Bea's DNF Reviews

I've been reading a lot since being home while laid off from teaching. Mostly I've been doing well picking books to read the last few weeks but there were a few that were duds. Some were just meh, but two I actually DNFed. One I picked mainly due to the author and the title; I barely looked at the blurb. The other was an author I've been wanting to try and a short story seemed like a good way to start. Sadly, neither one worked.

Click on the cover to go to the Goodreads page.

This story creeped me out. The hero, who was a jerk though he did have some emotional issues, is paired with a sex slave survivor who is somewhere between 14 and 18. The alleged hero is around 30. The book is vague on her exact age, maybe it becomes clearer later on. I had to read some reviews to see if these two were in fact the romantic pairing, and they were. Apparently, 4 years pass by before they get involved, putting her around 18 - 22 and him early to mid 30s. The more I thought about it, the more the book skeeved me out. Lots of 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads but I was too squicked out to keep reading. Besides the age difference, there was also a power imbalance. He rescues her, sort of, from a dangerous situation; is older; teaches her to fight; gets her to safety and a new life, etc. Now, since I stopped reading, I don't know what happens in the 4 years after they meet, but it's likely she feels grateful and probably has a case of hero worship. I just had to give up. I got as far as 25% before calling it quits.

I should mention that this author is very hit or miss for me. Right now, I'm not sure if I'll read her again. This book left a bad taste in my mouth.

Click on the cover to go to the Goodreads page.

Steph likes this author and I've been wanting to try her. I saw this in Audible's Escape program and it sounded good. I liked that it was only 3 hours long; that seemed like a good way to ease into a new author. Well, I got maybe 7 or 8 chapters in and I gave up. Unlike Girl In the Water, it didn't squick me out. I just didn't like it. A mother hell bent on her divorced daughter A) getting laid and B) getting married again. At 39, daughter dearest should be making her own decisions on those matters. Interfering parents don't work for me in fiction or real life. Then, when Zuri meets her love interest, blech. He's a bear shifter, cool, but as soon as he smells her, he knows she's his MATE, his FATED MATE. And he throws her over his shoulder and runs off with her. Not cool dude, not cool. When she tries to tell him she's not interested, he says she's lying, because he can smell her arousal. Dude, that is NOT consent. And I was out of there. Buh bye!

Would you have kept reading? Why or why not? Have you read either of these? Anything you've started lately that you have DNFed?