The DNF Dance

At what point do you put a book down and not finish it because of poor editing? I’m not talking about a story that doesn’t click for you, is outside your realm of interest or anything to do with taste

I’m speaking of straight up poor editing. Even down to the sentence level.

I believe I mentioned I’ve been on a reading tear. For this month I am at 15 books completed, not counting the 3 books I reread. (All by Zapata, I really really like her books!) Not all the authors I like are on KU which is where I’m getting most of the books I’m reading. And with 35 books under my belt for February and March, I had to branch out. Found some thru TikTok, and some through recommendations on Amazon.

I’m going to put a few caveats here. 1. I know, I KNOW my writing here could use a good editing or even proofreading. I come here to get things off my chest. When I send things out for “Submission” it has been proofread & sent to my writing partner (Hi Sis!) for editing help. 2. I will not name this author here. She has done something not everyone can do– completed and published not one but 3 books (in the series). 3. To whomever left the Amazon review of how she could get her money back from her editor… I howled. Also felt bad, but snickered too. BUT there is a possibility she didn’t have the funds for an editor, or resources. However, some of the problems could have been spotted with a set of beta readers.

The first hiccup I encountered was the tense. Writing in present tense is hard on the reader, but I could roll with it. Not my first rodeo lol. I don’t generally like the pacing, but the book was under 300 pages so thought I could handle it.

Then there was the missing word. It bothered me enough that I  went back a few times just to see that Yup ! Really missing a word there.

Chapter four rolls around. We, the reader, are still with the couple on the first meeting. It’s been going back and forth between male and female character for point of view, but I’m chapter four we get.. Past tense.

No. Just no.

I know that fore personally, if I continue reading it I will be doing so in order to find more hiccups. But there’s no reason for me to do this. I am not in a class, needing to give feedback. I am not her editor. I am not a beta reader.

And at 15% in, I’m not that invested in the characters. Which wouldn’t be a problem (taste) but I figured it was short. I could rip through it. Maybe it gets better. But when that chapter bounced the tenses, I hard bounced out.

So my lovelies, at what point do you DNF a book due to technical errors?

If you write and self publish, please know that there are people rooting for you and willing to be beta readers for you.

Book Review: Almost Perfect

Book Review: Almost Perfect

Note: I have never before reviewed a book that I DNF’ed, however NetGalley said it was appropriate (and recommended!!) so here we are.

Almost Perfect by E. F. Todd
Publish Date: 10/31/23
Publisher: Sugar Beaver Books

First off, I want to thank Sugar Beaver Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. I was excited to give it a try, the cover looks fun—it’s a Christmas Romance. My favorite!!

The writing was good, with some stellar examples of great writing shining through. So why did I DNF?

I DNF’d Almost Perfect at almost the 20% mark. 18.6% I believe, if you want precision. The reasons why we’re two fold: character and pacing.

V is a Doctor. A practicing doctor. The disconnect may have been the choice to have the heroine go by an initial instead of something like Vee, even. For me, naming a character by an initial would be more appropriate when the character is edgy and wise. Or if the narrator is slyly trying to make things “anonymous”. To further the disconnect V felt incredibly young and sheltered. Her and her friends struck me as more college age than professionals—and it had nothing to do with the Doc in love with a bar tender aspect.

The pacing was also off. When it came to the first love scene (I think) is when I finally closed the book. It felt like it was taking two chapters for him to kiss his way up her leg. It did not in fact take that long, but when a romance reader is bored by the love scene and is a few pages into it…. It needs to be tightened.

But worst of all, there was no Christmas in that 20 percent. I know it comes, I just couldn’t hang in there to get to it.

We can be honest and say the pacing issue might have been because I could not connect with the main character, V. It probably was.

There are some great lines in this story though, and I look forward to the next story this author has up their sleeve.

Thank you again to Sugar Beaver Books and Netgalley for providing me a copy for review.

Pacing & HEA in Romance

I recently read a “Rom-Com” that clocked in at almost 600 pages. It was pretty good— I blazed through the first half, then got to what I thought was the HEA… But I still had hundreds of pages to go through.

I’m not going to name names or give titles. But there were at least 3 points where the HEA could have been achieved and the reader be completely satisfied. Meanwhile, the actual ending… Left a lot to be desired. Definitely NOT a situation I want to ever be in with a SO. Nope. Not even a little.

