Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I hate it when I don’t like the heroine. I had that problem with Erin McCarthy’s Big Mouth. I LOVE every book by EMcC that I have read…except for that one. Our heroine was a reporter who willfully and unrepentantly compromised an FBI investigation in a last ditch effort to save her job. The hero was the FBI agent who didn’t arrest her to keep her from making it worse. I was (and still am) full of WTF??

It is really unfortunate when one of the main characters drives me up the wall and it gets to the point that I can’t stomach reading about them anymore.  It’s not so bad when it’s a secondary character, but if the hero or the heroine is a class A pain in the ass, I just have to give up on them.

Thanks so much for posting a DNF review!

Sarah, with all due respect and great love:

Imho, if you didn’t finish it, don’t review it. What if the heroine redeemed herself on the next page, thus the “twist” in the title? You bill this as a book review site, not a first-fifty-pages site, and if you don’t finish the book, you haven’t completed your self-described job. (I felt this way about your Twilight review also—how can you give a grade to a book you admit you haven’t finished?)

Perhaps you could write a separate post listing DNF books and why you didn’t finish them. That is a legitimate topic for discussion, because we all understand the importance of keeping the reader (or agent, or editor) hooked. But don’t call it a book review. It isn’t. There are certain basic things that must be contained in a text in order for it to fit into the genre we call “book review”: (1) a summary of the book, with or without spoilers; (2) the reviewer’s opinion of the book; (3) the underlying assumption that the reviewer has actually read the book.

I like hearing about other people’s DNF experiences. I feel better about my own. (I still feel like a bit of a failure when I have to give up on one, even if finishing it would mean nothing but pain.)

Say what you will about livejournal and its ilk, when people tell me what is or isn’t a legitimate topic of discussion in MY OWN BLOG, I can filter them the fuck out.

Say what you will about livejournal and its ilk, when people tell me what is or isn’t a legitimate topic of discussion in MY OWN BLOG, I can filter them the fuck out.

And Sarah can, but she doesn’t, because she welcomes discussion of this sort.

Just as she discourages flaming.

Personally, I like seeing the DNF reviews. There are sometimes when you can tell this book isn’t getting any better. By the end of the fifth chapter, there’s often some sort of inkling if the person may have a change of heart or has the ability to grow as a person (hint: not going to happen if their love interest is enabling the bad behavior.) 

I wish I had listened to that gut instinct when reading Twilight instead of going through all four books so I could officially say “Wow, this sucks. How is this so popular???” It would be a bit much to see it as every other review, but every once in awhile is great.

I love hearing about other people’s reading experiences, too, including the DNF ones. I’m just saying that’s not a book review.

“This cover is pretty” = not a book review

“This summary looks awful” = not a book reivew

“I read the first chapter and liked it” = not a book review

“I read the first three chapters and decided not to finish it” = not a book review

“I read the whole book and did or didn’t like it” = book review

Thanks for posting the DNF, Sarah.  Being the masochist that I am, I’ll almost always finish a book once I begin, no matter how craptastic.  And the heroine in this book reminds me of the heroine in the Shopaholic series (and I REALLY wanted to smack her upside the head), so I’ll be steering clear of this one. 

If a book blows so badly you can’t finish, I want to know.  And as long as you give the reasons why you couldn’t find the will to press on, then I do believe it qualifies as a “review.”

nods, if you DNF a book,  I want to know. My $$$ are too precious to waste on cr*p. Some romance sites have reviews that I can’t trust, having used them to decide on books to buy, I found A+ review books unreadable. Carry on.

I agree with Lori S. - if a book annoys a reviewer so much that she can’t finish it, I want to know about it. If nobody reviews these books, how can the reader know whether the book is bad or has just been overlooked?

If nobody reviews these books, how can the reader know whether the book is bad or has just been overlooked?

If the reviewer doesn’t finish these books, how can the reader know whether the book is really bad?

Heather’s point is well taken:

There are sometimes when you can tell this book isn’t getting any better.

But you don’t know for sure until you’ve finished. Readers who aren’t posting a review don’t have an obligation to finish. Readers who are posting a review, and whose entire sites are built around reviews, do.

The debate of whether or not a DNF review is a review or not has been going on a long time. Everyone has their own ideas about what constitutes a ‘review’ but I read review sites to help determine what I’ll be purchasing and a DNF is just as helpful as an A+ in what I may or may not add to my list.

It’s the author’s job to make the readable/likeable, not the reader’s——and a DNF review is just an opinion like any other review. There’s an honesty about a DNF review that appeals to me and my book buying budget.

Should read ‘It’s the author’s job to make the book readable/likeable, not the reader’s’ *going for more coffee*

Veering slightly off topic for a minute, isn’t that the same damn pair of legs we’ve seen on, like, half a dozen covers now?  Flipped and Photoshopped, sure, but I’m sure I recognize that painful goosestep strut.

spamword:  stock26
This stock pic has been used at least 26 times now.

Add me to the list of people who think posting up “dump” or “DNF” reviews are just fine. So it’s a review of an incomplete read - this is clearly stated, as are the reasons why. Just as valid as a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, IMO.

THANK YOU!!!

I’ve had this book on ‘buy on sight’ simply because I have liked many of her books. However the problem you have with the heroine will be one that makes me throw the book at the wall!!! Being irresponsible with finances but still wanting to live ‘high life’ is something that irritates me beyond belief in fiction and real life. Without consequences it is a DNF subject in books. Thanks!

By sharing this DNF you’ve saved me money, time, and irritation. I hope you do more of these in future!!!

Keep up with the DNF posts.  As long as they are getting a DNF instead of a grade, I think it is a great idea.  I think its really important to talk about why we can’t finish a book, just as much as reviewing and assigning a grade.

Thank you, Sarah for this post, whether some want to call it a review or not. I have taken I can’t tell you how many books to the used bookstore that look almost new because I couldn’t make it even halfway through them. Think of all the money I’d have saved if I’d had someone tell me why they didn’t finish it before I bought it.

I love the idea of a DNF review!!!
We’ve all had those moments when a book has an up close and personal meeting with the wall for whatever reason.
Once the reasons a particular title doesn’t merit a grade by them are given (which they always are) I want to know about it, instead of being left wondering if it just didn’t cross their path.

Bitch On !!!

I’m with those who feel that a “DNF” review qualifies as a bona fide review. To me, it is a grade worse than an “F” grade. It’s the equivalent of watching a movie and saying, “It was so bad that I walked out. My time is precious and those were two hours of my life I was never going to get back, so I walked out of the theater.” If a friend tells me this about a movie, I’m grateful because that means that I’m not wasting $20 to go watch it.

It’s the same with a DNF review. If someone writes reviews that I find interesting and match my tastes (which happens a lot, but not all the time, with your site and “Dear Author”) then I want to know if there’s a book that you couldn’t get through and the reason why. Sure, you’re not telling folks what happened in the end. You’re reviewing the portion you read and sharing your thoughts on what made it impossible to finish. And that’s a valid review.

