Monday, July 29, 2019

To Review or Not to Review - That Is The Question

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You're all excited. An author you've read before released another book. You plunk down your hard earned money and wait by your mailbos or open your Kindle.

The first half of the book pulls you in and you're on a wild ride. Oh, there are a few troublesome things, but you think to yourself the author didn't mean it THAT way.

And then, it gets weirder  and weirder.

The author crosses a line you've drawn in the sand - your, "I-can't-read-this-type-of-book" line. What do you do?

1.  Hope it will get better?
2.  Finish the book to see how the author justifies a foray into forbidden territory?
3.  Walk away and never look back?
4.  Write a scathing review?
5.  Try to find some redeeming lesson in the story?

This happened to me recently. I know how it feels to be so disappointed and upset after investing so much time reading a book.

I chose Option 3 - Walking away and never looking back. Options 1 and 2 didn't work for me since I'd already been trying to justify the storyline. Option 4 - I don't write this type of review - ever. Why?

1.  I don't want to bring attention to a book I feel might be detrimental to another person.
2.  Negative reviews sometimes have a positive effect on sales. Go figure.
3. As an author myself, I understand the hard work that goes into writing a book. This tale was outside my normal genre. It was better to pray for the author than tearing the story to shreds (a strong temptation - let me tell you).

The last option didn't work either. The story was on such a downward slide that I doubted it could be rescued.

And, no, I'm not naming names or titles!

Writers and Readers: What are your thoughts on this subject?

Photo Credit:  DaVinciS



1 comment:

quietspirit said...

I sometimes review books for a publisher. One of the publishers I used to review for told me I
qualified for a "bonus" book. It was a PDF. (I am not a fan of PDFs.) I got into it and decided I could NOT continue reading it, let alone write a decent review. I emailed the publisher through the review email address and expressed my thoughts. They let me NOT review that book. I did NOT feel bad about backing out of that review. I am a conservative Christian. I have learned what moves a story along. That book, as I remember, was more or less the author complaining about how she had been treated badly by life. I don't remember the name of the book or the name of the author.