Does everything need to be tied up with a big red bow? Not really. But what I was given at the end of this book was 2 characters sicker than dogs and about to go (albeit temporarily) long distance. In a romance.

Now, if your readers have stuck with you for that many pages… I don’t know. Maybe give the a firework ending. Or give us the epilogue where they are reunited.

Because this hot mess that we were given? Whelp. Any of those other premature HEA endings would have been better.

As a writer I am taking from this to make DANG SURE that the payoff is worth the slog.

How’s you’re reading going?

Bookish Thoughts: Meet me in Paradise

Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher is one of two romatical books I’ve read lately that had something in common ( more on that later).

This book, first of all, has both romance and comedy. Falling in the chute to the plane and getting a goose egg? Check! I may have snorted quite a few time while reading this book.

Marin is our hapless heroine in this story. Marin plays it safe, never going on adventures nor even leaving her home state of Tennessee. Entrusted with her little sisters care after a tragedy while they were young, Marin takes to heart that adventures are dangerous and not worth the risk.

And then thing happen. And it is a fun read, and sexy! But there is a tremor of emotion just under the surface, something that will change Marin’s life. Just like life, this book has beauty and sorrow in it and how that characters deal with it is where I have fallen in love.

Both books had a heroine walk away from the romantic interest. Not because of a huge fight. But because sometimes in life the choices you have suck. What I love and adore, is these books have the heroine figuring it out. Coping with grief and trauma on their own, starting the healing process AND THEN bringing the guy in at the end. In terms of the story, that break was short even tho chronologically it was a while.

In the beginning, Lucas (our handsome hero) fixes almost everything for Marin. He gets her to the island. He gets her to go on adventures. Then helps her through the roughest point. But healing after that? Learning who you are and what your capable of? Proving to yourself who you are with no one else’s lense?

That is priceless.

I dislike the narrative that women need a man to be complete. This book doesn’t use it. Not even a hint. The relationship is meaningful because she can do it on her own. Lucas is the adventure she chooses.

Bookish Thoughts: A Tale for the Time Being

I’m thankful that I found Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being during my last tour of Barnes & Noble. In addition to being a great story, it made me think about writing and reading and the relationship between them.

First off, just in case you decide to drop everything and buy it: this book should have trigger warnings. Intense bullying, attempted rape, suicide attempts.

The books I think of myself as reading have none of those things. And yet this Buddhist magical book sucked me in and kept me enraptured. This book is dense and playful and all the things I love about reading and the things I hate. Alternating POV and perspectives, appendices, foot notes and the conversation between reader and writer and what it means to walk in the world.

One of the things that caught me off guard was the way the author is inserted into the narrative. She’s in the book- Ruth– and if my reading is correct the one doing the footnotes. The Ruth parts, interestingly enough is written in 3rd person, while the alternating narrative is the diary of a teenager in Japan. What tipped me off was one of the jacket blurb said it was a blend of fact and fiction.

Here is an interview and questions for the author on the publishers website. I couldn’t find mention of it anywhere else which surprised me.

Because I love the way things are pushed and pulled in and out of view, even what type of book you think you’re reading. I found it tragic, funny, lovely and lonely. And when it was over it made me want enough to leaf through the appendices.

Dancing on Broken Glass

Dancing on Broken Glass, by Ka Hancock. Published by Simon and Schuster.

This novel starts out strong and keeps on going. To give you an idea, I flipped to the back, found out the ending and STILL kept reading. Even through my aversion to tragic love stories.

There. I’ve warned you. TRAGIC Love Story.

Lucy & Mickey have figured out a groove to their marriage, through his Bi-Polar disorder and her bout with cancer, and somehow have remained strong and true to eachother. There are good and bad days… And then there are the days when you are dancing on broken glass for the one you love best of all.

The writing in this novel pulls you in deep. I tore through it, even after I knew what the ending was. Through out most of the novel, it is first person through the lens of Lucy’s life. But there are snippets of Mickey, and he takes center stage by the end of the novel.

Heart breaking and wonderful. Definately a keeper. Or maybe, if someone’s REALLY good, a passer-onner.

 

Next week I’m hoping to post Emily & Einstein. Truthfully, tho, I’m on my way to Disneyland today and won’t be back until next Saturday so we’ll see if that happens on Sunday. Or Monday.

😀

I could always review Disneyland, too . What thinkest thou?