Tell Us What You Think - Defining 2019


Review – noun

a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation.

Reviews don’t have to be wordy. Here’s a review I spotted on Goodreads recently for Holly Black’s new book The Wicked King:

Holly Black creates a deliciously wicked world, twisty and dangerous and absolutely fascinating. I loved this.


See! In only 16 words, you know how the reader feels about the book.

Even if no one ever reads those 16 words, the review helps. The 5 stars the reader gave the book factor in with the 25k+ ratings the book already had to average 4.56 stars (wow, that amazing – perhaps I should add this series on my tbr!) giving a potential reader a strong and fast sense of how readers feel about the book overall.

Even critical reviews can help. For example, I mined the reviews of A Cuckoo’s Calling, which I gave 5 stars because I loved the nuanced writing and character development and how it continued to build, build, build all the way through. But another reader gave it two stars saying:

Dull & tedious. I was frustrated with the style of writing. There’s no action. It’s all conversation. I wanted it to be over.


Basically we are saying the same thing, but valuing it differently. As long as you stay respectful in your critical review, there’s no reason you shouldn’t leave it. Someone else may think – finally a book without blood and guts fighting, and pick it up for themselves. Whether readers know it or not, they value the fact that you took the time to read the book and share your opinion, when they are considering if they should read a book themselves.

Do you leave reviews? Are you more likely to leave them when you really loved a product/book/service or when you are really disappointed in a product/book/service?

In my newsletter on Monday I’ll delve into another definition of “review.”

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