Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody, and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s blog post is about books we “Did Not Finish” (DNF’ed). Unfortunately, I am terrible at DNF’ing as I always want to read just a bit more too ‘give the book a chance’ and then I’m over halfway and it still isn’t better but now ‘I might as well just finish it so I’m sure’. So yeah. I need to work on that.
So instead, here are 10 books that made wish I was better at DNF’ing so I could have DNF’ed them.
City of Gods and Monsters by Kayla Edwards – The main female character had zero personality. There are too many characters in it and none of them even stood out remotely. This had potential for amazing found family vibes and friendship groups but it just did not deliver and even felt childish.
Under Locke by Mariana Zapata – The main character was a real dick to our heroine at first. And while she warmed up to him throughout the book, that unfortunately did not translate to me. I disliked his temper and overprotectiveness and the way she was apologizing for things all the time, yet he hardly did.
The Wraith King by Juliette Cross – The pacing of the romance was not my cup of tea (I wanted ‘enemies-to-lovers’ and slow burn, but I got instalust that turned into ‘love-of-my-life’ the first time they had sex). There was way too much talk of breeding that just gave me the ick. And the secondary characters felt a bit flat.
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore – Everything was just too superficial, like there wasn’t any time for development. There was no chemistry, not in the romance nor in any of the friendships. The story just rushed through it all and lost me along the way.
A Fate Inked In Blood by Danielle L. Jensen – The idea of this Norse mythology inspired fantasy romance was great, but I felt this was sooo slow, the internal monologues dragged on, the plot twists were predictable and I also didn’t really like Freya, nor any of the other characters.
Consider Me by Becka Mack – Too long and not a convincing enough romance.
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace – The story dragged on, didn’t have a clear plot so was a bit all over the place and just had wayyy too many smutty scenes for my taste.
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune – I just couldn’t get invested in the romance and I didn’t even like the characters that much. It was just not a book for me.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han – Even though I disliked book one, I still gave book two a chance. It did not get better. I’m still debating whether or not to try the TV show though…
The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout – I did really enjoy this series at first and a part of me is sad I won’t finish it and know how it ends. But… it was getting too long, too convoluted, too messy and confusing to keep up with and focused too much on smut over plot. Should have just been contained in 3-4 books max.
Tell Me:
Have you read any of these? If yes, what did you think about them?
I’ve read book one in Jenny’s ‘Summer’ books and seem to remember it being or reading very “young” but I enjoyed some of it. I haven’t seen the show.
I need to be better at DNF-ing too!
It did indeed read quite young and usually that doesn’t bother me too much, but here it did I guess. Hope we’ll both get better at DNF’ing
I wish I’d DNF’ed The Pumpkin Spice Cafe but I DID DNF A Fate Inked in Blood.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/03/25/top-ten-tuesday-dnf-books/
Well, I definitely wish I DNF’ed A Fate Inked in Blood
I don’t DNF very often but I do try to get to 50% of all nonfiction before I decide. I can DNF a nonfiction a few pages in. It’s one of the reasons I rarely read them anymore. I haven’t read anything of these. Probably won’t either.
I also try to get to 50%, but the problem is that after that I think ‘well, I’m already halfway so I might as well finish now’ when I should just learn to DNF.
I think the Pumpkin Spice Cafe probably falls into this category for me too!
Yes, the hype got to me for that one, glad to hear I’m not the only one who felt like that about it though.
I can’t DNF! I really struggle. Here’s my list for this week. Unsurprisingly, I went in a different direction! https://damppebbles.com/2025/03/25/toptentuesday-25th-march-2025/
DNF’ing can be so hard to do indeed!
I feel the same way about Icebreaker! Way too long, too many sex scenes. I did finish it, too, though, ha!
Glad to hear I’m not alone in that, it’s such a hyped book but it was not for me
Sometimes it can be hard to know when to DNF! I tend to DNF a bit too quickly in some cases.
It’s a tricky balance indeed!
I do okay with DNFing, but sometimes I still feel guilty, for instance I was reading a book, but because I “knew” the author as a blogger, I wanted to finish the book. Instead, I skipped about 50 pages and then finished it, but I didn’t enjoy it.
I get that compulsion to ‘finish’ a book! For some of these reads I have skimmed a lot of pages just so I could be done faster…
I tried reading a Carley Fortune book, and couldn’t continue. It felt too like too much was missing. So instead, I’ve decided she’s not the author for me. Your list is the second one I’ve seen with The Pumpkin Spice Cafe on it. Now I’m nervous, thankfully it’s on hold on the library. So if I don’t like it, I won’t feel so bad.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/books-i-dnfed-in-2024/
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is quite hyped, so I’ll hope you’ll end up loving it though!
I agree with you on the Wraith King, Ivebreaker and The War of Two Queens
Glad to hear I’m not alone when it comes to those books!
I’ve never read Jenny Han’s “Summer” trilogy and don’t plan on reading it, as the majority of the reviews I’ve come across for it are very negative. That said, I *have* watched the series adaptation’s first season and can confirm it’s really cute, and a great summertime watch as it’s got such a summery atmosphere. I plan on watching Season 2 this upcoming summer! As for DNF’ing, it’s something that’s pretty easy for me and that I swear by. I’m pretty aware of my own book tastes and if I catch a hint that a book’s not gonna be for me, I don’t mind DNF’ing, regardless of what point in the book I’m at. Life’s too short to read books you dislike, especially when you could be reading a book you enjoy instead, imo.
I’ve noticed The Pumpkin Spice Cafe on a few lists today…
I’ve read The War of Two Queens and rated it 4 stars according to Goodreads. Do I remember anything from it? Nope hahaha
I’ve been hearing a lot of so-so with A Fate Inked in Blood