I pride (no pun intended) myself on the fact that regardless of the book and its contents, I have been able to finished said book. I never thought I would come across a DNF, until now. It really pains me to say that I could not finish Discovering Pride by Jill Sanders. I’m literally sitting here, typing this review up and feeling bad. But, as try as I may, I cannot continue. When you start to skim through the content when you still have basically 30% of the book to go, then you got a problem.
The writing wasn’t completely horrible. I’m sad to say that I’ve actually come across worse. My issue stems from lack of energy and fluidity that I’m looking for in a book’s writing. It felt as if things were being explained to me, in such a methodical and organized way, instead of having the story told and having a picture be created for me. The narrative was superficial and didn’t touch me in any form. It just created this monotonous drone inside my head as I read.
Since the book is a romance, the characters and their chemistry becomes a focal point in which the success of the book is gained or lost. In this case, it was definitely lost for me. For a start, I had an issue with the female lead, Lacey. The book’s synopsis made her out to be an interesting character. Unfortunately, she didn’t turn out that way, for me at least. From the first chapter she came off as impertinent and childish. She didn’t have an aura that made me want to like her. Her subsequent behaviors in regard to Aaron. She claims she doesn’t play games, but one minute she’s making out with him and then the next she pulls away and makes some kind accusation against him. I tried but I couldn’t bring myself to like her. Her counterpart, Aaron, illustrates specifically one of the big issues about the book. Including Aaron, you never got a deep understanding of who the characters are. Sanders’ development of them never got any deeper than the surface. They seemed one dimensional for me. With Aaron, I understood he had absentee parents but I never felt the full effects of that in him. The same can be said in regards to his ex and his falling out. They all seem to be in the periphery for me.
With all that said, it didn’t bode well when the focus is turned to the chemistry and the development of their romance. I actually thought Sanders had something there in regards to a spark between Lacey and Aaron. There were certain scenes where you can believe in the attraction for each. But these scenes were far and few and unfortunately, the writing wasn’t on a level that could really bring it to life in which you can feel that attraction. Furthermore, I didn’t find their romance/relationship credible. I thought there wasn’t enough basis for them to actually have feelings for each other. Sure, they’re physically attracted to each other, but it just seemed like that was where it all boiled down to. I kept waiting for them to have these concrete, intimate moments where you see a genuine bond forming, but it never came. It mostly consisted of Aaron finding Lacey, making out for a bit, Lacey pushing him away and her saying she’s not ready or she’s still not sure about him and needs more time to think about it while trying to avoid him. So it came as a surprise for me when she decides that she sees the good in him and loves him (it was scene involving children’s hand-drawn pictures which could’ve worked if the story was developed better at the start). Basically, I never found their relationship to be credible and thus was never invested in them.
Everything that I have laid out were the specific problems of the book for me, but in the end they all combine to produce a book that was essentially uninteresting and unentertaining for me. It started with potential, but the more I read, the more it became clear that I had no interest in what was going on. There wasn’t anything in the book that I could fall back on to keep myself engaged, such as the writing or the characters. There was nothing about either of those aspects that were well done and interesting. It was very unfortunate that I’ve come across a book that I could not finish. I gave it my best and that’s all I can ask from myself.