DNF Reviews: The Breathless & Approximately Yours

The Breathless by Tara Goedjin

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No one knows what really happened on the beach where Roxanne Cole’s body was found, but her boyfriend, Cage, took off that night and hasn’t been seen since. Until now. One year—almost to the day—from Ro’s death, when he knocks on the door of Blue Gate Manor and asks where she is.

Cage has no memory of the past twelve months. According to him, Ro was alive only the day before. Ro’s sister Mae wouldn’t believe him, except that something’s not right. Nothing’s been right in the house since Ro died.

And then Mae finds the little green book. The one hidden in Ro’s room. It’s filled with secrets—dangerous secrets—about her family, and about Ro. And if what it says is true, then maybe, just maybe, Ro isn’t lost forever.

And maybe there are secrets better left to the dead.

DNF @ 16%

It was just so mehhhhhhhh. I honestly wish that I had more to say, but all I have is that I bored. It seemed intriguing, but the moment that 3 different points of view were introduced within the first three chapters, I was just not as interested since there were so many storylines going on. I couldn’t find myself intrigued to even read the pages other than to flip to find if I could find something more interesting. Again, nothing really wrong with this other than I was completely bored.

No crowns because it’s a DNF and a Snow White rating.

Approximately Yours by Julie Hammerle

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Danny Garland is so out of Holly’s league. And her family is only back in North Pole, Minnesota, long enough to sell Grandma’s house and say “Merry Christmas.” So telling her basketball-star, too-hot-to-be-real long-time crush that she’d like to kiss him under the mistletoe just isn’t going to happen.

And now he’s asked out her cousin, Elda. Elda is a mess at flirting, so when she begs Holly to intervene, she does. Holly helps her flirt with him over text. And then again. And again. Now she’s stuck texting him as her cousin, and Elda is the one going on the date. Holly thought she could settle for just conversation with Danny, but talking with him is some kind of magic. He’s got the perfect comebacks, she makes him laugh, they text until everyone is asleep.

She just can’t ever tell him it’s her he’s really texting.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book has hot texts, gingerbread wars, and a slow-burn romance that could melt a Minnesota winter.

*Thank you so much to Entangled Teen for sending me over a copy for an honest review! I really appreciate it!*

DNF @ 35%

I really enjoyed Julie Hammerle’s first book in this standalone series, Any Boy But You. While it was a bit predictable, I thought it still had some adorable elements with a super cute, adorable setting that was whimsical and fun. I’m not usually a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, but she did it very well in that book. When I saw this book, I was eager to request it. However, unlike the spark and fun in the first book, this missed something for me. 

I think the issue was that I felt no connection. Literally no connection to anything. I was connected to the town like I was in the first book. I felt no connection to one of our main characters, Danny. I felt not much of connection to Holly. I felt no connection to the writing or the storyline. It all felt so…ehhhhhhhh or overdone or nothing. I just felt so bored reading it, and some of the things that happened (especially the conversations with the boys talking about the girls just made me roll my eyes). It just felt like it was missing the magic for me, and I really tried to push myself further with it. However, in the end, I had to just call it a day when I couldn’t sum up any excitement at almost 50% of the book. It’s not bad at all – it just didn’t entertain or excite me.

No crowns because it is a DNF, and a Snow White rating!