Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Book Reviews - please base the number of stars on the actual review!


 
Recently, someone wrote a review of one of my books, and from the words they used in the review, one would have thought it deserved five-stars. But instead they gave it less. I often wonder how some reviewers decide how many stars to give a book. If the book sucked, don't give it five-stars, and if you loved the book, don't give it one. It only seems fair. But it's not. And believe me, I appreciate all reviews, one-star (and I have had some) to five-stars. My skin is pretty thick by now. All I ask is that descriptions match the number of stars assigned. That's all.
 
And so, I have written five reviews as examples of how the meaning of the words used, should match the number of stars assigned. IJS - here we go:
 
This book sucked on so many levels. Nothing here would make me pickup another book written by this author. These characters were wack. There was no connecting storyline between the characters and not enough interesting dialogue. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

 
This story was lukewarm. It started out okay but I couldn't finish it because it didn't hold my attention. I will say that I liked this one character, but he had no backbone. The author did more showing than telling. Good premise, terrible execution.

I heard good things about this book, but I was disappointed. It did have its moments, like a couple of LOL scenes and some jaw dropping chapter endings, so for that, I give it three stars. But it flopped toward the end and left me hanging.

I really enjoyed this book, couldn't stop reading it. These folks were a trip. I felt sorry for this one chick who was being controlled, but at times I wanted to reach inside the pages and choke her. This writer does have skills, but he didn't fully develop the characters. I hope he does better with the sequel.

Now this story here, this story here . . . was everything! I dreamed about these fools, and snuck to read it at work. I reread some sentences again and again because they were like poetry. And the twists and turns were shocking! This was one helluva story. I just bought two more books by this gifted author. Bravo!
 
Have you ever received a review that you thought didn't match the stars assigned? Par for the course, I know. Just wondering!
 
Write on! Review on!

 

4 comments:

Yolanda said...

This needs to be given to all reviewers!!

Charles Gramlich said...

I have received such reviews. I would say from the examples you gave here, that you are a pretty "hard" grader. I'd probably give better reviews for what are for me 2 or 3 star books.

Liane Spicer said...

Yes, Marissa is tough. A four star rating from me is a pretty damn good book all around. Five stars means superlative, memorable, keeper, and four star books come pretty close to that.

I tend not to rate books i consider 2 or 1 or even 3 star. Not that I write many reviews anyway... Need to improve on that.

William Doonan said...

HAHAHA - I love it. But to be fair, I'll probably never give out a one or two star review. At that point, I would put the book down and start another. But I wouldn't leave a review.