So, I usually pop in once a month to share my recent reads with you. I was hoping to do that this month. But alas, this has been Book Disappointment month.

Have you ever had one of those? A period where everything that had appeared promising turned our otherwise? Well this has been one for sure.

I won’t share any identifying details of the books I DNF’d this month. Thumper’s rule still applies: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.

I will inudulge myself in a bit of a vent though. One of my disappointments was in a short story by a favorite author. I had hight hopes of getting to revisit one of the world I had so enjoyed in the past. Instead, I could not tell which story universe the short story belonged in. The characters were flat and I really couldn’t bring myself to care if things worked out for them or not. I truly hate feeling that way about a story. If it had not been so short, it would have ended up on the DNF pile.

And then there was the other major disappointment. Oy vey.

The book was promoted by a major retailer, not the author, but the retail platform. The cover touted the author as a Big List Best Seller. Both of these are usually indicators of at the very least, a well written read.

Nope, not today.

I’m generally not a fussy reader who proofs/edits as she reads. I want to turn off that part of my brain when I read for pleasure. But this book was so plagued with problems I could not. From page one, I was making notes in my brain. What was even worse, the mistakes I was catching were newbie writer mistakes. Those are fine when you are in fact a newbie. Totally fine and part of maturing as a writer. But when you proclaim yourself a Big List Best Seller on the front cover, no not so much.

The prose was awkward, the characters shallow, and way way too nice. Except for the mean ones who were horrid with little motivation to be so. The plot conflict could pretty much have been resolved in an honest conversation or two. I could go on. I expected so much more from a Big List Best Selling author.

So I’ll just have to leave you with some free book promotions, hoping that we all we discover something wonderful there.

Tell me about your most recent book disappointments. No titles or authors, please, just what bugged out about the latest addition to your DNF pile.

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