Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish (Yet)

July 25, 2023 Top Ten Tuesday 9

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The meme was originally the brainchild of The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish.

Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

To be clear, here: The fact that I didn’t finish these YET doesn’t mean I don’t intend to finish most of them eventually! I am a mood reader. Sometimes I put a book down because I’m not in the right mood or the right place to read it. Sometimes I just get distracted by another book, and before you know it, months or a year have gone by and I never got back to it. And that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good book, or wasn’t capable of holding my attention—just that it wasn’t holding my attention or matching my mood at that time. So I don’t consider most of these DNFs, just “hibernating.”

The following are books I set aside over the last year or so, from most recent to oldest.

Heart Legacy, by Robin D. Owens. I have started this book twice, in 2017 and just last week. Both times, I laid it aside before I got even a quarter of the way in. I’m not sure if I set it aside because each time, I had already binge-read my way through the first 13 books and was just tiring of the series at that particular moment, or if I put it down because it makes me so uncomfortable to read about the emotional abuse Lori suffers at the hands of her family. The first time it happened, I thought the former issue was more likely. This time, I’m leaning toward the latter. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book—after all, I do enjoy the other books in the series! But this particular book doesn’t seem to be a good fit for me. (Not because of personal experience, at all; I just find family betrayal, abuse, and neglect very hard to read about.)

They Do It With Mirrors, by Agatha Christie. I started this as the June book for #ReadChristie2023, but it’s one of my least favorite Miss Marple books (though on the whole, I love Miss Marple), and I just kind of lost interest. I had read it before, and I remembered who had done it. I probably won’t go back and finish it right now.

Psyche and Eros, by Luna McNamara. The first few chapters are quite good, and I fully intend to read the book—hopefully soon. When I started it at the end of May, I wasn’t in the right mood for Greek mythology or for a novel with lots of suffering before the happy ending. (I hadn’t gotten to the suffering, but I know the legend pretty well.)

Best Foot Forward, by Celia Lake. I love Celia’s books, but this one involves an attraction/romance between two characters when one of them is married to (and still very much in love with) someone else, and that makes me uncomfortable. Although I trust Celia to handle it well, and I sneaked enough of a peak at the ending to know that all three characters end up comfortable with their various relationships, I’ve been oddly reluctant to read it all the way through. But again, I do intend to read it, probably this summer.

The Lord of Stariel, by A. J. Lancaster. I put this book down temporarily, because I was stressed out and needed to reread some familiar books. And after that, I got caught up in ARCs and other books, and didn’t get back to it. But I definitely want to read this… hopefully this summer.

The Matrimonial Advertisement, by Mimi Matthews. Honestly, I could repeat the explanation for putting down The Lord of Stariel, and be telling the exact truth—the stress in this case being an injury to a beloved family member. I was about halfway through the book, and I just couldn’t deal with the main characters’ lack of communication and their own worries when I was worrying enough in real life. But I will finish it, because I really love Matthews’s books.

The Mabinogion, translated by Sioned Davies. I am reading The Mabinogion for background research for my own writing, and when I got kind of overwhelmed and stopped writing for a while, I put down the research as well. It’s definitely time to pick it up again!

Ship Wrecked, by Olivia Dade. I put this one down because… well, I’m not even sure why. I really liked the first two books in the series, though there’s a bit more swearing and blunt language than I’m comfortable with. I’ll probably give this one another try; if I don’t finish it the second time, at least I’ll have a better idea why. But hopefully, whatever caused me to put it down had little to do with the book itself.

A Dreadful Splendor, by B. R. Myers. This Gothic first-person mystery/romance was actually rather fun, but it also challenged my anxiety (which was up a bit when I was reading the book), because I kept anticipating one disaster after another… some of which occurred. I’d definitely like to try again, at a time when I’m not already feeling anxious.

Book Cover: Murphy's Law, by Rhys Bowen

Murphy’s Law, by Rhys Bowen. Like A Dreadful Splendor, my anxiety level caused me to set this book aside. I have enjoyed other (later) books in the series, which I read out of order; this is the first book, and I definitely intend to finish it.

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9 Responses to “Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish (Yet)”

  4. Dini @ dinipandareads

    As a mood reader, I 100% resonate with this! 😂 There are so many books that I’ve put down, especially recently, after realising that my mood is just not up for that particular read. This reminds me that I need to finish reading the third Stariel book which I put down a while back. Great list!
    Dini @ dinipandareads recently posted…#WWWWednesday: 26 July 2023My Profile

  5. Jo

    I hope you find that you end up liking these books whenever you return to them. I definitely get not being in the right mood for a certain book at a certain time, that’s happened to me before and I still fully intend on going back to most of the books I put down.
    Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #430My Profile

  6. Katherine

    I’m not really a mood reader but there are some books that are just not the right book for the moment. I agree about They Do It With Mirrors. It’s a few too many plots recycled into one and not a favorite. I’ve read other books by Rhys Bowen but not that series even though it’s her longest running!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I have read several other Rhys Bowen series, and liked all of them… though I’m behind on the Royal Spyness series. The Molly Murphy books are more serious than the RS mysteries, more traditional than cozy in flavor. I have enjoyed the ones I have read, so I’d like to read the whole series.