Top Ten Tuesday – The Last Ten Books I Abandoned
/38 Comments/by SuzanneTop Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is The Last Ten Books I Abandoned (this could be books you DNFed, books you decided you were no longer interested in, etc.). I used to struggle with DNFing books and would make myself finish them even if I wasn’t enjoying the experience at all. I’ve been getting better about abandoning books that aren’t working for me, but I admit the temptation to keep going is always there. Below are some of the most recent books I’ve given up on and why.
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The Last Ten Books I Abandoned
1. CURSED by Thomas Wheeler
I loved the idea of a King Arthur retelling that focuses on the Lady of the Lake, but just couldn’t get into the book at all. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters and thus didn’t feel invested in their story at all so I quit the book. It’s supposed to be made into a Netflix series so I may give it a second look then. We’ll see.
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2. THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD by Amy Reed
I thought I would enjoy this story of two outcasts who become friends, but I just couldn’t get into it at all. While I liked the two main characters, Billy and Lydia, Billy came across as way younger than Lydia and they felt sort of mismatched to me, so much so that it kept pulling me out of the story until I finally gave up on it.
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3. PLEASE SEND HELP by Gaby Dunn
I don’t know that there was necessarily anything bad about this book but when I originally requested it from Netgalley, I had no idea that it was a sequel. I tried to read it anyway but wasn’t a fan of the text and email format. Sometimes that works for me, but here it wasn’t, perhaps because I didn’t know enough about the two main characters not having read the first book. I wasn’t invested enough to go back and get the first one, so I chose to DNF.
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4. LIFE AND LIMB by Jennifer Roberson
When I read the blurb for this, I thought it sounded like such an original premise: “A biker and a cowboy must stop the apocalypse in the first book of the Blood and Bone modern western fantasy series.” Actually, even reading that now, it still sounds amazing. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t settle into the story at all so I gave up. The only notes I made about it were “OMG, get on with it already.” and another scribble about the characters just saying the same thing over and over again.
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5. NAMELESS QUEEN by Rebecca McLaughlin
I didn’t connect with the main character at all in this one. I went into the story hoping for an underdog I could really root for, but instead, Coin was one of those too good to be true protagonists, who just knows how to do everything and do it well, which I just found annoying. I was also in the middle of a big fantasy slump so that probably didn’t help matters.
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6. THE DOLL FACTORY by Elizabeth Macneal
I knew going in that this was a dark tale of obsession, but I found it very slow moving at the beginning and dark and twisted in a way that made me very uncomfortable. I was not a fan of the taxidermy angle at all, so I quit the book.
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7. SONG OF THE ABYSS by Makiia Lucier
I DNF’ed this one because I didn’t realize it was the second book in a series when I requested it from Netgalley and didn’t have time to go back and read the first. They both actually have quite high marks on Goodreads though so I’ll probably read this series at some point.
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8. THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez
I was unfortunately in the midst of a big fantasy slump when I tried to read this book. It’s another that has high marks on Goodreads so I may actually revisit it at some point and give it a fair shake since I’m pretty sure the problem was me and not the book.
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9. AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman
I don’t know what it is about this book but I’ve tried to read it twice and DNF’ed both times.
I’ve loved many of his other titles but just can’t seem to get into this one at all.
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10. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
I think this book is probably amazing based on Murakami’s other books but I honestly just got lazy and decided I didn’t want to read a 925 page story of magical realism. Maybe someday I’ll revisit it.
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Question: Have you read any of these?
Review: BIG SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner
/22 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: Mrs. Everything, The Summer Place
Published by Atria Books on May 5, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Women's Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Wow, what a read. There’s so much to love about Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, Big Summer, that I hardly know where to even begin. It has everything I’ve come to love and expect from a Jennifer Weiner novel, but then so much more!
The protagonist, Daphne Berg, is such a wonderful character and I loved her from the moment we meet her. She’s smart, resourceful, warm and witty, big-hearted, and she also has a great relationship with her parents, especially her dad, which is always lovely to see. Daphne has had a life-long struggle with her weight and with her self-image. She has had to contend with bullying, fat shaming, and learning the very hard lesson that sometimes people who you think are your friends really aren’t. Instead of letting these bad experiences crush her, Daphne takes control of her life and spins those negatives into a very successful business venture for herself as a plus size social media influencer. Her Instagram account has gained thousands of followers who tune in to watch Daphne embrace her body as it is and encourage others to do the same. I just loved Daphne’s resiliency in this situation and that she creates this community that’s not only a career for herself, but it also helps others who are struggling to love themselves and their bodies.
