Nora Roberts Groupies discussion

I joined Shelfari in October 2010 and Goodreads in January 2011 and my reading life exploded. What helped me were recommendations from new online friends and reviews posted by other readers. I then made it a mission to write reviews for every book I read going forward.

I've pretty much kept to my goal, with some exceptions here and there. And, I'm really grateful to those who take the time to post their thoughts. Even if it's only a couple of sentences, it's helpful to know readers' feelings about a book.

Do you write reviews for the books you read? Are others' reviews helpful when deciding whether to add a book to to your shelf?

Oh my gosh, yes. Reviews are so fun and helpful to read. I find they also help when I'm trying to decide on a star rating.

Unfortunately, I don't always have enough time or patience to review each book I read, but if it's one I was really into, I try to give it a review.

I think many will write a review for a book they loved or one they disliked intensely. High emotions will often prompt action. You just need to express yourself!

I don't usually read reviews for books or movies, primarily because too many have contained spoilers. Similarly, I never read "introductions" in classic books as they too often assume the reader has previously read the book and discuss intricate details about the plot. I do rate every book read, but don't usually write reviews (for all my writing skills, I've never had the knack for reviews). I also try to say at least a line or two about books I especially loved or loathed.

I always do. I'm still learning how to improve my reviews - but I enjoy writing down my thoughts about the book for myself and others. It's a really good thought process for me.

Heather L wrote: "I don't usually read reviews for books or movies, primarily because too many have contained spoilers. Similarly, I never read "introductions" in classic books as they too often assume the reader ha..."

I get frustrated with spoiler reviews that don't warn you they're ahead. And, I've taken to not reading the descriptions of books in the mystery genre when I get ready to read them. That's really working for me. (I read them when deciding to add to my shelf, though, and don't remember them by the time I read the book.)

Rachael wrote: "I always do. I'm still learning how to improve my reviews - but I enjoy writing down my thoughts about the book for myself and others. It's a really good thought process for me."

It's a continuing learning process. There's an approach needed for the blog and I'm trying to marry it with the needs of members here.

I always write a review, some long, some short, some good, some bad. A lot of time I am writing it for me. When I think about adding a book I look at what my friends have rated it. Anything less than a 4 and I don't bother. I usually don't read the blurb or the reviews until I have read the book. I like to go into a book without any preconceived opinions.

I always do the bookshelf and date finished. I've just read the book so I don't like it when people rewrite the book in their review. Tell me whether or not you like it and why. So, sometimes I do that and other times, I'm sorry to say, I don't. I read Witness a couple of years ago and didn't write much about it, so when I looked back, I didn't know what the story was about and I had given it a 5! I do go through many reviews looking for similar thoughts to mine. I usually respond to those.

Anita wrote: "I always write a review, some long, some short, some good, some bad. A lot of time I am writing it for me. When I think about adding a book I look at what my friends have rated it. Anything less..."

You make a good point about audience for your reviews as depending on who you're targeting, the content could be quite different.

Susan wrote: "I always do the bookshelf and date finished. I've just read the book so I don't like it when people rewrite the book in their review. Tell me whether or not you like it and why. So, sometimes I do ..."

So you're looking at others reviews after you've read the book? I do that, too, and your needs are quite different, at least mine are, in what you're looking for. I tend to skip the summaries and go right to their conclusions in these instances. I read these particularly when I've extreme feelings about a book.

I never needed to write a review, then came Goodreads and Amazon. I will read a few reviews or recommendations before I purchase a book but I skip the long stories and rewrites. I just want to see if you liked it or not and why checking the stars given. Personality, I don't feel confident writing a review but have written a few if I really liked the book or it was received from the author for review. To me the learning process and confidence in writing reviews will come as I read the reviews of others and see how they write.

I sometimes write reviews. As I was sitting here thinking about how often I write reviews I realized I really only write something for books I LOVED or hated. I don't usually write anything for a book I've given 2 or 3 stars, hmmmm. My reviews are short and to the point. I'm not confident enough in my writing skills to write longer ones( I've read some fantastic reviews on Goodreads ).

Can I just say that the short reviews are often some of the best ones!!! You shouldn't feel uncomfortable writing one or two sentences saying what you liked or didn't. Those comments are extremely helpful.

