Books I've Given Up On part 2

Adaptation by Malinda Lo - the beginning was so gripping!  And then it just dragged and dragged.   There was crazy bird happenings and but then there were huge gaps in the narrative where I had to say, "WHAT?"  I made it 1/3 of the way through until she was having her sexual awakening with a girl she met the day before and I just had to be done. Too bad because the premise is so interesting.

Perdita by Hilary Scharper - this was touted to be for lovers of Susanna Kearsly (whom I adore) but I just could not get into it.  I got about 50 pages or so in before the plot (the idea of a woman being 134 years old) just didn't engage me, although the writing itself was good.    I did try.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - while the teen male protagonist was quite funny and I liked the idea of the story a lot, actually, it was just too dang crass for me and the mood I was in while I tried to read it.    I've heard other people like it though so it might have been that I stopped before it got better.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown - this was recommended to me as the next Enders Game and Hunger Games.  I read five chapters and was vaguely annoyed by the narrator's style and somehow just didn't care about his plight.  I don't know why - maybe it just all feels too familiar and I've read enough of these stories lately.  It's got fabulous reviews so clearly people like it.  It's on lists of the best 100 books of the year.  Maybe I'll try again when all the books are out - this is first in a trilogy, I think.  But maybe not.  I sort of don't care about it.

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - this is a young adult gothic story by the same author of The Shadow of the Wind (which I LOVED).  While the writing is as good as I'd expect, it just moved too slow for me.  There were some deliciously scary scenes and the plot is thick and interesting but I just found that I was never wanting to pick it up, so even though I'd made it 60% through, I gave up.


The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook - a great reader friend of mine recommended this to me as a great steampunk story.  She also gave me warning that I might find it steamy - she totally warned me and I tried anyway because I love steampunk.  I actually made it more than halfway through before there were scenes where I had to say WOAH, okay.  That is probably enough of that.  And too bad because the plot is actually super creative and fast-moving.  I liked it, but it turned out that I hit my limit of steaminess in this one.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com