2025 Reading Challenge discussion

Hello! This year I'm aiming to read 50 books and hopefully complete a few challenges at the same time.

(93/50)

Finished my first 3 books of the year :)

1. Dreamfever - Karen Marie Moning ★★★★★ (01/01/15)
2. Shadowfever - Karen Marie Moning ★★★★★ (02/01/15)
3. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn ★★★★☆ (04/01/15)

This week has been very slow with reading, but now it's the weekend so hoping to get some serious reading done!

4. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn ★★★★☆ (09/01/15)

Welcome to the group, Sally. Good luck with your reading goals!

Have you read Gone Girl? How do the other Gillian Flynn books compare?

Thank you!

Yes, I read Gone Girl last year and ended up really enjoying it. I think it is my favourite of the three, but it's very close between them. I love how despite how disturbing the stories are, and how unlikeable pretty much every character is in all the books, they still keep me interested and desperate to keep reading.

And I've finished another book today.

5. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green ★☆☆☆☆ (10/01/15)

I read A Fault in Our Stars last year. I didn't like it much either. I felt like I was the only one who didn't like it!

I'll have to check out the others, then! That was my favorite thing about Gone Girl.

I thought The Fault in Our Stars was good, but not nearly as incredible as I expected based on the reviews.

Cassandra wrote: "I'll have to check out the others, then! That was my favorite thing about Gone Girl.

I thought The Fault in Our Stars was good, but not nearly as incredible as I ex..."

Jodi wrote: "I read A Fault in Our Stars last year. I didn't like it much either. I felt like I was the only one who didn't like it!"

Sharp Objects and Dark Places are definitely both worth checking out.

With The Fault in Our Stars - I almost wish it had been released 10 or so years ago and I'd read it then. I do think I would have probably loved it if I'd read it when I was about 15, my tastes have changed quite a bit since then.

I think that about a lot of YA books I read. Many I love but some are just too "young" for me and I imagine I would think differently if I had read them as a teen.

6. Broken Monsters - Lauren Beukes ★★★☆☆ (17/01/15)

Not having a good week. Only finished one book so far and I abandoned my first book of the year - The Pillars of the Earth - I'm hoping to go back to it later, I hate to leave something unfinished and it was one of the books I'd been planning to read as part of the Listopia Challenge.

7. The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton ★★★★☆ (20/01/15)

Another one down :) This one was a bit of a strange one, I enjoyed it too much to put as 3 stars but it wasn't a book that grabbed me and the ending did leave me unsatisfied so I feel a bit strange rating it 4 stars!

8. Iced - Karen Marie Moning ★★★☆☆ (24/01/15)

Put off reading this for a few weeks rather than jumping into it like I did the first five books in the series over Christmas and New Year - really didn't think I was going to like it but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting! Now on to read the next one :)

Another two down so far this week, I think this is the best month I've had in years! :)

9. Burned - Karen Marie Moning ★★★★☆ (26/01/15)
10. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins ★★★★☆ (28/01/15)

I really enjoyed both these books. The Girl on the Train was almost a 5*!

11. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant ★★☆☆☆ (01/02/15)

Disappointed. It was rated so highly and it was near the top of the list for 'Best Historical Fiction' but I just didn't like it. I wanted to try something different and something that would count towards my Listopia challenge, plus I thought that at least some of it might have been familiar to me as I went to a school where we had bible stories read to us every day.

I had heard that the characterisation of the male characters wasn't great but that the female characters made up for it - I found them to be just as lacking. And the actual writing felt very list-y a lot of the time.

Luckily, it seems that my next read - Station Eleven - is going to be a lot better. I'm only a couple of chapters in but it's already grabbed me!

Good for you, Sally! I'm glad to hear this was a great reading month for you. :)

Do the Gillian Flynn books need to be read in any particular order?

Cassandra wrote: "Good for you, Sally! I'm glad to hear this was a great reading month for you. :)"

I'm hoping I can keep up the good work over the next couple of months. I don't think I'm going to read so much the second half of the year as I'll be travelling - didn't quite think that through when setting my goals for the year!