In this case, I’m so glad you decided to post this DNF review. This seems like it’s even worse than the Shopoholic series and I thought those books were terrible. As a person who works very hard every month to pay off existing loans and sacrifices to not gain more debt, I have zero sympathy for ANY heroine who is irresponsible about credit cards. So, I could never sit through this book, either.

I agree about DNF reviews, please post them.  There are so many good books out there that I don’t have time to read, and I’d rather know which books to avoid.  I appreciate that you outlined what bothered you about the book because it would drive me up the wall as well and I’d want the heroine to be run over by a big truck, or at least not have a happy ending. 

I recently read a short story where the heroine drove me nuts and I was hoping that the hero would get back at her for her shallow behaviour.  Alas, it did not happen and I felt like she never got her comeuppance and therefore, was not satisfied with the read and wished I had not wasted my time.

Thanks you for posting the DNF. I suppose that many reviewers might simply force themselves to finish a book they truly hated (with it being an uphill battle all the way. In a swamp. In truly horrendous weather - and with swarms or mosquitoes the size of crows hovering to suck every drop of blood out of her body), and with her mood getting worse with every page she turns. Or simply gives up and enters the conspiracy of silence about truly bad books.

When you get a reasonable way through a book, you will know wheter it is worth the bother to finish it. If one of the main characters need a complete personality transplant, that is a very bad sign - because no matter _what_ the ending is going to be, it does not make for a good story.
A possible outcome is seeing a main character whose guts you hate get a completely undeserved happy ending.
Another possibility is giving the character that complete personality transplant, transforming him/her into a likable character. At the price of setting all the reader’s illogic- and WTF-detectors screaming, and completely catapulting me out of the story.

There have of coruse also been a couple of instances I have encountered where the author has created a nauseatingly disgusting main character, where the author sees nothing wrong with those disgusting character traits, and instead of writing a story in which said character works toward becoming a decent human being, prefer to _celebrate_ that nauseatingly disgusting creepiness.

No, I did not finish those books. Nor have I as much as looked at any other books by those authors. (Who would want to?)

I’ve posted a few “did not finish” items on my blog and called them “non-reviews.” Sort of, “here’s why I didn’t finish it, and hopefully it’ll give you some idea of whether you’d enjoy it anyway or feel the same way.” I think you did a great job of explaining why you didn’t finish the book such that someone could decide for themselves whether it would apply to them, so kudos to you for jumping into that shark pool. :) I think that as long as you make it clear that you didn’t finish the book and thus can’t judge it as a whole you’re on solid ground.

I like reading people’s DNF reactions, though I don’t necessarily agree that they are always worse than an F review, especially if the reasons for not finishing are clearly articulated.  One person’s DO NOT WANT button is another person’s secret bullet proof kink. 

I recently DNFd a book for reasons I fully acknowledge are 100% my own personal neurotic hot-buttons.  I thought the hero was past redemption at page 15.  Fair? Probably not.  He hadn’t eaten any babies or drowned any kittens, but what he did do made me hate him all the same.  While I can’t say anything about the overall quality of the book, I can certainly provide a judgment on why I found the hero’s starting personality abhorrent.

As long as the reviewer states up front that they are basing their opinion on X number of pages or X chapters, there really is no room for misinterpretation.  Yeah, the book might have redeemed itself on the next page.  And if we, as readers, are that convinced it might have happened, we can buy it and find out for ourselves.

Just from an organizational standpoint, I think a DNF review belongs in reviews.  When I go searching through the archives of reviews for books to read, I don’t want to have to search through a separate list of books for DNFs.  A grade indicating that you didn’t finish it is more than fair, and I think MUCH more fair than an F (Incomplete).  If there was a way to sort the Good Shit vs Shit to Avoid such that it were easy to scroll through the books and blurbs, as opposed to reading through zillions of comments and taking notes, that would make me a happy surfer.

And because tastes vary so wildly, I think it’s fair to post a DNF with the reasons you didn’t finish it.  The very reason you didn’t like a book may appeal to me.

Me, I find my interest in a book fluctuates with my hormones.  Damn those hormones!  I’ll go through a phase where NOTHING grabs my interest, and then a few weeks later I devour and deeply enjoy what was so lacking initially.

And I have to say that I’ve finished maybe 2 of Deirdre Martin’s books, and enjoyed one.  It finally dawned on me that she wasn’t writing Romances, but Chick Lit.  And I don’t like Chick Lit.

Hee!  man49!  Not hardly…

Personally I like seeing other peoples take on books that were DNF for them and hearing the reasons why.  As long as the person is upfront that the book is DNF, and I get a sense of about how far into the book they got (someone who tagged the book DNF after 5 pages may have less credibility than someone else who waded a bit further into the polluted waters), all is good.

Most books that start out crappy don’t get better, and with so many great books out there I’d rather not waste my time or my money just to throw the book into the wall.

I like DNF notes too… if the reviewers reasoning for DNF matches why I DNF books, then it’s helpful to me.

Although, generally, I only DNF books if they’re boring.  While I often finish books in one sitting, there are others that go into my book bag for lunch/bus reading, and if I get to a certain point and haven’t gotten interested in finishing it, then I generally won’t finish it.

In this particular case, I’ve read all of Diedre Martin’s other books in this series (and I remember this heroine from another book), so I don’t know if this review will stop me from buying the book.  What I’m more likely to do is move it from the buy without question pile into the “sit on a comfy chair at B&N and skim the first couple of chapters first” pile.

I think as a female, it’s more difficult for me to stomach a female irritant than a male irritant.  Not that one is better (or worse) than the other, it’s just that I feel females have been portrayed too many times over the years as the helpless one, the bitchy one, the slutty one….the whatever.  So when a heroine acts a way in a book that I find offensive to me - I don’t want to finish it.  Maybe she does get redeemed - maybe in some sense we all need redemption and the writer may show us that.  But the trick is keeping my patience long enough for the reveal. 

It’s the same thing with that movie, “My Best Friend’s Wedding” that a lot of people loved.  This woman almost wrecked her friend’s career and pending marriage for her selfish desires.  Yeah.  Not cool.

So I appreciate the DNF reasoning - even if it’s not really a review, it’s a presentation of whys they didn’t finish and that’s enough for me.

I think as long you articulate why the book was a DNF that is useful information.  It isn‘t as if all we see is the title, author and the letters DNF.  As others have said, a DNF can and should be considered an honest assessment just like an actual letter grade. 

There are times a book may receive a C or even D grade, but the author/plot/characters appeal to me as a reader.  Just as there are times a book is given an A review and I am left wondering if the reviewer read a completely different version of the book than I did.

The beauty of a helpful review isn’t so much the specific grade but the “what” and “why” the characters/writing/plot worked and the “what” and “why” something didn’t work for that particular reviewer. 

That’s the type of information that is helpful to me when determining of I want to read the book.  And a DNF “grade” is just as helpful as an actual letter grade when trying to get to know a reviewer’s individual taste so we can learn how well the reviewer’s taste meshes with our own.  Please keep posting the DNF’s.

