Tuesday Talk- Book Reviews that Let you down??

Tuesday Talks

On Tuesday I will try to engage you in a question/topic/idea. You are welcome to write in with a suggestion you want to share or maybe talk about next Tuesday. My response is not right for everyone but I am hoping together we can generate some great conversation. And as always, I would love to hear from you on this topic or any topic out there!  

Today’s Tuesday Talk is coming from a fellow blogger- lianakeyblog. If you haven’t checked out her blog, you should. It’s not only entertaining but I really enjoy what her blogs get at. She not only writes books but she is also a writer herself.

Anyway, she wrote in on the topic of Book Reviews. Now, it is true I have already written a couple posts on Book Reviews, more to the point on what we are looking for in a review. If you want to check them out, you can find them here: Tuesday Talk- Reviews and What We Want Part 1 and Tuesday Talk- Reviews and What We Want Part 2

But what Liana Key is getting at, is something different:

How about the authenticity of book reviews? I reviewed a book that mainly had 4&5 star ratings and every review said how funny it was but I never laughed once! It’s like they all copied the previous reviewer, in fact two reviews were exactly the same! Not the first time I’ve seen it either! – lianakeyblog

How many times have you looked at other reviews that talked a book up only to find the book was a horrible disappointment?

I think the question is, how much weight should we put in others reviews? If most of them lead to disappointment, then why read them at all?

This weeks question is exactly what I said above- How much weight should we put in others reviews? And Have you come across reviews where it seems like others just hit copy and past from the ones below them?

I’m really interested to see what you think about this. Most of the people following my blog are fellow book bloggers. I can’t help but wonder, are we waisting our time by writing reviews that could very possibly only end up a disappointment to others?

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3 thoughts on “Tuesday Talk- Book Reviews that Let you down??

  1. Okay, here’s how I see it. Book reviews are subjective. There’s no real way of telling when someone is cheating in reviewing the book, or if you’ve run into several people who enjoy the exact same themes. On the other hand, I find that having a tactful review can, at times, come across as overly positive, even when I found the book distasteful. It’s a fine line. And, humor in books can come across as even more subjective. I find the banter in Dean Koontz’s books as hilarious. My reading partner, not so much. You have to use a book review as a guideline, but you can’t use it as a guarantee. If you do, you’ll, more likely than not, end up being disappointed.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. You bring up a very good point and I like how you said reviews should be used as a guideline and not a guarantee.

    I think reviews should be tactful but there has to be a way to do that and also not come across as overly positive. It doesn’t make sense to have a positive review but only give a book 2 stars.

    Like

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