2 Books I Recently Stopped Reading Without Finishing…

2 Books I Recently Stopped Reading Without Finishing…

My favorite holiday scent is still going strong over here!

Ugh so I’ve started reading 2 seperate books over the past 2 weeks….aaaaand I’ve put both down without finishing. I HATE WHEN THIS HAPPENS!

To quote myself (I say this alll the time): “life is too short to read books you’re just not enjoying”. I just wasn’t ENJOYING these. They were both…fine! Just not enough to make me excited to pick them up each day (which is always the sign for me that it’s time to move on). Sometimes books like this are ok to read and push through in hopes that they will turn around but sometimes…you just need for books to grab you right from the start. Neither of these were “grabby” enough for me (well THAT certainly sounds dirty…Happy Valentine’s Day, lol).

Book I Stopped Reading Without Finishing #1:

The Bookshop of Second Chances {Jackie Fraser}

Goodreads Synopsis of The Bookshop of Second Chances {Jackie Fraser}:

Thea Mottram is having a bad month. Her husband of nearly twenty years has just left her for one of her friends, and she is let go from her office job–on Valentine’s Day, of all days. Bewildered and completely lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But when she learns that a distant great uncle in Scotland has passed away, leaving her his home and a hefty antique book collection, she decides to leave Sussex for a few weeks. Escaping to a small coastal town where no one knows her seems to be exactly what she needs.

Almost instantly, Thea becomes enamored with the quaint cottage, comforted by its cozy rooms and shaggy, tulip-covered lawn. The locals in nearby Baldochrie are just as warm, quirky, and inviting. The only person she can’t seem to win over is bookshop owner Edward Maltravers, to whom she hopes to sell her uncle’s antique novel collection. His gruff attitude–fueled by an infamous, long-standing feud with his brother, a local lord–tests Thea’s patience. But bickering with Edward proves oddly refreshing and exciting, leading Thea to develop feelings she hasn’t felt in a long time. As she follows a thrilling yet terrifying impulse to stay in Scotland indefinitely, Thea realizes that her new life may quickly become just as complicated as the one she was running from.

Book I Stopped Reading Without Finishing #2:

Nora Goes Off Script {Annabel Monaghan}

Goodreads Synopsis of Nora Goes Off Script {Annabel Monaghan}:

Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.

The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.

Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story–the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

Soooo there you go. Although it does hurt my heart to put down books I’m not enjoying, I always do it! Moving on! I am well aware that there are people who feel that they must finish all books they start…I am quite CLEARLY not one of those people 😉

Happy Friday! I hope your weekend is filled with love and BOOKS!

Have you read either of these books? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Obvi these books weren’t doing it for me…but you might love them! Click the images below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate links. When you order through these links, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

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4 Books I Recently Started but Didn’t Finish

4 Books I Recently Started but Didn’t Finish

Hiiiii!

How are you? I hope that you are having a lovely weekend.

A Crumbl Cookies has opened up way too close to my house. I’ve already gone twice. This cannot be a good thing. Omg.

Last night. 2nd time here in 12 days. Fuck.

DELICIOUS. Holy hell.

4 Books I Recently Started but Didn’t Finish

You know the emoji of the orange face with the swear word symbols written over it’s mouth? Insert 4 of those emojis right here.

Each of these books sounded so promising! So wonderful! So engaging! But alas….nope.

One Year Gone {Avery Bishop}:

I stand by that this book has so much potential to be amazing. Unfortunately the beginning just didn’t hook me in and I was bored. I made it to about page 50 and called it quits.

Goodreads Synopsis of One Year Gone {Avery Bishop}:

“Sometimes teenagers run away… Give her a few days. She’ll be back.”

That’s what the police tell Jessica Moore when her seventeen-year-old daughter, Wyn, vanishes. All signs point to this being true. But days become weeks. Weeks become months. And Jessica begins to fear the terrible truth—that she may never see her daughter again.

Then, one year later, when all hope seems lost, Jessica gets a flurry of text messages from Wyn that freezes her blood: mom. please help. i think he’s going to kill me. But Wyn’s terrified plea comes with a warning not to call the police. Her kidnapper wears a badge.

As Jessica’s fears are raised again, so are the stakes. Delving into the months leading up to Wyn’s disappearance, Jessica stumbles upon information that could put her own life in danger. With each revelation, the nightmare deepens. Now she must decide just how far she’ll go to bring her daughter home.