For a DNF book like this, I will scan through pages, to the end, and see what the author was trying to say/do, because they so badly missing the mark on their audience.  Usually I’m surprised the author thought it was enough, the redemption being really lame. 

Maybe there was a truly inspired and stunningly brilliant event that created a life changing transformation for this heroine, to make her worthy of a hero and readers interest.  However, in my opinion, the heroine better experience that by chapter 3 because it’s the journey that makes good reading, to me. 

I applaud your dedication to get all the way to chapter 5.  Thanks for this post.

Honestly, the only reason I usually don’t finish a book is because I lose it in the vast, uncharted crap-fest that is my shitty housekeeping, and by the time I find it again, I’ve moved on to something else.  If I genuinely don’t like a book enough to not finish it, I often assume the problem is me—I’m a flake, after all, and my tastes can be persnickety.  But seeing that you’ve got plenty of D+ & D- reviews up, I figure if you couldn’t even finish the book, that says something important too.  (But if my stuff is ever going to get a DNF, uhm, could you give me a heads-up, so I can change my name, leave town, and get my prozac prescription all filled out?)

I just handed three books in the Garnet Lacey series by Tate Hallaway to a friend because I couldn’t make it through the first one.  (And I really like her sf novels under another pen name—which is why I bought all three before trying the first one).

Yes, I’m going to post about my experience with the first novel.  I hope it stops some other sf fan of similar tastes from making my mistake.  I appreciate it when other readers do the same.  And I agree with organizationally keeping this information with reviews.  Organzational trees should be ruthlessly pruned.

Maybe I’m just slow because it’s the end of finals week, I haven’t slept enough and I’m about a quart low on caffeine, but did someone actually start a semantic argument about blog tags? Blog tags exist so that readers can find information. If someone wants to know if one of the Bitches read this book s/he is going to look in reviews.  tags have nothing to do with morals or obligations, they’re about being able to find things.

Also, it is clearly labeled DNF, right at the top. If a reader believes that not finishing a book = can’t have a legitimate opinion about it that s/he knows not to bother reading any further. It would be totally wrong for Sarah to not finish the book and then write about it without acknowledging that. I’ve never seen anything on this blog that would indicate that Sarah would be dishonest like that (quite the opposite actually), so I think the obligation thing is pretty much a non-issue.

As for the more important issue about posting or not posting DNFs, I’m pro DNF if the book is dropped because it’s bad. There are times when I start a book and find that it’s just not my thing.  There’s nothing wrong with it, but I’m not enjoying it enough to invest the time. In that case I don’t write a DNF because that seems unfair. On the other hand, if I drop the book because I think it’s bad I’ll write about why. I think that can be useful for other people considering the book. I think this DNF review is definitely in that category.   

As for the idea that the book might have an a fantastic ending, I have a couple of thoughts. First, I don’t chose books looking for (just) a fantastic ending. I want a good book. If the book isn’t working by the half way point then I think it’s basically a failure, even if the ending does turn out to be great. 

Second, IME bad books almost never get good at the end. I’ve been reading for a lot of years and I can count on one hand the number of books where at the half way point I thought it was terrible and at the end I thought getting through it was totally worth it. Mostly I end up thinking, “Good ending, but not good enough to justify the time I spent wading through the crappy start of the the story.” 

My reading time & budget are very limited, so I’m in favor of anything, including DNF reviews, that can help me avoid wasting them.

Perhaps the question here is: Are the reviews in service of the author/publisher or the reader? For readers, the DNF seem to be as valuable as the other grades. For the author/publisher, a DNF review is seen as unfairly stacking the deck against the book.

I don’t think DNF reviews are invalid, or “worse” than F reviews.  But sometimes they carry less weight, IMO, because less of the book has been evaluated.

Maybe the heroine redeemed herself on the next page, but if the reader never makes it to that point, it doesn’t matter.  DNFs happen all the time.  Many of us are interested in finding out what triggers a reader to put a book down.

I very rarely ever stop reading a book part way through. If I keep reading it then whatever issue is grating on me might be resolved. Sometimes though ... *sigh* ... it becomes impossible to redeem a character or situation sufficiently that I’ll buy it. Often times, if one element of the book is irritating me so much that I want to give up on it, but either the characters or the plot are interesting, I’ll skim over the annoying bits.

I remember reading a book with a character who was a lot like that Natalie character sounds. She annoyed the piss out of me, but I kept reading it in hopes that something would happen to mature her, ya’ know? Give her some depth. The hero had good potential, former sports star playboy running his own business and raising his little sister while trying to avoid paparazzi, but because it was told from the heroines pov, and she was all about herself, all we really got to know about the hero was that he was hot, well equipped, and great in the sack. Unfortunately the light bulb never came on. There was no big conflict followed introspection and growth. Nothing to shake up her sefl-centered world view. There was a minor conflict caused by a misunderstanding and before the heroine had to do any work to resolve it she overhears the hero telling someone he loves her and it’s all good. In the end I disliked her very much and didn’t feel she did anything to earn or deserve her HEA. I wish someone could have saved me from that one. Hours of my life that I can not get back.

I enjoyed reading the reasons why you didn’t finish this book.  Incomlete character building is a real pet peeve of mine.  I hate when I can’t understand why the hero would fall in love with the stupid/inconsiderate/whatever heroine and vice-versa.  Real wall banger stuff, so I appreciate seeing someone I trust with their book knowledge telling me that before I purchase.

But I agree with Jennifer Echols - a DNF is not a review.  Not in the sense that you would assume the reveiwer read the entire work and is writing a review of the complete book.

I think as long as you are upfront about the fact that you DNF and are just stating the reasons why rather than giving the book a final grade, posting a DNF is/can be a useful tool.

Sarah,

First, your DNF commentary was wonderful. And yes, like a sucker I may still end up purchasing this, just for the scrumpdillyicious hero. I read the entire Shopaholic series, and while I wanted to smack Becky Bloomwood with a two-by-four, I definitely saw shades of myself in her…and am totally embarrassed by that.

Second, I do believe that a DNF holds weight if one can clearly explain the reasoning behind the DNF. You have done that here and I understand your aggrivation with the Entitlement Clause of Life and your need to stop reading before you ended up taking your anger out on small animals or porcelain objects.

Third, regarding your comment on agreeing to read books and the resultant quandry, I’m with you. I’d prefer to hear an unclouded opinion as to why you felt you had to stop than a totally disgusted review because you wanted to put the book through the shredder after forcing yourself to finish. If the author is serious about having his or her book reviewed, then s/he would want that as well.

Although I understand why Jennifer Echols considers ‘did not finish’ a non-review, I’m afraid have to disagree with her.  This is because the precise definition of ‘review’ is pretty wide, and varies a lot according to the type of book.  Reviews of fiction are necessarily more firmly based on the reviewer’s personal taste than reviews of non-fiction, where factual matters are crucial, and emotional response may be completely irrelevant. 

