The DNF Report #30 – May 2024

Posted May 28, 2024 by Lisa Mandina in Review, The DNF Report / 10 Comments

These are the books that I decided not to finish this past month.

Bite Me, Royce Taslim by Lauren Ho

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The DNF Report #30 – May 2024Bite Me, Royce Taslim by Lauren Ho
Published by Disney-Hyperion on May 7, 2024
Genres: YA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 320
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating: DNF
Goodreads

Acclaimed author of Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic in her YA a sharp yet sweet rivals-to-romance romp through Kuala Lumpur—perfect for fans of Emiko Jean, Abigail Hing Wen, and Kat Cho.

Agnes Chan never expected to be the punchline of her own life . . .

But how else do you explain getting accidentally run over and seeing a lifetime of careful preparation, endless training, and all your hopes of a track scholarship to college destroyed in a split second? Not to mention the only witness to your humiliation being your #1 archnemesis, Royce Taslim.

So, when Agnes finds a new answer to her scholarship predicament in the form of an international stand-up comedy contest for teens, the last person she expects to be up against is also the last person she wants to Royce. Because for years Royce has represented everything Agnes extreme privilege, popularity, and physical perfection (ok maybe she doesn’t hate that part so much).

Behind the scenes, though, Royce’s flawless façade fades away, revealing someone Agnes never expected—someone who shows her that perhaps the best parts of life are the ones you aren’t prepared for—and as the competition heats up, so do things between these two rivals. But will the pressure to win be too much for them to handle—or will Agnes (and Royce) get the last laugh?

My Thoughts

I really did try with this one. At first I thought maybe I wasn’t getting into it because I was worried about the SmartyPants Romance books I had to get finished by specific dates, but it was more than that. First the e-galley was choppy and I think the finished copy might have some texting or emojis that didn’t show up well in this format. Second I wasn’t sure I liked the main character. I couldn’t see any reason for why she disliked Royce other than her competitiveness and that he was rich. Every interaction between the two he started out friendly and she was rude to him. And then she had her “friends” from the track team that actually weren’t really very good friends, so I was a little irritated about that I guess. Overall this one just wasn’t for me. Maybe it is realistic to teens, but I didn’t enjoy it. I did get to 34% before I gave up.

It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The DNF Report #30 – May 2024It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
Published by Rick Riordan Presents on May 14, 2024
Genres: YA Fantasy, YA Horror, YA Thriller
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating: DNF
Goodreads

Unlike the other residents of the small Caribbean Island of St. Virgil, Selina DaSilva does not believe in magic. With a logical mind and a knack for botany, Selina used to dream of leaving the island to study Pharmacology—until a vicious, unsolved attack left her father dead and her mother in a coma.
Now her guilt over her mother’s condition keeps her tethered to the island, relegated to conning gullible tourists with useless talismans and phony protection rituals. But when one of those tourists ends up at the center of a string of strange murders, the truth that Selina has been denying can no longer be there is evil lurking in the forests that surround St. Virgil. Another thing that can’t be avoided? Selina’s ex-boyfriend Gabriel, newly employed at the local newspaper and eager to put his investigative skills to use.
Desperate to put an end to the killings and claim justice for Selina’s family, these two former lovers race to find answers. But evil bides its time. And as long-buried feelings and long-hidden secrets about Selina’s family’s past begin to reveal themselves, only one answer remains—and it waits in the forest.

My thoughts:

I feel kind of bad DNFing this one, but it isn’t necessarily anything to do with the story itself. It was more with how the e-galley was formatted. It had choppy spacing, and then there would be parts I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be texting or emojis and I just couldn’t keep myself into the story enough to keep going. I do think it is one I will get for my library though. And if I’d had a paper copy or the final copy I might have actually finished it. I only got to 10% because of these issues.

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10 responses to “The DNF Report #30 – May 2024

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yep, I just make sure to always realize it is just my taste or something like the formatting and don’t bash a book, because someone else may love it.

    • Lisa Mandina

      I just don’t have time to force myself to read a book I’m not enjoying these days. And why would I? I don’t see the purpose in doing that. 🙂

  1. Bad formatting can really make it hard to enjoy a book. I’ve had a few times issues with the formatting due to my device being old and being able to get a new file, but sometimes that isn’t possible. And I can definitely see why you struggled with that first one with her being rude to him

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, if I can’t get into the story or side with the character pretty quickly, these days I’ll just DNF and go on to something else.

  2. You are really good a DNFing books… I need to get better 😅 I’ve only DNFd one book so far this year when I should’ve DNFd like maybe two other ones as well. Lol. But I’m working on it! Lol. It’s hard to beat the completionist in me though. Lol.

    Liliana recently posted: Sunday Post #404: Counting Down
    • Lisa Mandina

      I’m getting to the age where I don’t have time to read all the books I have on my TBR already and more come out every year than I can read, so I just have to know if it isn’t working for me, then I move on.

  3. Fun you mention formatting. I just finished an eARC that had letters jumbled now and then from the first letter to somewhere in the rest of the paragraph. It was hard going trying to stay in the story and sometimes even knowing what the word was meant to be. 🙂 Soooo, I can sympathize with your need to set these aside and wait for finished editions.

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