[LET’S WHISPER] Are we too ‘harsh’ in our negative book reviews?

I’m back with another discussion!

It feels ages since I did one (in reality, it was last month) and I think that I stopped having thoughts for a while.

Mostly because of school. I mean I used to yoga and that really (somehow??) helps with inspiration. Like your doing some cool move whilst also plotting out blog posts.And in the holidays, it used to take me ages to sleep (because I wasn’t tired) so more thinking but now I fall asleep in 2 seconds SO LIKE I don’t have time to even think?

ANYWAYS, back to the topic at hand! I thought I’d talk about how some book review sugarcoat negative reviews or sometimes are too ranty and mean in people’s opinions.

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REASONS TO WRITE A NEGATIVE REVIEW

  1. They didn’t like the book!
  2. The book was racist or offensive etc
  3. The book was of poor quality
  4. You expected so much! And…got so little
  5. Everyone else hated it (NOT A VALID Reason)

Honestly why else would you write a negative review? YOU DIDN’T LIKE THE BOOK. Whether it was the writing or the characters or the rocket in your back garden (or even all of these!) you don’t have much to say GOOD about this book or maybe you just want to rant about how disappointing the book was. WHATEVER IT IS, negative reviews are something you have to do at least once in your blogging career.

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HOW DO YOU HANDLE NEGATIVE REVIEWS?

So time to discuss and put all my thoughts here. There are THREE COMMON WAYS(at least that I know of)  you could go about reviewing a book you didn’t like.

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METHOD #1

  • Finish the book
  • Be sad and angry
  • WHY WAS IT SO RUBBISH?
  • Go onto Goodreads
  • Add the word ‘RTC’
  • Never Return

Short-DividerMETHOD #2

  • Finish the book
  • Be sad and angry
  • WHY WAS IT SO RUBBISH?
  • Go onto Goodreads
  • SMASH YOUR KEYBOARD
  • Rant GUSH
  • KILL THE BOOK
  • MURDER IT
  • Leave the corpse on the ground
  • All anger has now left and entered the review
  • Please look at my twitching eyeball

Short-DividerMETHOD #3

  • Finish the book
  • Be sad and angry
  • WHY WAS IT SO RUBBISH?
  • Go onto Goodreads
  • Agh I feel bad giving it 1 stars?
  • I’ll give it two because don’t want to be rude
  • I don’t think this book was for me?
  • It wasn’t too bad!
  • I appreciate the author
  • Goodbye have a lovely day whilst admiring my smile

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I usually go with method 2 AND RANT MY HEART OUT! It’s super fun and EASY for me to write negative book reviews because I have so much to say. Whereas positive reviews including me flailing on my keyboard. But then comes the question…

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WHAT ABOUT THE AUTHOR?

Because remember a human (unless it’s co-authored) actually put a lot of effort and time into this book. It probably means A LOT TO THEM so sure when you go round saying ‘oh hi I HATED THIS BOOK’ the author can really get offended.

However;

  1. Author rarely check review sites FOR THIS EXACT REASON So they probably won’t see it
  2. If authors are putting their book out there, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN OPINION
  3. Look I’m not going to lie

Sure an author could have put their blood, sweat, and tears into their book BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? WHY. AM. I. GOING. TO. LIE? If I love a book! I love it. If I don’t love a book, I probably won’t recommend it to people.

However, don’t tag authors in your negative reviews! You have the right to your opinion but that’s just plain rude and rubbing it in their face! Share your opinion but please be nice to authors and don’t go out of your way to hate on their work so that they can see this.

Long-DividerBUT IT’S A BOOK!?

This is an OUTRAGE. We’re bookworms! We should love the book for what they are. Honestly, we more READ WORMS.I love books! But if I couldn’t read the words?? I probably wouldn’t love them as much. Reading is what makes me love a book, even if the cover is super pretty. so yes! You can love cupcakes and still hate certain cupcakes?

Long-DividerBUT IT’S DIVERSE + GREAT MESSAGES?

Look I hear your protests! But spoiler alert: it’s not a valid reason to rate a book higher for diversity if you didn’t like it. I really liked The Hate U Give and because of the messages, it got a good high rating but that’s also because I actually enjoyed the book.

But a diverse book that you didn’t like it at all? Write your negative review! DIVERSE. BOOKS. ARE. NOT. PERFECT. It can have great themes! Lots of diverse characters! And that makes it A REALLY cool and realistic story. But the characters can still be horrible and the writing can be shabby and the story can be boring all still while being diverse! Diverse books don’t ALWAYS MEAN it’s a good book.