If an experienced reader of a genre dislikes a book enough to abandon it unfinished, I think that fact is well worth communicating, and it is interesting for other readers to learn why. And starting a book but not enjoying it enough to read right through to the end seems to me to be fundamentally quite different from ‘reviewing’ a book by reading the blurb and other reviews rather than the text itself.  Of course it is dishonest to ‘review’ a book that one has not read at all, but seems to me perfectly fair to assess a work on the basis of reading a substantial proportion of it.  The writing style and characterisation are at least as important as the exact plot in a novel, and those can be rated without getting right through to the bitter end.

Whether called ‘reviews’ or not, I would vote for including these ‘DNF’ assessments.  They are informative and useful.

I definitely want to see the DNFs and I consider them reviews.

Quite honestly, the ‘you didn’t finish, you don’t get to review’ argument smacks of author entitlement to me and it turns me off majorly. 

I’m firmly in the camp of people who think reviews are supposed to be geared towards readers and that informing readers why or why not a book worked for the reviewer is their sole responsibility; whether the author or publisher is going to be happy about the review is completely irrelevant to me as a reader and I do not frequent sites where it’s clear that the reviewers are constrained to only say positive things.

During a panel on reviews at Celebrate Romance, Sybil read excerpts to us of a ‘work’ that was just about to be published.  There was not a single person in that room who would have considered it necessary to read the book to state categorically that this was an incredibly bad book and didn’t deserve to be published, readers and authors alike.

I’m also one of those defective souls who have a hard time abandoning books and I’m pissed off at myself every time, since I waste hours I could have spent on reading something I would have enjoyed.

I’m very grateful for reviewers who can articulate why or why not things worked for them and if a book is a DNF not because of ‘life got to busy’ or ‘started something else’, but because of something that’s inherently wrong with the book, I absolutely want to see a DNF review.

Reviews are for readers, not for authors!

DNF and F reviews are kind of like car accidents…I usually end up checking them out simply because of what they are, and I love this site b/c it’s not full of bullshit. I used to read the RT reviews, but got so very tired of the lack of standards. Everything was 4 or 4 1/2 stars. ARGH. SBTB and Dear Author at least lay out the flaws and are upfront about it.

I consider a DNF a review. Its an opinion based thought, just like the A, B, C, D, or F reviews-they just couldn’t be finished because of a problem the reader had with the book. Its valid. You didn’t say, “God this book just sucked b/c the heroine was a bitch”, you laid out why exactly this book bothered you (which consequently is a big pet peeve of mine as well).

Thanks Sarah!

@ Elizabeth Wadsworth:

Looks like the same pair on the Bella Andre books.

I’m a reviewer, not an author, and I tend to agree with Jennifer. Especially in an instance like this when the DNF is based on the reviewer’s personal hot buttons rather than the actual quality of the book. (Hot buttons I happen to share, but that’s besides the point.)

On the other hand, having DNF instead of a grade seems reasonably adequate to make the distinction.  I would be frothing at the mouth about assigning a grade to an unfinished book.

P.S. But perhaps sticking them in “the Dump” is a little too weighted? Again, this was not a criticism of the book for being poorly written, just for being personally aggravating.  It seems very harsh to consign it to the figurative trash when you don’t know if in fact the heroine/book redeemed itself.

I think reviewers have the right not to finish books, especially unpaid reviewers. But this site is not just for kicks anymore, it has a reputation and an associated book out now. That brings with it a certain amount of reviewer responsibility.

Keira Soleore said:

Perhaps the question here is: Are the reviews in service of the author/publisher or the reader? For readers, the DNF seem to be as valuable as the other grades. For the author/publisher, a DNF review is seen as unfairly stacking the deck against the book.

I don’t think I agree with that last line. A DNF review is still a form of promotion, which is what the author/publisher mostly needs.  A typical review has two purposes (or three if the reviewer wants to encourage a discussion among review readers).

For readers, a review is useful as it will help them to make an informed decision whether to buy it or not.

For the author/publisher, the review is also designed to publicise the book (regardless of its allocated grade or in this case, lack of grade).

IMO, a DNF review does serve both purposes. That is why I feel Sarah and other reviewers who issue DNF reviews aren’t in the wrong.

(I should clarify my point; if a DNF review consists an explanation why the reviewer couldn’t finish it, then it’s a review.)

I am among those that like to see DNF reports.  My personal definition of the term “review” is broad enough to include DNF reports, though I do understand how someone else’s interaction with that word could lead to some different expectations upon seeing it.

I also like to imagine that an author might appreciate seeing a DNF review, though of course by definition they can’t be as thorough as a review of a full story.  In this instance, perhaps the heroine does some soul searching and starts on a path to change, but within how this story is structured that process doesn’t begin until Chapter 8.  An author might appreciate knowing that an audience’s patience isn’t going to last until Chapter 8, so structurally it would make sense to hint that change is to come earlier in the story.  While that knowledge won’t change this story, it could be valuable to know for the future.  (This is leaving aside the Art vs Commerce argument to a degree since I would suppose anyone wishing to get published has to write for the audience to *some* extent in order to even have an audience.)

Finally, I think DNF reviews also open an opportunity for discussion about the story just like they do for full-story reviews.  It could lead to someone saying “Read just 10 more pages, Sarah, and you may feel different about the heroine”, it could lead to a good discussion on characteristics in fiction that an author has to handle with particular skill to keep the reader going or maybe just offer some insight into how to get a reader to like a character that is dislikable, or it could lead to a reader discovering hidden prejudices within herself that opens the eyes to things read in the past that may deserve another chance.

Ah, semantics!

I agree that DNF is in a slightly different category from other reviews, but as long as it is made very clear, I don’t see the problem with calling it a review.  This is a reader-centered site, and readers (as is pretty clear from the discussion up-thread) find DNFs with explanations very useful.  If our buttons are different, we may well decide to buy a book that a reviewer didn’t finish—I’ve done that, just as I’ve passed along books I couldn’t finish to people I thought would like them.  Friends, even.  I wouldn’t do that with a D or F book, but when a book is just not to my taste or hits one of my hot buttons, I know that there are friends and sisters who would probably enjoy it.

This book sounds like it was written well and had a good hero.  I’ve never read anything by this author, but now she’s on my radar as a writer I should check out—although not this particular book, because financial irresponsibility is a HUGE turn-off for me, having been married to it and lived through the consequences for too many years.  Whether you call it a “review” or a “reaction,” a “response,” a “whatever the hell you want,” it served the purpose that reviews serve for me as a reader.  It told me SB Sarah’s response to the book, and her reasons for it, and gave me the information that I need to decide whether I would feel the same way.  I am sure that if I were NOT put off by the same thing that kept her from finishing, there are plenty of other places I can look on line for the opinions of reviewers who finished the book.  Oh, and the review was entertaining to read, too.

