The Anatomy of a DNF

The following is the opinion of the post author only and does not reflect probably many different reviews. In fact, looking at other reviews on GoodReads and Amazon I’m in the minority

When I buy a book it is with the intention of if not loving it, at least liking it a lot, though sometimes not even the a lot applies.  But then there are the books we readers call the DNF which stands for Did Not Finish.  Not everyone has DNFs.  Some readers do finish every book they start, a philosophy I don't hold myself.  My reading life is littered with DNF'

 

At times it seems like every book I read I give high grades.  But that is not the case.  I’ve debated on doing this for a while and decided to go ahead.

 

The following is the opinion of this blogger only and does not reflect probably many different reviews.



When I buy a book it is with the intention of if not loving it, at least liking it a lot, though sometimes not even the a lot applies.  But then there are the books we readers call the DNF which stands for Did Not Finish.  Not everyone has DNFs.  Some readers do finish every book they start, a philosophy I don't hold myself.  My reading life is littered with DNF'.  There are any number of reasons why I DNF a book and the following is one of them.

Her Kind of Trouble by Sarah Mayberry.  Before I go further, I have to say I’m a big Sarah Mayberry fan.  I have all of her books and have quite enjoyed most of them, though a couple not as much as others.  But this is my first DNF book by this author.  Vivian Walker is the heroine and Seth Anderson the hero.  I didn’t like Vivian from the first page.  She is a wanna be fashion designer and when she passed her course, promised she would design a special dress for her sister.  And she didn’t.  She just didn’t have the mojo but instead of calling her sister and letting her know she just couldn’t find her designing muse, Viv ducked her sister calls until finally it was too late and rather than finding that special dress for that special day, her sister had to buy one off the rack.  When I think ‘What a thoughtless selfish bitch’ right off the bat, it’s not a good sign.  But I believe redemption is possible and I’ve loved her books in the past so I kept going.  Seth is the brother of Jodie, Viv’s sister’s fiancée.  They meet briefly at the rehearsal; they had never met before, and each think the other is hot.  Seth is a musician and as such is quite a tom cat on the prowl if you know what I mean.  They size each other up and there is an attraction.  Then the meet again at the wedding, have another brief conversation and then ‘hook up’ in a limo.  It was at this point that the author really began losing me.  They talk to each other maybe a total of half an hour before acting like dogs in heat. I have no problems with sex scenes and though I prefer the hero/heroine to have a good relationship developed before they get horizontal, I accept that is not always the case.  But after having two brief meetings they do this at their respective siblings wedding is IMO just plain trashy.

But still I continued on.  It’s now 10 years later and Viv has come back to Australia after years living in the US.  Seth has given up being a musician and is now a bar owner.  He’s also about to be father.  He’s 34 and his baby mama is 24.  Again, just ick, just ick.  She also seems to be a number of crayons short of a full box and any respect that I didn’t have for Seth anyway disappeared.  But the book totally lost me and if it were a paperback may have hit the wall, was when Seth questioned the wisdom of making Viv a guardian for his two nieces along with himself.  He didn’t think she was “mature” enough.

 

I disliked both of these characters already, but at this point they were both completely non-redeemable.  Even if they turned out to be the greatest hero and heroine in the world, I dislike them intensely.  And that abhorrence unfortunately is too deep.  I will still read her – I’ve enjoyed way too many not to – but this one is an indisputable

 

DNF