TGIF (5)

TGIF @ GReads is a great way to meet new bloggers. Feel free to leave me a comment and I'll be sure to pop over to your blog and follow you back!

This Friday's question:

Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews? 

Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?

Wanna know a secret? I'm a horrible procrastinator. I have a least ten reviews waiting to be written. I actually wrote four reviews the other night to force myself to catch up. Mostly the reviews I postpone are for books I either completely and totally adore or completely and totally didn't enjoy.


Can I just say I do not recommend my way of writing reviews? Don't do what I do. I often forget special, key moments I loved when reading, but neglect to add in my review. Then I'll read someone's review of the same book and they mention it, and I feel like an idiot. Or worse, if I'm not a fan of the book, I forget what I read. Then I have to dig out the book and skim it to remember what it was I wanted to say.

I hate writing negative reviews and shy away from them. But I also understand (and I hope others do, too) that this blog is simply my opinion on a book. It's not gospel. Just because I didn't enjoy a book doesn't mean it won't be your new favorite. I think if you are going to write a negative review, you need to justify why it didn't work for you. Don't just say, "I didn't like it." Why didn't you like it? And I also always try to throw in something I did like and maybe even a link to a positive review.

Positive reviews are hard for me because I can never verbalize what I feel internally. That warm, gooey feeling you get when a book is just perfect and lights your world on fire is so hard to put into words. And I feel like I get repetitive in my glowing reviews: "It was just awesome. It was epic. I loved it." Maybe it's just my hang ups.