Long-DividerBUT EVERYONE ELSE LIKED IT?

Sometimes you can just be feeling left out of the hype. Literally, EVERYONE IS RAVING ABOUT A CERTAIN BOOK, buying 6786 pieces of merchandise, re-reading the series and you’re just there like ‘wow, I’m disappointed. gimme some ice cream’.

AND ITS A BIT SAD. Because you honestly can’t see WHY EVERYONE ENJOYED THIS BOOK SO MUCH? Honestly, it will probably always remain a mystery! But that doesn’t help with just sitting there and being a mulberry bush no one notices.

But you know what? WRITE THAT NEGATIVE REVIEW. Write what you didn’t’ like. Scream about your disappointment. DO IT. Because a LOT OF PEOPLE actually LIKE to hear an unpopular opinion because it’s yours, it’s different and it’s unique!

Long-DividerSHOULD I SUGAR-COAT MY OPINIONS?

My answer: no

Rate a book one star IF YOU HATED IT. You are allowed to hate books. You are allowed to write negative reviews. You are allowed to NOT recommend a book. You are allowed to be honest about books and ARC’s. Stop making excuses.

We’re book bloggers! People trust us to tell them our opinions so we better be doing that. Honesty and ice cream are the best policy. That’s all you need to remember.

Long-DividerSHOULD I STILL RECOMMEND IT?

Maybe. If it’s a super hyped book then you can still say ‘Maybe you’ll like this’ because sometimes a book is not for you. However if you honestly utterly didn’t like it and don’t think anyone else will. Then don’t. It’s your choice whether to recommend a book or not. Everyone has different tastes.

my opinion

Personally, I write negative reviews and don’t think I should lie and be iffy in my reviews! I want  MY voice to be heard which is exactly the reason I started blogging. What makes you unique? Your memories, your OPINIONS. And that’s what people want from book bloggers. Their views on a book. I don’t feel bad about writing negatively about a book because we’re allowed to have opinions, people.

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IT’S UP TO YOU!

However, it’s up to you! If you feel that author is a friend or maybe you just don’t feel like writing badly about that book, then go sip your tea and do it. I’m not going to force and shame people who always write positive reviews and feel guilty about 1-star reads. You do you, penguins!

BOOKS #4

Let's Whisper

Are you 100% truthful in your negative reviews? Do your rate hyped books higher than usual? How do you handle negative reviews? Do you think we should sugar-coat our opinions? TELL ME ALL FREINDS, and give me some ice cream while you are at it!

Ilsa - Edited

 

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55 thoughts on “[LET’S WHISPER] Are we too ‘harsh’ in our negative book reviews?”

  1. I completely agree with all your points. I absolutely hated a book I got for review (It was soooooo boring) but I felt bad for giving it 1 star so I upped it to 2 (maybe 2.5, can’t remember). Rating a book high just cause it’s hyped and you don’t want others to judge you for it isn’t a good reason haha. I don’t like a lot of books that are hyped up and that’s okay. Great post 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. YES YES YES I AM SO GLAD YOU AGREE. *beams* ugh no what am I doing? I AM SUPPOSED TO BE A DRAGON? *breathes fire* much better
      I sometimes DO rate hyped books higher but then I feel bad so afterwards I go back and put the actual rating there? I think there is a lot of pressure to like diverse and hyped books and there shoudn’t be! We all have different opinions. LIke white chocolate is the best ever?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Dragons can smile 😀 Haha I’ve actually done that! I tell myself that I don’t care about public opinion but then I go along and do that… but I think I’m getting better at it. I prefer dark chocolate actually 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I agree with you: never sugar coat. But when I write my reviews I try to never rant, even if I want to scream how much I didn’t like the novel. I know that authors usually don’t look into the reviews section, but I feel that a negative review can also be a kind of feedback for the writers to work on some weak points or reflect about their writing… even if every review is really subkective. But I alwasy try to argument calmly every point why that’s not a good book.

