This is something I’ve been thinking about lately (seeing how I’ve been reviewing more books the last few months). I’ve seen it online in the bookworld as well. Do people feel more pressured to give a better review when the book was given to them to review?
When reviewing books, I think it’s really important to be honest about what you really think. If I’m given a book to review, I always hope I will like it, but it’s happened a few times in the past few months that I just didn’t care for it. Of course, we can’t like all books we read. Whether it’s just not your cup of tea or it’s not written well.
So what happens when I don’t like a book as much as I hoped? I have to say in the beginning I feel a bit bad. If it were up to me every author would get a positive review from me. Authors put so much time and effort into a book and of course they hope for the best. I always hope I can make an author feel good about their book. In cases this isn’t possible, I am as honest as possible and write down what bothered me. Maybe a book was a bit too long or there wasn’t enough character development. Or it could just be me not being able to connect to a character. It’s not always that a book is bad, but it’s just not always possible to connect to a book. I rather be honest with an author and hope that the feedback I have given helps them in some way.
Being honest about a book doesn’t mean you can be mean. It’s fine not to like a book, but you shouldn’t hurt someone just because you can. Just like I don’t think it’s right to say a book was amazing when you don’t think it is. Even if I don’t like a book, it doesn’t mean someone else will like it. I’m always really careful when reading reviews. I read a lot of them, but I don’t let them influence me. I will still read a book even if it has lower ratings on Goodreads. A few times I have loved books that didn’t have the highest ratings.
With this post, I’m mostly wondering what other bloggers think. Do you have a hard time giving negative reviews to a book you got to review? How do you approach things like this? I’ve learned I can’t like everything and being honest is the best policy. I would just like to hear how others think and feel.
I don’t have a heard time because I feel like I would be doing my followers a disservice by lying. If I genuinely like a book I say it. If I don’t I say that to and then I give my reasons. I think people who don’t give reasons are wrong and unfair bc you’re not giving and feedback into what it was that made it so bad. Just saying a book is bad doesn’t tell me anything just like only saying it was amazing doesn’t either. That’s why I review the way I do so that all who read my reviews can get the most well rounded answer. And if it’s not a good review I don’t tag or let the author know (unless it’s a review book and they ask) because there is no point making them feel bad just because I didn’t like it. But I do tag authors in my 5 Star reviews.
I hate when I hear about reviewers tagging authors on their low rated reviews. That’s just so mean and I don’t understand why someone would do that.
That is just cruel. Not fair to the author at all.
I agree, I think we should give reasons either way. I like the way your review. It is very clear what you like and what you don’t. I don’t really tag authors even if my review is really positive. Definitely something to think about though.
I sometimes feel bad but it doesn’t influence what I say in my review. But I will try to make it clear if something was poor technically or if it just wasn’t my thing. I’m also clear that somethings might be catnip to other readers but are things I can’t stand. Rating and reviewing a book is so subjective and that why, like you said, I’ll still read books with low ratings. When I don’t like something I just try to make sure I’m detailed enough that others will be able to tell whether or not they’ll like it.
I agree with this. I think it’s important to be honest to my readers, but will always give arguments to why I think the way I do. There is nor reason to be mean.
OMG I started writing a comment on this topic and when I got to the third paragraph, I was like, “Dude, I need to just write a blog post in response to this.” LOL!
Great topic! I’ll link back to this post when I write mine so you can read it!
Lol, if you got that far with a comment, I can’t wait to read your post!
I agree with you, it IS hard to write a ARC review when you didn’t like the book! I was so torn on this recently myself, but I do feel it is a disservice to not be 100% honest with my thoughts. I also worry that I don’t want to upset the author, so I focus as much as possible on the positives of the book. At the end of the day, every book is not for every reader. It also doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t still read other books by the author and always encourage readers to give it a try anyway. Some of my favorite books have been correlated with 1 or even 2 star reviews from others! Great post! =D
Thanks! And well said :)! I always want to be honest, just sometimes feel bad for the author. At the end of the day, I can’t like all books though. Some may love them though!