Books I Put on Hold & Want to pick up again ❤

Hello fellow bookworms ❤ Do you ever get that feeling when you’re just not in the right mood to read this particular book? I never used to consider myself a mood reader, but in the previous years, my reading moods have become an important influence on my enjoyment of a book. Back in the day I didn’t put down a book I had planned to read and rigorously stuck to my TBR but now I give myself a bit more freedom. That’s why I’ve been putting books down more often (especially in 2020) because they just weren’t what I was looking for at that moment, but that I still want to read when the mood is right! I thought it would be nice to talk about 6 books that I put ‘on hold’ last year, why I wasn’t in the mood for them and why I’m still excited to read them someday. I’d love to hear if you’ve read and enjoyed them 🥰

Me trying to figure out what books I want to pick up again 

The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden)

➽ I wanted to read this as my last book of the year, especially as it has a wintery feeling to it, but it just didn’t work out. This is a dense and slow-paced Fantasy book, which I normally don’t mind, but it wasn’t the right book to end my year with. I was also in a contemplative mood with the end of my break approaching, so I wasn’t in the mood for a very whimsical fantasy book that also contains heavy content, I wasn’t really ready to emotionally handle. However, I still have heard such good things about this Trilogy, and it sounded fascinating with the Russian folklore and magic, so I hope to pick it up again! Not sure if it’ll happen this winter though ❄

A Court of Wings and Ruin (Sarah J. Maas)

➽ I picked this book up and put it down again for the third time now, it’s getting slightly embarrassing 😅 I have officially missed the perfect time to read this, I should have started this right after getting obsessed with ACOTAR and ACOMAF in 2018, as now I fail to muster up the excitement I had back then for the series. I got 100 pages into it and the story itself was okay, I just was out of this world for so long and missed that spark of love for the characters. It doesn’t help that the book is pretty long as well. I still want to read this (I got the hardcover and will not rest until I’ve finished it) but I have to think of a different way to approach this!

Supernova (Marissa Meyer)

➽ You might know that the Renegades Trilogy is one of my favorite series, the books are such a comfort to me and I adore the characters. That’s why I should have devoured this book, but series finales also bring their own set of expectations and pressure with them, so I was getting too upset with what was happening to my favorite characters. This was right at the beginning of the first lockdown, so maybe that’s why I was getting so anxious reading this, as the characters mean a lot to me. I put it down instead of forcing through and maybe being disappointed by it as a consequence. However, I love the books as I said, and want to finish this series, hopefully it’ll happen this year ❤

Let’s Talk About Love (Claire Kann)

➽ I loved Claire Kann’s second book If It Makes You Happy, it was a surprise favorite of 2019, so I was excited to get into her debut novel Let’s Talk About Love. I tried to read it in the summer like her last book, but sadly this didn’t work for me at the time. Once again, the summer was full of mixed emotions, so I wasn’t in the mood for a book with a cheesy romance, especially as there was a whole lot of insta-love involved. This doesn’t mean I never want to read this book, as I enjoy a wholesome romance and bought it with this in mind, yet it wasn’t what I needed this summer. I felt myself getting irritated with the characters and wanted to save this book for another occasion where I could truly appreciate it 🥰

Graceling (Kristin Cashore)

➽ I’ve had this classic backlist Fantasy series on my TBR for ages and was encouraged to pick it up for a Readathon. I tried reading it at the very end of the month and after getting stuck at it for a while, I wanted to push it into the next month as my first read. However, I realized Graceling wasn’t working for me at the moment and I didn’t get that spark that many people had loved about it. The book wasn’t as action-packed as I expected and includes a lot of journeys, so I wanted to put it on hold until I was more invested in this type of story and be truly engaged in the character’s lives, which is always most important to me! 🙏

Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel)

➽ This is another case of a book that’s very slow and character-driven, so I wasn’t up for reading it when my library hold came in. This was right when I was hurrying to organize my new flat and Master’s program so I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with a slow book that banked on me getting invested in the characters. I’ve heard good things about this and I’m still hoping to read it, as it’s a post-apocalyptic book that focuses more on day to day life instead of a big action to save the world, which I find very intriguing! 😊

Have you read any of the books on my list? Did you like reading them? Any books you’ve put on hold?

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