Melting Pages
Book Reviews and Recommendations
Books I Didn’t Finish in 2019
The end of the year is rapidly approaching, so the chances that I will be able to finish all the books I started this year is pretty low. I’ve mentioned plenty of times that I’m horrible when it comes to finishing the books that I start, and this list will just prove how bad I am at it. For some reason, I get halfway through a book and decide to read something else! I want to point out that just because I didn’t finish these books when I started them doesn’t mean I’m officially DNFing them, I definitely plan on reading them later on.
Ya’ll are about to see how horrible I am, because I have 43 books to share with you. That’s right, 43 BOOKS. Most of these will just be a case of timing, where I just wasn’t in the mood for that particular book (curse my mood reading!).
- The Winter Road by Adrian Selby – This is the first example of right book, wrong time! I didn’t get too far into this one before I realized that I wasn’t in the mood for a book like this, but I’m hoping that I can get to it sometime this winter since it seems perfect for this time of year!
- Shadowblack by Sebastien De Castell – To be honest, I don’t even remember why I put this one down because I loved the first book and was really excited to see where this went!
- Gates of Stone by Angus Macallan – I think I only read maybe 20 or 30 pages of this one before I got distracted by other books, but it seems like it will be an interesting island fantasy!
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik – The reason I put this book down actually has nothing to do with the book: a stinkbug somehow crawled in between the pages and died, so the book was a little….smelly. So I put it down to let it air out!
- Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey – Hard sci-fi is still pretty new to me, so I needed a break from this one before I continue on. I think I only have 100 pages or so left!
- Half a King by Joe Abercrombie – I couldn’t even tell you why I put this book down, but I was really liking where it was heading!
- Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier – I read the first chapter of this to help me figure out what I wanted to read next. I ended up choosing something different, but the first chapter intrigued me!
- Lirael by Garth Nix – I loved Sabriel which was the first book in this series, but once again, I got distracted in the middle of book 2!
- The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco – I’ve set this book down twice, the first time because another book caught my eye, and the second time was because it had been so long since I started it that I forgot what had happened! When I pick this one up again I’ll need to restart it.
- The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter – The main character was a bit annoying so I needed to take a break from this book. I’m on the fence about wanting to continue or not based on some other reviews. Let me know what you think if you’ve read it!
- The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst – This is one that I put down recently, and the main reason was (ironically) because of another book on this list.
- Fool’s Gold (The Dragon Lords) by Jon Hollins – This one was pitched as Guardians of the Galaxy meets The Hobbit so why wouldn’t I want to read it?? The only reason I put it down is because I took it camping and it took forever for me to unpack my bag when I got back so I started something else.
- Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – This is another case of timing for me, I feel like I’m going to need to be in a particular mood for this one.
- Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes – I got most of the way through this book and felt like nothing was happening! I 100% want to finish this series though, it just may take longer than I thought.
- The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams – I was about 25% through this one and realized that I wasn’t in the mood for a fantasy book with sci-fi elements, so I put it down until I get in that mood!
- The Tiger’s Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera – I actually ordered the second book based off the first chapter of this book, but like Dreamer’s Pool, I went with a different book!
- Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski – I loved the short stories and going into the novels was a little jarring for me because it felt like it was skipping around from paragraph to paragraph, so I set it down for now! I want to get this first book out of the way before the series though, which probably won’t happen at this point.
- The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – I’m maybe 50% through this one and I have no excuse for putting it down. I’ve loved what I’ve read so far!
- Rise of Empire by Michael J Sullivan – I put this down because I was going back and forth between finishing this series first or reading The Legends of the First Empire first. I still haven’t decided!
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – I’ve already read this series multiple times, but this time I’m reading the illustrated edition! I put this down because I was waiting to get the second book before I finished this one and just haven’t continued yet.
- Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – This is one of the few physical books that I have that I was listening to on audio, and ended up moving on to Percy Jackson instead as my audiobook!
- Women’s War by Jenna Glass – This is another one I’m not too sure about continuing. I liked what I read, but I felt like not a lot was happening so I put it down for the moment.
- The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams China – I have absolutely no reason for putting this one down either, it just kinda happened!
- The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – After reading Priory of the Orange Tree, I felt like it was time to read The Bone Season. I wasn’t expecting the mix of fantasy and sci-fi so like The Ninth Rain, I’m saving this for when I’m in the mood!
- Red Sister by Mark Lawrence – I kept reading a few pages at a time with this book, and ended up not picking it up to finish it. I really want to though because I love assassins and assassin schools!
- Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chobosky – I have no excuse. I thought I would be in the mood for spooky reads around Halloween but I apparently wasn’t!
- Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade – I love how snarky the main characters are, but I just haven’t finished it yet! I think the book I put this down for was Shadow Frost.
- Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – This is another one that I need to be in the mood for because of the footnotes, which took a little bit of time and concentration for me. I’m extremely excited to finish it though!
- Malice by John Gwynne – Don’t @ me on this one, because I’ve been saying for months that I’m going to read it and I am! I just put it down to read The Guinevere Deception.
- Duskfall by Christopher Husberg – This one is a lot different than I thought it would be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I just need a bit of time before finishing it.
- The Traitor God by Cameron Johnson – To be completely honest I forgot that I had gotten halfway through this book. When I pick this back up I’m going to have to reread the whole book!
- White Stag by Kara Barbieri – This book was so intriguing with the goblins and everything, but for some reason I just never finished it!
- Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor – This is more a case of I don’t want this series to end, so if I never finish the book then the series doesn’t end, right??
- The Red Knight by Miles Cameron – I tried reading this for Medieval-a-thon and it just wasn’t the right time to read this.
- The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson – The twist in the middle made me literally drop the book and I needed time to recover, but I haven’t gone back to it yet!
- Vicious by V.E. Schwab – This one came down to the over zealous religion throwing me off, I did enjoy the other characters though!
- The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – This may be cheating because I think I read less than 10 pages of this…twice. And that isn’t because the book is bad, I can just tell I need to be in the right mindset for it!
- Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw – Another book that I guess technically shouldn’t be on this list, but I read like, 5 pages of this to get a feel for it to see if I would like it!
- Caraval by Stephanie Garber – I don’t remember how far in I got, but it wasn’t far at all. I remember nothing of what I read though!
- Blood Song by Anthony Ryan – Like The Blade Itself, I could tell that this is a book I need to be in the right mindset for.
- The Beast Player by Nahoki Uehashi – This one was so cute and honestly I have no idea why I haven’t finished it yet!
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch – I got halfway through and just ended up picking up something else. No reason, just other books caught my eye!
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – I’m afraid of this series because of how much I love the movies! I think I got to the start of Frodo’s quest and found it fun finding the differences between the movies and the books!
Honestly, looking at this list is kinda embarrassing! I really need to work on actually finishing the books that I start. What books have you started but not finished in 2019?
Melting Pages 
Hahah I didn’t love Uprooted so I was curious to see why you didn’t finish it. Reading your reason made me laugh out loud!
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Lol typing it out made me laugh too! I was so upset too because I was getting into it at around 100 pages and then couldn’t stand to even open the book!
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Haha – hope you get to finish a few of these in 2020! I totally understand your list though because I’ve been there where I kept putting books aside.
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Honestly I think my problem is that too many books sound fantastic that I just want to read them all ASAP!
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Same!
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I’m glad the book itself wasn’t why you put down Uprooted! Definitely recommend continuing that one, as it was one that I really enjoyed.
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I definitely plan to! It was actually one that I wanted to finish in December, but seeing as tomorrow is the 31st I don’t think that’s possible lol
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