Something else I really enjoyed about Big Summer is Weiner’s exploration of what I think is such a relevant theme and that’s forgiveness. One of the story’s many layers focuses on Daphne’s relationship with childhood best friend, rich girl Drue Cavanaugh. Drue was spoiled and a quintessential mean girl, best known for befriending kids and then promptly discarding them once she lost interest. She left a trail of hurt and embarrassed classmates in her wake, including Daphne. No matter how cruel Drue is to Daphne, she keeps coming back for more, until they finally have a huge falling out. That fall out is what ultimately led to Daphne’s social media career and she has never looked back…until years later when Drue unexpectedly shows up, apologizing profusely and begging for forgiveness and for Daphne to be in her wedding. Daphne is torn – there’s a part of her that wants to tell Drue off all over again because she’s so toxic, but then there’s the other part of her that remembers the good times they had and who wants to believe Drue has changed. Weiner does an incredible job of exploring the complexities of their relationship and especially of letting us inside Daphne’s head to see just how conflicted she is. It all felt authentic and their relationship is one I could see many people finding very relatable.
The wonderful characters and the relationship complexities were definitely what I was expecting when I started reading Big Summer. What I didn’t expect and what really took the story to a whole new level was a huge plot twist that happens about the halfway point of the novel. I can’t even talk about it without spoilers, but it had me running back to the synopsis to see if I had missed something because it threw me for such a loop. That’s not a criticism though because as much as I loved learning about Daphne and her relationship with Drue, the surprise plot twist added a layer of mystery to the story that had me flying through the second half of Big Summer. I was desperate to find out what exactly happened and who was responsible.
I’m going to leave it at that, but suffice it to say, I absolutely loved Big Summer. It’s Jennifer Weiner at her best with wonderful characters and relationships, but also with a mystery twist that makes it unlike any of Weiner’s books I’ve read so far. If you’re a Jennifer Weiner fan, you’re going to love it and I also think you’ll love it if you’re a fan of mysteries.
About Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, and, most recently, Mrs. Everything. Her new novel, Big Summer, debuted May 5, 2020. A graduate of Princeton University and contributor to the New York Times Opinion section, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com.
Weekly Recap #154: Week of 5/3 – 5/9
/39 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there! I have no idea what my family has in store for me today, but I’m assuming it will be fairly low-key given the stay-at-home orders and such. I just got a copy of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood so I might just curl up on the couch, watch that, and relax.
Not much else is going on around here. I’ve been feeling sluggish and blah the past couple of weeks so this week I’ve been making more of an effort to get outside and walk everyday rain or shine. That seems to be helping with the blahs so I plan to keep it up as much as possible moving forward.
I also finally pulled out a new jigsaw puzzle to mix things up with my reading and Netflix binging, and I don’t think I’m ever going to finish this one. It’s a Monet flower garden and, while gorgeous, all of the pieces look alike to me. It has taken me two full days just to put together the outside border and I still can’t find one piece of that. It’s also 2,000 pieces so it may last me until the next pandemic, haha.
I was somewhat quiet on the blog this week. I finished some great reads but just didn’t feel like writing the reviews for them. Hopefully I’ll get those written today. I got mostly caught up on blog hopping, but that’s a never ending struggle for me so nothing new there. I also fell down the Pinterest rabbit hole earlier this week when I was looking for items for my bookish party. Usually I ignore Pinterest but once I go there, leaving is a real problem. It’s like Hotel California. I have had a Pinterest account for my blog but it was a personal account but decided I should probably have a business one too, especially in case I want to have non-bookish boards on my personal one. I created the account but it’s basically the same as my personal one. As with all social media, I have no idea what I’m doing with it, but if you want to follow, it’s up and running this morning and has 0 followers so it’s very lonely, lol. —> Pinterest
I also worked on my Bookstagram account a bit as well, trying to be more interactive, which is always a struggle for me, as is posting more than about once a week. I actually posted three times last week and I’m just like “Who ARE you?”
Anyway, that’s it for me. I hope everyone out there is staying safe, healthy, and is practicing social distancing. Have a great week!
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [3 May] Weekly Recap #153: Week of 4/26 – 5/2
- [4 May] Master Class by Christina Dalcher ★★★½
- [5 May] Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Must-Haves For My Bookish Party
- [6 May] Can’t Wait Wednesday – YOU LUCKY DOG by Julia London
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM