I have three books to review and I’m officially stuck. Easy you think, right? Not really. One I loved, one I hated and I falls right in the middle. What’s the big deal? Allow me to explain. You see any good review I read always does the following: (1)provides a clear opinion on a book (2) with a understanding of the story ,(3) without any spoilers. Sounds easy? It’s not. Problem one, when I love a book I want to go on and on about every character and how they were integral parts of the story, how they affected the plot and the outcome. Damn broke rule number three. Okay but isn’t that why goodreads made that great little spoilers button? Sure, but I don’t have one of those. So cut out the important parts, keep the integrity of the story so readers understand, oh yeah and make sure everyone knows it was kick ass. Lots of exclamations points only get you so far!!! Sorry saying this was awesome over and over just doesn’t cut it anymore..
So what about the bad reviews? Same rules but now your actually criticizing some ones writing, and potentially convincing others not to read it. I have always held to the belief that I should be honest, but there is a line between honest and mean, and you never want to cross it. This is especially hard with small indie writers, while I don’t mind offering critique, basically telling someone I generally disliked there book can be harder than you think when someone has 5 reviews total on there page. And then on the other hand, if they are a well loved author, prepare for the backlash. I can still remember my first one star, it was a Y.A. author that was popular, whoa watch out! After I started getting some negative thumbs down I was pissed, I had worked hard on that honest review and it seemed that some people were just not liking it because they loved the author (and hadn’t even read the book, hey I loved them too but this book was not up to par) not because it was a badly written review. But then I did a total readjust on my attitude, I had to remember, I just said something bad about an author they liked, hey that’s they’re way of expression too. I always now make it a point to read all types of reviews and try to concentrate on how people are expressing themselves. It takes a lot of courage sometimes to say bad things.
The in between. Ugh this is the hardest to write. Sure I can go to amazon and goodreads and throw up three stars, but write a comment? This is where I struggle. But I recently read something an author wrote and I’m taking it to heart, they pointed out that reviews with good and bad points in them are the best kind because you learn the most from them. So I’m working on going back and writing an actual review, pointing out what I liked and disliked WITHOUT SPOILERS (so bad at that) so people can make up they’re own minds.
I know this isn’t an official review, but sometimes you gotta vent.
Geek Sneak Peek 