I personally love to read. You’ll always find me bringing a book with me anywhere I go (even if my friends yell at me for it). I always hear about people’s favorite books, or “BookTok’s” “must reads,” but I never hear anyone talk about the books they hated or just couldn’t finish. Here’s a list of books I DNF.
1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This one’s a bit controversial. People LOVE this book, but personally, I found it boring and predictable. I decided to read this book after reading Daisy Jones & The Six. I absolutely loved that book and I consider it one of my favorites. Everyone was telling me to read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo next, and I thought that since it was the same author, I would probably like it. I was very wrong. I’ve found that whatever Taylor Jenkins Reid book someone reads first is usually their favorite, and the rest underwhelm them. Unlike a lot of the books on this list, I actually finished this one, but it was a struggle. I had to force myself to pick it up, and I never found myself actually wanting to read it. I think the concept of this book is a great one, but I found it very easy to predict. The big “plot twist” reveal didn’t surprise me in the slightest. It has been a few years since I put down this book, so maybe I’ll give it another chance soon.Â
2. Y/N by Esther Yi
This book was the most confusing yet boring book I’ve ever picked up. If you asked me to tell you the plot, I probably couldn’t. This was a short book, and I did finish it, but it got a very generous one star rating from me on Goodreads. My review of this book was, “Maybe I’m just dumb, but where was the plot,” and I think this perfectly sums up my feelings about this book.
3. None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney
I picked up this book because of a very compelling TikTok I saw. I should’ve known better than to trust TikTok. This book has been sitting at 45% completed on my Goodreads for about three years now. I was in the mood for a thriller that makes me think, and the TikTok I saw made it seem like this book would give me that. No, all this book did was show teenagers solving an FBI level murder.Â
4. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
This is another controversial one. This book was everywhere and was always being talked about a few years ago. It’s still widely loved today. My friends and I decided we were going to read this book together as a part of a little book club. Not a single one of us finished the book. According to my Goodreads, I got 4% of the way through this book. I have no interest in even trying to go further. Everyone says it starts out slow but gets better, but I’m not going to take the chance to see if they’re right.Â
5. If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
I had so much hope for this one. Out of every book on this list, this is the only one I would genuinely consider giving another shot. My issue with this book is that it was too slow, and there were just so many characters. Granted, I tried reading this probably about two years ago, so maybe if I tried again, I would like it. It was just so hyped up that I don’t think it could live up to my expectations. This book is sitting at a nice 28% of the way finished. Maybe one day it’ll be more.Â
My issue with most of the books on this list is that they were all given to me with very high expectations. Whether it was from the internet or my friends, someone was always telling me to read one of these. None of these books are “bad,” they just weren’t books I would say are worth your time.Â