Debbie > Recent Status Updates

Returning to library, will try again soon

Struggle bus. The slowest of burns while introducing new potential couples who I can’t possibly be as invested in. And the POV changing every chapter. I downed the first 100 pages but I’m losing interest fast.

I’m struggling through this. Is ANYTHING going to actually happen?! I’ve reached the point I start reading reviews to see if pushing myself to finish will be worth it.

Dammit this book is going to make me get back into photography.

I honestly can’t bring myself to care about what’s going on in this book. Maybe because it is taking Persephone far too long to find her strength for me? We are 3 books in COME ON. Taking a break and we’ll see if the desire to pick it up comes back.

This might be a me problem - but there have been a lot of names thrown out in the last 25ish pages and I’m having a real hard time firing out who’s who.

Had to return the ebook before I could finish. This could very well end up being a dnf. You know how movie scenes are cut from the film to help the movie flow better? But then you can watch the deleted scenes in the extras? Reading these books from Hades perspective are like watching the deleted scenes. And I really just want to move on with the story.

Only 70 sum pages left and I’m fighting for this to not be a dnf. Love the premise but there’s nothing to keep me engaged.

Officially DNF. I’ve tried to restart reading this book 3 times now and I just can’t subject myself to more. I agree with a lot of others that books 3 & 4 could’ve easily been one book. Way too much fluff. ESPECIALLY when the original series has already answered what happens in this series. These last two books gave us the wrong details we were looking for, ad nauseam.

Ten more pages of them talking in the same damn setting. It’s like reading the Monday morning quarterback version of the last book. I am also not retaining any of it.

Did I just read 50 pages of the same conversation over and over? Or is that just me?

And today I decided I don’t actually like reading cottage-core. DNF.

This is such a cozy little book. And I’m warming up to it. But slowly. Ever so slowly.

Gonna be a DNF. I still very much want to learn the information but even the graphic novel is a bit dry for me to stay interested.

I’ve already skimmed reviews to see if Kiela has any redeeming arc - because right now I can’t stand her. And it’s causing me to loose interest. Perhaps if the author and made it a bit more clear how much Magic had not been available to all, could Kiela’s feelings towards the library books be a bit more understandable.

Slow going and can’t renew.
So now I wait for another copy to come in.

Strongly considering NFing this one. I’ve taken 2 breaks. And I’m going to start a 3rd. But even now thinking about coming back to it makes me roll my eyes. The premise and plot of this book sound so captivating! But it’s all falling flat. The characters, the world building, the suspense - I’m indifferent to it all.

“Unlike people, pickles are praised when they become more sour and a little salty. I should have been a pickle. The I would be appreciated for who I truly am.”

“…all stories were good stories so long as they were true to the teller. And that you should never try to pretend that the thing that had happened in the past hadn’t, or that the way people believed or thought or felt hadn’t happened. Because what good was a story if it was censored and untrue? Stories were for sharing the infinite ways there were to be human.”

“She had tried to bring them to the librarians in the adult department, but they were all on weird diets, macrobiotic and keto and DASH and such, as grown-ups often are. The children’s librarians, on the other hand, recognized a good cupcake when they saw one and didn’t let it go to waste.”

Am I a little too nit-picky when reading books with familiar settings. Definitely. But it 100% pulls you out of the setting/story when a character is driving north in the Adirondacks and the thruway is 10 miles away.
Nope. That does not track.

Just as the book is starting to pick up and go somewhere - an important night for fae and falling stars? What was that I said about ACOMF before?

When you read enough fantasy it’s hard to not compare. But I can see the parallels with ACOMF in this and it’s really being dragged out. I like series because after that initial world building in book 1, book 2 can just pick right back up. But this one is slow to take off. The constant scenes of making camp?? I kind of want to claw my eyes out if this doesn’t get somewhere soon.

I almost dnf about 20 pages ago. Reading Auren’s repetitive thoughts was getting old. But it has thankfully picked up and we’ve gone several chapters without any non-consensual activities. So maybe it’s looking up. 🤷‍♀️

So far one of my favorite pictures books has been mentioned, an x-files character and Daphne - the main character (& children’s librarian) moved around a lot as a kid living with her single mom. I am fully hooked and not character bonding AT ALL.

I struggle with alternating perspectives. Especially when it’s every other chapter switching. You never get enough time getting to know how the characters differ before switching. Just read 1/2 a chapter & realized it was not the character I thought it was. At the very least a title head on each page of which character it is would help. Especially when the other characters rarely say their names in conversation.

I finally figured out WHY Bryce irritates me so damn much. She is written like someone is guessing what it feels like to have an absentee father, but doesn’t actually have the experience. Bryce is the oldest of SJMs lead females but is still firmly stuck in the angry teen phase of that abandonment. There are so many more complicated emotions that are NEVER explored. Bryce lacks depth & I’m starting to not care.

Nearly 300 pages into the book and I am SO BORED! Lots of talking but nothing seems to be propelling the story forward. The entire book has mostly taken place in one location. And it’s this constant circle of Kolis threatening, Sera backing off, then her forgetting she wanted to back off and she lashes out again. Please dear gods tell me we get a change of pace soon.