Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Happy Tuesday y’all! This week’s topic is “books you had a hard time with.” This summer I’ve struggled with several books. There were a few I had to force myself to read and even a couple I didn’t finish. I don’t know if it was me being in a funk or if it was the book itself, but here are the ten books I struggled to finish (or gave up on) recently. As always, titles/covers link to Goodreads/Amazon(affiliate)/blog review, in no particular order.
Top Ten Books I Struggled to Finish
The Last One by Alexandra Oliva : I decided to listen to this book rather than read it. I had received a copy to review when it first came out and after multiple attempts to read it, I just couldn’t get into the story. The odd mix of narration left me feeling detached from the main character and made the story hard to follow. Listening to it made it easier to get to the ending, but the story was still a chore to read.
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller : I really wanted to like this book. AND it had it’s moments of greatness…but I disliked the story. There were too many tropes that I’ve seen and read before. It felt like every other dystopia out at the moment which is unfortunate.
Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast : I liked and disliked this book. I loved the concept, the post-apocalyptic feel. I hated the main character’s attitude. She had a major chip on her shoulder which honestly at the end of the world should be put aside. Maybe that’s just me though. It made it hard to read the book.
Project Pandora by Aden Polydoros DNF: I tried to like this book. I really did, but after making it half way through the story and wondering what was going on and wondering why I was even attempting to read it, I gave up. I did skim to the end because I was curious about what would happen, but overall I just didn’t like it. Not my kind of book.
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas : It breaks my heart to include this book on this list. Throne of Glass is one of my all-time favorite series, but this book threw me for a loop. It was so different from the others in the series and the SEX!!!! What the heck?! I was not expecting it. This is a book for kids right?! At least I was under that impression. It felt like I was reading A Game of Thrones and I did not like it one bit.
The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber : I struggled with this one. I liked it and didn’t like. I don’t think I will read anymore from the series. I liked the technical aspects but the dystopian felt rushed and there were just too many things going on without enough character/world building.
Lake Town by Jane Redd : I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this particular book fell short. There were glaring plot holes and the pace jumped around. And don’t get me started on the wonky timeline. I was lost a majority of the book trying to figure out where the characters were at in relation to each other….
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones : I alternated reading and listening to this book. If I had straight up tried to read it, I don’t think I’d have finished it. I loved the narrator. She kept me engrossed in the story. However I was appalled and a little taken aback by the romance in this YA book. It was dark and edgy and great if it was in the adult genre, but it wasn’t. It’s YA. Then the Goblin King and Liesel….I just felt disconnected from them.
Mosaic by Sarah Fine : This is an author that I’ve tried to read all of. And until this book, she’d never let me down. I honestly don’t know what I read. The first two books of the series was amazing, but this particular book took a weird turn and I did not like it one bit. I hated it! It was like reading something completely different. The characters didn’t act as expected and the plot was odd. I gave up before I made it to the half way point and skimmed to the end. Then the end….I’ve never been so angry….not even when reading Allegiant.
The Dragon’s Price by Bethany Wiggins : So I actually liked this book. I think the series has promise, but it was hard to read. There were a lot of YA tropes that have been in the books SO much that I had to roll my eyes. I’m hoping the series gets better as the world continues to grow and the characters as well.
Your turn! What books have you struggled to finish? Share below
Winters ongoing has such a gorgeous cover that I put the on my wishlist, but I’ve read mixed reviews. Perhaps when I I’ve it a try, I’ll borrow audiobook from my local library.
I try other to DNF books, but it sucks to struggle through.
Chrystal recently posted…Book Dreams | Titles I’m Excited For in September
Me too. I try my best to not DNF but there are a few I just can’t make myself read.
I actually liked Empire of Storms, my sticky book in the Throne of Glass series was the one before that, Queen of Shadows. Wintersong and Mask of Shadows are both on my TBR, so I hope I like them better than you did!
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #123
I liked Empire of Storms, I was just disappointed. I felt like the author jumped genres from YA to adult without actually marketing it as such. Mask of Shadows is good, just extremely predictable (think a cross between The Hunger Games and Throne of Glass) and cliche. Wintersong is beautifully written, just not my kind of read. Hope you enjoy them both!
Oh no! Upset to see Zero Repeat Forever on here since I’ve just started getting intrigued by that one! Though I can totally relate to Wintersong. I so so soooooooo wanted to like this one! I ADORED The Labyrinth growing up! David Bowie was one of my early crushes! LOL! But with that one, I just felt meh. It was a struggle to read it and since I read it on my kindle it felt even longer! At one point I was sure I had to have been somewhere past the halfway mark and I think I was only just breaching the halfway point. Sigh…
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Jessica @ a GREAT read recently posted…Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
That’s how I felt about it too! David Bowie will always be my goblin king 😉
Zero Repeat Forever was good, the main character just grated my nerves. Plus the plot is slow-moving til the end. Hope you enjoy it!
EoS did drag a little for me, but I love the ToG series so much, I had to keep going, and it ended up a stellar read for me.
Sam@WLABB recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books Where Characters Struggle Through
Oh I finished it. Throne of Glass is one of my all time favorite series too. And I liked it, I just felt like the author jumped from a YA book to an adult book.
The only book that you listed that I have had the chance to read it Project Pandora. It was just okay for me. Too many points of view that really were not needed. Not all will be winners.
Carole @ Carole’s Random Life in Books recently posted…New Releases – September 5, 2017 #newreleases #newbooks
True. That was my problem with it too. And when I got to the halfway mark I still didn’t really know what was going on. It just wasn’t my kind of read.