Recently abandoned books + fic rec

The Happy Return by C S Forester
A Hornblower book which a friend lent me and told me to read. The reason I didn't like this book is that is not written by Patrick O'Brian, which is probably unfair, but I can't deny it. I mean, it's a perfectly competent Age of Sail adventure book, but...no. Patrick O'Brian, you have apparently ruined me for all other AoS books.

Dreams of the Sea by Elizabeth Vonarburg
I dropped this book after reading a third of it. The narrative is disjointed and hard to follow: it's the story of humans coming to settle a planet, told through the fragmentary dreams of the alien species who used to live there and who can somehow share the human memories. I really enjoyed In the Mother's Land by the same author, and I can see how this book deals with the (un)reliability of historical narrative, just as that one did. Just...much less compellingly.

Galileo's Dreams by Kim Stanley Robinson (audiobook)
Dropped this one after a third, too. It's the story of Galileo, with the addition of time-traveling Europans (as in Jupiter's moon) for some reason bringing him forward in time to witness/intervene in the controversy of whether to disturb Europa's native life. This should be up my alley, but somehow it just didn't engage me enough, although I usually enjoy the author's work.

Oh, and also, have a fic rec: Three Adventures Belladonna Took Never Went On, by Firerose. It's the Hobbit story you never knew you wanted. : )