Wednesday, June 19, 2013

DNF: Pierced by J.C. Mells

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer
Publisher: April 9, 2013
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Format: Kindle
Source: sent by author for honest review
Goodreads Summary
Imagine the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Betty Crocker.

That's Pierce in a nutshell.

Pierce has been on the run for two years from the man who held her captive in a vampire compound for almost a decade. Life on the run would be a lot simpler if she didn't suffer from several social disorders and 'quirks', have a ten-year-old brat in tow, as well as have two characters from a 1945 classic film living in her head and guiding her at every turn.


I've never posted a DNF before, but I saw on Blkosiner's Book Blog, Brandi did a tasteful post about why she didn't necessarily like a book, but others did and felt like I could do something similar to it...so here goes.


Just because I DNF'd a book doesn't necessarily mean that the writing was bad or that someone else wouldn't enjoy it. I'd like to let everyone know why I stopped so that you can make your own mind up.

Pierced


This particular book I stopped at 63% through. In the beginning, I thought that I would really enjoy the character of Pierce. She remembers every single little detail of a memory, and it's very interesting. It started well, but quickly went into a slow-moving 'telling' session about who she is and why she is the way she is. I still easily worked through this part and felt it was probably necessary in the character building so I continued on with the story. When I made it to the action and meeting new characters about 30% of the way through, I was more excited because I felt like more would be coming, and I did get introduced to some unique new characters.

However, what really made me stop wasn't the writing or the characters, it was the subject matter. This was why the book wasn't for me. I don't want to get too spoilery so I will just say that a cursing 10 year-old, raw and tragic nightmares and flashbacks, frequent drug-use and mentions of sexual assault just hit a little too hard for me to continue with. This just wasn't a read for me. Plus, with all the mentions of food because she does really like to cook, and I'll be flat honest, I really don't - I had a hard time connecting with her on a positive level that I wanted to.

I do want to point out that on Goodreads currently there are 9 five-star reviews, 5 four-star reviews, and 1 three-star review for a total of a 4.53 rating right now. To have no reviews under 3 stars at the moment, and for me to be the only DNF is pretty significant. I don't have any personal friend reviews to share at the moment though.

If you have read it or know someone else that has, what are your thoughts on Pierced? If you haven't read it yet, do you think it will still be a book that you will enjoy?

14 comments:

  1. that's too bad this one ended up not being for you. I can see how it would bother some people with the stuff you mentioned. I hope I like it more when I read it.

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  2. I do too! Thank you so much for stopping by :D

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  3. Sorry it wasn't for you, I understand about a story hitting so hard

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  4. Thank you - I'm glad you understand. I really appreciate you stopping by!

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  5. Oh, that would have hit me a bit hard too. But I understand. Thank you for sharing, and I feel you did it rather tastefully. No way were you mean to the book. :)

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  6. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I know a lot of other people will enjoy it, it just wasn't for me.

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  7. Very tastefully done, Jaclyn! You did it just right - explained what you didn't like without being rude. And you're right, just because you (or I) don't like a book doesn't mean someone else won't. You shouldn't feel badly or guilty because this book didn't work for you. And I applaud your honesty! *high five* ;)

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  8. Very well written Jaclyn, It is always tough to write a DNF.

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  9. Awesome review. I like how you didn't spoil anything and you wrote the review so well that you have well thought out reasons as to what you didn't like without sounding harsh. Might I ask what exactly is a DNF?

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  10. What you wrote was perfect. I too have never written about a DNF Nice job getting your message across with class

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  11. Thank you so much! When you mark a book as 'DNF' it means that you 'did not finish'. This doesn't happen a lot with me because I really do try and get through to the end, but every now and then, you know it will happen. I really appreciate you stopping by! And just so you know, you can ask me anything, anytime :D

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  12. I agree. I know you do some of these as well and yours are well-written too :D Thank you very much for stopping by!

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  13. Thank you! It means a lot to hear you say that. I know that some of my favorite bloggers have disliked books I've loved and the other way around. We are all so different so it really is a 'take it with a grain of salt' type of thing. Just listen to what was liked or not and see if that works for you, ya know. Anyway, thank you so much for stopping by!

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  14. Thank you so much! I really appreciate that.

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