Monday, September 23, 2019

Books I have not finished in 2019 #1

I've been cautious about what I read this year and have not experimented as much. As a result of that, I haven't DNFed as many books. The reasons for that are, I didn't think I'd have much time to read this year so I set my reading goal low and focused on authors I love and enjoy, and I have not been experimenting with as many new to me authors. The few times I have experimented, more often than not, I've DNFed the book, hence there are many new-to-me authors I've DNFed below. It's always a pot shot when trying a new author even when others love them and highly recommend them. Tastes are so different. Just because I didn't enjoy these books doesn't mean you wouldn't.



Apollo Is Mine by Mila Young

Review: Apollo Is Mine (Gods and Monsters #1) by Mila Young

Let me tell you, I love anything Greek gods. I grew up reading the mythology and so anything that even remotely smacks of a Greek god and I'm all over it. I was super excited when I saw this series pop up and being recommended so I decided to pick it up to read. Unfortunately, while I couldn't fault the writing itself, the story did not work for me. The story started off rather depressing with Elyse feeling sorry for herself, wallowing in her grief, and questioning her purpose, and Hades being rather a downer but I kinda felt sorry for him. The problem for me was this story didn't seem to be going anywhere. It felt like a random collection of scenes cobbled together that didn't make sense to me. I couldn't figure out what was the point of it all, Elyse's powers, all her training, the gods coming to Earth, Death wreaking havoc. And throw in a rather irrational and angry outburst from Elyse which was not only unreasonable, fueled by her own confusion, and cruel towards the person it was aimed at, I was done. I could not even get through that scene because it was long, unkind, and mean spirited on her part. I had every intention of making an effort of finishing the book because, well, Greek gods!! But that scene with Elyse's blow-up and attack was too much for me to handle. I really wanted to love this book.



Captive of the Horde King by Zoey Draven

Review: Captive of the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar #1) by Zoey Draven

Luna promised herself to the horde king and agreed to do whatever he wanted in order to save her brother's life. The first chance she got she went back on her word. She became defiant and fought the horde king every step of the way even when he was being kind and taking care of her well being. To say that I got tired of Luna very quickly was an understatement. I lost patience with her and even though I tried to keep reading a little longer I could not get past her behavior. I skipped to the end and something in it told me she fought him every step of the way to their happy ending. That was just too much fight for me. I couldn't be bothered putting in the effort of continuing to read and having to deal with her very unpleasant attitude. That said, the writing itself was decent even if the pacing of the story was slower than I liked. I think if you're a reader who tends to be more forgiving of troublesome heroines and can put up with Luna's attitude, you may enjoy this.



Feline Good by Lana Kole

Review: Feline Good by Lana Kole

This book sounded cute when I read a teaser in a book group and since it was in Kindle Unlimited, I downloaded it. It did start of cute enough and let me tell you, Asher, Amir, and August are gorgeous and adorable. Unfortunately, as cute as it was, I got bored. The writing itself was decent enough but it felt like a lot of blah, blah, blah to me and didn't hold my attention. I didn't mind the extended chapters with the antagonist's point of view but what's up with all the sex scenes with them and why are the sections featuring the antagonist so long? Those could have been cut in half and still maintained the integrity of the story. Since this book was borrowed from KU, I was more inclined to give it up and return it. Borrowing the book from KU doesn't have the same impact or consequences as having bought a book that I can't return after having spent the money on it. I'm more likely to try more books and move on quickly with KU. Anyway, I skipped to the end after reading about 30% of the book and the epilogue was cute.



Perfect by Adell Ryan

Review: Perfect (Her Reverse Genus #1) by Adell Ryan

This book came highly recommended to me so I pushed it up my reading list and took at crack at it today. I shouldn't have gone in with such high expectations because it was a disappointment. It was boring. There was too much description, lots of blah, blah, blah, no action, and limited dialogue. Most of the time was spend describing stuff and very little moving the plot along. By the time I got to 8%, I was thoroughly bored. By the time I got to 10%, I started skimming the book hoping to get to some interesting bits. Even the part of Thessaly getting abducted was short-lived and was only interesting for a short time, then I started skimming pages. I got to about 15% and finally gave up. There just wasn't enough going on to hold my attention. Perfect was not perfect.