A Good Neighborhood {Therese Anne Fowler}:

I listened to this one as an audiobook and to be honest, I think it was just too heavy for an audiobook. While I am listening to a book, I am doing a million other things: cooking, laundry, makeup, etc. This book was just too….MUCH…to fully appreciate while doing all of those other things. I made it about 40 percent though before calling it quits. I did Google the ending and very honestly, I’m so glad I stopped listening when I did. Also, this cover is WAY TOO SIMILAR to the cover of one of my all time favorite books so that angers me because THAT book is amazing but THIS book is not.

Goodreads Synopsis of A Good Neighborhood {Therese Anne Fowler}:

One Night on The Island {Josie Silver}:

The biggest disappointment of all of these books. I had been waiting for MONTHS for this one to be released and was so excited to start reading. I made it to about page 70 before I accepted the truth….man was it boring. In hindsight, I’m not entirely sure why I was so excited about reading this book considering that I wasn’t a huge fan of One Day in December (you can read my review HERE). I’m thinking that this author and her writing style just aren’t for me.

Goodreads Synopsis of One Night on the Island {Josie Silver}:

Spending her thirtieth birthday alone is the last thing that dating columnist Cleo wanted, but she is going on a self-coupling quasi-sabbatical–at the insistence of her boss–in the name of re-energizing herself and adding a new perspective to her column. The remote Irish island she’s booked is a far cry from London, but at least it’s a chance to hunker down in a luxury cabin and indulge in some quiet, solitary self-care while she figures out her next steps in her love life and her career.

Mac is also looking forward to some time to himself. With his life in Boston deteriorating in ways he can’t bring himself to acknowledge, his soul searching has brought him to the same Irish island in search of his roots and some clarity. Unfortunately, a mix-up with the bookings means both solitude seekers have reserved the same one-bedroom hideaway on exactly the same dates.

Instantly at odds with each other, Cleo and Mac don’t know how they’re going to manage until the next weekly ferry arrives. But as the days go by, they no longer seem to mind each other’s company quite as much as they thought they would…

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous {Suzanne Park}:

Remember above when I said that The Good Neighborhood was just too deep for an audiobook? Well this book is the polar opposite….it wasn’t deep ENOUGH and it felt so juvenile. Yes it’s YA but…ugh. If you follow me on Instagram, I had mentioned last week about the audiobook I was listening to which used the phrase, “Look, I don’t got no beef with you”. It made me roll my eyes….who talks like that??? Well, apparently the characters in this book do. 35 percent in and I was officially over it.

Happy Friday! I hope your weekend will be filled with love and BOOKS!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Have you tried Crumbl???

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

I obviously don’t love any of these books…but you just might! Click the images below to order the books through my Amazon affiliate links. When you order through these links, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

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82 Pages In and…I GIVE UP ON THIS BOOK.

I tried to read this entire book. I really did. And then as much as I REALLY wanted to, I just couldn’t continue. I was DONE. After only 82 pages. Ugh.

I read (and posted on Instagram) through 2 school pick up lines (side note: whyyyyyyyy are school pick up lines the worst??):

Goodreads Synopsis of The Good Sister {Sally Hepworth}:

There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous.

When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.

My Review of The Good Sister {Sally Hepworth}:

I thought that this book was going to be a thriller. Maybe it’s the creepy girl on the cover, maybe it’s the “everyone has a dark side” quote on the cover. For whatever the reason, I expected this to be a psychological thriller. AND I LOVE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS.

So my general reactions of boredom and confusion can be understood when 82 pages in, I finally accepted that this book wasn’t at all what I went into it thinking that it would be.

I absolutely, positively, unequivocally love Sally Hepworth! She is truly one of the funniest people on Instagram…I LOVE watching her stories.

So…this book…isn’t funny like Sally and isn’t a thriller like the cover led me to believe.

Granted, I only read 82 pages so maybe things would have turned around had I read more? The reviews that I’ve seen of this one have been wonderful and some even suggest that it IS, in fact, a thriller? Maybe it’s just a slow start? Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel the need to stick around to find out. I was honestly just so BORED. And sad. Parts of this book were heartbreaking. And dark. But mostly I was just really bored.

Once I had decided that I was officially done reading this book, I googled the summary. I’m glad I stopped reading when I did. That’s all I say.

I still love Sally Hepworth and I still love her writing style! HERE is a great book that she’s written (one of the very first books I ever reviewed on my blog! It’s so funny to see how different my posts are now than they were when I first started blogging) and HERE is another example of one of her books that I loved! I will definitely keep reading her books…just not this one. Nope, this one was just not for me.

Bottom Line:

Moving on…

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Happy Friday! I hope your weekend is filled with love and BOOKS!

