Thursday, January 2, 2014

DNF: The Lost Boys by Lilian Carmine

The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys by Lilian Carmine
An intensely addictive romance novel about girls, ghosts, and forbidden love, ideal for fans of Stephenie Meyer
Fate has brought them together. But will it also keep them apart? Having moved to a strange town, 17-year-old Joey Gray is feeling a little lost, until she meets a cute, mysterious boy near her new home. But there’s a very good reason why Tristan Halloway is always to be found roaming in the local graveyard. Perfect for fans of Stephenie Meyer and Lauren Kate, The Lost Boys is a magical, romantic tale of girl meets ghost.
I wrote a post about negative reviews, and how I don't review if I don't finish, and a very wise blogger pointed out that knowing what a blogger doesn't like can be valuable to publishers and authors too. I think that it also helps my readers build trust that I am not just slapping good ratings on everything I read. I have a knack for picking what I will lack based on synopsis and reviews, but that even fails. Then another blogger mentioned she did a did not finish post and I thought it was a great idea. So, here we go:

The dialogue to me didn't feel natural, and as much as I wanted to fall in love with this one, I also didn't personally connect with Joey. There wasn't anything in the first pages to make me relate to her or see her as someone I wanted to root for.
I also felt like she was younger, instead of 16.

Stopped at: 3%

That isn't to say that the writing is poor or the characters are poorly constructed, it's personal on my end.
I'd love to see if you have a great review of any of this books and what you loved about it.

Positive Reviews:
Reading in the Sunshine
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/789417148

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19 comments:

  1. I find negative reviews, as long as they're not unnecessarily mean, extremely useful. I will now know to steer clear of this one.
    Happy new year!

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  2. lol... it's not a bad review if it is really bad... it is an honest reflection of the author's lack of skill perhaps?

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  3. Oh pooh it sounded good, but thank you for posting this :)

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  4. Its a shame you didn't finish this one, but if it was that bad its good you stopped. Thanks for letting us know

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  5. I think negative reviews are useful to me as both a blogger and a reader. If I think a book looks good and then see a bunch of negative reviews, I'll know it's probably not worth my time and that saves me some money and disappointment!

    I haven't posted a review of a book I DNF'd yet, but I'll often post negative reviews if that's how I feel. I think it's good to have a well-rounded blog with a variety of different reviews :)

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  6. I appreciate honesty and negative reviews are important as long as they aren't virulent. I personally don't review books that I haven't finished because I don't think it is fair. I applaud you though for doing it.

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    1. I didn't really consider an actual review, but I feel like I should write something so that my readers know I don't just hand out 4 and 5 stars and when I get it from netgalley/edelweiss, I am not just ignoring it. But that is true too about not being fair. Will think on it :)

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  7. Yeah negative reviews are hard. I, like you, tend to be good at picking books I want to read. So generally lots of books on my blog have 4-5 star reviews. With the occasional .5 or even the bizarre .75 thrown in as well.

    I requested this one and didn't read it myself. Another blogger merely mentioned to me that she couldn't get through but a few pages. So yeah, I didn't even start it. But I have to say that I was drawn in by that cover! Very cool! I like blues and cool colors.

    But yes, never be afraid to write negative reviews. They can be challenging, but at times need to be written. Even good reviews of books and how they talk about what they loved or didn't love have informed me that the book isn't for me. They could give the book 5 stars and I still would decide not to read it.

    Negative reviews shouldn't be about bashing the book, just merely explaining what it was that didn't work for you as you did. Characters, pacing, worldbuilding...whatever it is, just say why you weren't into it like other books you read. Give an example or so. There's constructive criticism and then there's book bashing and it's best to do the former rather than the latter.

    So nice review! I can't say I'll be reading it myself though, as there's been a bit too much of this book not being the read for bloggers I trust. I did just read a review of this one where the blogger loved it! Even had me rethinking my decision for a bit! Here's a link to here review: http://thefoureyedcat.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-lost-boys-by-lilian-carmine.html

    I've also been known to "skim" books so I don't have a completely DNF review. There was a book I agreed to review and I really, really could NOT get into it, but felt a sense of obligation to try. But it was soooo hard, so I ended up skimming some of it and then flat out read the ending. So yeah, I am personally trying to avoid that kind of situation again, but with Netgalley/Edelweiss I feel is different than direct author contact.

    Okay, end of extremely long comment! Thanks for reading it all! ;)

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    1. OMG! It was really that long?! Sorry about that! ;)

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    2. Hey, no worries, I love that you've shared your thoughts. I just couldn't go any further with the skimming, but I did that with another book this year because I was interested enough I wanted to know what happened.

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  8. Darn! I'm sorry this one didn't work for you, Brandi. I had high hopes for it. Thanks for your honesty though. :)

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  9. I get stumped with the dry dialogue too! Don't sweat it momma, some books just aren't meant for us and your review wasn't destructive it's subjective and honest.

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  10. At least you didn't read too much before understanding it wasn't ok. I'm sorry it wasn't for you.

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  11. I appreciate both positive and negative reviews. This book had me a bit curious because I was seeing it around a lot. Sorry you couldn't get through it. I love the honest opinion!

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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  12. I know it must be hard to write about why you gave the book a DNF, but I think in most cases the readers, and fellow bloggers appreciate the honesty, as well as the author who can take note of what is and isn't working in their book. Especially if it's done honestly and tastefully like you have done Brandi. :)

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  13. I understand your feelings. It's hard to post reviews about books that I don't like, but it is definitely useful as a fellow reader to see all the different opinions out there. I typically post a roundup of DNF reviews grouped together so that I have more space for other reviews and because my reviews of these books typically aren't more than a paragraph.

    Regarding The Lost Boys - It sounded like an intriguing book, and the cover is gorgeous, but I totally get not being able to read when I can't connect with the characters. Thanks for the great honest review!

    Kris @Imaginary Reads

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  14. I recently wrote a DNF review too after I read your post. I gave it a good try. And I am anxious to see what others think. Sometimes we don't connect with a book that other people do. Understandable given how many of us there are in the world and how unique each of us is. I appreciate your thoughts.

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  15. Like everyone else I like both negative and postive reviews, it definitely helps to see why people DNF books...because I personally always finish what I read and it's nice to have a heads up. This one sounds like it could have been good, it's a shame that it didn't work out.

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  16. I hate when a book's dialogue isn't realistic. It makes it very hard for me to connect to the characters and it tends to disrupt the flow of the novel. Sorry this one didn't work out for you!

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