Romance Audiobooks discussion

Sigh. It's a contradiction, I know. I'm tired of reading (other!) forums/blogs where everyone is complaining, so I came here to complain about it. "this author preaches too much!" "I hate it when authors use 1st person!" "If the author goes ebook only, I won't read her! I refuse to buy a reader!" "If the author won't release in ebook, I won't read her! Who buys books anymore!"

I find myself wanting to post in every forum: DOESN'T ANYONE LIKE ANYTHING ABOUT BOOKS? and, hypocritical moron that I am, I'm dissing narrators and making cranky, sarcastic remarks about plot lines in my reviews!

I just came from reading a few blog posts in a row on another site, and the dislike and discontent in the comments has depressed me. There's a sort of pack mentality that brings out the worst of us is this exercise. I'm hearing my mother in my head "If you don't have something nice to say,..." and feeling like my reviews should either say "I did't like it. The End." or they should rave about the book.

Anybody else feeling critical about criticism?

lol! your vent made my day! I recently read a 2 star review for a book that is 8th in a series (Psy-changling), where the reader hadn't read any of the other ones...and she didn't understand the background...and it was like the only PNR book that she had ever read...and its like, wow...so your basing your opinion of a whole genre on one book, which you didn't even understand because it was the 8th book in the series

I also don't get how people can keep reading books in a series and keep giving them low reviews...i mean, really...if you hate the series so much, why do you keep reading? or is that just me

I find myself wanting to post in every forum: DOESN'T ANYONE LIKE ANYTHING ABOUT BOOKS? and, hypocritical moron that I am, I'm dissing narrators and making cranky, sarcastic remarks about plot lines in my reviews!

LOL, that's called passion. We need more of it on the internets :) I'm always honest, sometimes brutally so, whether I love it or hate it you'll always know exactly why.

I can't stomach wishy washy reviews where someone is desperately trying to be nice to please someone else. AKA the Klausner syndrome.

Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "I also don't get how people can keep reading books in a series and keep giving them low reviews...i mean, really...if you hate the series so much, why do you keep reading? or is that just m."

It's not just you. I don't get that either. I'll give a series 3 books to find its footing, if I'm feeling gracious, and if things don't grab me I'm done. There are just too many good books out there for my to waste my time on things don't work for me.

Melinda wrote: "I find myself wanting to post in every forum: DOESN'T ANYONE LIKE ANYTHING ABOUT BOOKS? and, hypocritical moron that I am, I'm dissing narrators and making cranky, sarcastic remarks about plot lines in my reviews! "

I don't think it's hypocritical at all. You're making specific criticisms about specific books, and that's completely legitimate. Where would we be without reviews that warn us away from that certain narrator or tell us hey she was halfway decent in this one? :)

I totally agree about the blanket negative statements, especially when they're about format and have no specific basis except "print is dead" or "ebooks are evil."

@Delicious Dee Challenge Addict
Yeah, if I read book 8 in a series and was completely lost as far the overall plot was concerned, I'd still be able to tell whether or not I liked the writing and whether or not it was worth going back to the beginning. I guess it doesn't work that way for some people.

Agree with MaryK. Specific criticisms make sense but complaints about why the world is not the way YOU want it are annoying and pointless. There are some readers out there than think that romance is drivel. They may have a right to their opinion but I definitely don't have to listen to them.

but none of her comments were really about the writing, they were about the plot and how she felt like she was tricked because she was expecting a BWWM romance (which I have no idea where that came from)

MaryK Audiobook wrote: "Melinda wrote: "I find myself wanting to post in every forum: DOESN'T ANYONE LIKE ANYTHING ABOUT BOOKS? and, hypocritical moron that I am, I'm dissing narrators and making cranky, sarcastic remarks..."

I do the same thing...2-3 books...in fact there are a few series I would have given up if I had only read the first book...but then I also rarely pick up a series in the middle because you do miss lots

BarkLessWagMore wrote: "Delicious Dee Challenge Addict wrote: "I also don't get how people can keep reading books in a series and keep giving them low reviews...i mean, really...if you hate the series so much, why do you ..."

"If the author goes ebook only, I won't read her! I refuse to buy a reader!" "If the author won't release in ebook, I won't read her!

This is the one that bugs me, I love to read, period! If a book comes out that I want to read I'm going to find a way to read it regardless of format.

As far as e-readers go there are too many free e-reading applications for the "I can't afford an e-reader" complaint. No, I don't want to read a book on my computer either, but by goodness, if it was the only way to read a book by a favorite author then that's what I'd do. I'm not going to penalize an author because this is the format that works out best for her/him.

As far as paperbacks, I'll go with a used copy if I prefer e-books and want to make a point about not having it available in that format. But I'll read it regardless, not give up on the author.

As far as Audiobooks go, I've become more and more picky about narration and I'm constantly amazed by others love / hate comments about narrators that I feel the complete opposite about. It boils down to finding people I agree with the majority of the time and relying on their input. Variety of opinion, it's what makes the world go 'round.

