On Reviews

You may have noticed that all the book reviews on my site are positive. What’s up with that? How can a person love every book they read?

Well, the short answer is, I don’t. But I also don’t finish books I’m not enjoying. Life is too short and my to-be-read pile is too large to spend time on books I don’t like. If a book isn’t grabbing me for whatever reason — and sometimes that reason has nothing to do with the book itself and everything to do with my mood as a reader — I’ll put it down. Sometimes I come back to it. Sometimes I don’t.

When I don’t enjoy a book? I say nothing. I am only one opinion, and even with books I don’t like, I respect the work that went into creating them. Plus I know that it’s highly likely that what didn’t work for me worked in spades for someone else. Some books I’ve loathed are some of my friends’ favorite books, and vice versa. I am not the Taste Police and have no problems whatsoever if you totally disagree with my take on a book. If I hated your favorite? Who cares! You can love it enough for the both of us.

Even with books I enjoy, I don’t always review them on here. Reviews take thought and time and effort, and I don’t like to spend any of those things dwelling on negatives. So I only write reviews for the books I loved and would happily recommend to others. I feel like if the author poured their blood, sweat, and tears into crafting a story that truly delighted me, the least I can do is pass that story on to more readers.

That’s why my reviews on here are somewhat sporadic. Sometimes I’ll post three in a week. Sometimes I won’t post anything for months. It all depends on what I’m reading at the time, what mood I’m in, and how enthusiastic I am about what I’ve read.

But rest assured, if I’m reviewing a book on this site, it’s because I genuinely loved it, and I hope you do too.

2 thoughts on “On Reviews

  1. I like that you only review books you really like. It gives readers a certain confidence when they read a review on your site. They know–o.k., she really liked this . . . whether readers will or not, but at lest they know that! So few things are certain, in the world.

    Question: One another part of the site you said that you don’t accept review requests. Does that mean that you don’t want an author or agent to submit a book to you for possible review? I’m asking because I represent Cherry Wilder, and we’re getting her books e-booked–books that were firs published in the 1980s and have never been ebooks before. So we’re looking for people to review them. So . . . would you look at a description? Look at an ebook? Or neither of those?

    Regardless, I do like your review ethic.

    Thanks.

    jim frenkel

    • Hi Jim,

      Agents or authors are always free to contact me, but need to be aware that more often than not, I probably will not respond, as a pitch would have to blow me away for me to consider it without a recommendation from someone I trust, and then the book would have to do the same for me to review it. However, this has happened before, and could always happen again.

      (Also I hid the SW spoiler in your comment, as I don’t want anyone to stumble onto this page and get spoiled if they haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’d be happy to discuss the movie in the comments for my review!)
      TheHouseworkCanWait recently posted..Review: THIS SAVAGE SONG by Victoria SchwabMy Profile

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