Reviews can be tricky things to write.
For me, I write them 1) for myself 2) for you, the reader. I try to stay true to myself and not backspace because I’m worried about what you will think. I want it to come out raw and say exactly what I am thinking and feeling. Without doing that, it’s just a watered down version of what I really think and I don’t think that’s fair to you.
There is a fine line when you’re writing a review. You don’t want to give away too much, but you don’t want to say too little. You want to say just enough to hook the reader, but not say so much where it feels like the reader has already read the book. That’s one of my problems. I just wrote a review for The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward (look for it today) and all I wanted to do was spoil the damn thing. But I couldn’t. The first review I wrote when I came back was Dark Promises by Christine Feehan. A huge chunk of it was spoilers and had to be blacked out.
Then there are the books that you love so much, you don’t know how to write a review for them. I just look at the blinking cursor and wonder what my face looks like. Holly and I were talking to Nalini Singh about that at RWA16. When it comes to Nalini’s books, I have an especially hard time because all I want to do is gush and I need to give a fair and balanced review of the book. Not just say “this book was so amazing and awesome and you need to go read it as soon as possible.” Or just the one word review, “Amazing!”.
How do you like your reviews? Spoilers? Do you go to the back of the book?
Great questions! I personally don’t care one way or the other about most spoilers, as long as they’re marked. (But then again I’m the one who’ll sometimes read the last page of a book before I get started, which drives my husband bonkers.) But, I do really like spoilers when it’s about something that I prefer to avoid in my books. So for instance, if a main character gets killed, I want to know that because frankly I don’t want to read that. It’s frustrating if I read a bunch of reviews that never mention a fact like that, and then I start the book and I’m horrified and disappointed. Obviously, we all have our own likes and dislikes, but I feel like if there’s something alarming, particularly weird, or potentially offensive, it’s good for a review to mention it (while perhaps hiding it or at least mentioning there’s a spoiler).
As someone who writes reviews, I too struggle with some books, especially ones I love. I want to have a conversation with everyone about the book so we can talk about why you love or hate it! In those cases, it’s tough to write a review AND start a conversation at the same time. I try to come down on the review side instead, but as you point out that’s not as much fun. 🙂
I have no problem with spoilers especially if they are under a tag. I’m one of those crazy people who ALWAYS reads the ending at some point before I finish the book which drives my bookclub crazy. For me it’s about tension. I don’t like tension when I read. I may occasionally read a book with an unhappy ending as long as I know about it in advance but not knowing just kills me. Of course, romances are the best because you know there will at least be an HFN so you don’t have to worry too much about it.
As for reviews, it’s hard sometimes to know what to say when you loved a book other than “Gah! You must read this!” I just finished Eidolon by Grace Draven and I’m so happy right now that I just want everyone to read it. I can’t be objective, I loved it too much.
You did it didn’t you? You read another J R Ward! YOU NEED HELP! Lol!
My thoughts on reviews are exactly the same as Jen’s – the only difference being that I don’t read the backs of books