Xo,

Jenny

Clearly this book wasn’t for me but you might love it! Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support! Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

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2 Books I Recently Started Reading…and Didn’t Finish.

I HATE starting books and not finish reading them. Absolutely HATE. It feels like such a waste of time…getting to know characters, immersing myself in story lines, etc. just to put the book down without finishing? Ugh.

Bookshelf at an antique store I visited a few weeks ago. Beautiful ❤️

I once wrote an entire post on abandoning books and I must admit…my thoughts on this have most definitely changed over time. Now I just stop reading as soon as I realize that I’m not EXCITED to pick up the book. Reading is my favorite hobby and as soon as it doesn’t feel fun, I’m OUT. Books should never feel like a chore and as an adult there is no required pleasure reading (professional reading, yes…but never pleasure reading).

Here are 2 books that I recently started reading and gave up before ever finding out what happened in the end.

Book #1 That I Started Reading and Didn’t Finish:

Goodreads Synopsis of Destination Wedding {Diksha Basu}:

Tina Das wants to belong, but she just isn’t sure where. India or America? Brooklyn or Bombay? Manhattan or Delhi? Or start from scratch in London–she still has fond memories of her one-night stand with Rocco Gallagher, the handsome Australian, as they traipsed through Covent Garden and Seven Dials, but he never called back so maybe it’s time to let that dream go, and focus on finding the next big story for her streaming network instead.

She’s hoping she’ll find it at her cousin’s lavish, weeklong Delhi wedding, and has taken her best friend Marianne Laing along for the ride to Delhi’s poshest country club, Colebrookes. Marianne has always had international tastes, in life and in love, yet can’t help but think of sweet, steady, khaki-clad Tom back home in New York.

Also in attendance are Tina’s divorced parents: her mother, Radha, who’s bringing her American “boyfriend,” David, to the wedding, and her father, Neel, who’s using the visit to India to explore the idea of dating again, only to discover it and he have both changed completely in the decades he’s been away.

Infused with warmth, charm, and wicked humor, Destination Wedding grapples with the challenges of work, love, and finding the people who make a place feel like home.

My Review of Destination Wedding {Diksha Basu}:

It PAINS me to write this review. I was SO EXCITED to read this book! I first mentioned it waaaaaaaay back in 2019 as one of the books that I couldn’t wait to read in 2020. I then mentioned it again when I was discussing my trip to the most amazing bookstore I’ve ever visited! That awesome store didn’t have Destination Wedding in stock (I asked!) but they did have THIS BOOK by the same author which I bought and ended up loving! A few months ago, my library FINALLY was able to locate a copy of Destination Wedding for me and I was READY. I was so prepared to love it!

I didn’t love it.

I was so BORED. It wasn’t a horrible book it was just…boring. I so badly wanted to feel SOMETHING while reading but the further I got into the book, the more bored I became. I stuck it out waaaaaay longer than I should have but I just so desperately wanted to love it. It became more and more clear that this was not the book for me when I continued to be completely disconnected from the characters and didn’t care what ended up happening in any of the storylines.

It literally PAINED me to put this book down after waiting YEARS to read it. Ugh.

Bottom Line:

Hands down my most disappointing book of 2021 thus far.

Aaaaaaaaand Book #2 That I Started Reading and Didn’t Finish:

Goodreads Synopsis of Are We There Yet {Kathleen West}:

Alice Sullivan feels like she’s finally found her groove in middle age, but it only takes one moment for her perfectly curated life to unravel. On the same day she learns her daughter is struggling in second grade, a call from her son’s school accusing him of bullying throws Alice into a tailspin.

When it comes to light that the incident is part of a new behavior pattern for her son, one complete with fake social media profiles with a lot of questionable content, Alice’s social standing is quickly eroded to one of “those moms” who can’t control her kids. Soon she’s facing the very judgement she was all too happy to dole out when she thought no one was looking (or when she thought her house wasn’t made of glass).

Then her mother unloads a family secret she’s kept for more than thirty years, and Alice’s entire perception of herself is shattered.

As her son’s new reputation polarizes her friendships and her family buzzes with the ramification of her mother’s choices, Alice realizes that she’s been too focused on measuring her success and happiness by everyone else’s standards. Now, with all her shortcomings laid bare, she’ll have to figure out to whom to turn for help and decide who she really wants to be.

My Review of Are We There Yet {Kathleen West}:

The writing was good! The depressing family drama…was not. Reading books about other people’s drama can be done in a way that the reader can find interesting. The way this book played out wasn’t interesting, it was…depressing. As a mother, reading about another mother’s struggles wasn’t interesting…it just made me feel sad.

