Friday, January 21, 2011

Should I be nicer?

Okay guys, I have something I want to talk about today. If it's okay with you, I'm going to write an actual blog post instead of a book review. Is that okay? Okay good. I was going to do it anyways. :P

I know I touched on this during my review of "Across the Universe", but fellow book bloggers and especially goodreads.com reviewers, am I missing something? Is it just a faux pas to post a bad review or do you fear publisher retribution (no more ARCs)? If so, I'm sorry about the faux pas, but I just feel like I should be honest on here. I don't want to recommend a book just because I want the publisher to continue giving me advance copies. I value you and your time more than that, and heck, with a little guy at home, I value MY time more than that. I don't want to waste my time reading bad books and trying to write nice things about them simply because I'm afraid that a publisher may not like it. Does this make me a bad book blogger?

Don't get me wrong, I do not want this to become "Michelle's House of Catty Reviews". I will try to never post anything too negative in here and will only review if I'm able to finish the book. I promise to be honest. If you don't like honesty, here's the door. I just had to put down a book after 150 pages and say "Enough's enough." I hate to do that. That's only happen to me on a handful of books in my years as an avid reader. Since I didn't finish it, I decided that I would not post a review here because that's not fair to the author and other readers. I cannot fathom though how well loved this book is on Goodreads.com. Did I read a different book than everyone else? I felt that way about "Angelfire" too. Maybe I'm just too harsh or maybe angel books just aren't my cup of tea? I don't know, but whatever it is, it definitely seems like I'm in the minority. Phew. I just had to get that off my chest!

6 comments:

  1. Personally I think negative reviews are important but I know many bloggers don't want to spend the time writing reviews for books they didn't enjoy.

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  2. I can understand that, but I really rely on reviews to make my reading and purchasing decisions. Negative reviews really help the consumer make a fully informed decision. There are too many flowery "OMGAWESOME" reviews out there.

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  3. Wow, speaking of flowery.. I'm getting tired and using the word really too much! :)

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  4. I agree completely. As a reviewer and blogger yes, it takes time and can be difficult to write negative reviews. I'd rather focus energies on the books I adore. But as a reader I can't go on just positive reviews alone... I need to know what's NOT awesome about the book as well.

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  5. Oh, I just found this! A while back I did a post on this same issue if you want to check it out...

    How Bad Are Negative Reviews?

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  6. I appreciate negative reviews. It helps me know when I should not buy a book. I write negative and mixed reviews, otherwise why bother reviewing.

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