Reviewing books that you have a problem with...

The old saying, "Not every book is for every person," is a completely accurate statement.

After I published my debut YA Paranormal Romance, Compulsion and began receiving reviews- they were all glowing, very ego-stroking reviews. I was over the moon! However, after a couple of months I found that not everyone that all changed. At first, I was crushed. I started second guessing myself and my writing ability. The honeymoon period was definitely over and reality had set in.

But, I think that was and still is a good thing. For the most part anyhow. Let me explain...

A large majority of the book reviewers that I come into contact with are honest. They take their time, reading your book from cover to cover. Then ponder how the book made them feel. Were the characters well developed? Did the story flow well? Was it paced appropriately? Could they recommend it? After much contemplation they rate and review "your baby". For me, almost all of those were 4 or 5 stars.

There were a few that just couldn't get into the book. I took it personally...that is until I went through the other books that they had reviewed and saw that I had great company. The book, and a few times the whole genre just wasn't for them. I began to feel better. It became less personal. But, just because their reviews weren't glowing for me, there reviews were still valid. Most of those gave constructive criticism, and I welcomed it.

Now with that being said, we move on to the "troll" reviews. These are the reviews that specifically call out an Author, attacking them personally. I disagree with this implicitly! If you have a problem with a book- by all means you have the right to your opinion and to have it heard or I should say read on the same sites that all of the wonderful reviews are listed without backlash from the Author or their fans or representatives. But, if you're posting a review because you have a personal grievance with an Author for some reason- a review is not an appropriate way to remedy this. We can all spot one these reviews a mile away, and we ignore it.

I dealt with this issue several months ago. It no longer bothers me. Why? Simple, my writing speaks for itself.  There are people out there that will never enjoy my writing. That's fine, because they are not the audience that I write for. The fans that enjoy my work are one of the reasons that I continue, that and the fact that I love to write...

Over the course of the last year, I have been approached by other authors to read and review their books. In some cases, it's really rather simple. I open the book becoming enveloped in those first few words. The characters, events, story line and depth of the writing style will reach through the pages and yank me into the book. Easy, peasy!

Other books, take a little bit to get into and I think that these are my favorite. I don't want to feel rushed so badly into the action that a pertinent piece of information was over looked. Either by the authors race to finish the story or by me merely missing something trying to keep up.

But other books you just cannot get into no matter what you do...
How do you handle that situation?
I have decided that if I don't care for the book, I won't write a review. Personally, I don't like writing bad reviews. Therefore, I will not. You have to handle these situations in your own ways. But, to my Author friends-just because I haven't written a review on your book doesn't mean that I don't like it:) I have an enormous TBR list and no time :(

Okay, those are my "2 cents" for whatever they are worth. LOL
Until next time,
Twitchy-Witchy Kisses,
Kymberlee xoxo