Recently, someone made a comment on one of my reviews on Goodreads.
I thought it was interesting, as it was the first time I got a comment about a review that I wrote. It stuck with me and I thought i should address it, but not be so unprofessional as to address the comment directly.
As an author, I have received both 1 star reviews, 5 star reviews and those in the middle. Some of the reviews have merit, and some do not say anything. I had a review once and it just said ok. As an author, I could always use more reviews, but that's another story.
Any way, on my review blog "Amy's Bookshelf Reviews" I write reviews for all types of genres, and I do not write reviews that I would select as less than 3 stars. I don't find it worthwhile to write a bad review, even if I didn't enjoy the book for whatever reason. If that is the case, I let the author I know I can't review the book and explain why. I don't think its necessary for me to inform the world about it.
The comment mentioned above stated that the writer didn't agree with my review. That's perfectly fine. My reviews are my opinions. It is how I feel about a book. Also, a 3 star book review is not a bad review. it just means there were things I liked about the book and some things, not so much.
How do I write a review? Well, as a reviewer (and my popularity has grown since I started my blog in 2014), I read several books at once. Then I write the reviews. Sometimes, especially if the review is time sensitive, I post my review right away, and sometimes, I post several one right after the other. Also, I don't always feel well as I suffer from Migraines every day, so I don't always get to read as fast I want in order to get the reviews posted to please the authors.
I keep databases of the books and authors that I review. Once in a while something falls through the cracks, and I forget to add a name to the database, or copy the book from my email, but if I make a mistake, I have to know that I did in order to correct it.
Now, back to reading. I read several books at once. I then write my reviews. When I am reading I may take notes if a quote jumps out at me, but at the end of the book, I think about what I liked and what I didn't like, and I think about how well the author writes. Many times the author is worried about typos in the book. Everyone makes mistakes, and I don't judge based on typos. However, if the book is riddled with typos and it makes it unreadable, I will send the book back to the author for a cleaner copy, and I will read the book when the book has been updated.
As a reviewer and author, I look forward to hearing from others. I am always open to hear from fans and other authors.