Wow! It's been so long since I did one of these. I think I've been lucky lately to have a bunch of really good books in my TBR pile.
Audience: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Retelling
Length: 260 pgs.
Where I Stopped: page 39
Why I Stopped: The novel set up this really lovely story, a retelling of a fairy-tale in this fun, historical setting. I totally dug it. And then something happened that seemed really out of place, too fantastic for the way it had been set up, that I just went, "Huh? Too weird." I put the book down and didn't pick it back up. I don't imagine I will either.
The lesson to be learned: In true fairy-tale style...leave breadcrumbs for readers so they aren't pulled from the story. You never want anything to pull a reader out of the world you've created. You want to immerse them in so deep they don't want to leave.
Showing posts with label Why I Stopped Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Why I Stopped Reading. Show all posts
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Why I Stopped Reading #5
Genre: YA Fantasy
Audience: YA
Length: 592
Where I stopped: pg 60
Why I stopped: It's always interesting to me when a best seller that a lot of people like by a good author just doesn't click with me. So many people I know liked this book, but I for me ... meh. Mostly I just wasn't connecting with the main character at all. And even though I loved the setting of the book, the subject matter didn't seem like my thing either. I'll also have to admit that a nearly 600 page book is hard to hold with one hand, so perhaps that led to me putting it down too ... ;)
What we learned: This has come up before so the same advice applies. Just because one person doesn't like the book doesn't meant there's not someone out there who will champion it. Keep writing. Keep querying. Keep it up. Stuff will work out.
Audience: YA
Length: 592
Where I stopped: pg 60
Why I stopped: It's always interesting to me when a best seller that a lot of people like by a good author just doesn't click with me. So many people I know liked this book, but I for me ... meh. Mostly I just wasn't connecting with the main character at all. And even though I loved the setting of the book, the subject matter didn't seem like my thing either. I'll also have to admit that a nearly 600 page book is hard to hold with one hand, so perhaps that led to me putting it down too ... ;)
What we learned: This has come up before so the same advice applies. Just because one person doesn't like the book doesn't meant there's not someone out there who will champion it. Keep writing. Keep querying. Keep it up. Stuff will work out.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Why I Stopped Reading #4
Genre: Regency
Audience: Adult
Length: 399
Where I stopped: pg. 83 (23%)
Why I stopped: Biggest reason -- The story felt too much like Pride & Prejudice. The author, who honestly states up front that they are writing as Jane Austen -- basically trying to mirror her style, which I have nothing against, if the story were original. Second reason -- it's just plain confusing. Now, granted, it took me a few chapters to really get into the language of Austen my first time through P&P, but like I've mentioned before: if I'm this confused now, will I still be confused half-way through the book? When I finish?
What did we learn: It's crazy, because it boils down to some advice I literally just read on twitter from an agent doing #tenqueries. "...if you do an homage it needs to be better than the original." Which, you know, Austen -- so that's really hard. Realistically, in my opinion it needs to be pretty darn good and, well, a bit more original.
Audience: Adult
Length: 399
Where I stopped: pg. 83 (23%)
Why I stopped: Biggest reason -- The story felt too much like Pride & Prejudice. The author, who honestly states up front that they are writing as Jane Austen -- basically trying to mirror her style, which I have nothing against, if the story were original. Second reason -- it's just plain confusing. Now, granted, it took me a few chapters to really get into the language of Austen my first time through P&P, but like I've mentioned before: if I'm this confused now, will I still be confused half-way through the book? When I finish?
What did we learn: It's crazy, because it boils down to some advice I literally just read on twitter from an agent doing #tenqueries. "...if you do an homage it needs to be better than the original." Which, you know, Austen -- so that's really hard. Realistically, in my opinion it needs to be pretty darn good and, well, a bit more original.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Why I Stopped Reading #3
Time for another edition of Why I Stopped Reading.
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: MG
Pages: 258
Where I stopped: 28% (Kindle version)
Why I stopped: Today's "Why I Stopped Reading" is pretty different from many of the others. The one thing it has in common is that I downloaded this book for free on one of its promotion days. The thing that is way different? This book has a four star rating on Amazon and good reviews from big places like Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus. So why did I stop? I lost interest, pure and simple. Disclaimer: I'm not a big MG fan, probably because I crave more romance than it can provide. There have been a few MGs that I've really enjoyed, but there are not a lot that I LOVED. (Can you count Harry Potter? Is it MG?) The book had some exciting things going on and an interesting plot, it just wasn't enough. For me. You might be absolutely different.
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: MG
Pages: 258
Where I stopped: 28% (Kindle version)
Why I stopped: Today's "Why I Stopped Reading" is pretty different from many of the others. The one thing it has in common is that I downloaded this book for free on one of its promotion days. The thing that is way different? This book has a four star rating on Amazon and good reviews from big places like Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus. So why did I stop? I lost interest, pure and simple. Disclaimer: I'm not a big MG fan, probably because I crave more romance than it can provide. There have been a few MGs that I've really enjoyed, but there are not a lot that I LOVED. (Can you count Harry Potter? Is it MG?) The book had some exciting things going on and an interesting plot, it just wasn't enough. For me. You might be absolutely different.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Why I Stopped Reading #2
Genre: Regency Romance
Audience: Adult
Pages: 270
I stopped at page: 15
Why I stopped reading: Historical implausibility. It's really as simple as I couldn't believe a major part of the character's back story. But why would that just make me stop? Because it makes me wonder -- Does the author really know this time period well enough to write in it?
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
A Different Sort of Review: Why I Stopped Reading
So, I know about half of you drop by here for the book reviews and about half of you show up for the writing stuff. And I know that a lot more of my posts connect to the writers out there. This is probably another one, though it's a jumble of what I put out there for readers -- book reviews -- and writer tips. "Why I Stopped Reading" will be book reviews without naming the books.
Huh?
Let me explain a bit. Many of you know I'm also a freelance editor and do contract editing work for a small press. That means that sometimes when I read, my editor brain bullies my reader brain. Sometimes I can override it, but sometimes I just can't. So when I stop reading a book, it's usually because my editor brain insists on it. I hope that by doing these reviews, I can give writers an insight into perhaps why an agent or editor doesn't continue reading.
So on to the show.
Huh?
Let me explain a bit. Many of you know I'm also a freelance editor and do contract editing work for a small press. That means that sometimes when I read, my editor brain bullies my reader brain. Sometimes I can override it, but sometimes I just can't. So when I stop reading a book, it's usually because my editor brain insists on it. I hope that by doing these reviews, I can give writers an insight into perhaps why an agent or editor doesn't continue reading.
So on to the show.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