I find myself in the rewrite category a lot of the time. Sorry about that. I often do it to remind myself what the story was about. I really like the reviews that state what the writer really felt about the book and why.

One reason I started writing reviews was so that I could know why I liked or didn't like a book and if I reread a book does my opinion change, etc. It usually takes me some time to write them tho lol.

Thanks, Fiona, for another perspective re the value of reviews.

That's nice to hear, Fiona.

I don't philosophically dismantle books I have read like some do. I usually just write how the book made me feel, the things I liked and didn't like. Mostly they are just short and sweet!

I started writing reviews during my postgraduate study where my main focus was on fiction and where I learned all the things about it. When one of my fellow students started to create a review-webiste, that was about 7 years ago, I joined her and since then I´m writing reviews with the hope, that it helps someone and makes it easier for my readers to choose a book. For me it is not only a lot of fun, I also discovered, that I look now in a different way at a book. I know exactly, that someone else (mostly the author) has put a lot of heart, passion and thoughts into it. And that means, that I have to be respectful and thoughtful with my words in a review. That´s even more important, when I didn´t like the book I was reading.

Important learning, Vi. Thanks for posting.

I do write reviews. I also read others. I never give up on a book and I have read some bad ones. I feel I can't review a book if I don't read all of it. It just doesn't seem fair to the author or book

Whenever I want to write a review, I want to be insightful, helpful, and smart-sounding. It never seems to work out that way but who knows, perhaps with more practice I'll get better :)

Jonetta wrote: "I joined Shelfari in October 2010 and Goodreads in January 2011 and my reading life exploded. What helped me were recommendations from new online friends and reviews posted by other readers. I then..."

May I ask if you are still at Shelfari? Is that like goodreads?

I've decided to move away from Shelfari because Amazon has stopped supporting the site other than using central customer service for inquiries. It no longer has a site administrator.

It was a wonderful community until Amazon bought Goodreads and they apparently decided to abandon support. I'm now only active in one group because they've asked me to continue.

I'm not a very good writer and epically failed at summarizing books for book reports as a child. So, I typically don't write reviews for the books I read. Since I have been participating in a couple of groups here (in the shadows), I am trying to practice reviewing them in the discussions that take place. I feel like such an amateur sometimes!

Jeanette wrote: "I'm not a very good writer and epically failed at summarizing books for book reports as a child. So, I typically don't write reviews for the books I read. Since I have been participating in a coupl..."

I am so on the same page Jeanette plus I'm not English native speaker and realised how long it takes for me to write even the shortest - though even so often I decide to start writting reviews and fail almost as often as I decide to write those *sigh* - but I don't give up - sooner or later I'll manage it :-)

Agnieszka wrote: "Jeanette wrote: "I'm not a very good writer and epically failed at summarizing books for book reports as a child. So, I typically don't write reviews for the books I read. Since I have been partici..."

I agree with you totally about not giving up! We learn by taking these leaps outside of our comfort zone and doing it. :-)

Hey, one or two sentences saying you liked/didn't like a book is all that's needed. You definitely don't need to approach it like a book report.

I write reviews for a blog so they tend to be longer. Otherwise, I'd normally limit it to a paragraph.

I couldn't summarize a book if I wanted to at the end! Lol! I would forget. So I write reviews for myself first and then think of maybe what I wanted to know before reading the book and I may throw that in for other readers and I stick to how the book made me feel and why. I've only been doing reviews for about 9 months now and I'm definitely no expert but I'm finding the more books I go through the more I need and depend on my own review to remember what it was about!

Thanks ladies for your words of wisdom!! Encourages me to think about writing more reviews.

I try to write reviews for the books I read as I appreciate reviews of books I'm considering.

Sometimes I like a summation of the book, but generally if the book's description is good what I'm really looking for is what worked in the book and what didn't.

Britney, that's an excellent rule of thumb...write for yourself (as the audience). You can never go wrong.

I tend to not read reviews until I have finished the book, because in reading reviews before reading people have said things that I did not want to know about the book, like if the ending was good, bad, sad, happy, etc. When I leave reviews I tend to leave general things and not give anything away. I mostly look at how many stars people are rating it to get an idea of whether I want to read it or not.

