Read it or Unhaul it Challenge - First of 2025

 I'm doing the Read It Or Unhaul It challenge again this year. If you don't know the rules, I'll explain it in one sentence; I read it and like it, or get rid of it. It's a way to keep the bookshelf free of unliked books. Without much adieu, let's go. 

The rules of this challenge are simple. I picked three random books from "the unread" tab of my book inventory (not including the series I collect). I read them or DNF them. I decide what to do with them at the end of the challenge. I chose three, a good number to handle for one blog. I can do up to five if I DNF two in a row (a rule I added this past year). That's about it for rules. I'm going to go one book at a time. 

If you take on this challenge, it is a good rule of thumb to read ten percent or four to five chapters before making a decision. Unless of course you hate it already, then you know what to do. I recommend this challenge to book dragons like me. We hoard books, but don't always read them all. We need space constantly for books. This will help you keep space open for books you love. Try it if you need to declutter your bookshelf. 

Red Hot Steele (Daggers and Steele series book one) by Alex P. Berg

Courtesy of goodreads.com

What you have here is a hard-boiled fantasy mystery with a noir fiction feel. It comes across as a bit sexist, Daggers being the worst offender. It has lots of Marlowe-like wit and banter, but Marlowe was much better. It features Jake Daggers and begins with his partner retiring, which makes Jake a pain in the royal butt to his coworkers in the police force (rebelling against desk duty). He gets paired with an elf woman clairvoyant (Shay Steele). I stopped here. 

Why did I DNF this? The sexism outdid Ian Fleming. I can handle a few sexist moments within a few chapters (Fleming does this but compensates by being an excellent action writer), but Daggers spouts sexist crap and thinks sexist crap nearly the whole time. Ogling naked victims of crimes, treating Steele like she's lesser than him, and basically being a butthole most of the time. If he'd had some infrequent sexist moments, I'd be totally okay with finishing the book, but no. Instead, we see an intolerable, sexist, and childish Jake Daggers. If the perspective was purely Steele's, I'd probably finish the book. This is DNF number one. 

Death By Nostalgia by Andrew Stanek    (Felix Green series book one)

Courtesy of Goodreads

I started this book and was shocked to find that I was ten percent through in one chapter and twenty percent through in two chapters. I feel justified in saying, twenty percent in, that I was not taken in and didn't care about the mystery or characters. The writing style was part of the problem. I felt not attachment to any characters, at all. 

In the first chapter a building was taken down, a character went missing, and a stranger (Felix Green, PI) watched carefully, until the police noticed a murder. Second chapter we meet Felix Green properly and he is hired on to work with Detective Alder. I stopped here, twenty percent in. Obviously, I DNFed this one. It wasn't for me. 

The Lost Heiress by Roseanne M. White

Courtesy of archive.org

This a romance about a woman who finds she's a baroness. It begins with her discovering this through a family friend's inquiry. Our main man, Justin, turns out to have a father who refuses to visit his relative in England, and the man gambles in Monte Carlo most of the time. I stopped here. I had no connection to our main characters, didn't care what happened to them, and found myself forcing page turns. 

The problem here is the writing style, the lack of attachment to any character, and how they introduced the characters. I was not a fan of how the opening chapter barely introduced the people. It was abrupt. I also lost interest long before ten percent in, or even four chapters in. I read two chapters and couldn't force myself to turn another page or read any farther down the page. I have another book by this author that is also being donated. I can't see myself trying the next book in the series after being bored of this one. It was a quick DNF. 

conclusions

We had no winners in this challenge, no surprise five star or four star reads to rave about. This challenge is all about reading what I have -especially the random books I picked up for free. All of them cost me no money at all. I lost no money on these books. I donated four books counted the second Roseanna White book I owned. That's what this challenge is for, weeding out what you don't want in your bookshelf. I have no regrets. 

The Jake Daggers was particularly disappointing because a fantasy, homicide detective setting is a cool idea; the sexism killed the cool factor and I'm sad for that. I was into it until the sexism decided to drown out the actual awesomeness of a DnD-esque homicide detective/Noir mystery. It was a good idea on paper and the execution was the problem. The other two were just boring, but that one had potential. It made me sad to see that wasted. 

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I wrote a book! I am delighted to say that I have 5 five-star reviews up on Amazon now, which is amazing. I hope you like it, too. If you're interested in buying a paperback, hardcover, or ebook version go to my website link in this blog or click here to go straight to my Amazon page. 

Jack Thomas is running from a past case. He's hiding in Wrenville. Is his past case catching up with him? 

Find out in my first book, Wrenville, a stand-alone suspense novel.