Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday - The DNF Files

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is...

The DNF Files!


Happy Tuesday! Today we are talking about books we Did Not Finish. Though I am pretty good at finding the right books for myself, sometimes I am not. I believe there are too many books and too little time, and therefore, I refuse to push through a book that I am not enjoying. 

Below are some DNFs from the past year. When I think about these books, a few patterns emerge. Some were boring. There is only so much time I will dedicate to a book that is not capturing my attention. I try to make it to the 15-20% mark in these instances which I think is fair enough for something to hook me. 

Another reason I DNFed some of these was the characters. I tend to read more slice-of-life type of book which are light on plot. I have to buy into the characters in those situations, and I am not going to wait the entire book for them to grow on me. 

Sometimes my mood plays a big role. I am not a fan of certain things in books. At times, I am able to tolerate it more than others, but in the case with several of the books below, I just wasn't in the mood to deal with things I don't want to read about. 

There is one book that I felt totally misled about. It was billed as a book about female friendship (which I love) and ended up being about a throuple which is just not my thing. 

Without further ado, below are ten books I had DNFed in the past year. 
  1. 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant
  2. The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy
  3. The Comeback Summer by Ali Brady
  4. If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook
  5. Double Exposure by Elissa R. Sloan
  1. All Adults Here by Emma Straud
  2. Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton
  3. When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein
  4. Significant Others by Zoe Eisenberg
  5. The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu


Have you read any of these books?
Let us know in the comments!

12 comments:

  1. I haven't read any of these but I have been DNFing a LOT this month. Just very little patience for stuff I'm not loving right away, but unfortunately I will linger over them for several days before finally pulling the plug.

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    1. Exactly! Time is a precious commodity. I have no time to wait for the book to get good, you know?

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  2. "There is one book that I felt totally misled about. It was billed as a book about female friendship (which I love) and ended up being about a throuple which is just not my thing."
    That's a heck of a mislead...for goodness' sake, publishers, be upfront about your books.

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    1. I was furious! I supposed maybe there was female friendship in there too, but once that storyline emerged, I cut and run.

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  3. I totally agree with you! There are just too many books out there for me to waste my time on something I’m not enjoying. I usually don’t DNF a book, but I just stopped reading When We Grow Up by Angelica Baker about a quarter of the way in. I just couldn’t get into the characters.

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    1. I honestly, would have been drawn to that book, but it seems you are not alone in your feelings (low ratings). It sounds like a character driven story, so I would probably have packed it in as well.

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  4. I am the same on the reasons why I would DNF the book but add to it the character is insufferable LOL

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    1. I have encounter too many insufferable people in real life to waste time on them as I read.

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  5. Yes, life is too short to waste time reading a book you're not enjoying! I wonder which book is about the throuple. Totally not my thing either and I'd rather avoid it. I accidentally accepted and downloaded an invite without properly investigating and now it's on my Netgalley shelf. Ugh. Tartufo is one I also have but haven't had time to get to it. Do you have a review on Goodreads? I'll go look.

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    1. Psst - it was Significant Others. I was really surprised by that. I don't review books I don't finish on GR. I don't put them on my shelf either. I simply pretend they didn't exist. I was expecting something different from Tartufo. It was a slow start, and it simply wasn't capturing my attention.

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  6. I am SO sad that you did not like Faculty Lounge, I looooved that one. But alas, not everything works for everyone! I am very open minded but I am not a fan of throuple books either- I mean cool if it works for you but I definitely couldn't, even after reading several books, I always just end up feeling bad for everyone even though I know that isn't the point!

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    1. I can see Faculty Lounge as a good fit for you. There are things that I don't enjoy, that I know a lot of other readers do. I feel like a fuddy-duddy when it comes to all the different relationship structures out there these days. The younger generation is embracing these different lifestyles, but I am just too old fashioned. You be you, but it's not for me.

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