Always curious to me is why people choose to not finish a book. I know people who give a book three chapters, and if they’re not hooked by then, they put it down and walk away. I know others that if they get bored at any point in reading it, then they put it down and walk away. Yet more that can only handle so much poor sentence structure before putting their book down. Some people can’t handle bad or unrealistic dialogue. I am proud to say that there’s only one book that I ever flat out did not finish.

But recently, I was SO CLOSE to adding a second title to that list.

The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke has a lot of things I really like. A beautiful cover, sapphic elements, a gothic setting, the suggestion of creatures not of this world, and quirky and unsettling characters. I was hooked early on its concept and how it presented the unsettling conflict, building it in slow spirals that had me trying to guess the twist.

And then I got to the middle third of this book.

The story’s premise is deeply intertwined with pregnancy and childbirth, but I guess I wasn’t expecting such a pocket of uncomfortably emotional motherhood. The creepy elements of the ghost woods, the mysteries of the house, and the crumbling sanity of the characters were all put to such an absolute halt that the dreaded words floated into my head…

“Wow. This book really isn’t for me.”

Emphasis on that is on “FOR” and not “ISN’T”.

It wasn’t like the writing suddenly took a nosedive, the whole thing was very well written. It’s just that I’ve never been a mother, I’ve never given birth, and I’ve never experienced any kind of “if you love them then let them go” morality crisis. The emotional hellscape the characters were fighting through had very little impact on me.

As I was talking myself into adding it to my donation box, I decided to give it a few more chapters. There was still a third of the book left, and we couldn’t possibly have set up all these weird and twisted, gothic and supernatural elements to just leave them there. Right?

RIGHT.

I am SO GLAD I kept on reading! After that middle lull, all the elements that had piqued my interest in the first place came back in full force and spiralled around the characters to tear them down in gruesome and wonderful ways.

Did you like the mini-series “Haunting of Hill House”? Then you’ll like this. Promise. Just push through that middle bit (or be crushed on an additional emotional level if you are a mother and/or can relate to the set-it-free morality problem stated above) and you won’t be sorry!

Now that you’ve read my review, are you curious about the only book I have closed and intentionally put away forever?

The Time Traveller’s Wife.

Fuck you Audrey Niffenegger.

I resent being set up with a beautiful story and an incredibly interesting plot device, only to be promised heartache. I DNF’d it like 10 years ago and I’m still salty about it.

“What about Nicholas Sparks?” you may ask me. I’ll allow it. I’ll even answer you. His books get you invested in the people only for real life to happen all over them and you. I live in real life. I’m familiar with the bullshit it can dish out to people who are otherwise just minding their own business and staying in their lane.

But a soft and cute fantasy where the premise is interesting and begging to be explored? Just to have some bullshit happen all over them because of my least favourite plot device: the misunderstanding? No. Go home.

Which leads me to wonder, what are some books other people have viciously DNF’d and why?