Books you can't pick up

So I was reading Jessica Andersen's Nightkeepers last week, a book that sounded supremely cool, being packed with cults, 2012 conspiracies and Mayan myths. Unfortunately I gave up about 100 pages from the end having lost all desire to continue. One of the characters in the book describes herself as being a lot of hard work for not much reward, which sums up how I felt about the book nicely. I know when you're starting a series there's a need to lay the foundations for the world, introduce all the important characters, etc ... but really, I just didn't have the energy to see this one through. No offence to Ms Andersen, who's clearly a highly intelligent woman, but Nightkeepers takes itself way too seriously and became pretty tedious as a result.

I also wasn't convinced by the main romance plot. The two characters constantly talked about how their romance was more than just the whole "fated-to-mate" thing, but I never saw anything that convinced me of it. As a result the whole "I love you, but I must avoid you!" thing got rather stale.

I don't like not finishing books; it seems a waste of money. But more and more often I find myself tossing them aside. I struggled to finish Twilight, which most of the rest of the world adores. I couldn't even get halfway through Lord of the Fading Lands, which again everyone else seems to love. Is it just me? Am I too picky and impatient?