Scott wrote: "Do the Gillian Flynn books need to be read in any particular order?"

No, they can be read in any order. They are completely unrelated to each other - different characters, different plots.

I don't believe so, Scott. I've only read Gone Girl, but I'm pretty sure they're standalone books. I've heard they all have similar tone, though, so if you like one you will probably enjoy the others.

EDIT: Sally and I posted at basically the same time.

Since you started out your challenge by being way ahead of the game, that should give you some leeway when you get busier later in the year. I've found that sometimes I'm ahead on my goal and sometimes I'm behind, but last year I was able to meet my goal.

12. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel ★★★★★ (04/02/15)

Not having as good a week as I would have liked. Finished Station Eleven which I loved but haven't done much since then.

Started reading Pride and Prejudice - I wanted to read more classics this year but I gave up 10 chapters in. I just couldn't get into it. I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't like it.

I've moved on to Jane Eyre and I'm already enjoying that a lot more so at least I should finish one classic this year!

Sally wrote: "12. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel ★★★★★ (04/02/15)

Not having as good a week as I would have liked. Finished Station Eleven which I loved..."

Glad you liked Station Eleven. I find that with Jane Austen, at least for me, the book doesn't really catch you until about 1/3 of the way in, then it flies right by. Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, so I hope you enjoy it!

Megan wrote: "Glad you liked Station Eleven. I find that with Jane Austen, at least for me, the book doesn't really catch you until about 1/3 of the way in, then it flies right by. Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, so I hope you enjoy it!"

I might try again at a later date then. I hate to give up on books! I'm really enjoying Jane Eyre at the moment - can't believe it's taken me all this time to properly sit down and read it! I think my gran lent it to me when I was younger but I didn't get very far. Only one part I could remember and I don't even think that's a real memory as it hasn't happened yet in this read. Something about a fire in an attic? Maybe I'm going crazy!

Bad week :( Thankfully I'm well ahead of schedule.

13. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë ★★★★★ (11/02/15)

I honestly thought for a while that Jane Eyre was going to become one of my absolute favourites. I wasn't expecting to hate it but I was not prepared for how much I'd root for the characters. At first it was difficult to get fully into, I was enjoying it but felt that perhaps the language was a bit too much (I was having to highlight the words on my kindle) but when I got used to it, oh my word it was so beautifully descriptive.

The only real let down was the chunk of the book with the Rivers' - I wasn't a big fan of those characters.

Sally wrote: "Bad week :( Thankfully I'm well ahead of schedule.

13. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë ★★★★★ (11/02/15)

I honestly thought for a while that Jane Eyre was g..."

So glad that you liked it! My fav book of all time! I highly recommend the movie adaptation with Mia Wasikowski.

I think I will check out that adaptation :)

14. Me Before You - Jojo Moyes ★★★★☆ (15/02/15)

I didn't think I was going to finish this, the only reason I didn't give up was because I thought it would at least be a quick read. I really disliked Lou and her family at the beginning but I'm glad I stuck it out because I ended up really enjoying it.

(view spoiler)[I actually really liked the ending, it was sad that he went ahead with it but I would have felt cheated if he hadn't. I saw it coming quite early on but I did begin to worry that she'd change his mind - it happens so often in books where someone walks in and saves someone else. (hide spoiler)]

15. Vicious - V.E. Schwab ★★★★☆ (21/02/15)

Really enjoyed this book, it grabbed me right from the start. I liked how the chapters bounced between past and present and I did like how a lot of the chapters were reasonably short so I found it easier to read during my lunch breaks.

16. Secrets of a Summer Night - Lisa Kleypas ★★★☆☆ (21/02/15)

I finished this in one evening. 3 stars seems a bit of a strange rating considering how much I enjoyed it but it wasn't really anything more than a quick, light and fun read. I will definitely be reading the rest of the Wallflower series but I'm probably going to slip each one between a darker or more serious read to break things up.

I am currently reading Dead Witch Walking which I started over a week ago but I'm finding it tough to continue. I started and finished books 15 and 16 after pausing with this book, hoping that I'd feel like finishing it afterwards but I'm still struggling.

