I really don’t like to quit things. I mean. Non-job things. Because Lord knows I have quit more than my share of jobs. And, FINE, diets. Or, as the diet people call them, LIFESTYLE CHANGES. Whatevs. I have quit a whole bunch of those, too.

But TV shows? Or movie franchises? Or — let’s just get to it — book series? I really hate quitting those things.

I can count the number of shows I’ve been hooked on and then, later, quit watching on one hand. [Grey’s Anatomy, I still miss you…] And I don’t even care who replaces Daniel Craig or how crazypants Tom Cruise is in real life, I will see every single James Bond and Mission Impossible movie until the day I die, the end.

And that is why I have continued to read the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich WELL PAST the point of my enjoyment. (It’s also why I watched the poorly received and reviewed movie with Katherine Heigl and YOU SHUT UP I liked it anyway.)

If you haven’t read it, this particular series of books is about a bounty hunter in New Jersey whose best friend is a sassy former prostitute and whose boyfriend is a reformed bad boy cop. Oh, and there’s a mysterious fellow bounty hunter who makes up the other leg of the requisite love triangle. Hijinks are wacky and ensue on a regular basis. And honestly? The first several books were laugh out loud funny and kept me eagerly coming back for more. But after a dozen or so installments, the stories got repetitive and the laughs became rare.

[Why yes, this is what prompted my post about OTHER cozy mystery series you might enjoy if you’re tired of reading the Stephanie Plum series. However did you guess?]

Still, I plodded along, refusing to quit. Because I have a list of my favorite authors and series, and I read each new book. That’s what I do. Over and over and over. (Kind of like Stephanie Plum waffles between her two men and bungles her job and eats donuts and gets cars blown up over and over and over…)

But then a couple weeks ago, the twenty-second book in this series came in at the library. I’d requested it (like I do) months ago, and at first I was excited to pick it up. But then I remembered not loving the last one. Oh well, I decided, surely this one would be better. Apparently I’m quite the optimist when it comes to flagging book series.

Anyway. It was not better. And so… I quit it.

GASP!!

Well, maybe you’re not so shocked. Maybe you’ve believed forever that life is too short for bad books or movies or TV shows (or diets, ahem). But this is new for me. And it kind of has a domino effect. I’ve since quit two other books that I wasn’t loving — both by authors I love and have read every one of their other books! Double gasp!

So, let’s talk quitting. When do you quit reading a book? Especially if it’s part of a series or by an author you’ve enjoyed in the past?

When do you call it quits?