Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

I am reading The Name of the Star, and I like it, but it's a little slow paced. I probably wouldn't mind so much, but I am coming off of some faster paced books!
For those who have read this book, is it worth it?

And, just wondering, how long people give a book to "grab" them before putting it down?

I try to get at least halfway through a book before giving up on it. I know it's time to put it down, though, when I keep trying to come up with other things to do besides reading.

Haven't read that one but usually I'll give a book a couple chapters. I don't ever really give up they just go back on the shelf for a while. Usually I'll pick em up a month or two down the road and end up loving them. Just hadn't been in the right mood/etc the first go around.

I bought a signed copy at a book fair for my granddaughter for Christmas so read it and then wrapped it up - I didn't do a review yet because I didn't want her to read it. It didn't get much better as it went along. I should have taken notes to do a review later. I did finish it - it was just okay. I guess there is going to be a sequel and I won't bother. I usually give a book at least 100 pages before I will actually just give up, and this one wasn't bad enough to do that.

I guess to add to my comment, I read for enjoyment, so if I'm not enjoying a book, I'm not going to keep reading it :)

Ah, this whole thread makes me sad. I was really looking forward to reading this book. I had some pretty high hopes for it.

To answer your question, I use to finish every book I started regardless and now, well now I don't. With a huge TBR pile is just isn't worth my time now to make myself read something (unless I promised a review for it). I try to get half way through before stopping now but sometimes if the book isn't getting my attention and keeping it, even getting half way through can take days and be torture.

I would put it down and start something else but more than likely I still wouldn't come back to it if it was pretty bad.

@ Mlpmom - sorry! I didnt mean to ruin the book for you!

@ Terry - I feel the same way, it's not bad enough to stop reading, but...I want something to happen already! If this book was a person standing in front of me I'd want to shake them.

Dnelson, no worries! You didn't ruin it for me. I will still try it, you never know, I may love it. ;)

If I'm not hooked by chapter 4, I don't finish it.

Like you Mipmom, I always finished a book once I started it, but no more. Not only do I have next books in beloved series waiting to be read, but there are always new authors to check out.
I do, however, give books by authors I like a longer chance. I picked up a book of novellas which included some of my favorites and often I get ideas for new authors by reading these compilation books, but I found the preponderance of sex (which by the way, I do enjoy most times - I've learned much from these books ;o)))) ) and the shallowness of the storyline meant I just put it down and moved onto the book I really wanted to read - The Mane Event by Shelly Laurenston who is my newest favourite author.

I always finish a book. I just have to know the end. That being said, if a book hasn't really hooked me after a 100 or so pages, I'll go read something else and try and come back. If I just feel no connection at all to the book, I start skimming ahead. Sometimes I'm lucky and get hooked and finish, other times I skim to the end and call it a day.

I admit that sometimes mood factors for me, too (@Anna). That's why I'll set something aside and try it later. Have done this several times lately... The other thing is, I'm a Kindle #SampleJunkie so I'm learning to listen to my reactions to samples. ;) That's only 10% of the book.

~Aithne

I still try to finish every book I start, I may put it down awhile... I have 3 that I've done this with and haven't picked back up yet! But I'm sure I will I just have so much in my TBR pile that I'm going try to handle that before I go back to those that I was able to put down.

It's the magical 25% percent that does the trick for me. If I don't like it till then I'll usually drop it. I used to try and stick with every book I started before my TBR grew out of control. Then I realised I ended up disliking those books and rating them with 1 or 2 stars anyway, so I figured there's just no point in torturing myself.

If the book isn't terribly bad though, just 'meh', I might do some fast reading by skimming through it, skipping love scenes, long descriptions and any scene I can, in order to finish it & find out how it ends.

I usually try to read 100 pages if there's anything interesting at all about the book. That has paid off before--I recall one book that suddenly had something really interesting added on page 99, and then I enjoyed the rest of the book a lot! If I can't find anything interesting, I'll try to give it at least 50 pages, and I'll read reviews to see if it gets better. (Normally, I try to avoid any information about a book before I start it, because I like to be surprised.)

I don't make myself read books if I'm really not enjoying them. What's the point? There are too many other interesting books out there! I have 182 books on my TBR list and over 300 samples on my Kindle!

I recently read a book I didn't like, but had such an interesting concept (okay, there were serial killers, I'm a sucker for serial killers) that I kept skimming even though I couldn't stand the main character. And it turned out to really disappoint me and even offend me near the end. It wasn't even worth the time to skim. I learned my lesson!

If I'm reading a book that I really don't like, I'll 'speed read' or skim the rest of it too, so that I get the gist of it. Although, I have to agree with you Clare - life's too short and my TBR pile is too high to read a book I really, really don't like

I'll usually give a book one or two chapters if it's just rather meh. However, there have been a few where I really disliked the main character two or three pages in and put the book into the DNF pile. I might in that case, if I was interested (sort of) in seeing how the book works out, read the last chapter. Otherwise I won't bother. The book will end up at the UBS.

