I am a bit of an anomaly in the reading community because I have zero problem DNFing a book. There are multiple reasons I do so, but mainly the bottom line is that I wasn’t enjoying them and I have zero time to waste on something I don’t enjoy. Because my curiosity usually kills me, I typically still skim through or at least read the end. However, I don’t waste time reading the whole novel.
This is my list of stories that I couldn’t read 100% this week.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philips K. Dick
This was a selection for my book club that I recently joined. The theme for that month was sci-fi, which is genre that is usually hit or miss for me. I found the sci-fi I enjoy the most either comes secondary to romance/erotica or it is some other media such as video games and movies. I don’t typically enjoy it in literature form because I often become lost and confused in the lore and world building. And not in a good way.
While I could tell DADES? was definitely heading down that route, I DNF’d it more for the dark tones. Look, I am familiar with DADES? and Blade Runner’s premise. That being said, however, the opening scene really just got in my head during a time when I wasn’t doing great anyway. As an empathetic reader, what I am reading affects my mood immensely. While I ultimately would still be interested in reading it, I had to shelf it for my own good.
Dating the Boss by various
Despite being a saturated genre of repetitive stories, I do enjoy boss/workplace romances. When written well, they just hit a spot that few other romances do. Maybe it’s a power dynamic thing…
Firstly, there are some pretty big names on this anthology. They are also *full length novels* versus novellas/short stories with Penny Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human among them.
That being said, I ran into the same issue I did with DADES? in that these stories all have dark tones. I understand that people have hard lives and problems of their own. However, with each sentence, I felt the words of each story begin to weigh me down. I should have expected it, being familiar with Reid’s, Warren’s, and Paige’s catalogues fairly well.
In truth, I did read most of The Billionaire’s Intern by Lia Hunt before consuming Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human in its entirety (as I realized prior to this I had only read her Winston Brothers novels). Just those two alone tapped me out. Between the Alpha Holes and mind games, I just couldn’t do it.
Rainy Thursdays 