17. Dead Witch Walking - Kim Harrison ★★☆☆☆ (24/02/15)

I managed to finally finish. It did pick up a bit in places but I'm not sure I'm going to continue the series. It's hard to continue when you don't really care either way about the main character.

18. A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab ★★★★★ (28/02/2015)

I LOVED this. I had high expectations after reading Vicious last week and I'm so glad that I was not left disappointed. In fact, I thought this was better!

I liked Me Before You a lot. I also didn't like Lou that much at the beginning of the story, but wound up loving her as the story progressed. Her family was not likeable, and I particularly couldn't stand her sister!

Carolyn wrote: "I liked Me Before You a lot. I also didn't like Lou that much at the beginning of the story, but wound up loving her as the story progressed. Her family was not likeable, and I particularly could..."

Her family drove me mad. I get that they were in a crappy situation but I hated that they pressured her into taking the job / sticking with it so that they wouldn't have to worry about having enough to live on. Never mind their daughters emotional well-being and then her mother's behaviour towards her at the end. And her sister annoyed me a lot.

19. Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard ★★★☆☆ (01/03/15)

Although at first I kept thinking 'I've read this all before', I did end up liking at least parts of the book and I will be reading at least the next book. It wasn't great but as the book progressed, it got better and I was pleased that I didn't see all the twists coming.

20. The Sin Eater’s Daughter - Melinda Salisbury ★★☆☆☆ (06/03/15)

I was first pulled in by the cover - it's so pretty! - and I liked the sound of the description. It started off promising but soon went downhill. Not much of anything happened, the good things soon turned out to be completely disappointing, and the characters lacked any depth. It picked up a bit towards the end and the writing was nice but overall disappointing.

Sally wrote: "6. Broken Monsters - Lauren Beukes ★★★☆☆ (17/01/15)

Not having a good week. Only finished one book so far and I abandoned my first book of the year - [book:The Pil..."

Hope you get a chance pick it back up. One of the best in my view. It is long so I can see having to take a break.

Lots of reading last month, but haven't actually put them all on here!

21. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell ★★★★☆ (15/03/15)
It took me a little while to get going, about 2 weeks to read the first 100/150 pages but then I sat down and read the rest of the nearly 1500 pages one weekend. I'm still debating whether to re-rate as 5 stars just because the end is still making me mad weeks later!!

22. It Happened One Autumn - Lisa Kleypas ★★★☆☆ (18/03/15)
23. Devil in Winter - Lisa Kleypas ★★★★☆ (19/03/15)
24. Scandal in Spring - Lisa Kleypas ★★★☆☆ (22/03/15)

After Gone with the Wind, I felt like I needed something light and fun so I picked up the next in the Wallflowers series as I had been intending to pick them up between 'difficult' books but I ended up reading the next three one after the other. I'm hoping I can manage to wait until Christmas before picking up the last one!

25. Naked in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (25/03/15)
26. Glory in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (28/03/15)
27. Immortal in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (29/03/15)
28. Rapture in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (30/03/15)

I'm really enjoying the In Death series despite a few issues I had regarding the romance, especially in the first couple of books. I'm having to work really hard not to start book 5 right now - there's 40 books overall and if I read them all one after the other 1. I'll get sick of them and 2. I'll never complete my challenges for the year and won't get round to reading loads of other books I have my eye on!

It's not been a great month of reading for me. I'm currently reading three books but not getting too far - two of them I started at the beginning of the month and I haven't read a page since! Still 5 is better than nothing and nothing was what I was reading this time last year!

29. Ceremony in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (03/04/15)

This was my least favourite of the series so far. I was wondering if it was because it was the fifth I'd read in a row so I'm taking a break for a bit.

30. The Ocean at the End of the Lane- Neil Gaiman ★★★★☆ (04/04/15)

31. The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah ★★★★☆ (08/04/15)
This was nearly a five star rating from me. The only thing really letting it down was that I couldn't connect with Vianne's part of the story for a long while.

32. Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas ★★★☆☆ (17/04/15)
It was between a two and three star for me. This book had the potential to be so much more. It was enjoyable but fell flat in a few places for me.

33. Crown of Midnight - Sarah J. Maas ★★★★★ (20/04/15)
I was so glad that I decided to pick up the next book in the series because I loved Crown of Midnight - it was so much better than Throne of Glass!

What have been some of your favorite books this year? A lot of the ones you've read are on my to-read list.

A Darker Shade of Magic is probably my favourite book of the year so far and even though I only rated it 4 stars at the time, Vicious is right up there too.

My favourite series have been the Fever series - I absolutely loved Dreamfever and Shadowfever (books 4 and 5) and I've really enjoyed the In Death series as well, starting with book 1 Naked in Death.

A Darker Shade of Magic sounds SO interesting. I love fantasy with odd or different magic systems. I hadn't heard of this one before, but I'm so glad you mentioned it.

I would definitely recommend it!

May isn't proving to be a very good month either. I was hoping to get a good amount of pages read to go towards my goal of 35,000 for the year, and read three classics to go towards the classics challenge and my listopia challenge. I'm heading off to travel around Australia next week and I'm guessing the amount I'm going to read is going to fall so I wanted to make a good dent in all my challenges!

34. Heir of Fire - Sarah J. Maas ★★★★☆ (03/05/15)

I loved Crown of Midnight so I was really excited to pick up the next in the series. I did really enjoy it but I also missed the feeling of the previous book. It had a different feeling. Kind of like in the last Harry Potter book when they don't return to Hogwarts - it's not bad at all but it's different and I missed the interactions between Celaena, Chaol and Dorian. There were some great new characters though!

35. Vengeance in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (09/05/15)
36. Holiday in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (10/05/15)
37. Midnight in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (11/05/15)

Still enjoying this series - I think it works best when I read 2 or 3 and then go away and read something else for a while before returning. They can feel repetitive and I still don't LOVE Roarke but it works so I can't complain.

38. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ★★★★★ (24/05/15)

I loved this and I can't believe it's taken me until now to read it! I'm quite sad that this was never a set text at school.

Hoping to finish number 39 today but I'm finding it very difficult to get through - currently reading The Shining and not loving it :(

Whoops! It's been a long time since I updated this - haven't updated since before I left to go travelling the beginning of June! I have completed my 50 books for the year though and I'm going to try and work on finishing my challenges! And updating this more regularly seeing as I'm going to be in the same place for at least the next few months.

39. Uprooted - Naomi Novik ★★★★★ (30/05/15)

I loved this! One of my favourites of the year.

40. Conspiracy in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (26/06/15)
41. Loyalty in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (27/06/15)
42. Witness in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (03/07/15)
43. Judgement in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (05/07/15)

Still really enjoying this series. I still think it works best in small groups. I think I might soon return and read the next few.

44. Ross Poldark - Winston Graham ★★★☆☆ (18/07/15)
45. Demelza - Winston Graham ★★★★☆ (22/07/15)

I didn't enjoy the first book as much as I would have liked. I'd tried watching the TV show before reading the books and the first book was so close to the first half of the show that I felt that I'd read it all before. It improved with the second book once I'd got past what I'd seen on the show (which I hadn't finished watching) and I enjoyed it a lot more as a result.

46. Fatherland - Robert Harris ★★★☆☆ (27/07/15)

I did enjoy this book but I felt that it could have been longer and given a bit more. There were two main parts to it and I just felt that the length meant that both of them didn't quite reach their full potential.

47. The Boleyn King - Laura Andersen ★★☆☆☆ (30/07/15)

This had the potential to be so good but it was very disappointing. I hated that Anne survived only to be so very boring and I wish there'd been more focus on William and Elizabeth and not so much on Minuette who I really didn't like. Characters need to have flaws but everyone loved her apart from the 'nasty' people. Even Henry preferred her over his actual children.

48. Orange Is the New Black - Piper Kerman ★★☆☆☆ (06/08/15)

Putting this as number 48 instead of 49 as I want to put the next batch together and didn't want this in the middle. I was disappointed by this. Maybe I would have preferred it if I hadn't watched the show first? I didn't care about Piper and her minor problems. I was far more interested in the other inmates.

