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blogging, book reviews, Jennifer L. Oliver, novel, reading, reviews, Writing
I get really cranky when I don’t write. Even more so when I don’t read and I don’t write. So when life recently mixed with holiday chaos, the result kept me from doing either of them. Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy camper. Fortunately, with the passing of the holiday season and the birth of a new year, I was able to indulge in both.
You can imagine the peaceful “ahh” my bookworm soul felt when I finally sat down to read. I settled in on my side of the bed, opened the Kindle app on my iPad, and then had to catch myself from falling on the floor. Where the heck did all of these books come from? There were so many of them just sitting there, waiting for me to escape into their pages. I’m so gonna have to go to Book Lovers Anonymous or something and break this addiction to buying/downloading books.
Anyways, after the shock wore off I decided I needed to seriously downsize this list. Here’s to good intentions and all, but I’m totally a procrastinator. I have this uncontrollable streak that just insists on taking my sweet time to do just about everything. (My mom calls it “stubbornness”, I say I just work better under pressure.) Knowing this about myself, I realized the real challenge was figuring out how I was going to get myself to read all of these in a timely manner. I needed something to help keep me on track.
Then it hit me. (And no it wasn’t my sleeping husband’s arm being flung across my face. He doesn’t fling appendages, he just steals the covers.) Why not write book reviews? I need content for my blog and I need to read these books, so reviews would be a perfect solution. Sweet! No more crankiness and snippy attitudes… well, okay, maybe just not as often.
So, once a month I’ll post an honest review of one of the books I’ve read. Since I’m brand new at this and I’ve got a ton of books in the queue waiting for me, I will not be accepting more books. But I’ll definitely let you know when I’m ready.
Tell me, do you write reviews? Do you read them when you’re deciding whether to buy a book or other items? I’ll be doing my first one this Friday, so be sure to stop by and let me know what you think.
Magic, Mayhem and Everything In Between 
I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect!
I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe! Great to connect! I hope you stop by to visit me at http://www.scheherazade-thewritinglife.blogspot.com/
I can sympathize with your crankiness! I react the same way when I can’t find the time to just sit and write. My husband will testify to that, too! He knows when to leave me to it in the mornings, and I think he secretly prays I will eventually get up from my desk and get ready for work so I won’t lose my job! LOL It is tough sometimes!
New follower. Hope you’ll visit mine and return the follow.
P. G. http://pgshriver.blogspot.com/
Thanks for stopping by P.G.! I’m off to check out your blog now. 🙂
I do write reviews, but ONLY on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, etc… Most aren’t really long (as in blog length), but I’m with Christine. I prefer to NOT review for for people I know. I do sometimes, but I’d really rather not.
I remember getting an advanced reading copy from one author I really like, and in the first few pages, all I could think is, OMG! I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but this is HORRIBLE! If I write an honest review, she’s going to hate me. On the other hand, if I write one that won’t hurt her feelings, it WILL reflect on me as an author. If other readers think I actually like a lousy book, then they might automatically assume that I WRITE lousy books, too.
Turns out she accidentally sent me, and everyone else, the FIRST draft. Fortunately someone contacted her about how bad it was…and she was mortified. The final draft was actually quite good…thank God.
But between that, and a request from someone I didn’t know (whose first five pages were so bad I couldn’t even finish it), I do the whole surprise thing, too. I flatly refuse to say I’ll review a book. But if I like it, I will try to remember to do it.
Good luck with your reviewing quest, Jennifer. Yes, you do get better with practice. The hardest thing is to write a good one without giving away anything. 🙂
Kristy,
My first drafts are utter crap. I can only imagine how she felt having sent one for her ARC. Yikes! But I’m glad she was able to get that fixed. 🙂
And you’re right, the hardest part is not to give away anything when reviewing. I’m running into that challenge already! LOL!
Thanks for sharing your story with me!
Kristy is a wise and awesome woman.
Thanks, Christine. 🙂
My first drafts leave a lot to be desired, too, Jennifer. I find I tend to write short, choppy sentences (that made sense when I wrote them, but leave me wondering ‘HUH!’ when I start editing). I also tend to use a boatload of exclamation points…and I never can figure out why. But even though I try not to, I still find way too many of them.
If you ask any author, they’ll tell you the first draft is always crap. It’s what you do with it that counts (she says). With me it tends to be repetition of a wonderful word I’ve discovered, which means a search and destroy mission during the first edit and hours of mulling over where to use it in the wip for the best effect. And now I stop as soon as I find my characters thinking in cliches and I highlight them too.