I disagree that a DNF review, clearly labeled and explained as SB Sarah has so painstakingly done, abrogates some code of “reviewer responsibility.”  Every reviewer has her or his own standards, pet peeves and squicks, guilty pleasures, and straight (or not so) preferences.  The responsible thing is to own those, and to acknowledge the role they play in one’s response to the work under consideration.  To read a book that you are pretty sure in advance you won’t like, and then to give it a lousy grade, seems irresponsible to me.  To read a book by an author whose previous books you have liked, and then to write a clear and intelligent explanation of why you decided not to finish this particular book, seems completely different.

I think there are a number of strange expectations going on here (at least it seems so to me). It’s the duty of the author to keep the story interesting enough, by whatever means (sometimes that means so good you keep reading, sometimes so bad you keep reading), to keep the reader reading. The reader doesn’t owe the author anything. If a book is complicated and demanding, the reader chooses to put the energy into the book, not because they owe the author a full hearing, but because they think whatever they’re getting in return is worth it. In my opinion, a reviewer is simply a reader whose opinions of what they’re reading people trust/want to hear. An editor has to read the whole book. If the book fails to keep the reviewer engaged, he/she doesn’t have to finish it, as long as they’re open about why and when they stopped reading. Yes, it’s a problem to review a whole if you haven’t read it; no, it’s not a problem to review negatively the parts you did read, as long as you’re up front about not having read all of it.

That said, thanks for posting a DNF, and I hope you’ll post them again, as necessary.

I think reviewers have the right not to finish books, especially unpaid reviewers. But this site is not just for kicks anymore, it has a reputation and an associated book out now. That brings with it a certain amount of reviewer responsibility.

I don’t agree.  I think that BECAUSE this site has become so big, and its responsibilities correspondingly larger, the SB’s have to prioritize where they’re going to spend their time.

I, for one, would rather see an increase in DNF reviews than a decrease in SB participation in the site and at various romance-related events because they’re busy finishing books they’re hating.

Yes, it’s a review site, but it’s also a site where we talk about items of interest to most members of the bitchery, like e-book readers, and pricing, and ass-headedness on the part of publishers and book-sellers and lawmakers.

I’m okay with an SB hating a book and not finishing it because it hit some personal triggers.  That kind of thing tends to spawn some very interesting conversations about what those triggers are, and how common they are, and how they came to be.

I don’t mind the DNF reviews at all. I think they’re just as helpful as a ‘full’ review.

I’m just a guest here on SBTB and as such I don’t feel comfortable telling you there is a certain way to do something. If you want to keep DNF’s- go for it. If you want to force yourself to read every book sent to you- go for that too. It’s your call and I’m just here for the ride.

“I don’t agree.  I think that BECAUSE this site has become so big, and its responsibilities correspondingly larger, the SB’s have to prioritize where they’re going to spend their time.”

Note I did not say that the responsibility was to finish/review every book. But I do see the responsibility in how the book comment/review is presented, which I think was Jennifer’s original point.

Please keep the DNF reviews.  I try to finish anything I start, but there are some book far too craptastic to finish.  But I do like to know the reason.  Recently I gave up on Bad Girl by Maya Banks because I found her description of a particular profession offensive.  And that’s not too legit a reason, and I wouldn’t list that.  But I also put down some crappy romance a few weeks ago because the writing and characters were just that bad.  Someone set a kitchen fire, then proceeded to talk about it instead of putting out the damn fire.  Keep ‘em coming.

I’d like to add another vote for DNF reviews.  I hate getting part way through a book and deciding to ditch it.  I usually read the last chapter first, though I am not usually a last chapter reader. 

Yes, it is an money issue:  captcha economic85

@ Sarah

So if I’m up front and clear from the outset that I didn’t finish the book, and I did articulate why I didn’t, what’s the problem here specifically?

I didn’t say there was a problem.  I said agreed with Jennifer that DNF is not a review.  To me DNF is the reader’s opinion of a portion of the book.  Which yes, a review is just your opinion of a book - but it is your opinion of the entire book, not just part of it, and therein lies the difference for me between a DNF and a review.

I also said

I think as long as you are upfront about the fact that you DNF and are just stating the reasons why rather than giving the book a final grade, posting a DNF is/can be a useful tool.

You clearly stated that you didn’t finish this book because you have a personal hot button about financial irresponsibility and you didn’t give it a grade, so I have no issue with what you wrote.  I was just agreeing with Jennifer’s statement that in my opinion a DNF is not really a review and gave my reasons for that opinion.

As an author and a reader, I think this DNF was handled just right. Not only does Sarah fully state why she didn’t finish the book (which I give mad kudos for because most sites don’t bother to anything more than whip out their DNF stamp), but this comment pretty much says it all:

I disliked her so much by the end of chapter 5 I didn’t think she could redeem herself.

Sarah didn’t say the heroine doesn’t redeem herself, she simply stated that based on what she’d read up until that point, she didn’t think the heroine could.

Personally, I don’t process that comment as a knock on the author. I process that comment as the author hitting one of Sarah’s No-No buttons. It happens. Besides, the minute I see a DNF “grade” I know I’ll only be getting part of the story, which means if I want to know whether the author managed to pull a miracle out of their ass…I’ll have to go get the book. Because, hey…miracles happen too. :)

As a rules nerd, I agree with Jennifer and web, and think that DNF entries are great, but shouldn’t be filed under “reviews.”

As someone who picks up books, reads them, and then wonders what Sarah or Candy thought of the title, “reviews” is where I’d look for any book, including the ones I throw against a wall.

Catagorically, I don’t like it; but organizationally, I do.  So, I guess where you file these is a choice between being right and being helpful.  Personally, I’d go with right, see earlier mention of being a rules nerd. 

And @Lori’s point on the absurdity of semantic arguments on blog tags: welcome to the internets, where no point is too small to be argued over.  As long as it doesn’t keep us up at night, we’re doing ok.  http://xkcd.com/386/

As a reader and a purchaser of romance novels who reads blogs in order to decide what to read/buy, I am FOR DNF reviews.

I’m sure that many authors may not like them.  But, as the purchaser, that’s not my problem—I prefer to be informed.  That’s why I read these blogs.

Life’s too short to waste reading unpleasant books!

As someone who writes, I really would want to see a detailed DNF review as much as a full review—because if my story isn’t holding the reader until the pay-off, I want to know why. 

I have to know why to keep from repeating the same mistake next story. What about you?

As an avid lurker and lover of the “reviews” in general, (I use them to keep myself busy and happy at work) I’d could care less if DNF’s are by definition, “reviews.” I just want them tagged as such, then I can access them the same way I access the other reviews, by author and grade.

Hate me if you must. I just want my Smart Bitch “Reviews!”

It’s the writer who is obliged to engage the reader, not the other way around.

But you don’t know for sure until you’ve finished. Readers who aren’t posting a review don’t have an obligation to finish. Readers who are posting a review, and whose entire sites are built around reviews, do.

