DNFing a Book…

I’m going to start this post off by saying hello again! It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted (as if!) it’s gone super, super quickly and I’ve been having an interesting month so far, as you’ll find out! I’m always much more active on Instagram, but I’ve also created a new bookish Twitter if you want to pop a follow over there.

The one big part of the reason why I haven’t been posting is because I’ve been trying and trying to read Heartless by Marissa Meyer and I’m just overall disappointed. I’m not the type of person to DNF a book (DNF = Do Not Finish for people who don’t know), I tend to read as much and as quickly as I can; I tend to finish most books in a few days.

But not with Heartless.

I wouldn’t have tried so hard but I absolutely loved and was honestly enchanted by Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. I own all the books (except Fairest – I need to pick up that one soon) as my Book Club I co-founded read Cinder a few months ago. I quickly bought the rest of the series and I loved the way that Meyer wrote.

Heartless, for some reason, was completely different. I usually read everyday but even before I had started, I wasn’t really interested in reading. I’m not sure whether it was the stress from work or whether it was the fact that the blurb didn’t really excite me. I have been rather stressed from work this month so let’s assume it’s that!

From the outset, the writing was blocking me – I felt immediately that it wasn’t a book I could fly through. I really couldn’t connect with any of the characters and the main character, Catherine, who later becomes the infamous Queen of Hearts, was incredibly two-dimensional to me. I tried to read further as sometimes, I do struggle with connecting with characters right off the bat.

50 pages in, I could feel my interest waning. Sadly, I didn’t read further than 150 pages. I thought the story was finally becoming interesting after a very slow start, but, alas, I still couldn’t connect with Catherine. I didn’t understand why she found the Joker so enchanting or interesting, I couldn’t (and still don’t!) understand Catherine’s feelings towards him. I would assume later in the book this would be explained but I just could not keep my interests focused in finishing the book.

It’s sad because this is the second book I’ve ever DNF’ed. The only other (which might be a little controversial!) was Catcher in the Rye. I thought that story was bland and really struggled to get out of the gate, and unfortunately, I thought the same with Heartless.

On GoodReads, everyone seems to love it and this is one of the first times that I feel completely differently. Of course, everyone has their opinions, but I am genuinely frustrated and upset that I had to DNF and put it back on my shelf. Maybe I’ll finish it someday?

Have you read Heartless? What’s your opinion?

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Thanks so much for reading. I have lots of new posts pending and in the works so I won’t be gone as long this time! Lots has been going on in my personal life which is why I haven’t been so active. Like I said at the beginning of the post, I’m always super active on Instagram so if you’d like to keep up on my day-to-day life, I’d definitely recommend following me there.