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My Review Style
Good Afternoon!
I generally do not do random posts about "stuff". I either do my Week in Review or my Reviews and then some minor blog weeping when crushes from my childhood die on me.
I try to be as simple as possible because, really, if I started blogging about everything that popped into my mind OR that I have an opinion of, you may all start running.
BUT I do feel that it's time to post a little about my review style.
I still consider my blog to be relatively new and minor in the superstar world of book blogging. Through the months I have tried not to tweak it too much or make it a bigger or complicated machine that I could not run.
Reviewing books is first and foremost my passion and motivation for this blog. As of late, I have found myself signing on to do a lot more Blog Tours and general review requests. (book addiction is a tricky thing!) In the beginning I honestly did not know where I could do these things and no one was asking me to review for them, so it made it a little easier to keep up with the reading.
Now that I have been around for a little while I have discovered all of these neat opportunities to review so many different types of books. What I am finding in myself is that my review style is changing because of this.
When I started blogging, I felt I was pretty detailed and emotional in my review style. I really tried to be very thorough and honest. But then I was reviewing just books off my shelf that I was very confident in and fell under my favorite genres.
Lately I have reviewed more chick lit and romance that I did not normally read before I started blogging. Some of these books have left me with very little to say and a part of me feels bad for that.
I think the purpose of reviewing is to give a thorough review to motivate readers to want to read it. But I do understand that that can't always happen. Sometimes you really just don't have much to say about certain books OR all you can muster is a "That was pretty good!"
I post this following my last two reviews because I feel they were fairly brief. And this was not because I did not enjoy them, it was simply because they didn't leave me with much to say. I found them to be both fun and worth a read.
What am I babbling on about?
Simply said, I would like to remain a credible, honest book review blogger. And I want readers to pull something from my reviews and go "Hell yeah, I'm going to read that! Because RHBC told me to!" So, even though I feel like I have had some shorter, simpler, to the point reviews as of late, know that I take every review seriously and will always try to be as honest as possible. And hopefully you will all get jazzed up enough to want to read what I review!
Does this make sense or have you left by now?
Thanks for stopping by.
red headed book child
20 comments:
Makes sense! You have to stay true to what you feel when you're doing reviews!
I feel the same way. Sometimes I stare at a blank screen trying to figure exactly what I want say. Sometimes it comes out easily, sometimes it's brief. I love your reviews though, so don't worry.
Melissa
Thanks Melissa for liking my reviews!!
Jenny, I do indeed try to stay true to what i am feeling.
I think it depends on the book and how passionate you feel about it. Because thats how my reviews end being..whether i loved it or not.I'm still here..Yes it makes sense to me
You know, I don't think there is anything wrong with short and sweet reviews. Sometimes this happens depending on how short the book was and sometimes you just found the book light and fun, but that was it. Worth a read? Hell ya. Did you have to write a book about the book you just read? No...because light and fun was all someone else really needs to know.
I recently read somewhere about how bloggers shouldn't include personal feelings about a book... and all I could think was, "well, what am I suppose to be writing about then?" Because a book blog even in some sense is personal. You stating how you felt about a book. Sometimes I have little to say about books I LOVE and sometimes I have a ton to say about books I didn't care for at all. The only thing that matters is that I stick to what I felt about it and why.
Oh ya (I meant to include this in my other comment but got energized with what I was saying and forgot - that is just me today, spacey) I like your blog and your reviews (I wouldn't read it if I didn't like the reviews, honestly). So I don't think you have anything to worry about!
Great post, Michelle! I enjoy your reviews as well, and sometimes short reviews are really great too just for a quick feel of whether or not I'll want to read the book.
Thanks guys. I enjoy the heck out of all of you too!
I don't think I could write a review without being personal. !
Thanks to all of you for your kind and appreciative comments.
I hear ya, Michelle! There are times that I sit here and stare at my screen and hope words will come to me! Some reviews are short and that's okay. It doesn't mean you enjoyed the book any less. Some books just leave you without words! I enjoy your reviews, so no worries! :) Keep up the great work!
Definitely makes sense. Basically a review is your response to a book so it's a personal statement on how you felt about it. This differs with different books. Short/long - doesn't matter - go with how how you feel.
I know how you feel. I've been posting some pretty puny reviews lately. I'm just not inspired to write about anything of late (which really sucks for my novel)! A lot of it is because I'm having to do so much writing for school. It really wears me out in the writing department.
I really think that the length of the review is not that important if the content is heartfelt. Personally, I do not like to go into too much detail because I hate plot spoilers. I think your reviews are great so don't worry about any negative thoughts from my neck of the woods. =O)
I completely understand where you are coming from. I enjoy your reviews. Keep it up!
Makes sense to me. I like your reviews. I tend to get wordy so I have tried to shorten my reviews up a bit...
Thanks ladies for your comments. it means a lot!
Totally. I have reviews like that too. Some blow me out of the water and I rave about them for paragraphs.... others leave me trying hard to pull out a few sentences and that's not because the book was bad.
Like you I feel it is important to write a good honest review. :)
I enjoy your reviews Michelle, however you serve them up. If they were all the same how boring (and untruthful) that would be! You're doing great IMHO & I love to read what you write, even if I don't always comment. Just be you. You do that wonderfully.
Great post Michelle! I understand, some books I have more to say than usual but mostly I'm short and to the point. I don't like spoilers so I don't get in depth with my reviews. I would hate to spoil the story for someone else. I think you should always stick with what your comfortable with. It's your blog you shouldn't let anyone tell you how to run it. :)
Excellent post. I totally feel you. I try to write from my heart but keep it simple. I think we all struggle to make our voice unique.
I love whatever you do by the way ;)
You've got a forever fan in me :)
Some books are like that. Sometimes I'll read something that isn't awful, but it just didn't click with me. I don't do many reviews, but when I hit a book like that, I always state that it wasn't my style but might appeal to others.
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