pages in when i decided NOPE not for me!
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I finished What Light, but I had trouble connecting with it too. Also, The Chaos of Standing Still, yikes! Thanks for the warning!
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I was so looking forward to Standing Still, and her upcoming release looks great too, but I just can’t with her now
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I totally get that! I have authors too that I just can’t read anymore because of a bad experience with one of their books. 😒
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Yes! Yes, yes, yes! There are just too many amazing books out there to read, and not enough time to read them all, so I can’t waste a precious moment on a book that isn’t doing it for me!
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Yes! So glad someone else feels the same way!
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I like to give books a couple chances, because sometimes I’m just not in the mood, or the start is a little slow. But I agree, there are too many books out there to waste time! My TTT
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That’s very true, I’ve definitely tried some again later and loved them! Code Name Verity was one of those for me!
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Dang! What a list. I hadn’t heard of The Chaos of Standing Still but based off of literally EVERY THING YOU SAID about it, I’m thrilled that I hadn’t and am never going to pick it up. What a shame. As for everything else, great list! And I love your reaction gifs for the post.
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Thank you so much!!
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I don’t DNF often so doing a post like this wouldn’t work, but it makes for interesting reading. Great post!
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Thanks so much! Some people never DNF, we’re all such different readers!
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