I DO think there is probably a really wonderful and important life lesson within these pages but unfortunately I just didn’t care enough to stick around and find out.

Bottom Line:

I closed the cover and found myself YEARNING for a really wonderful book to read next. And BOY DID I FIND ONE! Review for that book will be posted here on Friday…one of the best books I’ve read all year! Stay tuned…

Have you read either of these books? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Clearly these books weren’t for me…but you might love them! Click the images below to order the books through my Amazon affiliate links. When you order through these links, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support! Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

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*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE

A Book I Started Reading and Couldn’t Finish.

I HATE to start reading a book and end up not finishing it. Hate. However, I REALLY hate reading a book and not being 100 percent into it…what’s the point? If I’m reading a book and not feeling it, I put it down and move on. My thoughts on this have changed so much since I wrote THIS POST. I no longer give myself a page limit to read to…now, it doesn’t matter how far into it I am! If I’m not feeling it, I’m out.

And I definitely wasn’t feeling this book.

A Book I Started Reading and Couldn’t Finish:

Goodreads Synopsis of Followers {Raziel Reid}:

After a disastrous date results in her arrest, sixteen-year-old Lily Rhode is horrified to discover her mugshot is leaked on a gossip website. Lily is the niece of Whitney Paley, a Hollywood housewife and star of reality show Platinum Triangle, a soap-opera-style docu-series in the vein of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and The Hills, revolving around several glamorous families living in the Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

When Lily’s mom kicks her out of their trailer home in the Valley, Whitney (Lily’s mom’s estranged sister) invites her to live with her, her movie-star husband, Patrick, and their daughter, Hailey. Lily is set up in the pool house and thrust into the company of reality-star offspring — kids who are born with silver spoon emojis on their feed. Lily’s cousin Hailey and the other teens have lived their entire lives on camera and are masters of deception, with Hailey leading the pack.

As Lily learns from the Paleys how to navigate her newfound fame, she finds herself ensnared in the unfolding storylines. What Lily doesn’t know is that she’s just a pawn being used on the show to make the Paleys look sympathetic to viewers while distracting from on-set sexual misconduct rumors surrounding super hero dad Patrick Paley . . .

Is Lily safe under Patrick’s roof? Or will Lily be Patrick’s downfall? If she isn’t destroyed by Hailey first. When Lily catches the eye of Hailey’s designated leading man Joel Strom — it’s war!

My Review of Followers {Raziel Reid}:

Eh.

I read about 50 pages before I called it quits. It was actually pretty good and had some interesting story lines…I think maybe I’m just too old for this book, lol.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Real Housewives and I can’t get enough of Kardashian anything…but… I do think there is a really big difference between WATCHING reality TV and READING about reality TV.

Combine that theory with the fact that this book is about a bunch of teenagers and I just couldn’t get into it. The writing was good…the story just wasn’t for me although the synopsis sounds SO GREAT. I found myself not excited to pick it up to read which is always my #1 clue that it’s time to put it down for good.

Ironically, the other book that I also just couldn’t get into with a similar feel was titled the same thing: Followers {Megan Angelo}. I started that book and couldn’t finish it…just like this one! I searched my blog to link my post about it but couldn’t find it. Eh…that’s fine. Clearly I don’t recommend it, lol.

I am absolutely reality tv obsessed but for some reason there has only been one book that I have read about this topic which I absolutely LOVED! If you were a fan of the bachelor, you must read THIS BOOK!

Bottom Line:

Eh.

Have any of you read Followers by Raziel Reid? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Happy Friday! I hope your weekend is filled with love and BOOKS!

Xo,

Jenny

This book wasn’t for me…but you might love it! Click the image below to order the book through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

This blog is my favorite hobby and I would so love your support! Here are ways you can help my blog to GROW:

*Please share this page with your book and blog loving friends!*

*Subscribe with your email address to my blog (scroll all the way to the bottom of this page on mobile devices OR check the top right of this screen to enter your email address)*

*If you already have a blog, please “follow” mine*

*”Like” my Facebook page (and please comment on, “like”, and share my posts)*

*Follow me on Instagram*

*Follow me on Twitter*

*Subscribe to my YouTube channel*

*Clicking and buying products through my Amazon Affiliate links. The cost to you is exactly the same and I receive a tiny commission off of your purchases.*

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The ultimate list of my top book suggestions can be found HERE

The 12 best books I read in 2020 can be found HERE