Jonetta wrote: "Britney, that's an excellent rule of thumb...write for yourself (as the audience). You can never go wrong."

Glad you think so Jonetta! Sometimes I wonder if anyone will even understand what I'm saying but then I'm like, who cares, I'll know what I'm talking about when I come back to this book next year or down the road somewhere or if someone asks me about a book I've read. I'll be able to look at my review and get memory cues and hopefully remember most of it :)

It was never a problem before I started reviewing because I have read and re-read Nora for years lol, but now that I'm out of the cocoon I'm flying through books and figuring out that it's not so easy to seperate characters and stories when your not reading them over and over. Smart I know ;)

Mary Beth wrote: "I tend to not read reviews until I have finished the book, because in reading reviews before reading people have said things that I did not want to know about the book, like if the ending was good,..."

I do hate when people get to spoily. I am opposite you in what I want from a review, in that I want and have to have a happy ending or know ones coming because if it doesn't have it I'm not interested lol. So since I want to know that going in to a book, I'm more likely to say something like that in a review.

I try and write a review as soon as I finish while it's still fresh. I try and tell a little bit about the main characters but I want people to know why I liked it.

I enjoy writing reviews and try to write one for each book I read. Many years ago I wrote reviews for publication when there were still a lot of print magazines. I had an excellent editor who taught me how to write a good solid review. I still remember her teachings. One thing she taught me was don't spend a lot of time on the plot. Also, don't include spoilers (unless you have first warned your readers.) She also taught me that a reviewer can express their feelings in a positive way even if you disliked the book. So many reviews on goodreads and Amazon are quite nasty and insulting to the author as well as the readers.

I so dislike the mean spirited reviews.

Jonetta wrote: "I so dislike the mean spirited reviews."

I do as well and I see no reason for them.

Mary wrote: "I enjoy writing reviews and try to write one for each book I read. Many years ago I wrote reviews for publication when there were still a lot of print magazines. I had an excellent editor who taugh..."

Thank you for sharing those tips! I don't know why it's so difficult for me to formulate my thoughts on a book to paper.

Mary wrote: "I enjoy writing reviews and try to write one for each book I read. Many years ago I wrote reviews for publication when there were still a lot of print magazines. I had an excellent editor who taugh..."

Thank you for this information but can you tell me how to write a negative review? I've only written 1 and I struggled with it. It just was something I didn't care for but was well written and I'm sure others would liked it.

Vicki wrote: "Mary wrote: "I enjoy writing reviews and try to write one for each book I read. Many years ago I wrote reviews for publication when there were still a lot of print magazines. I had an excellent edi..."

You are welcome Vicki. A negative review doesn't mean nasty. I have not liked some books and I admit it. What I was taught was to tell the readers what you didn't like about the book. Then let them know that other readers may like the book but it wasn't your taste or genre, etc. Let them decide if they want to read it. I like to read reviews when a reviewer didn't like a book to find out why. I have also said in reviews that I would not recommend a book. My problem is not with negative reviews but with negative, nasty reviewers. There is no reason to insult the author or other readers.

Jeanette wrote: "Mary wrote: "I enjoy writing reviews and try to write one for each book I read. Many years ago I wrote reviews for publication when there were still a lot of print magazines. I had an excellent edi..."

You are welcome Jeanette. Don't agonize too much over your reviews. Just be yourself. You don't have to write a long review. Just a few words works just as well. My editor always limited the number of words in our reviews.

I've written some pretty mean, nasty reviews and I've regretted some of them. That said, you need to be honest about how you felt about a book. I have learned to temper my negative feelings with what I found positive about the book, thank you, Jonetta. No one would know that I really hated , but I did.

Anita wrote: "I've written some pretty mean, nasty reviews and I've regretted some of them. That said, you need to be honest about how you felt about a book. I have learned to temper my negative feelings with wh..."

I wasn't too crazy about that one either. Took me a week to read.

How can some authors (Karen Rose) make these subjects palatable and others can't?

Novak did a great job with the Bulletproof series so I was surprised at the issues with this story.

I have both the Bulletproof and Whisky Creek series in my hard copy library. Will probably read someday.

They are both excellent!