15 Dropped Series in 2015

We've all been there. You're reading book one of a series and after closing those final pages you're just not interested in what happens next.

Maybe it's because book one stood so well on it's own you don't want to ruin it. Or maybe it's because things were so ridiculous that you can't imagine slogging through more books. Or maybe there are just other series you care about more.

Either way, you drop the series.

I'm really guilty of reading book one in series (usually trilogies, because YA amirite?) and then never feeling compelled to move on. It's something I've been working on in the last few years, because there are perfectly good series out there that I've dropped for no good reason.

But that's not what this is about today. This is about the series that I am intentionally dropping. I've read book one, or maybe more, in the last year or so and I just don't want to continue. I'll explain my reasonings with each book below...

1. The Young Elites Trilogy by Marie Lu
This was disappointing for me, because I liked the Legend trilogy well enough, but this book was just so soulless and boring. I don't care about what happens next, I skimmed most of the middle of the first book. So I'm out.

2. The Revolution 19 Trilogy by Gregg Rosenblum
Far too juvenile and bland for me. Not interested in more.

3. The Paper Gods Trilogy by Amanda Sun
Ink was just a rehashed version of every paranormal romance I've ever even heard of. The only draw was the Japanese setting and mythos, except we have to have a white girl at the centre of this for some bizarre reason. Also using Hepburn romanization is just too reminiscent of being 14 and writing terrible fanfic and the secondhand embarrassment was too much for me.

4. The Ever-Expanding Universe Trilogy by Martin Leicht & Isla Neal
This cover is just so clever and gorgeous, I'm almost sad I hated this as much as I did. The premise of teenage pregnancies in space was interesting enough, but there was too much icky-ness with dubious consent and girls hating girls, I just can't stomach more.

5. The Immortal City Trilogy by Scott Speer

I didn't really have high expectations for this and I wasn't wrong to feel that way. This book tried to do some interesting things with commentaries on celebrity and capitalism, but it just devolved into more dumb paranormal romance. Pass.

6. The Zodiac Trilogy by Romina Russell

Bizarrely over-complicated but paper thin worldbuilding dragged this book down. It was slow and boring and though some of the characters were interesting, I just don't care enough about anyone involved to continue.

7. The Extraction Trilogy by Stephanie Diaz

I was looking forward to this one, but it ended up being another run-of-the-mill dystopian. The plot was predictable, the writing was bland and again, I don't care about what happens to anyone.

8. The Taken Trilogy by Erin Bowmen

If you've never read a YA dystopian novel before, you'll probably love this. Otherwise, you'll be able to predict nearly the entire thing--and probably the rest of the trilogy along with it. (Try it, I did and then looked up some spoilers and wasn't really wrong.) Pass.

9. The Lies Beneath Trilogy by Anne Greenwood Brown
More actual murderous mermaids and less romance. Again, this devolved into typical paranormal romance and man some of the things that were played off as "romantic" were really gross. Hard pass.

10. The Pledge Series by Kimberly Derting
This was cute and all, but I don't really care about what happens next? I've read a few spoilers for the next book and beyond and I'm not interested in continuing.

11. The Razorland Trilogy by Ann Aguirre
I read both Enclave and Outpost before deciding I was done with this. Outpost got too "because of the apocalypse we've reverted to the old way of doing things, including inferior status for women". No. Come on. This isn't necessary. I read spoilers for Horde and I'm not sorry I stopped reading.

12. The Johannes Cabal Series by Johnathan L. Howard
I was trying something new with this one. I don't really regret it, but it's just that this book wasn't exceptional enough for me to care about wanting to read three more in the series.

13. The Fire Sermon Trilogy by Francesa Haig
Despite it's marketing, this was a fairly typical dystopian tale. The worldbuilding was interesting and the conflict of Alpha and Omega twins skirted the line of being gross and ableist, but it managed to mostly steer clear of crossing it. Again, I just don't really care what happens next?

14. The Juliet Immortal Duology by Stacey Jay
Okay, this one is different. I loved this first book. A lot. It was light and fun and cute. The sequel Romeo Redeemed is more companion novel than anything else. And I'm probably not going to read it. Because I don't need to know what happens. I'm fine leaving this at one book.

15. The Wintercraft Trilogy by Jenna Burtenshaw
I'm waffling on this one. Book one was okay. Simplistic, but entertaining enough. I wouldn't be opposed to reading more. But it's not super high on my priority list right now. And I can't see that changing any time soon.


Phew! That was a lot more than I thought!

Read any of these? What did you think? What series have you been unimpressed with? Let's chat in the comments!

DNF Round Up || July

I'm hoping this won't turn into a regular feature. But who knows.

Coming close on the heels of last week's post about abandoning books, I thought I'd do a little round up of the three books I didn't finish this month. (Which prompted that whole post in the first place.)



On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
DNF @ ~50 pages

Taylor is leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.

I just could not get into this book. It floats multiple perspectives past you without really bothering to make any distinction between them--leading me to feel very confused. And not in that intriguing "ooh what's happening?" kind of way. But in that "wait a second, did I read that wrong?" kind of way.

It never grabbed me. It didn't make me want to read on. People assure me that it gets better, especially as things start to come together. So maybe I'll consent to try it some other time, but I'm marking it as abandoned for now and have returned it to the library.




Feed by MT Anderson
DNF @ ~50 pages

Spending time partying on the moon and riding around in his "upcar," Titus is an average teen of the future, complete with a computer chip implant -- the "Feed" -- that lets corporate marketers and government agencies broadcast directly into his brain. Then Titus meets Violet, and an anti-Feed hacker shuts down their Feeds for a short time; but when Violet's Feed is seriously damaged, she begins spouting some radical ideas.

Every time I have tried classic dystopian cyberpunk, it's never worked out well for me. Here it was the colloquial and juvenile writing that did me in. I've seen a few people compare it to A Clockwork Orange in terms of language, and I just don't know if that's my thing.

I also feel like I know where this whole thing is going. I mean, I could be wrong, but it seemed like it was on a fairly predictable path.

I've seen an audiobook mentioned, which might help, so I might try that later. But for now, abandoned and my copy donated. (I need the bookshelf space.)




Don't Turn Around (PERSEFoNE #1) by Michelle Gagnon
DNF @ ~110 pages

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been a victim of the system ever since her parents died. Now living off the grid and trusting no one, she uses her hacking skills to stay anonymous and alone. But when she wakes up on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no memory of how she got there, Noa starts to wish she had someone on her side.

Enter Peter Gregory. A rich kid and the leader of a hacker alliance, Peter needs people with Noa’s talents on his team. Especially after a shady corporation threatens his life in no uncertain terms. But what Noa and Peter don’t realize is that Noa holds the key to a terrible secret, and there are those who’d stop at nothing to silence her for good.

So apparently I can't read, because for some reason I thought this would be like this government-crackdown dystopian where you're monitored all the time and then some teens decide to go off the grid. Which is not what this is about at all.

The mystery here is compelling enough, but the whole thing suffers from mediocre writing. Do I want to find out what happens? Sure. Could I plow through this in a few hours to do so? Sure. But I'd be just as happy reading spoilers online for all I care about these characters.

There were multiple POV changes in a chapter as well, which I found really jarring. I know it was the book trying to create tension, but it didn't feel necessary. Chalk it up to mediocre writing again. Anyway, I'm probably not going to keep this one either.


And there we have it. My DNF books for July. Any thoughts about these books or DNFs in general? Have you abandoned any books lately? Let's chat in the comments!