Property by Loki Renard

Review: Property by Loki Renard

So I've been reading books from this publisher because what they have coined as "dark" has not been too dark for me and I've enjoyed the few books I've read from them. Unfortunately, this one pushed me out of my comfort zone. It veered into the territory of too dark for me to handle. Chloe is kidnapped by Darko after her father's death. His intent is to subdue her while protecting her from men worse than himself and he pushes the limits of consent in what he does to get Chloe's submission. Sadly for him, Chloe is not the submissive type. She's rebellious, headstrong, and feisty. Darko is brutal and rough even though he's deeply affected by Chloe. Chloe fights Darko every step of the way even while she submits to him and enjoys what he does to her body. At no point does Chloe say "no" to Darko and at times she's begging him for more. Darko does everything he can to keep Chloe and protect her, admiring her fiery spirit while trying to break in on order to keep her safe. It's all kind of messed up. I had a hard time connecting with Chloe and sympathizing with her plight and even though I was more inclined to like Darko I can't condone his methods. It's a decent story and it's well written but it's not for me. I got to about 50% and realised this book was a tad too dark for my enjoyment and since I wasn't enjoying it, I decided to not force myself to finish it. Some of the things being done and the themes didn't sit well with me. Perhaps for others who are not as much of a wuss as I am, they would enjoy it. I did skip to the end to see what becomes of Chloe and Darko and it does have a happy ending.



Claiming The Nanny by Dia Cole

Review: Claiming The Nanny (Claiming Her Mates #0) by Dia Cole

**GIANT SPOILERS BELOW**

I started this book very excited and immediately fell into the story. It sucked me in and it made me want to keep reading and reading. You know the feeling? When you just can't put it down and you read in between everything you are doing. This is what the start of the book did to me. This book had a compelling opening and it was well written. I loved Nathan. I felt terrible for him and what he's been forced to endure. I liked Vana too. Then I made the mistake of reading the blurb for the next book, technically, the first book in the series and I found out that **SPOILER ALERT** Nathan was no longer Vana's love interest and others were. That threw me into a complete tail spin. I didn't like that at all. Then I did a naughty thing and went to read the end of the next book because I was already annoyed. Turns out by the end of the next book she's mated to the other guys. Not Nathan. Let me tell you, this whole switching the heroes thing. It's not on. That is not a romance. What this author did was a complete violation of the foundations of what constitutes a romance. You do not switch heroes between books. You may add to the harem if it's a reverse harem story but no, you do not switch heroes. If you switch heroes, it's no longer a romance. So that was the end of the books for me. It completely put me off the story. I'm upset that Nathan got replaced no matter how plausible the reason and how the first book ended. I'm upset that Vana ends up mated to other men at the end of the next book. I'm upset that Nathan though there's a brief mention of him at the end is dismissed because Vana had replaced him with other mates. Maybe Nathan will come back in future books but I'm done. There's no coming back from this for me.



Under Fyre by Cara Bristol

Review: Under Fyre (Alien Dragon Shifters #1) by Cara Bristol

It makes me very sad to DNF this book and I tried hard to keep reading it and enjoy it. Unfortunately, as much as I love Cara Bristol as a writer - she is one of my favorite scifi romance authors, I have a difficult time with the theme which forms the foundation of this entire story. Deceit. Lies. Deception. It's a real no-no for me. The entire premise of is this is based on the planet Draco threatening war upon Earth because they have trespassed and usurped a planet that's rightfully the Draconians. The Draconians are threatening war. As an attempt at peace, Earth sends the president's daughter as a consort to the Draconian prince. The Draconians don't like the humans. The humans don't trust the Draconians. The humans claim there is not planetary violation of rights. They lie. They further compound the lie by doing a switcheroo on the person sent to be the prince's consort. (Don't worry, none of this is a spoiler, most of it is spelled out in the book's blurb). Then the humans continue to lie and deceive as they try to continue to get the better of the Draconians. It was at the point of the humans continuing to lie and plot that I finally threw in the towel. I couldn't take it anymore. A few points in favor of K'ev, the Draconian prince, and Rhianna, the human sent instead of the president's daughter. He could sniff out a lie from ten feet away and knew right away that the humans were up to no good. She was duped into pretending to be the president's daughter at the very last minute and then forced to continue to play the part in order to keep her family safe. While K'ev and Rhianna were essentially honorable people, the entire supporting cast were dishonorable liars. On top of that, this is very much an enemies to lovers story and that is one of my least favorite tropes. That said, in true Cara Bristol fashion, this is an exceedingly well written book. If the theme and trope I mentioned don't bother you then I think you would enjoy the book.



There you have it. A few of the books that were a bit lacklustre for me so far this year.

Tell me, are there any hot buttons that don't work for you in books? Something that will make you shut the book and not keep reading? How many books have you not finished so far this year?


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6 comments:

  1. I loved the Cara Bristol book. The sub plot of waring nations and deceitful rulers was bang on.
    I finished all the boks i picked this year so far. Although I struggled with Philip, one of the 7 brides septet. (Is that a word?). Only finished it because of the overarching plot.

    Gill

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    1. Yeah, the whole deceitful rulers thing didn't work for me. It really put me off the book.

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  2. It is always sad when I can't finish a book and so far this year there have only been one, I had not read any of this authors work before and I gave it 3 chapters and I just couldn't feel anything for the main character at all, it was boring so I gave up which is something I don't normally do :)

    Have Fun

    Helen

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    Replies
    1. I'm gobsmacked. You giving up on a book is so unusual.

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    2. Must have been really disappointing for you.

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