49. That Scandalous Summer - Meredith Duran ★★★☆☆ (05/08/15)
50. Fool Me Twice - Meredith Duran ★★★★☆ (09/08/15)
51. Lady Be Good - Meredith Duran ★★★☆☆ (22/08/15)
52. Written on Your Skin - Meredith Duran ★★★☆☆ (27/08/15)
53. Luck Be a Lady - Meredith Duran ★★★★★ (28/08/15)

I've been on big Historical Romance kick recently which is amazing because up until a year ago I'd never really read much Historical Romance - it didn't appeal to me at all - then I read the Outlander series (which I still don't think I count as entirely HR) which, along with the recommendations of my Goodreads friends, got me started on all this HR.

I loved the Rules of the Reckless series by Meredith Duran - books 1 and 3 weren't as good as the others but still enjoyable. I kind of see them more as setting up for the books that followed (2 and 3). I also didn't love Written on Your Skin as much. What I do like is that she manages to create wonderful characters - even if they aren't always likeable - and create great stories so that they are more than just 'naughty' scenes.

54. Romancing the Duke - Tessa Dare ★★★★★ (30/08/15)

I honestly think this could really be a favourite of mine. The historical inaccuracies didn't bother me, I think maybe because it had a lovely fairy tale feeling to it. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I couldn't stop smiling afterwards! It was so cute and lovely! And I did love that the hero was blind - there was just something I enjoyed about the fact that he was missing one sense and that the others were heightened because of it.

55. Say Yes to the Marquess - Tessa Dare ★★★☆☆ (31/08/15)

I didn't enjoy this book so much. The first half of the book, I really didn't care about any of the characters and I was bored. It also felt far too modern for my liking especially as I believe this series is supposed to be set around 1817 (going from the dates in the third book). It did pick up in the second half though, and in the end I did like the characters and wanted them to get their happy ending.

56. When a Scot Ties the Knot - Tessa Dare ★★★☆☆ (01/09/2015 - I think?)

I don't really know whether I loved it, liked it or somewhere in between.

When Logan was first introduced all I could picture in my mind was Jamie Fraser with less red hair. And then, because he was a bit of a dick and I couldn't warm to him, Jamie Fraser's arsey brother. It kind of took me out of the story a bit. Then it got worse. For some reason I kept picturing Logan as blond and then in my mind he looked like how I imagined Bonnet to look like (WHICH IS SO NOT GOOD) and later a mixture of Bonnet and LJG.

Thankfully I loved Maddie which kept me going and by the end the images of the characters in my head didn't matter and I could enjoy the story and at the end I was rooting for them so hard.

I'm currently reading Queen of Shadows and really enjoying it - it's also a nice break from all the HR!

Three books completed this week so far! :)

57. Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas ★★★★★ (09/09/15)

58. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - John Boyne ★☆☆☆☆ (10/09/15)

59. A Lady Awakened - Cecilia Grant ★★★★★ (11/09/15)

60. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald ★★☆☆☆ (13/09/15)

61. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood ★★★☆☆ (18/09/15)

62. The Martian - Andy Weir ★★☆☆☆ (22/09/15)

63. The Fiery Trial - Cassandra Clare ★★☆☆☆ * (25/09/15)

I'm putting a * next to the rating of this one as if I had actually been reading it rather than listening to the audiobook, I'd have only given it one star. I actually attempted to take notes while listening as it's the only thing of Cassandra Clare's that I'm ever likely to read or listen to and I wanted to try and write a proper review. It didn't go well. It was utterly ridiculous. The only good thing about it was the narration.

64. Betrayal in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (28/09/15)

Another enjoyable read from the In Death series. I'm beginning to think that the relationship between Eve and Roarke is the thing that isn't quite clicking for me in these books. I'm much more invested in the background characters and the crimes - even if they are sometimes quite predictable.

