The dreaded thing has happened. My first DNF of the year. If you don’t know DNF means did not finish, and readers hate finding a DNF read. A couple of years ago I would power through books, even if I didn’t like them. One day my boyfriend said to me, “why are you wasting time reading books if you’re not enjoying it?” and I realized he had a point. I read because I like it, for enjoyment, and if a book isn’t enjoyable to me, I shouldn’t finish. It doesn’t make me a bad reader, and it doesn’t make the book a bad book. Not every book is for every reader.

So This is Ever After has a great premise. What happens after the hero is triumphant? What happens after the evil is defeated? In real life, people don’t just cease to exist after winning a battle, so Lukens wrote the book about after. I was really enjoying their writing; it was a specific thing for me that made me DNF. There is a trope I can’t stand and will almost always ruin a book for me., lack of communication. When it’s clear to the audience that two people are crazy for each other, but somehow neither of them is picking up on any of the very clear clues. Is it possible that it could happen in real life? Absolutely, I’ve seen it happen. But when I’m reading about it, or watching it, it makes me crazy. It’s something that I feel could be done without, so when I realized this entire book was going to be a miscommunication trope, I couldn’t do it.

While DNFing is always disappointing, it doesn’t always mean you won’t try again, or try something different by the author. I will definitely be trying something else by them. I could tell from the writing that I would like something else by them, this book just wasn’t the one for me. I’m very hopeful for my next read.

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