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    1. Sugar coating is ‘nice’ but really you are lying to yourself and whoever reads your reviews. Oh I am the opposite. I RANT MY HEART OUT. I do believe that reviews can be feedback but if it’s a popular book? the author will most likely never see it because there are millions of reviews of that book. However it’s a smaller, self-published book i know the author has a chance of seeing it do i do tone it down a bit.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. YES AGREED ON THE DIVERSE BOOKS FRONT. I feel like any book with proper diversity is just being boosted because of that even if the story isn’t that nice and I don’t like it. When I read a good review, I want it to be more about the story and less about the origins of the characters. Because no matter from where, I should like the character and the story.

    I try not to be too rude in my negative reviews but honestly I just rant and rant. I do make sure not to tag the author though, and honestly I forget to tag them even on good reviews so #goforgetfulme

    Liked by 1 person

    1. YES I KNOW! I’m all for diverse books but you don’t have to LIKE THEM and if they don’t interest you THEN YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ THEM! Diversity makes the story really interesting but everything else still has to meet my standards!
      YES FOR RANTS. I love ranting. I AM SO TALENTED AT IT. I sometimes tag the author in good reviews but I forget too. oops. #goldfish moments

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  4. Great post and something I’ve always wondered about. Sometimes I feel really bad writing bad reviews because like you said these authors are real people but if you put something out into the world you can’t expect everyone to like it. Other times if I hated the book and everyone else loved it I’m worried that my opinion is wrong and I misunderstood it but NO. It’s okay to not like a book. and I LOVE your message about books with diversity still being bad. Like I feel like I should promote all books with diversity and if the diversity is good but if it’s good but the rest of the story is trash it’s still a bad book just with good aspects I guess

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    1. I am like a penguin WHO DOSEN’T FEEL GUILTY? Wow, I am so horrible XD Yes! I so agree. Publishing a book comes with all that risk. Not everyone is going to love it which I admit is something quite scary! But I put my negative reviews out there because that’s why I started blogging. For MY voice to be heard!

      Its. okay. not. to. like. diverse. or. hyped. books! I WISH PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD THIS. Some people rate really great books like thUG higher even though they didn’t enjoy it THAT MUCH. Which actually annoys me.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. YAS YAS AYSYAS YA SYA SYA YS YA YAAAA.
    WRITE. THAT. NEGATIVE. REVIEW. Everyone is allowed to form their own opinion about a book, and you are allowed to use your voice to share it!! I always try to include aspects that I did like to the review, so it’s not totally negative, but yes!!

    This is a great post, I loveeeeeeed your discussion topic!!

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    1. THANK YOU LU ❤ Your comments always make me smile. i AM SMILING. #smilingpenguins okay that sounds creepy. I Was just TRYING TO BE HAPPY! yess, this is why i blog. for my voice and my opinion to be heard! and then if i sugar-coat my negative reviews? itS ALL GONE.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. method 2 is totally my favourite!
    hell yeah I rate negatively when I haven’t enjoyed the book!!
    everyone is entitled to there own opinions I don’t think you should ever sugar coat a review just to save someone’s feelings, your not bashing the author by any means you just didn’t enjoy the book, its not for you, or whatever reason you don’t like it.
    if you love a book you review it and if you hate a book you review it, simple! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. The only thing I really think is over the line is making personal attacks on the author. And even then there seem to be exceptions. (Don’t attack living author?) If I went on a rant about hating Shakespeare and how he was a terrible human being who never should have been entrusted with a pen, I doubt people would care. (They might disagree, but I don’t think the objection would be that it was too personal.) If I say that about a living YA author, people would find it really rude.

    I do write negative reviews, and I try to be reasonable about it. Snark isn’t my thing, though honestly I think reviewers can use snark if they want. Books are art, yes, but they are also products. People have the right to say negative things about something they are being asked to buy on a mass scale.

    Sometimes I will recommend a book I didn’t like to others, if I think my objection to the book was personal and not necessarily because the book has really inherent flaws. Like, I might have found the book “too young” but younger readers might like it. Or maybe I thought it was too slow-paced, but someone who likes really descriptive books that build atmosphere might like it. Because there’s a difference between “The descriptions are really badly written” and “I personally wasn’t interested in the descriptions.”

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    1. Yes! You should NEVER EVER tag an author in a negtaive review or in disses about their book! I dodn’t even know why that has to be said?! IT’S JUST CALLED BEING CIVIL AND NICE AND HUMAN. Gosh. ANd well if the author’s dead IM SURE IT’S FINE. I mean as long as your opinion is directly harming someone, it’s okay!

      YES. Not. everyone. is. going. to like. your. book. I saw an author (Adam Silvera) Tweet something like this. NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE YOUR BOOK. And you have to accept that!