I don’t think we’re ‘obliged’ as reader or reviewers, to finish a book that fails to engage or starts pissing us off. Especially when there are so many other books on the shelves or in the TBR pile that could be so much more rewarding.

As for not knowing if the book iwill get better, consider these examples:

You’re motoring along at 80kph, and someone is only doing 40. You can tell in a blink that they are a bad driver. And they are wasting our time.

If you go to a restaurant and the soup is godawful, it’s logical to assume the rest of the meal is going to be equally hideous. Do you owe it to the chef to finish the food?

Why should books be different?

(Please remind me of this when my book comes out, kthxbai)

I’m all for the DNF reviews and hope to find them under “Reviews,” along with all the other valid and detailed reviews this website posts. The DNF is just as important, IMO, as the rest of the alphabet grades.

If you go to a restaurant and the soup is godawful, it’s logical to assume the rest of the meal is going to be equally hideous. Do you owe it to the chef to finish the food?

No, not if you’re a regular person out for dinner for the evening.

But if a restaurant critic for a magazine makes a judgment of the the entire menu based on one dish, he’s doing the restaurant and ultimately his reviewers a disservice. Oh, in his review he can say it loud and clear how much disliked the first dish. But he’s required to sample a few other dishes and offer his opinions on those, too.

I meant “his readers” not “his reviewers” up there.

Keira,
my point is if you are making something for another person’s consumption - whether a book, or a meal, or clothing, or a house, the onus on on the maker to make it good, not the receiver to have to stomach it.

I think Sarah’s review, where she honestly admitted she couldn’t go on, was a valid opinion, and a review is merely one person’s opinion.

“But if a restaurant critic for a magazine makes a judgment of the the entire menu based on one dish, he’s doing the restaurant and ultimately his reviewers a disservice. Oh, in his review he can say it loud and clear how much disliked the first dish. But he’s required to sample a few other dishes and offer his opinions on those, too.”

The analogy’s not quite the same—a restaurant critic for a magazine is being paid to review the restaurant, and readers are paying to read the review. If I was paying to read the reviews here, maybe I’d feel differently about DNF (though I don’t think I would—if a reviewer went some where and didn’t think he/she could finish out a meal, for whatever reason, I’d want to hear that too).

Also, as readers of the review, we have no idea how much of each dish the reviewer ate. As much as you can say book=meal, you could also argue book=dish (and meal=all the author’s books), and a few bites will tell you how the dish as a whole is. You might try a few different dishes to see if everything’s terrible, but you don’t have to eat all of each one to form an opinion.

I think its a great idea to include DNFs in reviews.  I am somehow oddly compelled to read every book that I start.  I’m not sure why but I have to at least skim it.  Even books that I hate - I always finish them (even if they are skimmed).  Maybe I’m too optimistic and hope that the book will redeem itself in the end. Anyway, everyone has different standards and a DNF by Sarah and Candy still contains a lot of info for me.

I’m with WorthaFortune on this one.  I don’t care how DNFs are categorized - in essence, the DNFs do what a review does for me:  1) What’s the book about? 2) What did you like or not like?  3) Were the DNFs well-written and entertaining just like reviews are? 

Check, check, and check.  I think Sarah did a good job on all three points.  If you didn’t finish it, and gave reasons, then that’s all I ask.  Please keep ‘em coming! 

Also, gotta admit, I’m loling a bit at the restaurant analogies, but I think Polly hit it on the head with her explanations.

While I’d overall prefer to read reviews on stuff you did finish, I can definitely see the appeal of an occasional DNF review.  Though I’m glad you are doing these DNFs for books you had already agreed to review, so you are posting an explanation and not a tirade from your bad book pile. 

On one hand, it would be frustrating to be the author of such a book.  Perhaps the heroine redeems herself and the author is shouting “I know she starts off as annoying, but I fix her I promise!”  But on the other hand, if you get far enough into a book and you don’t even care if a character redeems him/herself or not as long as you don’t have to spend any more time reading, then the author probably did not do a good a job as she should have foreshadowing a change of heart. 

My cutoff is page 100.  If I don’t care after a hundred pages, I see no reason why I should finish the book. I know this might boggle the mind of people that read series books of 600 pages each (a friend didn’t respond well to my “early” quit of the Wheel of Time books) but in my experience 100 pages is plenty of time to make me care, especially given that with the best written books I’m caring by the end of chapter 1.

My policy on my site is along the lines of what Jennifer Echols said: I don’t consider it a review if I didn’t/couldn’t finish it, and I don’t mention the book at all. (With one exception that I bitched about without mentioning the name of it. Not fair, but I didn’t want the author Googling herself and bitching me out at the time.) I am surprised that everybody else disagrees with her in wanting a DNF “review” and now I wonder if I should reconsider. But…

(a) A lot of the books I couldn’t finish weren’t so much bad so much as I was bored. For example, I tried to read some Amelia Peabody books, but everyone being perfect and arch and twee irritated me and the plots weren’t interesting enough to keep me in there wanting to deal with the twee. But they aren’t badly written, just not my taste. I hear many people like them and I wanted to like them too, but I don’t. I’ve been sent Heavy Russian Thrillers and Great Depressing Literachoor from a publisher and frankly, after reading previous Heavy Russian Thrillers (that weren’t badly written, but I don’t enjoy the genre in general) and Great Depressing Literachoor (ditto) they’d sent me, I didn’t even want to pick up those books, much less finish them.  I don’t think it’s fair to say “I couldn’t read it” and give the books the public diss when it’s not badly done and just isn’t something I’d pick up voluntarily/the subject bores me. And if I wasn’t specifically asked about the welfare of the book, then I’d rather not mention it.

(b) The few books that were real wall-bangers that I stuck with reading, well, I dearly wished I hadn’t stuck with them. The lone book that improved from the wall-banger status I was at in the first few pages actually went back to being WORSE and a total wall-banger at the end as well. Another book I read recently was godawful, but I just finished reading it so I could make fun of it in the review. I think after 150-200 pages, if I still hate the book and it’s not showing any improvement, odds are it isn’t going to have a miracle that makes it worth recommending in the last 100+ pages. And I’m not sure if it’s any different than just giving the book a flat out F, except that I’m feeling guilty for not finishing and “giving it a chance.”

@Jennifer:  the important thing is that you have a policy, and you stick to it.  If you don’t mention books you don’t finish, that’s fine for you.  Obviously your readers are okay with that.  But as anyone can see from this thread, there are a lot of readers of this site who value the DNF opinion/response/reaction/review as handled by a Smart Bitch—upfront about it, and careful explanation of why she DNF, including honest assessment of what personal hot buttons it pushed.  Give us information, and we will judge from that whether this is a book for us or not.  Just like any other review.  The fact that you are basing your opinion only on the part you read?  That’s part of the information we will take into consideration in forming our decision.

Is there some fear that readers, like sheep, might mindlessly follow a DNF review and not buy a book, and that would somehow be unfair?  To someone?  I don’t like to think that the readers of this blog are at all sheeplike; I certainly see few signs of that.

