YAholics Anonymous! discussion

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so please correct me if it's wrong.

I wanted to share a couple of blog posts I've written on book reviewing. If you are a book blogger, active book reviewer or participate in any of the Read for Review programmes, then you might like to check out them out.

The "negative side of positive reviews" is a controversial post that looks at the downside of giving unwarranted 5 star reviews. http://www.rileybanks.net/3/post/2012...

"6 things you need to know before you write a book review" tells why a lot of reviewers are getting it wrong, and explains the difference between a book review and a book report, as well as six tips for writing better book reviews. http://www.rileybanks.net/3/post/2013...

Be interested to know what you think.

Hi Riley!
I bookmarked the "6 Things You need to know before you write a book review" It has a lot of helpful tips. Thank you for writing that, it has changed the way I am going to start reviewing :) I used to never picture some of the things you wrote, you have opened my eyes :D
Anyways, Thanks again for writing that, I think it will help a lot of reviewers.

Thanks Trinity. Glad to be of help.

Reading your post "6 Things You Need to Know Before You Write a Book Review" was very helpful! People writing book reports instead of reviews has been one of my biggest pet peeves since joining Goodreads. I will definitely be making references back to this when writing book reviews.

I bookmarked the "6 Things You Need to Know Before You Write a Book Review" post as well, thank you! I have written very few reviews here on Goodreads (and I don't have a blog) as I find them immensely difficult to write. I know if I love a book or not, which is why I can give them the star rating I think they deserve, but I always struggle with knowing just what to write in the review. Especially because I am (unfortunately for me) a very critical reader, it takes a lot to make me give a 5, or even 4 stars, and as you say it's hard to be "mean" to an author you know put their heart and soul into this project. But of course constructive criticism is better than lies about how great it is. And when I do give a book 5 stars it is usually not something I can really explain, the book just did something for me. Even if I can point out various flaws, the experience of reading it just makes me not care.
But rating a book is not really that helpful without a review to explain why, so I will definitely try to write more reviews and follow your tips.
Also, as a wannabe writer myself, I can't help but think that writing reviews for other books, looking closely at what works and what doesn't, surely must help me with my own writing.

So glad you posted this. It annoys me when I read a review that reads exactly like a book report. I want your opinion not a summary. Thanks again for the great tips!

omg well thanks for this info :)

You're welcome. :)

These are great links! Thank you for posting them!

Thank you

thank you for this!! I really suck at reviewing and look forward to making my reviews shine after reading the article.

Well, if any of you ever want a place to post your reviews, you're more than welcome to post them at The Writer's Shack.

Thanks for posting this! It's some great advice!