      Hmm yes! THings like spoilers or my age might affect my opinions so I still let other people have a o reading them! Something aren’t TO YOUR LIKING and that is fine! It dosen’t necessarly mean that the book is trash. ANYWAYS, thanks for your comment ❤ I had a lot of fun reading it.

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  8. This post is so thought provoking! I’ve never written a one star review, not because I’m particularly nice when it comes to rating books, but just because I normally only review books I looooved. Lately I’ve been wanting to say before I read a book, “I’m going to write a review on this no matter how I love it or hate it.” Maybe that would help me branch out!

    Like

  9. Auuugghhh I gave a book a 1/2 star review the other day because I HATED it and I was MISERABLE reading it and I wanted to stoppp. But then I turned around and told my husband to read it because I thought he’d like the tech in it? … So I’m a confusing kitten I guess.

    I totally agree about not tagging the author in bad reviews!!! I only Tag for 4 or 5 star reviews. Honestly anything lower and you’re sort of just being mean?

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Uh yeah Ilsa… I JUST wrote a ranty review and I was so salty so yeah… it was full of everything I disliked!! BUT I do try very hard to be objective to the writing and if I just hated the character or if the character made zero sense, etc. I do think negative reviews are BETTER than positive ones. My writing partner NEVER reads 5 star reviews… NEVER! She says what’s the point since they say very little… So EVERYONE PLEASE WRITE NEGATIVE REVIEWS… there are readers out there that NEED them!! ❤ Great post!

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  11. I usually just avoid writing negative reviews… I don’t get ARC’s yet, and I’m not on Goodreads 😢, so my reviews only really go on my blog, so I just mostly review the books I like. And when I do rate a book low, I’m always careful (probably TOO careful) to stress that it’s just MY opinion… I think I’m too nice… I don’t, however, sugarcoat my opinion. If I’m going to talk about a book, I’m going to talk about it honestly.

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  12. I’m a method #2 girl. I rant. But I try to let my review sit for a few days before posting it. I have heard from bigger authors that they simply don’t read negative reviews (really try not to tag them in negative reviews on twitter/IG), because obviously it’s very discouraging. Still I think it’s important to be honest, and I have been guilty of giving a book more stars than I felt it deserved because I felt guilty but that kind of makes the rating lose its integrity doesn’t it? In any case I have tried to feel less bad about my negative reviews because I feel that honesty is very important especially if there are triggers or it is offensive

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    1. YES FOR RANTING! I LOVE RANTING. And yes?? If I was an author, I’d try and avoid super negative reviews but If it was like a nice-negative review (?) then I’d try and take feedback from it. Book bloggers or anyone shouldn’t feel guilty about low ratings! There is so much pressure to like certain books when they’re shouldn’t be. AGHHH your comments always have me in deep thought so thank you!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. The problem is, you don’t always know which is which. And as a traditionally published author you get more than enough critique about your book from your editors, so I can see how negative reviews would be detrimental to the creative process. I saw on twitter an author begging people not to tag her in negative reviews because it is just harmful! SO negative reviews = good, but don’t force the author to read them XD

        Liked by 1 person

  13. I 100% agree with you! I write furious ranty reviews like 90% of the time, even in books that I love I normally find something to make me super furious. There is no point sugar coating reviews because you’re being disengenous, you’re being unfair and patronising to the authour by lying about the stuff they needed to learn to improve, you’re being unfair to future readers who read and trust your review, AND you’re betraying the entire point of literature which is that it’s supposed to make people think! To entertain them, make them have an opinion, make then debate. Also my favourite reviews are the ranty ones cos they’re funny 😁 But I think you’re right about not tagging authours in your negative reviews, and authour bashing is a definite no no 🙄

    ALSO: I don’t agree with rating books on goodreads you haven’t read. I think that’s so manipulative. You’re not doing a good deed you’re just promoting “sheeple group think” by following a trusted figure instead of critically examining the situation yourself. I also agree with your point about learning to distinguish what was “good” in a book and how much your actually enjoyed it. Ratings should be how much you enjoyed it, not how technically amazing, or morally powerful it was. You can appreciate all those details in the review and still rate it 1 star if it was boring in your view! I think there’s a problem with people rating books how much they think they “should” rate them, according to general opinions about the book, not by how much they actually enjoyed them! I was definitely guilty of that when younger. And that makes me cross, because if nothing else book bloggers should be voices of personal honesty. That’s my opinion haha 😂

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    1. PS. And when we rate books highly just because they’re diverse even if they’re bad books… we’re playing into the hands of the alt right, and everything they accuse the left of being, which fuels their ideology. That sounds dark, but that’s how it is; pop culture is one of the biggest battle grounds of the progress of social opinion imo.

