Books I DNF (did not finish) in 2022

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS:  Animal cruelty, death, s3xual harassment, kidnapping, gaslighting, and predatory behavior are all mentioned in this post. Please be cautious!

 Well, there's a reason I didn't talk about any of the books on this list. Since I DNF them!

And in my own humble opinion, I don't recommend any of these either.

1. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. 

This is a middle grade novel about four sisters and their father spending their summer at a cottage. It seemed like a cute book at first, but I was really disturbed at the way the characters were treating their pet dog. They kept on feeding him non food items such as a paper map. It seemed like animal cruelty to me. 

2. The Big One Oh by Dean Pitchford

This is a middle grade novel about a ten year old kid named Charley who is trying to make friends so he can invite them to his first birthday party ever that is horror-themed. It was okay for the most part but there is a subplot were Charley's older sister keeps getting s3xually harassed at work by one of her coworkers, and then said coworker stalks her home and gets into a physical fight with her...and then they laugh it off and fall in love??!!

I know, problematic stuff. And to think this is a middle grade book. Normally I gravitate towards kids' book because I know they are less likely to contain problematic stuff in them, but from time to time there are books like these where problematic stuff seeps through the cracks and I'm just wondering how the heck did they get away with it?! Very disappointing book. 

3. Think Again by Adam Grant.

This is a nonfiction book that debunks myths about learning and asking questions, and why challenging your own points of view is actually a good thing. Luckily, there was nothing problematic about this book. It did sound interesting at first, and normally I like what Adam Grant puts out, but I was just soooo bored reading this. I don't know if it's the book not being Mr. Grant's strongest or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought it would. Oh well. 

4. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine

This is a high fantasy middle grade novel about two princesses who are sisters and who are very close but have opposite personalities, and they are trying to find a cure to a deadly disease that has taken over their kingdom. I had to DNF this because it talked too much about death and dying. It was too triggering for me.

5. It Goes Like This by Miel Moreland

This is a YA contemporary novel about four girls who use to have a band, but then they broke up for whatever reasons. I honestly can't tell you more on what happens because that's basically all I remember about this book. Again, there was nothing problematic about this book. It was just really confusing and weird! The unconventional plot structure and the fact that it was written in present tense really took me out of wanting to read more of it. 

6. Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline B. Cooney

This is the sequel to Face on the Milk Carton, which I read earlier this year and enjoyed fair enough. But this sequel was so disappointing!  I thought Janie's crush, Reeve would stop being such a creep towards her, but her just gets worse in this book. Someone put a restraining order on that guy. Also, Janie's birth family is pretty terrible towards her. They keep on gaslighting her into thinking her kidnapping was all her fault, and they are never sympathetic towards her for whenever she is struggling to fit in with them. I will not be continuing with the rest of this series.

That is all! Did you DNF any books this year?