PNW Book Blogger

Everyone who reads and writes reviews has a slightly different system. Here’s mine

Some good context to know about my background:

• I have been writing silly stories for fun since I was about 8 and could work Word
• My grandmother is an author of multiple thrillers, one of which hit Amazon top 10 charts for thrillers and stayed there. Yeah she’s pretty cool.
• I went to my first writing workshop in elementary school. I got to meet Jonathan Mayberry!
• I became editor for my schools newspaper in high school
• I went on to get a degree in journalism because I loved storytelling and writing so much. I went into PR upon graduation
• I did online English tutoring for over 5 years for hundreds of students
• I’m a nerd

I have a combined knowledge of marketing, writing, editing, and public relations so I see all sides of things to be very blunt.

I’m also very empathetic person and I understand how hard it is to put yourself out there and to be vulnerable and write a book regardless of the genre, regardless of how it’s published – it’s a vulnerable moment. That’s why so many authors tend to check their Goodreads reviews so often and tend to get really hurt when people don’t like their books and why it’s so important that people don’t tag authors negative reviews on social media.

The first books I grew up reading where my grandmother’s, which are extremely dark, so that made me really enjoy thriller books when I got to be of an age where I could pick books to read for fun and I wasn’t just reading for school purposes.

I did have a few books that I did enjoy for summer reading in school, but I actually struggled substantially with reading difficulties when I was in school growing up. I hated reading and would avoid books, but I always wanted to write so there was always a lurking passion there for staying in the storytelling world.

I think because there was so much happening in my life between school and whatnot there was no capacity for me to build the skill of reading for fun and not reading to analyze motifs or themes or to answer questions on a worksheet that your teacher gave you.

How It Began

I started reading Freida McFadden in about 2021 once I got my first Kindle and I really enjoyed them.

I enjoyed them so much that I actually remember laughing while reading them for the first time several years ago and have wonderful memories of reading them for the first time and I remember every detail of them and so that was a very important part for me in this journey of enjoying reading as an adult. This is being written via voice memo sorry for the run on sentences friends.

I ended up accidentally reading Freida McFadden’s catalogue in about a month because her books were simply too good to put down.

After this, I started to look at other thriller authors, and then I stopped reading regularly for a while, and I would really only read if Freida McFadden had put a book out. I’m a Freida Reada kk

Then I got sick enough to not be able to work a regular job. Oops!

This illness didn’t really go away, and I started to read more and more, and then I made an Instagram account to share the books that I loved because I kept putting them on my personal Instagram with people from high school that I wasn’t even talking to anymore.

The Instagram

is what really jumpstarted the passion for it because I saw that there were other people who were as passionate about reading – if not more passionate – and I was able to make these friends and connections that were very unexpected and pleasant.

I started using good reads a lot more and then I started using Net Galley again

Initially, I was using almost all of the advanced reader copy websites to get advanced reader copy books, but I’ve had enough negative experiences with independent authors (either needing control and not being able to take a review that is less than glowing etc). I also had so many issues with independent authors seemingly trauma dumping in their books, and not providing proper content, warnings, bad writing, and I had issues with the fact that the plot didn’t seem to exist? It was like Coho blender style. Sorry.

On that note, here is how I rate books:

Let’s get into one of the biggest things that I look for when I am reading and reading a book.

When I say “this book doesn’t have plot” or “didn’t really seem to have a lot going on”, I mean that it didn’t have a rising action and falling action and then I didn’t feel like I was climbing a mountain.

See the visual below.

This is literally meant for fourth grade learning of reading a book and analyzing text so If a book doesn’t meet this basic criteria of having these elements, it’s automatically probably gonna be a three star.

If I see that a book has like an actual slur in it or something that I just don’t vibe with, it’s gonna be an automatic put the book down and be done with it because why would I wanna read that?

If the book has really really long paragraphs, I’m putting it down. It’s not an attention span issue but rather bad editing.

This is why I get annoyed when so many authors will put so much buildup into the first 50% of the book have everything happened within 70 to 80% and then be done by 85%.

Around 25% the plot should be picking up 50% is when things should be at their absolute craziest. Like your character development shouldn’t need a separate novel in the beginning. Then things should be starting to slow down around 95% but there should not be this extreme delay and the first 30% of the book to try to figure out what the plot is.

When reviewer say that it “took them a while to get into a book” that tells me that the author didn’t use a hook or a catch to get the reader’s attention and didn’t use every word every line every page to their advantage – when you have limited real estate and limited time to catch a reader’s attention.

The nature of writing is to entertain, to create art, and to keep your reader engaged so if you sit down and try to read the book and are not engaged, no one else is going to be most likely. Obviously some stories are not easy reads and are very important so this is not meant to be an absolute blanket statement by any means.

I am really tired of reading books where there is a 15 page prologue or 15 page chapters especially in thrillers or really long paragraphs. Now, if it’s Gothic or I’m getting long descriptions or there is an interaction a long paragraphs fine every now and then but when it’s three paragraphs per page, I am not reading that especially not in thriller form. What have you done to it? You destroyed it bro.

I also feel like this shows that the author does not read the genre enough and it’s a dead giveaway because so many thrillers are truly formulaic and that’s what makes them great they become comfort but they’re also chaotic and they go over the top just a little bit – that’s a five star read for me.

So many thriller authors dump a lot of trauma in the first bit then they try to make things crazy then add a tiny bit of humor and think that the good plots gonna be it and that’s not a terrible book but that’s not the way to go about it. I was slightly surprised and appalled to see that the standards for readers right now you can get a four star review if you don’t have too many typos. Personally, I want a good story. I’m happy the text exists but I’d expect a book to be there lol.

