Time for another edition of Reshelved in which I share what books I’ve put down lately and which ones I sadly had to take back to the library unread! Check out past Reshelved posts here!
Put Down
Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn: I know this one won awards and is beloved but I just couldn’t. I had read Complicit and wasn’t too fond of it but I wanted to give this one a chance. I got about 25 pages into this one and I could just tell it wasn’t going to be my thing again. I spoke with a friend and told her how I was feeling and she pretty much confirmed I wouldn’t love Charm & Strange either so that made THAT easy.
The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman: This one was probably more a matter of me not being in the mood for it. I was reading it and about 15 pages in I could just tell I wasn’t feeling compelled to keep reading. I would maybe pick it up at another time because it wasn’t that I wasn’t LIKING it but, at the same time, I know that I probably won’t have that pull to pick it back up ever. Truly I was just reading it for a themed read around Halloween and it had the promise of being a creepy fairytale retelling. Probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise.
The Here and the Now by Ann Brasheres: I could NOT get into this one when my book club decided to read it. It was causing me to be in a reading slump hardcore (side effects of being a mood reader, man) and I just dreaded picking it up. I ended up not reading it for book club but then I tried again to pick it up after a review for it piqued my interest and because I thought maybe I just hadn’t been in the mood for it. NOPE. Did not care to keep reading at all.
Went Back To The Library Unread
(not because I didn’t WANT to read them but I stink at reading things when I’m supposed to)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: I’ve been wanting to start this series because I’ve heard such AMAAZING things about it and I had high hopes of getting to it but BACK IT HAD TO GO. Buuuuuuuut…as we speak right now I just went back and got it so let’s hope I don’t fail this time around!
Chime by Franny Billingsly : This is an older one but when it came out I wasn’t super into fantasy or anything supernatural-y really so I never read it but I had heard AMAZING things about it. Apparently the writing is really pretty too! I thought maybe now would be a good time to get to it but WOMP WOMP never got time and my renews were up and this was far too thick for me to even try to start and finish it.
The Sweetest Hallelujah by Elaine Hussey: This was a adult fiction book I purely picked up on a whim at the library. Didn’t know anything about it but was really craving an adult historical fiction….until I finally had time to read this one. Then I wasn’t in the mood for one. Will probably try to grab this one again!
Did you feel differently about any of the books I put down? Or similarly? Which books should I make a priority to grab again from the library??
Becca Lostinbooks says
I can be very much a mood reader, too. I have separate shelves on GR for “abandoned” for good and “To go back to later” because it wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I just wasn’t in the mood for it.
Jamie says
Oh that’s a good idea to have separate ones! The ones I’m not sure if I’ll come back to I’ll I normally just mark them as “to read” again but then I mostly forget and can’t keep track of them haha
Alexia says
So disappointed that Charm & Strange didn’t work for you. I absolutely loved it, but I tend to love books that are written the same way Charm and Strange was. It’s okay though, not everyone likes the same books. I am DYING to read The Glass Casket. It looks like something I’ll love. The Here and Now didn’t work for me either. I think I got a quarter of the way through my e-ARC before I DNFed it.
Over the summer I had planned to binge read the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I got them all out from the library, but at that time I also picked up about ten other books, so I never even got to START Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Definitely on my list to read at some point this year.
Jamie says
I was so bummed too! Everyone loved it so much! I just THOUGHT it was so be a me thing bc it was so strange and different but ALAS no. I’m glad I’m not the only one with The Here and Now!
I do that too with the binge read if I see all the books in at the library and I almost NEVER get through even one of them haha. OOOOH well..it’s not like it costs us anything!
Ashley says
I have both Charm and Strange and The Here and Now sitting on my eBook shelves, but I never seem to be in the mood to read them. It has reached the point that I feel like I never will be in the right mood.
As for Daughter of Smoke and Bone, it is SO GOOD (I have no doubt you will have a ton of people scream/recommending it to you, it is that kind of book!) I found that it took me a bit to really get in to it. While I immediately like Karou, the world takes some time to make sense because it is such an original concept. I hope you read it and love it! The writing is gorgeous.
Jamie says
I know exactly what you mean!! I have some books like that where I’m like..hmm maybe I’ll never be in the mood to read them haha.
This is what I’ve heard about DoSaB so I’ll go in being patient!! Always nice to know it’s worth being patient until a book picks up!
Sara says
I got the here and now for review and I was not a fan. I finished it because it was short but I just could not get into the story.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is excellent, but it will take time to get into it because the world is so vast and there is so much to take in.
Jamie says
Yeah, I hadn’t heard great things about Here and Now but then I saw one review that said some things that made me reconsider. SIGH. Oh well. It sounded so good though!!
This is what I’m hearing about DoSaB so that’s good to know!
Mel@thedailyprophecy says
Daughter of smoke and bones was an okay book for me the first time. I reread it last year and then I truly fell in love with it. The story is nicely done and I LOVE her writing-style 🙂
Jamie says
That’s so funny how that works sometimes! What made you decide to pick it up again and reread it?
Mel@thedailyprophecy says
Two reasons: everyone was raving about it and said that the series got better in the second book & I found cheap copies from the sequels 🙂 So I decided to just go with it and it paid off!
Michelle says
I LOVE CHIME SO MUCH. I think it’s one of those books that’s not for everyone, but I found it to have such a lovely flow and the language had a beautiful lilt. It really is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Looking forward to seeing what you think, if you get back to it. 🙂
Jen Ellision says
I love DoSaB, but what I’m really up in arms about here is CHIMEEEEE. One of my favorites and the writing is NOT TO BE BELIEVED, it is so gorgeous.
Megs says
I went through the same thing with The Here and Now! I was so disappointed I wasn’t able to get into it because I really loved the Traveling Pants series, as well as Brashares’ The Last Summer (of You and Me)! 🙁
Emma @ Miss Print says
I have Chime in my TBR pile–one day *sniff*
I felt the same way about The Glass Casket. Except I struggled through it and only realized at the end that it really wasn’t working for me. One of those cases where potential and promising premise did not deliver.
Alexa S. says
All I will say is this – you should read Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Laini Taylor’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, and the tale she tells is utterly mesmerizing. Definitely give that one a shot!
Emmy (Just the Books) says
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is SO GOOD! I definitely encourage you to take it out again. 🙂 And I’m a mood reader, too … I definitely know the feeling of trudging through something you’re not in the mood for putting you off reading. I DNF a LOT of books that way and probably would like them had I read them at the right time.