So I just got a great opportunity from Stormi over at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! to collaborate with her on reviews because there had been too many books to review and too little time to do the reviewing. (I said review a lot in that sentence) I am very excited about that and very thankful for the oppertunity as well.
It got me thinking about book reviews in general. A review is the reviewer's own personal opinion and what if mine as the reviewer did not match up with Stormi's opinion. I mean, what is posted on her site is a reflection of her, right? Well, that thought made me nervous, I wanted to live up to the expectations of her readers. That is a lot of preassure, let me tell you, so I read like I was looking over the book with a fine tooth comb. which is totally different from the way I usually read by devouring the story and not paying attention to the craft. I was also anxious because this was the first book I had reviewed where the review request had come from the author. That is also a lot of pressure. I wanted to give my honest opinion but I did not want to hurt the author's feelings.
Thank the gods that I liked the book otherwise I'd probably have had a panic attack (well probably not but I would most likely have felt a little panicky)
But no, I have decided (now that I have my first author requested review under my belt) that being honest and true to myself is more important than not hurting an author's feelings. Plus, as a writer myself I know I would want an honest review because I would want to know what was working and what wasn't for my future works.
Crisis averted. *relieved sigh*
Ahh don't be nervous. All I ask is that your reviews are honest, not every book you are going to like, but there are still nice things you can say about a book you didn't really like. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, I was just surprised by the fact that it felt different to review something direct from the author.
ReplyDelete