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  14. Personally I don’t even write book reviews, nor am I a book blogger, but I definitely agree with this post.
    Us readers of book bloggers trust you all to be honest with it all, so you should just give the raw truth, and the author should definitely understand that. It’s simply your opinion or constructive criticism, something all bloggers should know and all authors should know.
    Great post!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Such a great discussion! I don’t write that much negative reviews on my blog and on GR – since I have to buy most of my books – read: 100% of my books -, I’m REALLY picky and also really lucky, so mostly there are tons of three, four and five stars-reads everywhere. That being said, I DO think it is SO important not to sugar-coat anything when writing a negative review, on the contrary, you’re right: we should be ourselves and express our feelings and SCREAM about them, because negative reviews are SO helpful – I know they help me when I’m picking up books to read for sure, in knowing whether this book is for me or not 🙂

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    1. Thank you! that sucks you don’t have a library or other places to get books. If I had to buy every book I read? Wow my life would be very…not full of books. I normally enjoy my books but there occasions where I just completely hate the book or simply don’t like it? YESS, negative reviews help people see the different sides and I need help on deciding on what to read!

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Ahh negative reviews are so tough. Personally I don’t find them too difficult to write because often I can clearly point out why I didn’t like the book. Sometimes it’s a genre I don’t enjoy much or I found it to tropey and then I still recommend it to people, but there are definitely other times when I just think it was a bad book in terms of writing or message.

    The biggest problems for me with writing negative reviews are when it’s a small/self published author because then I feel like they’re more likely to see my review and I don’t want to hurt them. Or when it’s a novel that was recently published because then your negative review could stop other people from giving the book a go.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Oh, yeah, I’m definitely more of the rant-y type! I can easily rant about a book I hate, but it’s usually not spoiler-free because pretty much everything I hate I have to go in depth to! I feel like I’m defitmeky ten times snarkiee when it comes to negative reviews, but I’m also probably most proud of those reviews to be honest! 😂 But, yeah, I’ve definitely rated a book higher just because of the influence of Goodreads friends, and I usually end up changing it because I know that’s not a true reflection of who I am! And yes to not rating books higher because they’re diverse. Nothing annoys me more than when people say “Well, I hated this book, but because it was diverse, five stars!” Like, why???

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Ugh I have such problems writing a negative review because I want to be really objective and all. I did 2 stars once because of the language (all dialogue was written in Scots and it was hard to understand for non-natives, but i did ssay that people who understand the dialect will probably like it), and one 2 star review because the book left such a bad feeling after I was done, but I couldn’t give it one star 😦 So I generally just…don’t write the review for books I didn’t like, and that’s why my blog is full of 4 or 5 star reviews.
    Also re: tagging authors in bad reviews, that’s awful. I tag them for most of my reviews, but that’s because, as I said, I generally only write good reviews on my blog.
    I don’t generally give more stars to more hyped books, but looking back at it, that’s what I did with HP, at least what I think about some of the books now. Otherwise, I just rate them as I think it’s better, not what I think I SHOULD do.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. I definitely am all for negative reviews! I also hate when people say “oh I write negative reviews for authors to learn from” and I just??? Like holy heck authors are surrounded by educated professionals, THEY DON’T NEED TO LEARN FROM US. Opinions are so subjective.😂 The only reason we need to write negative reviews is so that OTHER READERS who have similar tastes to us know whether to read or not to read! So I have no problem having a little rant over a book.😂 However sometimes I write low-starred reviews and I’m not sad/angry?! I just meh. 😂 So those are okay too! Honestly I think we all should just be honest, have fun, give our opinions and let our voices be heard and try to always be kind and enjoyyyyy the point of books: which is to think about them!

