Read It or Unhaul it - 2025 Summer Edition

This is a decluttering challenge. This round I've decluttered all three books. This was not the intention, but I'm glad I have more space for what I love. Usually, I like at least one. Not today. Read on to see why I decluttered all three. 

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. 

Reviews

Around the Moon

This book follows the three men who got into the projectile in From the Earth To The Moon. It follows the space travel itself after the launch. It's better to read the first book before you read this, although there is an intro that explains what happened before the events of this book. 

If Jules Verne hadn't written this (and someone who knew real NASA science had), it'd be the story of how three men expedited their deaths by going to the moon in a bullet/cannon ball without real preparation. But Jules Verne did write this and it's fiction. The way these three dingbats achieved space travel isn't possible, but NASA can certainly do it. It was written in 1870, before space travel actually happened, so it was quite ahead of its time. I got halfway through before I skimmed the book to see that they survived, then put it back in its set (with a tab where I stopped). Be prepared for science overload. That's what made me stop. I lost interest halfway. Maybe I'll pick it up again one day, but only from the tab I stopped at. I'm only keeping it because it is part of a nice, beautiful set. 

Jules Verne had ideas that later got echoed by others, leading to curiosity about real space travel. There are whole blog posts that discuss how close Verne got to real space calculations. These men would be dead (not to mention the two dogs and the chickens smuggled onboard) in real life. However, the launch calculations can be checked and we can look at what the real math is. Look it up yourself if you are interested in knowing how close Verne got to real space calculations. 

My overall thoughts on this one are mixed. It's so saturated with science that it lost me. I enjoy select parts of it and Ardan's comic relief. I stopped reading. The only reason I keep it is that it is part of a set (all Jules Verne). My pace of reading slowed to a crawl, then a standstill. The first book was engaging enough to keep my attention, but this one completely lost my attention. Too much science meant it lacked a narrative to keep me reading. 

Canyon Cove #1 - Playing Games by Liliana Rhodes

When I see a billionaire romance on the cover I get a little worried it'll be Fifty Shades of Grey in a different form. This challenge is done to weed out what I'm not into, so I'm going to see if I'm into this book. After four chapters or 10 percent read, I will see if I'm still interested in the plot - if there is any. 

Good news, there is a plot. Bad news, I see the sex scenes and steamy shower scenes coming from ten miles away. I'm 13 percent in or two chapters in. This is a romance-the-boss romance. Yay...I say sarcastically. The language use alone tells me this is mostly sex. We get an intense kissing scene in a men's shower room first chapter - first chapter! At least the characters are well written, but wow. 

I stopped at 13 percent in. Nope, not here for this. There has to be far more plot than this for me to hang around for a sex-fest. The main plot is Cassie getting a job at a MMA training facility. Then we see the owner himself show up. Then it becomes a kissing scene, then we see Gabriel and his perspective the next chapter (minus the kissing). I'm done. This is not my thing. 

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

Alright, finally a book up my alley. This is all about Agatha Christie, Queen of Suspense. Let's go! I'm pumped for this one. This challenge dredges up the random books I don't want to read, but also brings forward books I was looking forward to. This has far better prospects than the Canyon Cove lust-fest I just deleted from my e-reader. 

Okay, well, the first part of the book makes it sound like it is nonfiction, but it isn't. It's a fiction written from the perspective of the mistress. That left a really bad taste in my mouth. I realized that the mistress was speaking and immediately wanted to stop reading. I thought this was nonfiction. I had it in my bookshelf in that section. I was wrong to have it there. The book attempts to explain what happened to Agatha Christie while she was missing, even when she never spoke of those eleven days of hiding. I've always believed she went into a depression fog because of her bad marriage. I think that is the actual explanation, especially since she told her (cheating) husband to buzz off after her return. 

First of all, this is a DNF. Second of all, I cannot empathize with a character that is actively causing harm to a marriage. Third of all, it makes me sick to read her perspective and I am 9 pages in. No, I'm done. I can see why my grandmother said she couldn't finish it. 

Conclusion

I didn't mean for this to be a triple-DNF, but here we are. This week I don't have time to read two more, so I'm stopping here. This was a purge blog, if anything. I thought the first and last books would be good ones. I was wrong. The Christie Affair and the Canyon Cove romance are leaving the collection. The Jules Verne is staying as part of the set because I don't want to split up a set of nicely covered books. Plus, the first book of that duology was actually good. 

If you're doing this challenge at home, and you've decluttered all the books in one round (like me) - congratulations! That's what this challenge is for. It tells you when you have a shelf of books you don't want. This is not a losing situation by any means. This should be happening as you go through the read-or-unhaul process. 

I am not unhappy with this result (though I did think I had two good ones in the bunch). Hopefully, next time I find some good ones. Either way, the challenge is worth it. Cheers and God bless!

**********************************************************************************

 

Morrow is coming out before Christmas 2025. This novella is the story of two women writing a family history for the Morrow family. They find a nasty secret while researching. Will they survive their internship? Find out when the book releases this year. 

Sign up for my newsletter at this link to get a free first chapter when it comes out, or if you want an email the day it releases. All you need to plug in is your email. You'll also get a free first chapter of Wrenville, my first novel.