Friday, May 31, 2013

2013 DNFs [Part 1]

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The time has come again to round up a few DNF books of 2013 so far. Note that I have read over 75 books this year so there are bound to be some that are simply not worth my time and effort. I also know some have seen these on my STS and are awaiting my thoughts, so here goes (note that these are not all my 2013 DNFs, just the most noteworthy):


The Brokenhearted
by Amelia Kahaney 

A teenage girl is transformed into a reluctant superhero and must balance her old life with the dark secret of who she has become.

Prima ballerina Anthem Fleet is closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. But when she meets the handsome Gavin at a party on the wrong side of town, she is immediately drawn into his dangerous world. Then, in a tragic accident, Anthem falls to her death. She awakes in an underground lab, with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. As she navigates her new life, she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, and the chilling secret of her family lineage…and her duty to uphold it.

I had the hardest time getting into this book. It went from great to…. not, in a very short time. The first clue that I was not going to like it came within mere pages after the protagonist loses her virginity to some guy she just started dating the week before, claiming she was in love. BLAH! Then of course he gets kidnapped for ransom because she’s rich and she has to risk her life for him–he’s the love of her life and all. I thought it was going to be an exciting superhero movie but honestly all she did in the 51% I read was cry and do dumb stuff. You can find my conversation with Jenni about it here (some very insightful info!).

Vengeance Bound
by Justina Ireland

The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge… no matter how far it takes her.

Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build

I was SO excited for this one as soon as I saw it involved mythology and the mention of Dexter, but unfortunately I could not care less for any of the characters in the book. I found the character development seriously lacking, and while the premise was very creative and could have been awesome I was just bored with it. I also got annoyed by how every reference to the Furies (“Them” “They” etc) was capitalized. It was distracting every time; I kept yelling the word in my head to give it emphasis because of this, and that was just annoying. I don’t much care for yelling at myself.

The Loop
by Shandy Lawson 

Ben and Maggie have met, fallen in love, and died together countless times. Over the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.

As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?

I think this book was DNFed at its earliest ever at not even 30 pages. Why? Basically, it starts with “Oh wow I have a lot of deja vus lately, let’s go see this creepy old guy at that psychic’s table in the middle of the street who’s been grinning at me.” The psychic creep tells him he’s in a time loop where he relives things over and over.. and the MC’s like “Huh, ok that explains it!”. O_o

Yah… Not for me.

 Insomnia (The Night Walkers #1)
by J.R. Johansson

It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

I DNFed this one at 38% and honestly I don’t really have much to say about it other than I just didn’t like it. The MC was a jerk and a creep. He can only sleep if he looks into the eyes of one particular girl every day so he stalks her in the most obvious of ways and it was just…. ick. Then when his best friend tells him as such he punches him.  Eeh. I don’t know, he just unsettled me. The plot didn’t particularly interest me either it seemed like one I would forget 5 seconds after finishing the book. I was undecided as to if I would continue or not but after a few of my friends’ reviews came back not especially positive I’m going to keep it as a DNF.


I’m sure many has read books where you just know finishing it is futile, some may finish it still, I don’t have that patience anymore knowing I have so many other – better – books I could get to. If you do DNF books, let me know which ones made the unfortunate list this year! Part 2 of 2013 DNFs will be posted at the end of the year!
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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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27 Responses to “2013 DNFs [Part 1]”

  1. kelseysclutteredbookshelf

    I had gotten an ARC of Loop, but it didn’t sound too interesting to me, good thing I didn’t read it or it might have been a DNF too!
    My big DNF this year was Life’s a Witch by Brittany Geragotelis, I just hated the character so much.

  2. Jenea Whittington

    Awe, I have The Brokenhearted. Well, that just sucks. I pushed through Insomnia, and it really didn’t get any better than the first half. I have had 2 so far this year. Requiem for Blood and Broken Wings. 🙁

  4. Amy

    I am so sad about The Broken Hearted. I have that one for review and was really looking forward to it. Ugh!! Insomnia. I don’t know what possessed me to keep reading except the fact that by the time I decided I really didn’t want to read anymore I was like half done. It was short enough that I was like, “Whatever, I’ll finish it.”. Oh holy hell did it get worse. And I totally knew where it was going from like 20% in. I gave it a 2 only because I liked what the author was trying to do with the story. I have had a lot of DNF’s this year. I’m not very patient with books lately, though if it’s a short book and isn’t great I will finish it hoping it might get better.

  5. kit

    I am trying to get better at DNFing books that I’m not enjoying (I used to just plough through to the end!). I DNFed Dare You To recently as I couldn’t cope with the characters – I think that’s the main reason I would put a book down. Some of these do sound pretty aggravating!

