It’s common for friends to go separate ways after school and still make an effort to at least catch up on big life events.

But what would you do if your friend finally realized her dream of being an author but their book was just… Not your taste?

In this woman’s case, she tried and tried again, but just couldn’t bring herself to finish reading her friend’s novel. And now that her friend lashed out on her, she feels bad about it.

Let’s read the whole story and see how it ended.

AITA for not reading my friend’s novel?

I (26F) am friends with someone I met in college who I’ll call Jenny (23F).

They were originally friends with one of my roommates and just hung around enough that she eventually became a part of the group.

Our whole friend group has graduated so we haven’t had time to hang out like we used to. We still message each other all the time but only see each other in person a few times a year.

But she still tries to find time to support her friends.

Jenny has always dreamed of being a published author and has been working really hard to get her first book published.

I don’t exactly know how one goes about getting their book published, but from what I understand from Jenny, she has sent it to a lot of agencies/places and no one has picked it up yet.

She got tired of waiting and decided to self publish a few copies and go to local bookstores and promote it on social media.

And she was there to cheer her on.

She even had a book reading for a few of the chapters in her hometown that I went to.

For context, she lives 3 hours away and I am currently in medical school and had to pull a lot of strings to make it to her book reading.

This is where the problem lies.

Her book is a very dark, adult novel that focuses on the mystical world and is over 400 pages long.

It’s just not her cup of tea.

I personally enjoy reading more historical fiction and science fiction novels, but was going to read her book anyway because I’m so proud of all the work she’s put into it.

But during the book reading I got very uncomfortable with how graphic the novel was and I feel so bad for saying this, but I honestly just didn’t like it.

Afterwards she asked me what I thought and I said it was fantastic and even had her sign a copy of the book I bought.

She would have to disappoint her friend again.

I tried reading it again when I got home but only made it about 50 pages in before I couldn’t read anymore.

I feel so bad about not reading it but I have so many exams coming up and I really need to focus on them.

She keeps asking me if I’ve finished the book yet but I keep telling her I have exams and will finish once I’m done.

She got really mad at me and said I wasn’t being supportive and was putting school before her.

Now she’s wondering if she owes her friend an apology.

I’m the first person in my family to ever go to college, let alone medical school, so I feel a lot of pressure to do well.

I tried telling her that and that this is my career so I need to put it first right now and she hasn’t returned any of my messages since.

AITA?

She should just be honest about how she feels about the book.

Let’s see how Reddit feels about this.

A reader shares their thoughts.

This commenter shares their take on the situation.

A reality check?

It’s a matter of taste.

Another commenter chimes in.

Not cool.

It’s not personal or for lack of trying.

Just because they’re friends, it doesn’t mean she’ll suddenly change her taste in books.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.