In the past, I would push my way through a book. A while ago I would have even gave it half of the book but now that my time is so limited and I have so many books to read, if it a book doesn't grab me by 20/30% I stop reading. I would have to have a friend, who I trust, tell me the book will pick up.

If the book doesn't grab me after 50 pages then I come to the conclusion that its not going to get any better and its not worth my time, which would be better spent reading something that does appeal to me.

I don't have a certain point where I stop. If I don't like a book, I'll stop reading it. I try to read further, but if it doesn't interest me then there's no point in wasting my time on it. Sometimes I'll skim through the pages, other times I just give up. I'd rather read something I like instead of something I can't stand :3

Well, since I don't take book out of the library that means I buy it (in bookstore/kindle) so I will read it even if the book is not quite what I thought it would be or was not as interesting as I thought it could be.

Even if I don't like the book I'll usually keep reading anyways hoping it will get better and it often does, Or I'll put it down for a while and come back to it.

I've only not finished one or two books so far...and it's usually within the first 100 pages. I always hope to come back to them, but there are so many great books I want to read, I keep getting distracted, and haven't gone back to the "dropped" ones yet. :)

As I have such limited reading for pleasure time, if a book hasn't grabbed me in 50 pages, I'm done with it. Sometimes I will give up faster, when I don't like the characters or, as what happened with one book, there was a certain "ick" factor that put me off early on.

There are books like Outlander, though, that take a while to get going but then when they do, it's worth it. You always wonder, maybe the next chapter will do it...

If I find myself rolling my eyes a lot, that's usually when I put the book away. But I know it's a mood thing, so I will sometimes come back to a book later and end up liking it a lot.

If a book is extremely confusing (I've read a couple where I have no idea what's going on) I'll put it away pretty quickly.

I usually know whether I want to finish within 15-25%.

Usually a chapter or two; if it doesn't grab me I move to something else-I have a ton of books in my tbr pile. Eventually I come back to the book and finish i; just needed a different mood to appreciate it

I don't really have a pre-determind length, if I am too bored to keep reading, keep making excuses to do something else or have read multiple other books since I start the one I'm having trouble getting through, I usually stop.

I'm having serious problems getting through the most recent Undead book, Queen Betsy is on my last nerve, but I really want to know what happens. I've read at least 5 book since I picked it up.

Jaime wrote: "There are books like Outlander, though, that take a while to get going but then when they do, it's worth it. You always wonder, maybe the next chapter will do it... "

That's funny. I just put Outlander on hold because 300 pages in I'm still struggling. It's just too descriptive. It's the first book I've stopped reading partway in about 5 years.

Usually within the first three chapters otherwise i almost cant finish it at all.

Usually after the first chapter I know, but I don't give up on it. I start skipping. I don't care for a ton of details. I kind of like coming up in my own head what things look like, etc. Too much description can be a little boring. I try to finish every book I read.

In my experience it's case specific. Some books, first chapter, usually stand alone novels can get tossed. Series books are a little trickier. Some series grab me from the first chapter, like Psy-Changeling. Other series like, Fever, didn't get good until the third book (I had a pretty insistent friend helping me along). Glad I held out, but if my rules weren't flexible, I wouldn't have enjoyed some good series.

For the most part if the writing is good, I will finish. If the writing drives me crazy, like many teen books seem to be doing lately, White cat for instance, I give up after a couple chapters. That is different for me from a book just being slow. Slow I have learned to keep reading. One of my most fav series, Succubus Blues, I almost put down after reading the first few pages.

To date, there is only one book I haven't finished, and it may well have been my mood. I did give it away though, so I probably will never try and read it again. Mostly I just go really slowly with it, if it's not the right pacing or topic or whatever I'm feeling in that moment that is stopping me from loving it.

I very very rarely don't finish a book once I start it. It may take me awhile to get through it if it's dull or whatnot, and I may put it down for awhile to read something else, but I almost always finish. Eventually.

Offhand I can think of only two books I've stopped on and refuse to finish. One was a book recommended by a friend because it was one of her favorite books ever, but the main character repulsed me so much I only made it (forced myself) through 1/3 of it before I just couldn't stand to read another word about him. The other was a PNR sort of book in which the author's concept of how vampires worked was just so ridiculous that I closed it in disgust at how corny and ludicrous it was after only getting 20 or so pages at most into it.

There are two books within the past year that I had to stop reading. I usually give it until 25%. I may come back later and try again or just call it a day.

100 pages is all I allow. If a book can't grab me by then, I leave it for another time.