  6. Sara @ Forever 17 Books

    I used to feel like I HAD to finish, purely because I at least had to know how it ends. I’m slowly letting go of that, though I really do like most of what I read to some degree. I’ve DNF 3 books in the past couple months – September Girls, Riptide, and Prophecy Girl. 🙁

  7. Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings

    I think you just don’t like books with red and white/black on the covers 😉 Kidding of course, I just found it amusing that this color scheme has become so prevalent, hehe. I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like Vengeance Bound and thanks for the warning, I don’t think I’d like it either!

  9. Christianna Marks

    I need to DNF more books than I do. I like that you did a post like this to show which books just didn’t work for you. I was looking forward to Broken Hearted. Maybe I’ll still give it a go? We shall have to see!

  10. Aman

    I’m DNFing more this year, I don’t even want to continue a book, if I know I would hate it. Some of the books I DNFed were Riptide, Chemistry and The Symptoms of my Insanity.

  12. Candace

    The Loop is the only one I have read. I don’t own the first book listed, but I do have the other two and I’m thinking I might just do a giveaway. Sorry these didn’t work for you!

  13. fishgirl182

    sad to hear about vengeance bound and insomnia. both are books that i have been wanting to read. you can’t like them all though and i think it’s interesting seeing why people don’t like certain books.

    fishgirl182 @ nite lite book reviews

  15. Michelle

    Wow I’m impressed that out of 70 something books you only had 4 DNFs. I think thats good!! Loop looked cool, I’m sad to hear it wasn’t 🙁 I DNF’d Hooked by Liz Fichera, Beautiful by Amy Reed, and Faking 19 by Alyson Noel(although I may go back to that one).

  16. Shooting Stars Mag

    I’ve never heard of The Brokenehearted. It really does seem like it would be a fun superhero type book, but yeah, I think I’d get really annoyed with that MC too. It seems like that’s the main problem these books have — the characterization ruins even the good ideas. I hate that!

    -Lauren

  17. Melanie

    Oh well… I’m not to enthusiastic to start Insomnia now. Sounds too weird and creepy. URGH. It’s such a shame to see that all these books siding work for you.

    Great mini reviews, Giselle! <33

  18. MarvelousCatoReviews

    Am I the only one who thought of Iron Man when reading the synopsis for The Brokenhearted. “Wakes up with a bionic heart ticking in her chest” seriously made me go, “Wait…is this a female Iron Man?” Hahaha.

    It sucks to hear about Insomnia, especially since I was so excited for it! I will say, though, you’re not the first person I’ve seen that has had some negative things to say. I’ll probably put this one on hold for a while.

  19. Maji Bookshelf

    I am so glad I have managed to avoid reading all four of these books.. The Brokenhearted seems like it would be a frustrating read for me.. as well as Insomnia.. the rest seem like not my type of read.

    – Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

  21. kimbacaffeinate

    Vengeance Bound was a Dnf for me too..at 100 pages I threw it against the wall and was done..I was so hoping it would be good but I couldn’t slip into the world or connect with protagonist

  22. Faye M.

    Awww! Sorry you didn’t like Insomnia! I actually thought it was a pretty neat book, but I understand if you didn’t get along with it… it takes time to get used to haha. Now I personally know I wouldn’t touch the other two, nope!

    Faye @ The Social Potato

  23. Jessirae

    I have only DNFed two books ever as a blogger. It’s not that I feel bad, because I know I shouldn’t it’s that I hate not finishing something I started, you know? But ever since I became a blogger and the books started to pile up on me, I realized that (those who have said this) there are just too many books to even finish one knowing you already don’t like it. And omg, to of these books, Brokenhearted and Insomnia are on my review pile and ugh. I know I’m going to still give them a try but seeing that you didn’t like them definitely lowers my expectations. The book I DNFed so far this year was Dream Nights with the CEO or some shit like that from Entangled’s Brazen line. And trust me, it’s the only one I couldn’t bare to finish. It was just bizarre and not in a good way! I need to be more aggressive and DNF more books. LOL. Especially the one’s that are just so blah to me!

  24. Blythe Harris

    I’m still upset over the fact that The Brokenhearted sucked. Noooooooo! Though I should have expected it, it being from the same packaging company as Revolution 19. But a girl could have hope! *sigh* And I was really looking forward to reading Insomnia, but I’ve been seeing some really bad reviews for it lately so I’m just going to skip that one. The same with Rush, after seeing so many negative reviews. There’s a 90% chance I will be skipping that one to make room for other ARCs.

  25. playingjokers

    What a great post! It takes some amount of courage to admit that a book wasn’t for you. I always feel a bit ashamed when I quit on a book, though I completely understand why it sometimes more prudent to just not finish a book that isn’t for you. Time is precious!

    Michelle @ Playing Jokers

  26. Micheline D

    I loved seeing all your DNFs to date – big bummer on Vengeance Bound though, especially with how excited you were about it >.< The Broken Hearted looks like a book I'd be inclined to pick up on the cover alone, so I'm glad to see it here and avoid the pain haha