With audiobooks I'm not looking for more than a brief summation of the story line in a review, I'm looking for details about the narrator / narration itself. Why they did or didn't succeed with the book.

Which brings me to my constant wish, that Goodreads and Audible themselves would give us the ability to rate the books we listen to by narration and storyline. How hard is it to add an extra little row of stars to differentiate between the two for us audio lovers?

I'm not feeling particularly critical of criticism. In fact, with romance novels I'm amazed how many 5 star reviews there are overall. I think it must be the mindset people have when rating books. I looked at the "stars" here on goodreads and they say:
2 stars- it was okay
3 stars- I liked it
4 stars- I really liked it
5 stars- it was amazing

When I like a book, think it's worth my time, but it's not really unique or it has some flaws, I give it three stars. That's an average, good book. In my review I'll probably point out the thing(s) that kept the book from scoring higher. I'm not trying to be overly critical, however, just giving info. I probably give less than 10 "5 star" reviews each year, and I read over 250 books. Also, I rarely summarize the plot in my reviews. I summarize my feeling about the book.

I wanted to add this: I do need to be reminded that I don't need to harp on my preferences or dislikes. First person isn't my favorite POV, but I've read plenty of books in first person that I've enjoyed, so I should probably just shut up about it. ;-) POV is a piece of information I like to see in a review, however.

All readers are going to have styles they like, plot devices that annoy them, or hot-buttons they really hate. And some of the fun of writing a review is to get it out of your system. ;-)

Quite frankly, I rather enjoy it when someone takes a page from Melinda's book (sorry) and starts "...dissing narrators and making cranky, sarcastic remarks about plot lines..." because in addition to being amusing, I find that valuable in making me work past my own reading prejudices. I almost have the opposite vent and wonder, when looking at so many 5 star reviews, "Doesn't anyone dislike anything about what they read (and can you please constructively outline it)?"

Needless to say, I'm in agreement with Carrie at being amazed at how many 5 star reviews there are. I often feel I am being overly critical and need to put a disclaimer when reviewing a book that when I'm in 4-5 star territory, I'm asking myself . o 0 (Would I re-read this book? Did it bring something unique to what could be standard plot device or was the world-building completely new? Was the prose memorable/quotable/beautiful? Were the characters multi-dimensional or feel "real"? Did the book make an emotional connection with me?) in addition to just liking the general plot.

Of course, heaven knows I have to work hard (and often fail) to recognize my own blind spots when reading/reviewing. For example, I know I am a very literal thinker and am quite content to take the author at her word and take the book line by line rather than putting events into place in the overall scheme of the book which makes me particularly susceptible to not seeing plot holes and not always aggregating a character's actions throughout a book to identify semi-TSTL characters.* I think I need a review crit partner. ;D



*Thanks Diane. While I will still take an opposing view, your comments on In The Bleak Midwinter gave me a *lot* of food for thought regarding my reading of that book/series.

Maybe I should/could have been more specific (I was trying not to point to exactly where I was reading the rants that set me off) but yeah, I agree that in reference to a specific book, I do like to read the criticisms. I think it's the blanket criticisms that set me off the other day. The old "I hate it when..." and then the mob sets off on something. Truthfully, in the mind and hands of a good author, I think anything written could be good, even tired cliches, even "he smelled of soap and leather and male", even Secret Babies. Bring it on - I don't think there is anything I hate in general about Romance when written well in my opinion.

In spite of my crankiness about certain narrators (*cough*Flosnik*cough*) and such, I do rate books I've read too high too often. I intend to use 3 when the book is ok and I liked it enough; I rarely use 2 unless I was unhappy reading it the whole way through; I have to be truly pissed off about having read it to go with a 1 star. I use 4 to mean I liked it more than a little; but I save 5s for when I get afterglow. I seem to end up with lots of 3s and 4s that might better have been 2s and 3s...

Brenda wrote: "I'm constantly amazed by others love / hate comments about ... "

Brenda, I totally get this. I am also amazed when I don't agree with whatever the general reaction is, to plot, to narrator, to whatever.

Thanks for all the good feedback.

BarkLess wrote: "I can't stomach wishy washy reviews where someone is desperately trying to be nice to please someone else. AKA the Klausner syndrome."

In my attempt to not point out exactly where I was reading these comments, I was not very specific. It wasn't reviews of specific books. It's, for instance, in comments on blogs or in the Romance potpourri forum where a general discussion turns into Things We Dislike In Romance, and the mob starts in with Yeah What She Said, and then in agreement, more people list things they don't like. This also refers to anyone who writes blanket statements like "I hate that all heroines in contemporaries are rich".

When I started my vent, I had read several of these in a row and was starting to wonder if anyone liked anything at all! I did read a thread several weeks back where someone challenged those who replied to provide title/author/quotes to back up their assertions and that made me smile.

I'm amazed how many 5 star reviews there are overall. I think it must be the mindset people have when rating books.

This is where I'm all messed up with trying to use this Goodreads account for Audiobooks Only. I'm rating the "narration" of a book with my stars, but it throws the whole skew off in general to do this.

