Top Ten Tuesday: Series I’ve Given Up On

 

It’s Tuesday again! And I must say, I am really glad to be back to writing Top Ten Tuesday posts once more. Plus, this is a really good Tuesday for me, since I am currently laid back with my feet up enjoying a week by the lake. There is no better way to spend the summer, except by the beach. Especially since I brought enough books that I could almost read a book a day if I wanted to, and that makes for the perfect vacation. This week for Top Ten Tuesday, however, we are talking about books—or rather series—that we are actually not planning on reading. So, here are some series I have decided I just can’t finish.

Prairie State Friends- Wanda E. Brunstetter

 

 

 Having been a fan of Wanda’s for quite some time, I read the first book in this series—The Decision—a few years ago, and I was sorely disappointed when I found it to be a lot less than I expected it to be. It was a very slow read, and to be quite honest with you, I didn’t actually read the entire thing. I just skimmed it until the end, though I did actually read the ending just to see how it all turned out. While the ending was somewhat unexpected, since I didn’t enjoy the plot or the characters or even the dialogue, I only ended up giving The Decision two out of five bookshelves. When I wrote my review, I said that I was still keeping the second book—The Gift—on my list because the synopsis sounded interesting and I wanted to give the series another chance, but I never ended up reading it. I just couldn’t bring myself to possibly put myself through what I went through in my attempt to read The Decision. Needless to say, I didn’t read The Restoration either. And I doubt I ever will.

Texas Crossroads- Amanda Cabot

  

 The reason I gave up on the Texas Crossroads series is a little different. While At Bluebonnet Lake wasn’t one of my favorite novels, it was a cute little story, and I did end up giving it four out of five bookshelves. I probably would categorize it as a light, summer read, which isn’t a bad thing. Although the ending was pretty cheesy, but some people like that kind of thing. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, sometimes I am in the mood for cheesy too. However, since I started out on this blog and have discovered more and more authors and wonderful novels, I have become a bit less easy to please. My standards for what makes a great novel—and a great series—have been raised. And I just haven’t felt like returning to this light, cheesy, “cute little” series when I have so many other things to read. (Sorry if that sounds harsh, I really don’t mean it to. I just don’t want to say something that isn’t true).

The Southold Chronicles- Rebecca DeMarino

  

 This series is Rebecca’s debut series, and I have to say, whenever I find debut novels I am always a little unsure what to expect. Sometimes they are actually really, really good, but other times I find them a little lacking. Although, to be fair, it’s hard to be perfect on your first try. When it comes to this series, I unfortunately didn’t find a new author to love. This was another one I only read the first novel of. While I did enjoy A Place in His Heart to a degree, it was very slow moving, especially for a book that covered a large span of time, and there were far too many “filler” scenes for my liking. Because of that, I just couldn’t bring myself to read any more books in this series, but gave it up and haven’t really thought about it since.

Neighbors of Lancaster County- Leslie Gould

  

 This series is a little different because I didn’t actually read the first novel, I hadn’t actually read anything by Leslie before. Then, I received a copy of the second book—Amish Sweethearts—through a Goodreads giveaway, so I figured I would give it a try since it was sitting on my bookshelf. Unfortunately, it fell really flat for me. It was very slow moving, and really lacking much of any depth to the story, and honestly, I felt very bored reading it. This was another one I skimmed, and I hardly ever skim books. But when a book makes you want to stop reading—and you love reading as much as I do—you know it just might not be the book for you. So I didn’t try any other books in this series for fear that they would be the same.

Pinecraft Pie Shop- Tricia Goyer

  

 This series is another one that I only read the first novel; I feel like that is becoming a trend. Similarly, the main reason Made with Love wasn’t my favorite was because it was very fluffy. And like I said earlier, fluffy, cheesy novels aren’t necessarily a bad thing. They just aren’t my favorites. With this particular “fluffy” story, it just seemed to be, not plotless, but just lacking anything really of substance. It seemed like there were too many “surface” interactions, and while I did end up enjoying it to a degree, I just never really felt all that eager to read any more of the series. So I didn’t.

Sydney Cove- Bonnie Leon

  

 This series is actually one I started years ago, before I even began blogging. I found To Love Anew on Barnes and Noble as a free e-book, so I downloaded it, and awhile later, I decided I’d give it a chance. I can’t really remember exactly what I thought of this novel as easily as I’ve remembered the others I have mentioned in this list since I didn’t write a review, but I do remember actually really enjoying it. I remember that while I liked it, it seemed full of drama and there was always something going on, which for some reason isn’t my favorite type of novel. While I don’t want it to be slow going or boring and lacking any excitement, sometimes there just seems to be too much for me, and I felt like I never could catch up with this novel. So I just never finished it, probably because I didn’t have the books at my fingertips and there were so many other books clamoring for my attention at the time (but isn’t there always?).

Refined by Love- Judith Miller

  

 Judith Miller is another author I have actually liked for quite some time, but when I read The Brickmaker’s Bride in this series, I found it to be a bit less than I expected from something by Judith. It was very slow moving, and it took me quite some time to actually get into the novel, and once I did, I found many parts of it to be fairly repetitive. As has been the case for basically ever series I’ve mentioned so far, that’s all it took to keep me from reading the rest of the series; once the first book soured my appetite, I lost my desire to read any other part of the series.

Amish Turns of Time- Olivia Newport

   

 

 As was the case with the Neighbors of Lancaster County series, this was another one I discovered because I ended up with a middle book of the series. I received an opportunity to read the third book in this series—Brightest and Best—in exchange for my honest review, so even though I hadn’t read the first two books, I gave it a chance. I actually fairly enjoyed this novel, and loved learning some of the more historical parts of the story, and the struggle between obeying God and obeying the government. The only reason I didn’t give this book all five bookshelves is because the beginning was a bit slow, so honestly, I’m not even sure why I never finished the rest of the series. I just haven’t, even though it’s been years since I read Brightest and Best.

Brides of Seattle- Tracie Peterson

  

While Tracie Peterson is another author I have really loved over the years, Brides of Seattle was NOT my favorite series. I read Steadfast Heart awhile back, and I really did not enjoy it. Though the book seemed to be about the characters I found in the synopsis, I was disappointed to find that almost half of it focused on a “secondary” character, whose book is actually supposed to be the third in the series. So I hardly felt like I got to know the main characters of this novel, and what I did know I did not like. Besides that, their story was far from believable, and there were aspects of this story that I just found hard to take. I just couldn’t stomach the thought of reading any more.

Finding Home- Jen Turano

Lastly, I bring a series that I actually really, really loved. Well, I loved the first novel that is. Jen Turano is one of my absolute favorite authors, and always has been, and I was so excited to find that she was writing Finding Margo, and even more excited when I saw that it was to be a series. Everything else that Jen has written has been historical, so I was eager to see that she was adventuring into a different type of series. However, I haven’t heard a single thing about there being another book to follow Finding Margo, and I read this book almost two years ago. So that’s why I’ve given up on this series, because maybe it wasn’t meant to be a series at all.

Those are my ten series that I have given up on! What about you? What have you given up on reading?

Happy Tuesday and happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

To see my full reviews of any of the novels I have mentioned, click on the red/orange-colored titles.