But then, I would accept a restaurant or theatre or film critic’s DNF as legitimate as well—if you can’t take any more of it, you should stop.  Tell me that’s what you did, and tell me why, and I can take it from there as far as deciding how it affects my desire to try the same experience.  As long as you aren’t seeking out the kind of thing you normally despise, just for an excuse to take more shots at it, of course.

Maybe there should be two categories: A regular DNF for books that you didn’t finish because the writing and plot sucked and no one in the world should spend good money for the book, and DNF-P for Did Not Finish-Personal due to plot twists or attributes that specifically bother you but might not bother other people.

As for this particular book, I’ve read all of Deirdre Martin’s other books and liked them quite a bit. This one is a story of a minor character in Just a Taste, which provides background about why Natalie has such problems with debt. (Don’t know how much detail With a Twist provides because it hasn’t made it to Australia yet.)

(a) A lot of the books I couldn’t finish weren’t so much bad so much as I
was bored. For example, I tried to read some Amelia Peabody books, but
everyone being perfect and arch and twee irritated me and the plots weren’t
interesting enough to keep me in there wanting to deal with the twee. But
they aren’t badly written, just not my taste. I hear many people like them
and I wanted to like them too, but I don’t.

But that’s exactly the info I’d need, as a reader, if you didn’t finish a book! If I enjoy that kind of book I’d know to disregard the fact that you weren’t interested in finishing it. But if I don’t enjoy those sorts of characters then I’d want to know that’s what they’re like so I don’t waste my time on the book. That’s exactly why DNF reviews are still useful as long as you detail why you stopped.

Let me say “With a twist” as a title?
Was I the only one that instantly had M. Night Shyamalan before his minds eye upon reading that title? :)

I think a DNF review is (with a given reason why one didn’t or couldn’t finish said book) a fair deal.
There are stories out there that you just can’t bring yourself to read to the end and it’s not always because the writting, ahm, is subpar. Some characters just start to grate on us and sometimes enough to spoil the otherwise enjoyable writing.
It happens.

First—I failed to mention in my earlier comment (I’m Number One! I’m Number One!)(erm. sorry.) that I am all in favor of a DNF post/review. I have five children and cannot afford to buy every book that catches my eye, and our library system does not buy mass-market paperbacks to put on the shelves. They do circulate donated mmpbs, but the selection is inconsistent at best. So, please. DNF your little heart out!

Second:

I disagree that a DNF review, clearly labeled and explained as SB Sarah has so painstakingly done, abrogates some code of “reviewer responsibility.”

“Abrogates.” SonomaLass, I think I’m in love with you. See, this is why I love this site! Smart women who are not afraid to use their full vocabularies.

My husband and I are individually and collectively teased about using “ten-dollar words”, and we joke back that we are trying to revive a dead language—English.

Jennifer, I’m with Heather (errant dreams) in saying that I find value in a person who reviews books detailing why a book or a series doesn’t work for her.  Why?  For the selfish reason that it helps me understand that reviewer’s tastes and how they match up with mine.  There are many times when I’ll see a book talked up or down and part of my decision-making process on whether to give a book a chance is the old “consider the source” concept. 

I’ve used the analogy before of a person who reviews movies for my local paper.  There are certain kinds of movies my family likes that this person loathes and we’ve generally found the more scathing her remarks, the more we know our odds are good for enjoying it.  When she has the lukewarm or positive review?  Then we know to beware.  If we didn’t know her tastes, however, we might take her positive or negative recommendations at face value and skip things that are right up our alley.

GrowlyCub:

I’m firmly in the camp of people who think reviews are supposed to be geared towards readers and that informing readers why or why not a book worked for the reviewer is their sole responsibility; whether the author or publisher is going to be happy about the review is completely irrelevant to me as a reader and I do not frequent sites where it’s clear that the reviewers are constrained to only say positive things.

Yes. What GrowlyCub said. Repeat as needed.
Catering to the publisher, or giving the author A for effort, on a review site is, in my opinion, intellectually dishonest.

Web:

I think reviewers have the right not to finish books, especially unpaid reviewers. But this site is not just for kicks anymore, it has a reputation and an associated book out now. That brings with it a certain amount of reviewer responsibility.

This comment bothers me. Should Sarah and Candy modify their output because of…what exactly? I don’t understand what you’re getting at here.

As a reader I don’t owe the author or their publisher anything beyond paying for my copy. And since I’m paying, I like to be able to make an informed choice. A succinct and upfront DNF review such as this is helpful to me as a buyer. I value that.

I’m on the Team DNF here. Don’t we do this in our own lives—mention that we couldn’t finish X because of Y?  I just put down a Kasey Michaels after the first third, having picked it up on the strength of positive recs. Since I could have spent the money on something better, I wish that the positive reviews had been balanced out by something like a DNF. 

The strangest thing for me, after reading the whole thread here, is that this kerfluffle has actually served to put me off Ms. Echols’ work.

I don’t read novels for the endings. It is true that if I don’t finish the book there may be an exciting twist that I don’t find out about… but it is the author’s job to make me want to keep reading.

BTW: Many fellow academics have admitted to me that they write formal reviews without reading the whole book—often looking only at the intro and conclusion, and maybe the first chapter.

BTW: Many fellow academics have admitted to me that they write formal reviews without reading the whole book—often looking only at the intro and conclusion, and maybe the first chapter.

That’s not right either. The reviewer needs to be upfront on the fact that they haven’t read the book and why. Else the review is useless as well as dishonest.

It seems to me that many writers conflate critique and review. If a review is a tool to help readers make good book-buying decisions (and that’s how I use reviews), a DNF is just as valid as any other grade.

Also, a definition of what constitutes a review or not should probably have a IMO tucked in somewhere.

@krsylu:  *blushes*  Aw shucks!  Seriously, though, you’re absolutely right about smart women with big (even heaving!) vocabularies.  A lot of them hang around here.

I don’t have a problem with DNF ratings, as long as the reviewer gives a clear reason why they put it down.  Maybe their reason for putting it down would cause me to put it down as well—or maybe I’ll think “hey! I might actually enjoy this; I’ll take a look at it and see!”  But if they don’t post about the book at all, how will I know it exists?

Count me in on the side that wants DNF reviews. This is because at times I wonder, seriously, if I’m weird. I don’t invariably like things most other people do, but I’m willing to sample an author new to me on recommendation. I once started one of Nora’s books, and wallbanged it 30 pages in. I’m 50 pages into Julie Garwood’s “Shadow Music” and considering DNFing this book as well. Reason for both? They were actively boring me.

I depend on this and other sites for suggestions on authors whose work I want to check out. But I don’t owe the author a finish, and neither does a would-be reviewer. I would rather see a DNF rating than an F, truly, because of the trust factor.

And has anyone with a potential DNFer on her hands ever skipped forward and read the ending? Hmm? Just to see if the author pulled her story out of the DNF soup?

(I confess here and now: I have.)

Hm, Deb, I can’t recall if I did or not. I doubt I cared enough to check.

