Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tuesday Talks: When You Don't Enjoy Book One

Tuesday Talks Goodreads Group
Today's Topic: If you did not enjoy the first book in a series, do you keep reading?

For me, the answer to this question is usually a resounding no!  Why torture myself further?  Yes, there may be the odd case that a series might grow on me, but I feel there are too many books out there to bother wasting my time on a series that I'm not feeling.  If I can't give book one at least a 3.5 rating, I'm generally done with it.  (Perfect recent example: read my Truthwitch review.)

Three other examples...

1.  Matched by Ally Condie

I gave this book 2.5 stars and I remember virtually nothing about it even though I only read it a year ago.

2.  Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

This is the first in a popular cozy mystery series.  I remember the dialogue being wooden, the characters generic, and the whole book generally unimpressive.  2 stars from me.

3.  Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

My main regret is that I read this on my Kindle so I couldn't throw it across the room and/or set fire to it.  One star because no stars isn't an option.


The time I gave a book only 3 stars and still decided to continue was...

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (first in the Southern Vampire, AKA Sookie Stackhouse, AKA True Blood series)

The first one was just mediocre for me, but I liked Sookie and saw some glimmer of potential and moved on to book 2.  (Plus the hype around the series didn't hurt my motivation to keep going.)  Book 2 was also just okay for me, and I decided to call it quits.  I moved on to the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton and found that one more enjoyable.




2 comments:

  1. I agree with you. Usually I don't continue if it's less than a three star read. And I won't continue all the three stars. There has to be something that draws me in.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, I don't normally continue on if the first was not that good. There are some 3 stars that I might go forward with depending on the reviews and people say the series gets better. I had a difficult time with Truthwitch, but I will probably try the second book out because I like the story and hope that it reads a lot better.

    ReplyDelete