As I’ve reflected on my 2017 reading and made plans for the new year, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of books in my Goodreads that I’m just no longer interested in reading.

Whether it’s because of bad reviews or my own changing taste (or rather, awareness of my reading tastes), I just don’t want to read these books anymore, but I don’t want to completely remove them from my Goodreads shelves and forget that I was ever interested in them. So I recently created a shelf on my Goodreads for books I’ve lost interest in, and I thought I’d share a few of them with you here today.

As a disclaimer, I’m not saying I’ll never read these books. There are definitely a few on this list that I can see myself being convinced to read, but for now, I’m taking them out of my TBR shelves and marking them as Lost Interest.

Oh, and if you loved these books, that’s awesome! I’m not in any way trying to judge you for that, I’m just trying to explain why I don’t think these will be the right fit for me anymore.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I’ve seen the Shatter Me series all over the internet, and the hype has only gotten bigger with the announcement that Mafi is publishing a sequel trilogy. The premise is interesting, but I’ve heard enough people say that this series is really just ok that I don’t think it’s anything I’ll be blown away by or have to read. There are plenty of other series that I’m really excited to read and think I’ll love, and I’d rather read those.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

An Enchantment of Ravens was super hyped and has a gorgeous cover, so I was really excited for it to come out last fall. As I was in the middle of focusing on reading from my shelves, I didn’t read it right away, and since then a number of reviews have come in saying how disappointing and short they thought this book is. There are actually a bunch of people who have also said that they really enjoyed this story, but the critiques have made me think this isn’t a book I’ll like much and that I should focus on reading other things.

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Flame in the Mist has the most gorgeous cover (or it did before the redesign) plus it was a Mulan retelling set in a fantasy version of Japan, so I was totally set to read this book. But as awesome as the premise is, I’ve since realized that I couldn’t stand The Wrath and the Dawn, which has made me reluctant to try more of Ahdieh’s writing. And then a number of people said they don’t like the characters and the plot of this book all that much, so I’ve pretty much lost all interest in reading it. It’s such a shame, because it’s such a cool setup for a book and I really want to like Ahdieh’s writing, but I just don’t think it’s the right fit for me.

Once a Rebel by Mary Jo Putney

I was super excited to get an advanced copy of Once a Rebel at BookCon because I’m always looking for more historical romances that aren’t set in England, and this is an American Revolution romance. Plus Putney is a well known writer, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with it. Only I read the prologue and thought it was completely ridiculous, and the reviews on Goodreads make it sound like I’m going to have all kinds of problems with the plot of this book. I just don’t have time for that.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

So apparently Colleen Hoover is a pretty controversial author. I haven’t personally read any of her books and think a few of them sound interesting, so I figured I’d give her a shot with one of her most popular books, like Maybe Someday. Except that I’ve realized lately that contemporary romance just really isn’t my genre and I want to be more picky about when I choose to venture into it, and for some reason I suspect Hoover’s books probably aren’t want I’m looking for. I’m not swearing her off forever, but right now I’ve just decided I’m not interested in her books and would rather read something else (like The Hating Game or The Wedding Date or A Princess in Theory).

Permanent Ink by Piper Vaughn and Avon Gale

As you might know by now, I’m a huge fan of Illegal Contact by Santino Hassell, so when I saw Hassell talking about how amazing Permanent Ink is, I of course added it to my TBR. Except late last year I read Off the Ice by the same two authors and was not at all a fan, so that combined with the fact that the premise of Permanent Ink doesn’t sound all that interesting to me (plus, as I mentioned, my reluctance to pick up contemporaries), I’ve decided to mark this as lost interest for now.

In light of emerging information about Hassell’s inappropriate behavior, I no longer stand by my endorsement of Illegal Contact. Please see this post for more details.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

I know, I know, Eliza and Her Monsters has been getting rave reviews in the bookish community and everyone needs to read it! A lot of people named this as one of their favorite reads of 2017, which is kind of making me reconsider my decision. Only, the premise of it doesn’t really sound that interesting to me, and if I’m going to read a YA contemporary, I have a long list of books I’d rather pick up first. Again, I wouldn’t say I’ll never read this book, but there are just a number of books I’d rather read than this one, so for now I’m moving it to my lost interest shelf.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Oh man, this series. So everyone and their mother raves about Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I really enjoyed it myself when I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon. But I struggled so much with the sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight. It took more more than 150 pages to get into it, and that book was massive. Dreams of Gods and Monsters is even bigger! Even though I wound up enjoying the second book by the end, it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I’m not at all excited to read the last book. I could force myself to do it so I can say I’ve finished the series, and there’s a good chance I’ll enjoy it, but I’m just not sure it’ll be worth the 613-page commitment for me when there are so many other books I’d rather read. Maybe one day I’ll change my mind and circle back to finish the trilogy, but for now I have zero interest.

Gilded by Christina Farley

Gilded is a book that I haven’t necessarily heard a ton about, but it has an interesting premise: it’s about a Korean American girl who discovers that a Korean demigod has been stealing the oldest daughter of each generation in her family for centuries, and she’s next. It came to my attention recently because the Kindle version was on sale, so I started poking around Goodreads to see if it was something I wanted to pick up since I’m always a fan of fantasy books featuring diverse characters and settings. Only the reviews on this book are…not good. A number of people said that this book has some really bad representation in it, in addition to having a weak plot and poor character development, which pretty much made me lose all interest in reading it.

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Alright, it’s your turn. Let me know in the comments what some books are that you’ve lost interest in lately! And of course feel free to convince me as to why I need to give some of these books a shot if you really think I’ll enjoy them.