🙂
I like to write about books I’ve read (and movies) on my blog from time to time — I hestitate to call them ‘reviews’ because I don’t necessarily cover all the bases. And I try to always cover the things I liked, rather than the things I didn’t. I definitely believe one should always be honest, but I don’t feel comfortable dissing other writers. I think it’s a tricky topic for us. After all, it IS very subjective.
Having said all that, I’ve discussed very few books in the past year owing to time pressures. And I suppose I mainly stick to reviewing books in the genres I write (part of that ‘branding’ exercise). Unfortunately, I read so little in 2012 — a really poor showing. Something I intend to rectify in 2013!
I look forward to reading your reviews. 🙂
Hi Ellen!
It really is subjective, isn’t it? I’m not so sure I want to be a “reviewer” so much as I want to share the good stories I’ve read with others. I think Christine was on to something with her suggestions.
I have a really hard time reading only in the genre which I write. I’ve found my reading tastes are quite eclectic – a little YA, a little paranormal, a little dark fiction and horror, a little thriller… Basically, I just like a good story. LOL!
And according to the huge TBR list I’ve accumulated, I didn’t read as much as I thought I did in 2012. So I’ll be with you on getting more reading in this year.
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy New Year, sweet thing.
If I find a story that sucks the air from my chest I do occasionally write a review on my blog. And since there are few stories that have that effect on me I don’t do many. (I don’t tell the writer I love their work either because I like to surprise them.)
One reason is time and another reason is that after I did my first review I was deluged with requests and had to say no, which made me feel bad and annoyed the peeps asking me and made them believe I thought their book wasn’t good enough, which was not the case at all since I haven’t read them. So the next time I do a review I’m going to post a disclaimer saying I’m not a reviewer just a book lover and writer. What I have offered peeps asking me for a review is a Wednesday spot on my blog for new writer’s to talk about their work – I don’t have a problem with that at all. And you should come on and do that, Jen. Any Wednesday that’ll suit you. I’m not, as you can see, organised.
There’s no way I could do a review if I didn’t like or couldn’t finish a book. For two reasons, 1. An opinion is purely subjective, what one person loves another might hate and being unable to finish a book means I’d have no right whatsoever in reviewing it or saying I couldn’t finish it. 2. I don’t want the fall-out from writing a stinker (even constructive and done with love) because it seriously upsets the person who wrote the book. Not worth it. I don’t do reviews for ‘friends’ either because it’s the quickest way to lose them imho. I’d rather be in the business of support and pointing new writers in the ‘right’ direction.
And it will suck into your writing time – a lot.
Although I write contemporary romances and paranormals. I read mostly thrillers, adventure, gothic paranormals and non fiction. Many writers adore book bloggers and reviewers (many of whom do a brilliant job) but I’ve never approached them as yet because readers are leaving reviews and readers tend to trust other readers.
Liv made an interesting point about reviews and I suspect she’s talking about Amazon? I’ve over 250 four/five star reviews on iTunes for Reckless and I’ve no idea who the hell the people are, it would be a shame if that put readers off reading it 😉
So you can see how the idea of being a reviewer might open up a can of worms??? Have a careful think about it becoming a regular feature. One way around it might be to combine talking about the book and the writing ‘craft’ with an author you love – that’s a get out of jail card – and I’m invited do quite a number of those, which is nice because new writers are picking my brain (I do have one).
Or, you could do a sort of books of the month you loved with the blurbs and links without an in-depth review of them. Again, it’ll keep both the readers and the writers happy, and means you can feel you’ve done something to highlight stories you adore.
Has this been a help or a hindrance? LOL!
Christine xxx
I can always count on you to give me something to think about, Christine! 😉 You’ve made some valid points that I hadn’t thought about. I might just follow your suggestion of books of the month. Hmmm, you’ve once again got the wheels turning in my head. 😉
Thanks for your insight, my friend!
Only because I adore you, darling!
I totally get where you’re coming from and it’s really tempting to give a constructive opinion.
A couple of years ago a new author friend of mine did set up a review site. Chaos ensued because she was too ‘honest.’ It lasted about six months before she gave it up, a broken woman. Bless. When tip toeing through fragile egos care must be taken.
I think I’ve mentioned this somewhere before. Might have been Jennette’s blog, can’t remember.
But I know that whatever you do, you’ll do it with love. 🙂
An honest review is a good thing. If there aren’t many on a book and they’re skewed to 4-5 stars, I don’t take them as seriously as a book with more reviews that cover a wider range of POVs. Will be interested in seeing yours.
😉
Thanks, Liv! I believe very much in being honest when writing reviews. It doesn’t help anyone – author or readers – if the review is biased.
I am a little nervous about writing them since I haven’t really done it before, but practice makes perfect right? lol! Thanks for stopping by!