Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Another week, another TTT for y’all! This week’s topic is “Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish“.
Since I’ve only been reading for a few months and I’ve mostly completed and enjoyed what I’ve read, I don’t actually have 10 titles I’ve DNF’d. But I’ll list the 4 that I have.
* Click the covers to be taken to the book’s Goodreads page.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
I was so excited about this as the synopsis sounded like And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie—one of my favorites. I think I got about 20 pages in? Almost every single character introduced irritated me. I’m not opposed to giving it another try at some point, but I just have other things to read in the meantime.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Given Stephen King’s blurb, I was also excited to try this. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the style, story, or characters. I just wasn’t in the mood for this kind of a book at the time I started it. Maybe I’ll give it another whirl when spooky season “officially” rolls around.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Again, nothing wrong with it. Honestly, I only read the opening chapter(s?) as a sneak peek at the end of one of her other books (I don’t remember which). I had read three by Henry in a very short amount of time right before. I was just in the mood for something else besides a Henry romance at that point in time.
I am J by Cris Beam
I feel so bad about this one. It’s one from my small friend group’s book club and I just…cannot. I tried. I really did. Like “60% read” tried, but the main character is supposed to be 17 and reads like a 12-year-old most of the time. And he was just…a jerk. While I can understand that some of it stems from almost a lifetime of his feelings about himself being invalidated by the people closest to him, there are some events that, to me, can’t be justified by that alone. Maybe I’m just too far removed from my later teenage years to understand, but judging on some of the reviews I’ve seen by others, it seems I’m not exactly alone in that sentiment.
Do you agree or disagree with anything above? Lemme know!
Standing Tree Reads 
Good for you for knowing your limits.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
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Sometimes, mood makes all the difference! I’ve read two of these — I loved Happy Place, but I can see how it might feel like too much if you read too many of her books in a short time. I enjoyed Needless Street too, but again, I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to read this one.
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I had just read Books Lovers, Beach Read, and People We Meet on Vacation. Happy Place sounded different enough from the others that I was going to read it, but I had other authors I wanted to try out too. For Needless Street, I got to the first of the cat’s chapters and was like “Alright. It’s too early in my reading journey and the year for this kind of weirdness.” 😅 Between the two, I’ll definitely probably give Needless Street another shot closer to Halloween.
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The Guest List was actually quite good and the fact that all the characters are so darn irritating is actually part of the whole story….
Oh I loved The Last House on Needless Street and Olivia is officially one of my favorite characters. Maybe try the audio version. I listened to it and it was good!
Happy Tuesday!
Elza Reads
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I had an inkling that maybe they were that annoying on purpose but I was just really not about it at that point. 😅 I’ll have to give it a proper go sometime soon.
I always tend to enjoy the random animals in stories! Even ones that aren’t supposed to be actual characters. I wish I could say I’m an audiobook type of person (so I could listen on my commutes) but I just really cannot retain anything verbally. I’ve always been a visual learner. 😭
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I haven’t tried any of these, but I enjoyed reading your reasoning.
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Ooh, interesting to see an Emily Henry book make the list! Her books are so hyped it’s honestly kind of nice to see different opinions on them. I haven’t read any of her books yet although I do own her first three books. But the hype gets to me and I’m worried that I won’t end up liking them or loving them the way I *think* (or hope) I will! I still have Foley’s book on my TBR as well. I’ve read one of her books and her characters were all awful but she does write them well? 😂 I’ve seen mixed reviews about this one.
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Happy Place would of probably been a decent read at least but I was just honestly burnt out. 😅 Henry’s books are oddly divisive, in my experience. My friend read Beach Read first and loved it. I read Book Lovers first and loved it. She read Book Lovers after we were talking about our firsts and she gave it 1 star. I read Beach Read next and gave it barely a 3-star, if I’m remembering correctly. 🙃 But then I loved the next I read and gave it 5 stars.
To be fair, I really didn’t give The Guest List a fair shot. I was going through a lot at the time I started it and the awful characters were just not something I could handle at the time. 😅 The Paris Apartment is on my list for my little friend book club though.
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I hope you return to The Last House. It takes its time, but it leaves an impression.
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I’m planning on giving it another go later this year around Halloween. I feel like it’s one of those that I need to mentally prepare for. 😅
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Mood is very important when picking up books. I’ve only read Happy Place, and it’s actually one of my favorites of Henry’s, so I hope you give it another chance. 🙂
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I definitely plan to at some point! I liked the sneak peak at the first chapter I read. Just wanted to give her a break for a bit, hahaha.
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I enjoyed The Guest List. I am in two minds about Happy Place as Book Lovers was average for me.
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
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