When you checked the end, did any of them save the book for you?

I would rather have a DNF review than no review at all, as long as the DNF describes the precise reasons why the reviewer could not go through the book, as Sarah did in this case.  However, I agree with JaniceG that its different when a book gets a DNF because of poor writing/weak characterisation vs. character traits/behaviour that are personally annoying to the reviewer. 

I have watched movies and read books with characters I disliked in the beginning, who are able to redeem themselves throughout the course of the story.  A good example is Margarita Levieva as Annie in the film “The Invisible.”  I actually detested her in the beginning, however, towards the end, I was crying for her.

A good book doesn’t always feature sympathetic characters;  watching them grow into better people is, for me, one of the best aspects of the reading experience.  Of course, I have to admit that often this transformation doesn’t happen, and then I am annoyed I wasted my time and money.

Strangely enough, Sarah’s review sort of makes me want to read “With a Twist”.  Nathalie sounds like she would be extremely irritating to me, but I have a perverse need to find out whether she redeems herself eventually, and has been unfairly maligned by Sarah ;)

Rather than skip to the end (I don’t like knowing the ending, even when I can predict it) I often skip to the next chapter to see if things are getting more interesting.

I read the end all the time.  Not as often as I used to (when I did it to decide whether to buy the book), but when I get to that point in the story where I’m losing interest, and it’s getting kind of late on a work night, and I’m thinking, is it worth going on?  Or should I get some shut-eye?

I’m also the kind of person who re-reads favourite stories over and over again.  So knowing the end usually doesn’t ruin the story for me.

“I hated this book” is a valid comment whether it comes after 25 pages or 250 pages. Reviews that convey an honest reaction to a story help readers determine what will please them. If you love stories about financially irresponsible heroines, this DNF review might attract you to this book.

We all have read thousands of books. Can we honestly say that the ones that started off bad actually got any better? Or did we just get stubborn and try to silence our distaste? I think the latter.

If a book starts off terrible and then has some surprise twist and gets much better, then the author and the editor have done something wrong. They should have fixed the opening section so the story delivered a consistent message.

I much prefer the idea of having a book fall into the category of “DNF” than the category of “Dump”.  I’m not usually one for playing nice-y nice-y but I like that better.  As a writer I’d rather see my novel be a DNF than thrown in the “dump”.

Actually though, I’m actually a bit mystified about how you can throw a book down with out finishing it. I personally never quit reading a book no matter how distasteful or horrible. Once I’ve committed there is no annulment. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t finish a book. Like one woman said above, I’m a book masochist. I’ll keep going no matter how much it hurts. I even read Cassie Edwards Falcon Moon all the way through (though to be fair I started skimming due to boredom toward the end). The hardest book I ever had to finish was not a romance, but Denis Cooper’s “Try” which was the grossest, most nausea inducing book I’ve ever read. Filled with irredeemable characters who are all MONSTROUS, I was ill by the end, but I finished it.

If you can’t bring yourself to finish the book, I’d rather have a DNF review rather than nothing at all. So bring it on!

*Sidenote, every time I tried to type DNF I would accidentally type DNR and that makes me think of Do Not Resuscitate.  Which is still weirdly appropriate don’t you think?

I actually read this book and finished it last night, so I clicked on the review to see your opinion. 

I think the main problem with Deirdre Martin’s books is that they flow into one another.  Nat’s story is, in many ways, a continuation her sister’s novel Just a Taste.  There are definite consequences of Nat’s addiction to shopping in that novel, and the struggle is dealt with later on in With a Twist. 

And because I had read the companion book I knew why Nat was rather snooty.  Its because her father was a high ranking official in the French government.  The gentleman that allows Natalie to use his apartment was established in the previous book and gives the sister away at her wedding. 

Plus, Natalie does grow later on in the book.  She learns not to make “helpful” suggestions to Quinn’s mother and learns that she is not cut for managing a Manhattan resturant. 

I think if you had given it a chance you would have liked it more

@Tina, I think that your comment illustrates the problem I have with Martin’s books.

A Romance, even one that’s part of a series, needs to be a stand-alone story.

If I have to have read a previous book in order to appreciate the one in my hand, it’s a no-go.  If it takes more than half a book for the heroine to become even slightly sympathetic, it’s a no-go.

I think that’s why I feel that what Martin writes is not Romance, but chick-lit.  While a good romance has some personal development, the primary focus is on the romantic relationship.  I’ve found that in Martin’s books, the romantic relationship is, if anything, a tool to develop the heroine’s character, which takes them right out of the genre for me.

I still think the DNF is a fair grade.

@Suze

I completely understand your point and found that Martin’s books are becoming increasingly serialized rather than acting as stand alone romance novels. 

I do have to say, however that several of her books have focused equally on the emotional growth of the hero and Just a Twist did as well. 

My main complaint is that she has her characters face some situations that are somewhat unrealistic and so its hard to identify with the characters.  A heroine that shops so much its become an addiction.  A native New Yorker that deals with Antisemitism and is borderline agorophobic.  A female soap opera star.  There’s just something jarring about these characters. 

Personally I would rate Just a Twist as a B- and would recommend you read Body Check or Fair Play rather than this book

Tina,
I totally agree your take on DM’s other recent offerings…

Chasing Stanley: “A native New Yorker that deals with Antisemitism and is borderline agorophobic.” Not to mention quite rude. I had a very hard time believing that the hero had the hots for a such an unpleasant person.

Power Play: “A female soap opera star.” Includes numerous allusions to her anorexia, but not acknowledging it as a serious problem… as she’s an actress, I realize eating disorders and unrealistic body image comes with the territory. However, this is romantic fiction and if we’re buying against-all-odds happy endings, we can take other departures from reality too, right? Plus the hero was a bit of an asshole.

Back to the book at hand… I didn’t finish it either initially. I went back and finished it in a moment of bored weakness, and I have to say the end wasn’t any better than the beginning except that the hero was the more irritating character at the end.

Emily said:

Power Play: “A female soap opera star.” Includes numerous allusions to her anorexia, but not acknowledging it as a serious problem…

Anorexia? I don’t recall anything about the character having anorexia or an eating disorder. Where did you pick that up from? And yes, the hero starts out as “a bit of an asshole” but then he reforms - I think that redemption and growth are pretty common for character development. Can’t get much of either if the person starts out as a paragon.

I don’t think Martin’s books are perfect (there is a tendency to have the hero be the one doing all the persistent courting and chasing after the not-always-admirable heroines) but I find them an enjoyable read.

Anorexia? I don’t recall anything about the character having anorexia or an eating disorder. Where did you pick that up from?

There are several mentions throughout the book about the heroine not eating and checking her own figure out in the mirror. 

My point was that it was hard to identify with her because she’s stunningly beautiful and somewhat famous. 

Not to mention quite rude. I had a very hard time believing that the hero had the hots for a such an unpleasant person.

Yes, she was incredibly rude to people about dealing with their pets and embarrassing.