Gilt by Association - I had high hopes for this one as I love books involving decorating and anything vintage. However, it just didn't quite work out for me. The first issue was that I didn't really like any of the characters (well Caprice's sister Nikki seemed okay and her mother wasn't too awful). For the most part they came across as judgmental and prickly almost all the time. The second issue was there was just so much information. Now I like getting the backstory in a nutshell even if it's going over things previously covered. That's one of the wonderful things about cozy mystery series that makes it easy to jump in whenever. However, not only was there backstory but there was so much detail about the tiniest of things. When Caprice sat down after something stressful happened she didn't just fall into her chair. She fell onto a yellow cushion with braided trim that slid out just a little when her weight hit it. As well there is a lot of page time given to puppy training, her sister and brother-in-law's marriage, and countless other things. If I had like the characters more this might have worked but as it was it just fell a bit flat. DNF'd at 30%
Disney After Dark (Kingdom Keepers #1) by Ridley Pearson - I'm so disappointed about this one. I really wanted to love it and thought it would be perfect bedtime reading to prep for our trip to Disney which is coming up. We only made it a couple of chapters. My 9 year old lost interest pretty fast. He found it confusing and it never hooked him enough to get everything sorted. I'm an enormous Disney fan and I figured watching the kids run around Disney World at night - complete with characters - would make up for just about anything. But it didn't. I never got pulled in to the story and I really didn't like the way the author described the characters. One was described as "eating a lot and looking like it" and the 2 girls were basically put into the category of "hot" and "not as hot". It wasn't described exactly like that but that was very clearly the message. I was kind of glad my 9 year old had lost interest because I wasn't sure I would want him to continue reading. I adore the premise of this one but the execution just didn't live up to my expectations. DNF'd at about 15%
What have you DNF'd lately?
I'm not a big fan of unnecessary description either so I totally get what you are saying on the first book.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read either of these. Just the other day I DNF'd a mystery/thriller because the writing was very blah, all telling no showing, etc. I couldn't stand a chapter of that bland prose, let alone a whole book!
ReplyDeleteAw, sorry you had two disappointments in a row.
ReplyDeleteAw that's disappointing- especially the Disney one. I agree those descriptions don't send a good example.
ReplyDeleteAh man that sucks about Kingdom Keepers I have had that on my wishlist but maybe I won't try it. I DNFed The Hummingbird Dagger as it was slow and I just never went back to it so I am considering it a fail.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry these two didn't work for you, Katherine.
ReplyDeleteThe one Karen Rose Smith book I read I didn't like either and I agree, Caprice and her sister were not very likable. I finished it but I didn't like it.
ReplyDeleteIt's disappointing about the Pearson book, I'm sorry.
That's the way I was with The Wizard of Oz books. I was tired of paraphrasing the violent parts, and breathed a sigh of relief when Baz was not interested in continuing with the series. 📚
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