I had the same issue. Once I got to Denerim, I just got overwhelmed by the mass of quests and places to go and stopped. I tend to do that lately with open-world RPGs, etc - get overwhelmed and stopped.
It took me till a few months ago, a full year later, for me to start playing it again.
And I quickly fell right back in love - boy, was that game amazing.
The ending truly felt epic - and not in the overused sense of the word, but in that you really feel like you made an impact on the world.
It was great.
I didn't finish Awakenings though - hardly played it. For some reason, I just couldn't get into it.
Despite all the loathing people have for DA2, due to how it's changing, I really don't mind. I loved the first one, I'm sure I'll love this one too.
And change can be a good thing in sequels. I mean, Awakenings was basically DA, but more of it, and that didn't really do it for me - so I'm optimistic about the change.
The game is so awesome that i wouldnt mind starting over again to finish it. Hmmm.