Our Book Reviews: What's Helpful, What's Not

This has been a big topic of conversation lately among some of my friends, both readers and authors. Among the things I've heard from readers (and perhaps even thought to myself while I'm perusing book reviews for potential reads on Amazon):


"I really want to know what people think of a book, but some of these reviews sound like they were written by the author's friends. That means their reviews aren't honest."

"Why did this reader give it a 2-star rating and then say they liked it?"

Or,...