A book that was 4 or 5 stars when reading it but I disliked the narration of so I give it 2 stars or vice a versa, a book made better because of the narration gets higher stars than the actual story deserves.

In trying to bend Goodreads to my purpose I'm messing up any true comparisons with my shelves and Goodreads in general.

Ugh! I'll need to find more than one good book to re-listen to in order to put my narration *stars* in the comments section and redo the stars provided to reflect the book itself.

Melinda I've run across this several times myself,

Things We Dislike In Romance, and the mob starts in with Yeah What She Said, and then in agreement, more people list things they don't like.

and wonder the same things you do, although, I must admit, I've laughed myself silly over some of the threads that start mentioning the "hated phrases" used in a romance novel. Some of the phrases, especially with the added comments about it, are hilarious.

I do have my pet peeves ("the big misunderstanding") but in general it's all fiction to me and I just go with it. I'm not trying to learn life lessons, I'm escaping. So whether it's the continuously rich hero in historicals, the kicka$$ heroines in a contemporary, people that turn into werewolves or a vampire that drives a Scooby Doo van, I'm in it for the enjoyment of a story, no matter the genre.

Melinda wrote: "Maybe I should/could have been more specific (I was trying not to point to exactly where I was reading the rants that set me off) but yeah, I agree that in reference to a specific book, I do like t..."

Okay, that makes a lot of sense, and I agree even though I know I'm guilty as charged. I don't generally care for the "secret baby" plot, but a few of my favorite books actually have this plot, and it worked. Just like I don't care for first person present tense, yet
Butterfly Tattoo was one of my top 10 book for 2010.

I have to say though, "big misunderstandings" that could have been cleared up with a 5 minute honest conversation detract from a book for me. ;-)

For me, I believe one of the reasons I have so many 4 and 5 star reviews is because of the choices I make. I take a lot of time researching the book/author ‘before’ I decide to buy their book. I don’t want to spend my money or waste my time on books I think I might like, but ‘will like’; resulting in more 4/5 star ratings.

Another reason may be the way I rate a book. I give a 5 star if I think it is A quality, 4 star if a B and so on. All of my 5 star books (and many of my 4) are on my keeper shelf.

I don’t critique a book when I write my review, I write them mostly for myself and to help me remember what I liked and didn’t like about the book…and that may include genre.

Ratings are a personal preference; if I read 2 great historical romances and one is steamy and one is not; I’ll probably give the hot one a 5 star and the not so steamy one a 4. Or if I read a contemp (not my fav) and it’s a good book but I didn’t like it, I’ll usually state it’s a good book, but not my cup of tea.

The more I read, the better I am at rating what I consider excellent, good, okay, etc. Now, what do I do about the books I rated 5 stars several years ago…but no longer would rate them that high if I had read them today? Do I go back and change all my ratings (keep in mind I have over 800 books)? I don’t think so….again this library is for personal use and if it is helpful to others that want to search for like-kind good books to read…then all the better.

< I’m rating the "narration" of a book with my stars, but it throws the whole skew off in general to do this>

I agree that there needs to be an additional star rating for audible books. To rate them low due to a narrator isn’t fair to the book or other readers looking for 5 star books (not just audible books). I’ve just started listening to audible books….and so far I’ve just put the narrator name/rating in the comment section, but once I get a lot of audible books completed, it is going to be hard to find the best narrators. Maybe the best thing to do is add a “excellent narrator’ tag to my shelf that will identify them easily in the future for myself and others?

This whole discussion is the reason why I use re-readability to rate my books. I just found that there were too many factors involved in deciding whether a book was amazing or good. Things like whether I was burning out on a genre, whether I was a fan of the series, did I like the characters just made rating it on my general feeling of a book too hard.

So I've put my rating system up on my profile and if there's a book that's amazing but I'll probably never read again I say so in the review, so people understand why I gave a book I say is amazing only 3 stars (= really good book that I may read again one day).

I've rated alot of books in the last year 4 & 5 stars but then I've been introduced to a lot of great series since joining good reads, so my reading selection is a lot more refined to my tastes than it used to be.

One of the things that does bug me though is readers who rate a book lowly just because it didn't go the way they thought it should. This normally happens later in a series when people are really invested in the characters and have decided on what a particular plot line should be well before the release of the book. And then they normally say something like "it's still the best (insert genre) series out there but..." or "perhaps the author should have read (insert fanfic title) before writing the book". Well no, actually, they shouldn't have. It's the authors tale to tell with the characters they created. You don't have to love it, but you do have to respect their right to follow the storyline they see their characters following.

Sorry, you did say this was a rant about rants discussion didn't you :)

Haha….I’m thinking I’m one of those readers that does just that. I’ve invested years reading the Outlander series and was so pissed off with the last book…I would not give it a 5 star rating. I’m sure there are lots of folks that do not agree with me….but oh well.

LOL, Tania, yes it's a rant about rants and I TOTALLY agree with what you said!