From Meh to Must-Read: The Books That Grew On Me

Sometimes it takes a while to fall in love with a book.

There are books I've crawled through struggling to get into and ready to give up on, but as I kept pushing through I found myself slowly starting to like the book or happy I kept with it as something changed and I was pleasantly surprised by the second half of it.

This list of suggestions is books that grew on me as I kept reading, I didn't enjoy them till the second half, but glad I stuck with them. Each is worth the read even if they are slow to start and you are unsure if you will like them.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman: I love everything Backman writes so I was excited to dive into this one until I couldn't get into it and was struggling all the way through with confusion about the characters and the zaniness of the book. I kept reading though and in the last chapter, my mind changed about the entire book, with a new love for the characters and story.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride: This book is a beautifully written historical fiction book everyone should read at least once. The first half of the book is dedicated to all of the characters each telling a unique story, but makes it hard to get into the overall book. Midway through the story picks up and you will want to finish with everything coming together.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano: Everyone raved about this book of four sisters and some even compared it to Little Women. I was excited to get started but soon became disappointed. It was slow I didn't love the characters and was having a hard time getting into it. As the story went on I slowly started to enjoy it more and was introduced to characters I had more interest in. I'm glad I finished it to see how the story ended.

Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: This book was dragged out in certain parts. I wanted to give up and stop reading, but I kept going which allowed me to see the overall story and how important each part was in the ending and I ended up enjoying the book.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: A little mundane at times to get through but worth the read and has some pretty surprising twists.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: This novel was interesting it took a while to get through, however, the overall concept of the book is fascinating motivating me to finish it.

Finishing a book that is hard to get into or is slow is an important part of the reading journey. Dropping a book halfway through you will miss important parts of the story, you will never know if you liked the book, or how the book finished. I'm glad I stuck it out through each of these books and it has taught me the importance of finishing something even if I'm unsure.