Book Talk – The Near Misses

Posted August 17, 2017 by Andi in Book Talk / 3 Comments

Usually after I read the first book of a series I make my decision if I will continue on and read the next book or if it will be a one and done. If I decide to not continue it’s because I’m either happy with how book 1 ended or I’m not that interested in seeing where it goes. There is really no rhyme or reason why some series I continue and some I don’t. I mean I have read some really bad book ones but they were so bad I wanted to know what would happen so I read book 2 and I have read really good book ones and decide I’m good and don’t need any more. But in my whole reading life there has been only 2 series that I said I wasn’t going to continue and I ended up being convinced to read books 2 and 3 and I’m really grateful that I was.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series

I read To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in November of 2013 and I loved it. A friend let me borrow an early copy and I remember not being able to put it down. It was fun and quirky and reminded me of everything I loved about Jenny Han’s books. I loved the interaction between the Song sisters and Lara Jean and just a lot of the book in general. It was just an amazing book and I was so happy to have read it. I even lent it to others I loved it so much. But then I heard there was going to be a second and third book and I was like…NOPE. HARD NO. I’m gonna pass. I know what will happen and NO NO NO. So I ignored the release of P.S. I Still Love You and then ignored the release of Always and Forever, Lara Jean. I had friends tells me to read it and I said hard pass still. I’m happy leaving it where it was.

And then BookCon happened. I was spending the morning with Alexa, Rachel and Kristin and they had all just read Always and Forever and were gushing about it. They were talking about how amazing and perfect and wonderful it was and I’m not gonna lie I was intrigued. I had held off forU so long but something about the way they were talking sparked a long dead interest. I asked Kristin to spoil me before I would decide what to do and she did and I’m so happy she did because although I didn’t love P.S. I Still Love You, I think Always and Forever, Lara Jean was one of Jenny Han’s best books to date and I almost missed it. I almost missed seeing the Song girls grow up and change and become young women and that would have been unacceptable.

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The Lumatere Chronicles

In April of 2014 Gail made a deal with me. Honestly I don’t even remember the terms of the deal but I needed to read Finnikin of the Rock. I’m a huge fan of Melina Marchetta contemporary books but I was scared to read the fantasy series. In the first place fantasy wasn’t my thing and Marchetta likes to make to wait a whole lot of pages before you understand what is happening. But a deal is a deal and I agreed to read Finnikin. These are my exact words on my Goodreads page when I finished:

I wasn’t wowed but I didn’t hate it. I really enjoyed about 65% of the book and loved Finnikin and Evanjalin. Typical Marchetta the writing was just beautiful and the woman knows how to tell a story. I’m proud of myself for reading and finishing this as promised but I don’t think I’ll continue the series as of now.

As you can see I was done. I was most likely never going to read Froi of the Exiles or Quintana of Charyn. Finnikin didn’t wow me but that was fine. I did it. I held up my end of the deal.

Well in October of 2014 something changed. It could have been another deal with Gail or it could have been her being like, HERE, TAKE THESE BOOKS AND READ. I don’t know what it was but I ended up reading Froi of the Exiles and my reading world changed. Why did it change? Because Froi is still to this day the BEST LITERARY CHARACTER I have ever read. The change and growth to him was done so extraordinarily well I am still blown away by it. So much in fact I read it again. It was just a stunning part of the story that I almost didn’t know. I loved Froi so much I read Quintana of Charyn right after it.

It’s a series that almost wasn’t and I almost missed out on two all time favorite books. And to this day I will tell anyone that listens that even if they don’t love Finnikin, to just push through and go on because Froi and Quintana are worth it.

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The moral of this story? Maybe you should never say a hard pass no after reading just book one. You never know what you will find in the pages of a sequel…or two.

Do you have any series that you have said no to after reading book one? Have you read either of these series? Come share with me!

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3 responses to “Book Talk – The Near Misses

  1. I almost always finish series or at least plan to! There haven’t been many where I said “I’m going to quit because I love this ending” – I find myself ALWAYS too curious to see what’s next haha.

  2. I’ve managed to stay out of the TATBILB hype (I read the first 15 or so pages and Lara Jean’s voice just sounded way to young for me) but I’ve seen so many positive reviews of the completed trilogy now that I’m thinking of giving it another shot one day..

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