65. Sparkling Cyanide - Agatha Christie ★★★★☆ (30/09/15)

I've recently got the complete collection (or close to) of Agatha Christie novels for my kindle and I'm going to enjoy going through them. I've read a lot over the years, having read my first one at about the age of 8 or 9, and it's nice to go back and read ones that I either never got round to or had read so long ago I can no longer remember what happened!

66. Flowers from the Storm - Laura Kinsale ★★★★☆ (03/10/15)

I think after a re-read this will probably go up to a 5 star rating. I was in a bit of a weird place when I was reading this so couldn't fully get into it but parts are still with me now, I can't get it completely out of my head.

67. The Assassin's Blade - Sarah J. Maas ★★★☆☆ (08/10/15)

68. Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined - Stephenie Meyer ★★☆☆☆ (11/10/15)

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I decided to read this. I guess curiosity got the better of me. I gave it an extra star because Stephenie Meyer did manage to surprise me with the ending but it was still pretty bad.

69. The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie - Jennifer Ashley ★★★★☆ (13/10/15)

70. My Sweet Folly - Laura Kinsale ★★★★☆ (16/10/15)

71. Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage - Jennifer Ashley ★★★☆☆ (17/10/15)

Historical Romance is really taking over this year! I can't quite believe how much I'm reading. Unfortunately it is impacting on my challenges though, I'm worried I won't finish them all!

I'm a little late here, but congratulations on finishing your challenge! You blew right by it. :)

did u ever finish The Shining??

Kara wrote: "I'm a little late here, but congratulations on finishing your challenge! You blew right by it. :)"

Thanks! I wasn't quite sure what to have as my goal this year as I only started to get back into reading last summer so didn't really have anything to base it on and the second half of my year was going to be a bit different. Turns out I have a lot more time to read while travelling!

Alison wrote: "did u ever finish The Shining??"

No, I left it at 60% - I hope I'll go back to it and finish it this year (it counts towards one of my challenges) but it's not looking likely.

72. The Many Sins Of Lord Cameron - Jennifer Ashley ★★★☆☆ (19/10/15)

73. The Duke's Perfect Wife - Jennifer Ashley ★★★★☆ (20/10/15)

74. Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith ★★★★☆ (22/10/15)

75. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen ★☆☆☆☆ (25/10/15)

I've decided to go back and try to finish the books that I'd started this year but gave up on. Pride and Prejudice was the first of those. I'm glad I finished it this time even if I didn't like it and it counts towards my listopia challenge! Yay!

I'm hoping that it won't all be 1 and 2 star ratings though - I'd love it if some of the books I gave up on I'll end up loving.

Sally wrote: "I'm hoping that it won't all be 1 and 2 star ratings though - I'd love it if some of the books I gave up on I'll end up loving. "

I can totally relate, Sally. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books, but I really have to be *in* to appreciate it. I have four DNFs for this year, and I keep debating with myself if I'll return to them. Good for you to keep slogging through!

My personal opinion is that life is too short to read crappy literature. But, there are some books that you really have to read someday (I'm looking at you Moby-Dick; or, The Whale)...

76. Seduction in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (26/10/15)
77. Reunion in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (27/10/15)
78. Purity in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★★☆ (28/10/15)
79. Portrait in Death - J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆ (31/10/15)

So I didn't go well with the concentrating on finishing books that I'd started this year. Instead I got sucked into reading four more of the in death books one after the other this week. I'm going to blame it on me feeling a bit rubbish this week and wanting something easy to get into where I'm already attached to the characters.

80. The Shining - Stephen King ★★☆☆☆ (31/10/15)

Last night I was in the mood to finally finish The Shining. I think this could possibly go up to a three star at least if I were to do a reread. I think the crappy formatting of my ebook and the fact that I left it in the middle for about five months before returning to it had some effect on my rating.

But I was struggling before I put in my 'to-return-to' pile. It had all the ingredients to scare me half to death but something went wrong somewhere. There was an awful lot of nothing happening in the first half.

My personal opinion is that life is too short to read crappy literature.

I've always stuck by that and I have never had any problems not finishing a book before. I don't know whether it's because most of these that I've given up on count towards my challenges which I'm slipping behind on.