Top 5 Wednesday was created by Lainey at GingerReadsLainey.
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THE SERIES
This week's topic is Top 5 Books You Didn't Finish. I actually don't often quit books. I have a good feel for what I'm going to like and what sounds good. And even if something is just meh, I will still usually soldier on through it. I'm telling you, a book has to be bad for me to just totally quit on it. But it's happened. What happens a lot more often is reading the first book in a series and and deciding I have no interest in continuing. So here are the Top 5 books I did not finish and - as a little bonus - the Top 5 series that I did not finish:
THE BOOKS
1. Now & Forever by Susan Colasanti - Sterling was one of the most annoying main characters I've ever encountered. Obnoxious and judgmental, I wanted to smack little miss priss - often. And hearing over and over again about how her teenage boyfriend's music was unlike anything ever heard and was going to change the world. Yeah... no.
2. London Eye by Tim Lebbon - The premise was interesting but the execution - not so much. The world building was so non-existent that I was completely confused about what kind of world these people were living in.
3. Please Don't Tell by Elizabeth Adler - The characters actions defied belief and the dialogue was so bad I couldn't continue. I should have heeded the GoodReads reviews.
4. Friday Nights by Joanna Trollope - Total yawn-fest. At 50 pages in nothing had happened. Nothing. Did I not notice the 2.98 average GoodReads rating?
5. Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham - Absolutely nothing rang true in this one (or at least in the 50 or so pages I read). The wooden characters, the cringe-worthy dialogue - bad, just bad. Be gone with you, book!
*These are the series I quit/decided not to finish. I know my opinions on most of these are wildly unpopular, so withhold the pitchforks, please. :)
1. Mara Dyer - I fell victim to the gorgeous cover and the hype. Unfortunately it contains one of my major deal breakers - an unreliable narrator. That's one trope that I loathe and can't get past. So, adios, Mara Dyer.
2. Half-Bad - My overriding feeling reading Half-Bad was: boredom. One of the slowest paced books I've read and there was nothing there that made me want to pick up book two. Half-Bad put me half-asleep.
3. The Raven Cycle - Yeah, this is the one that will probably elicit the most boos and hisses. Everyone loves The Raven Boys. I did not. The first book felt like it was laying a whole lot of groundwork, and maybe I would have enjoyed the second book more. But after finishing the first book, I honestly just couldn't be bothered to continue.
4. The Forsaken - I actually read the first two books and even then couldn't drum up the interest to finish off this dystopian trilogy. It's just so middle-of-the-road and nothing really stands out. Plus, the "romantic relationship" is eye-rollingly bad. It was insta-love in book one, zero development of the relationship, and they just stood around clutching hands, professing their love. No thanks.
5. The Remnant Chronicles - I read The Kiss of Deception last year and just wasn't blown away. Fantasy isn't my genre of choice so that probably had a lot to do with it, but I just found it over-long - plus I had zero connection with Lia. I'm all for strong heroines but Lia defied belief for me. Her seemingly never-ending reserve of strength had me thinking she had no emotions at all.
What books (or series) have you decided you just couldn't finish?
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