    Liked by 1 person

  20. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS……..I AM SOOOOO WITH YOU ON THAT ONE!!!! Writing a negative review is something I havenoy REALLY practiced yet. I MEAN, I am REALLY…..LIKE REEEEAAAALLLLYYYYY picky when deciding what to read next and SO FAAARR, I haven’t HATED THAT MANY But HEYY, IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN SOMETIME!!! And ughhh…..I JUST FELT SO GUILTY WRITING THAT NEGATIVE REVIEW. The book was Micheal Faudet’s Smoke and Mirror’s and AAAARERGHHH…..WHO THE….HOW…THE
    ……HOW CAN IT EVEN BE CLASSIFIED AS POETRY??? That was the ONE question that kept burning in my mind all the while I struggled to finish it AND GUESS WHAT?? I HAD TO DNF it!!! 😭😭😭😭 A BOOKLIVER’S WORST NIGHTMARE. And than I felt guilty as fuck submitting that review on Netgalley. Ugh. But now that the hard part is over – I FEEL I AM AT PEACE. I mean, if I had lied – EVEN IN A LITTLE BIT – I’d have felt like betraying other readers BUT NOW, they can read the reviews (mine included) and make an INFORMED decision.

    GAAAAHHHHH!!!

    I HAD TO RANT…!!!!!!!

    I LOOOOOOVED THIS POST, Ilsa. YOU PROVIDED AN OUTLET FOR ALL OF US TO…..TO…..*sobs* *theatrical mode* WOE IS MEEEEE!!!!!

    MEH!

    BUT NOT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂

    ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

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  21. This was really helpful! I actualy don’t write many negative reviews because I don’t read many books I don’t like. I think if I went back to some of the books that I’ve rated three or three and a half stars and look at my critiques, I would see that some of them really affected my enjoyment of the book and therefore should have been rated lower. I hate feeling like the things which bother me aren’t a big deal, but sometimes it’s just the details which get me, y’know? Anyway, this was a great discussion! You’re really good at making your discussions fun, I always feel like mine are boring.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m glad it was helpful! I don’t read THAT many books I don’t like but I do read a lot of books so there are a few I do stumble across. Yes, definitely rate it to your won enjoyment no matter how small the problems you had with the book! I get that! Thanks so much for your comment, it means a lot <£

      Liked by 1 person

  22. I try to be 100% honest?? Probably only like, 99.8% though. SOMETIMES I RATE HYPED BOOKS HIGHER THAN USUAL?? I don’t think so though??

    Also I feel like I’ve been so kind and giving to books lately, so many of the books I’ve read are five freaking stars and WHY DO I dO THIS.

    NO YOU SHOULD NOT SUGAR COAT YOUR OPINIONS. I really like reading rants and stuff?? So obviously the whole book community should come together to please ME and not sugarcoat their opinions??

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  23. GREAT post. I always get so annoyed when friends of mine sugarcoat their negative reviews of diverse books because it makes me feel as if I can’t trust their diverse book reviews, which sucks so much because I WANT GREAT DIVERSE BOOKS TO READ. UGH.

    I read / review a lot of diverse books (especially lgbtq ones, lol) and I review them exactly as I’d review anything else. It almost feels condescending to me when people don’t – like, queer people are people too? We don’t get a safeguard against negative (negative, not bigoted) reviews and we shouldn’t.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. At the beginning of my blogging experience I was really uncomfortable with writing negative book reviews, just because I felt so guilty writing them when an author had put so much effort into creating a story. However, even though I’m still not 100% confident while writing my negative reviews, I make sure to fully explain why I didn’t like an aspect of a story so people who stumble across my negative review can understand completely where I’m coming from. 😊 It’s also nice when I read about someone who also feels meh about hyped booked — it definitely makes it less daunting to see all the positive reviews pop up around the book blogosphere 😅📚

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  25. Great discussion Ilsa!! I love when you make a list like this!! ❤ Hating a book isn't enough to get 1 star for me… but my reviews ALWAYS come from the perspective of a writer. So yeah it has to have poor storytelling of some kind to get a poor review… Also if the book is well written and I had NO problem with the book except it didn't float my boat my perspective dictates I give it a higher rating… Fortunately!! Most books I dislike have writing problems whew!! I do write negative reviews and every once in a while I'll write a positive review about a book I ABHORRED, because its totally a taste issue!

    I think negative reviews are GOOD for the author and other readers… My writing partner refuses to read books with ALL high marks… every book should have haters… because of taste issues at the very least… So really its a service to write what you think!! Funny you talking about diverse books but then disliking the story itself. I recently read a book with the BEST message but I HATED the book. *cries* I'm trying to decide what to do!? Haha, your post gave me a LOT to think about…

    Like

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