Been Meaning to Finish . . .

Last week I posted a confessional, of sorts – listing all the fabulous books that are languishing in my ‘Been Meaning to Read’ pile.  

But the truth is, there are a lot more books that I could have listed but didn’t because they were in a sub-category: book series that I started reading, but haven’t continued with . . . a ‘Been Meaning to Finish’ pile, if you will.  

These are books that I haven’t got round to picking up, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series or am so close to finishing the series completely, if only I'd read the finale . . . see? More bookish insanity! 

Now, some of these I have good excuses for – either I’m delaying saying goodbye to these characters, or I have such outlandishly high expectations from the first book that I don’t want to risk the disappointment of a lagging second (which has been known to happen!). 

Here are those books/series that I've been meaning to finish . . 

Lust for Life last book in Jeri Smith-Ready’s WVMP Radio series

Yep. Nope. Can’t do it. I’m sorry! I love this series, I adore Ciara and Shane and Smith-Ready had me on the edge-of-my-seat with their romance and helter-skelter lives as radio vampire-DJs. But this is the fourth and final book in the series, and I’m just not yet ready to say goodbye to them for good and forever. So I’m delaying. 

Days of Blood and Starlight second book in Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series

I LOVED the first book. LOVED. ADORED. Hadn’t read anything quite so magical/unique in a long time, so why didn’t I dive right in to the second book? Weeeeellll . . .  I have tried. Truly. I've gotten about 12% through my ebook copy, but have yet to feel that lingering pull that keeps me enthralled and reading. I've stopped and re-started this book about three times, never quite getting hooked (and, if I’m honest, I haven’t seen the same rave reviews for ‘Blood and Starlight’ as I did for ‘Smoke and Bone’). So for now I've tucked this one away and stopped pressuring myself – clearly I’m just not in the right space to read the follow-up to one of my absolute favourite books to have come out of 2012. Also not helping matters is the fact that novella #2.5 in this series is titled ‘Night of Cake & Puppets’ . . . which just sounds bonkers to me. 

Women of the Otherworld every installment that’s not Clay and Elena’s by Kelley Armstrong

To be honest, I started on a slippery-slope when I began reading Armstrong’s ‘Women of the Otherworld’ series. I gobbled up ‘Bitten’ and ‘Stolen’ and then bought all the books in Armstrong’s series . . .  but when I tried reading ‘Dime Store Magic’ I got grumpy that it wasn’t about the werewolves or my favourite couple, Elena and Clay. So I looked ahead and saw that they next appeared in ‘Broken’ and then ‘Frostbitten’ . . . and I never went back and read all the books I'd skipped. Sure, I picked up again for Savannah’s story and got the gist of what I'd missed, but I do really love Kelley Armstrong (although new book ‘Omens’ not so much – it’s a bit boring) and I've promised myself to go back and read all the ‘Women of the Otherworld’ books that I skipped to get Clay and Elena’s story.

Shadow of Night second book in Deborah Harkness’s All Souls Trilogy 

Again, I loved ‘A Discovery of Witches’. But when ‘Shadow of Night’ arrived it was all big and chunky (584-pages, people!) I cracked it open and got 15-pages in before I had to admit to myself that I couldn’t actually remember very well where ‘A Discovery of Witches’ left off or what the big spoiler-y cliffhanger was again. *Sigh*. This is the problem when you read so many books; the complex storylines get lost and befuddled between releases, so when it comes to delving back into this extremely intricate world it becomes clear that my poor brain decided not to sacrifice those Spice Girls lyrics for more mental-space and I draw a complete blank. I probably just need to read the last chapter of ‘Discovery of Witches’ or find some spark-notes online (or a particularly spoiler-heavy Goodreads review) to jog my memory. This is more likely to happen when third and final ‘The Book of Life’ comes out next year and I’m motivated to finish the trilogy completely.

Dead Ever After final book in Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse: Southern Vampire series 

Urgh. And then there’s that one series that’s been letting me down for the last 4-5 books and I actually cringe at the thought of the author attempting to give me a halfway satisfying conclusion. I’m sorry Ms Harris and Ms Stackhouse, but this series started to seriously irk me with all the faerie stuff (not even HBO could make it cool, and Ms Harris just insisted on bringing those fae relatives back again and again and again). Not to mention the fact that everybody’s favourite steamy couple got all staid and dull when the chase was over and they actually got together. 

I’m even less inclined to read this, the 13th and final Sookie Stackhouse book, when I see that Charlaine Harris has a #13.5 out too (Who does she think she is? John Farnham?). I know it’s a short-story collection, but the very fact that Harris felt the need to release ‘After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse’ tells me that things might have wrapped a little too hastily in ‘Dead Ever After’. And it does annoy me that great characters like Quinn were just hustled out of the series for no good reason and now she’s going to justify their sudden departure in a short-story collection. Grr. See? Even just theorizing about these books annoys me. 
I’m not in an open-minded enough place to lay this series to rest yet. 
Also, 3.0/5-stars on Amazon is . . . . not inspiring.  

Hallowed and Boundless books two and three in Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly series.

I have no excuse. I really enjoyed first book ‘Unearthly’ and there are occasions when I actually stop and think; “whatever happened to that angel who saved the human boy from a wildfire. . . ?” before realizing that I could actually find out because the series is complete. But then I get sidetracked by other books and this one just keeps getting pushed back. I know, I know – I will get around to it. 
Eventually.
One day.
. . . Maybe.