There’s no right and wrong way to create art, but there is a certain structure and certain concepts that allow readers to connect with your story more and I’m really tired of seeing extreme variations in authors thinking that they’re being artsy by simply not following a really basic structure so that readers can actually pick up their book and understand it.

This obviously doesn’t apply to poetry or genuinely artistic books where they are trying something completely different. I love the boldness that artist take when trying different types of styles. I’m referring to doing this for a comfort genre like a thriller, a horror, romance, sci-fi, and acting like that’s not going to impact your readers ability to connect with the story.

I barely like text messages in my books and it took me a while to get there. I used to put books down immediately if they had text messages in them because why?

I have gotten increasingly annoyed too with the amount of varied formatting in books when it comes to, including Internet references. I’m purposely picking a book up to not go on the Internet. I do not wanna feel like I’m on the Internet while reading a book.

I also have a massive issue with books not being categorized properly and I have another blog post on this specifically.

Genres contain tropes and themes and ways of telling stories that are somewhat formulaic that have certain patterns that readers can expect when they pick that book up.

If not, it’s just a general fiction book.

When I pick up a thriller and it’s a book about romance or it’s a book about friendship and there is absolutely nothing happening and it’s just a tiny bit mysterious I’m gonna get really bored.

I also feel like a lot of romantic comedies are not romantic, nor are they funny. They tend to be very critical and self deprecative towards the protagonist, and the spice tends to be very underwhelming. I think I’ve read a total of three good romcoms in my life and none of them are the ones that are the top selling ones. I personally do not find enjoyment in making fun of my own body. I think the real issue comes down to the fact that it’s really hard to be funny and not a lot of people are naturally funny.

Something else that may impact my rating is if it’s been published and it’s final and there’s genuine typos and actual issues – but I’ll likely end up just not finishing the book if it’s not a completed work – that’s a waste of my time.

So I do try to be as fair as possible when I am reviewing books and I try to reference the things that I’ve learned fundamentally and my personal enjoyment because it seems like a lot of the times when I have an experience with the book if I go to Goodreads other reviewers we have a similar experience so I know at least one other person will find my review helpful and think in a similar way.

I do leave three star DNF reviews quite often because I’ll either not be in the mood for it, the book simply wasn’t for me, but it was not a bad book by nature or I couldn’t put my finger on why I hated it etc. etc.

There are some books where I can’t pinpoint it or it’s just not for me and I don’t feel comfortable leaving a two star review because there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with it but I don’t wanna give it a glowing review either because I didn’t finish it and so three star is a lot of what I leave when it comes to read you know 60% of the book I read 40% of the book and I just didn’t enjoy it. Those are not two star reviews for me.

My two and one star reviews are usually more along the lines of critical errors.

I usually don’t leave two in one star reviews on Amazon or Goodreads because it’s a waste of my time unless I bought the book and I hated it and there was an issue with it

Most of my two and one star reviews are really just feedback on Net Galley.

And it usually pertains to the author utilizing AI or doing something I fundamentally have a moral issue with when it comes to 2 and 1 star ratings. This can be something along the lines of causing pain and harm to a party so maybe there is xenophobia racism involved who knows.

While I think it’s good for the author and publisher to know, I don’t think that my feedback always helps with sales in particular and I really want to help books succeed, but I also want to be honest always.

This is why I try to leave the books that I don’t fully enjoy on Net Galley and brag and boast about the books that I loved the most.

I like to keep the one in two star ratings for the books that really need to have that negative feedback because if I leave a 1 or 2 star review just because I DNF that doesn’t feel fair to me personally because what if I end up picking the book up and like a year from now and I love it?

Just because I don’t connect with it in that moment doesn’t mean that the books not fundamental still finished product and a good one.

On this line, I usually try to go for the arcs that I am in a mood for if not by publication date. I am not someone who is going to purposely pick up a book.

I’m not in the mood for and go into it knowing I’m probably not going to enjoy it just to finish the book and get the review done .

I am someone who may wait until the last three days before the book gets published because it might take me that long to be in the mood for it but if I am in the mood for it and I pick it up and I don’t like it then you’re gonna get that feedback.

I find that if I’m in the mood for it completely, especially if I finished a good book in that same genre, I go in with a slight positivity bias, and I try to do that as much as possible with books because I think all authors deserve as much of a leg up initially as they can get, especially debut authors.

My Reviews

I am super picky with books and usually if there’s a book that I really love it’s because there’s something that I connected to with it specifically and I think that applies to most humans so I try to do my absolute best with not being too incredibly biased, and if there is a reason I connected with it, I will try to include that in my review.

This is why with my reviews I kind of stay away from tropes and summarizing the plot and including quotes – because you can see that through a sample or the blurb I usually try to include how I felt and why as much as possible. I write reviews if I were talking to a friend or a random stranger online and try to not assume they understand internet slang often needed to decide reviews. I try to make mine as accessible as possible and honest.

I also do not shy away from saying when I book negatively impacted me or that I had an issue with it because I think it’s important to feel the freedom in lack of fear to be able to speak up when I book bothers you.

I think it’s also good for the author and publisher to receive that feedback – either they won’t care or they will learn and improve upon next time.

DNF and personal preferences

I put down and DNF books a lot and I won’t deny it and it’s because I give every book that I am interested in a fair shot.

I have to be physically frowning and having a horrible time for me to put it down before 12%.

I will usually make it to 20% before I realize the book is not for me so many times a sample does not suffice.

A lot of times books for me you can also improve the rating where I will initially think it’s gonna be average and then it gets better and those are my favorite books.

I usually have trust issues when the book is too good in the first 15% because I can only go downhill from there and I’m usually right.

I’ve noticed a weird pattern with authors not utilizing a hook but using the first two chapters as their hook and trying to build something and then shying away from that completely and going off and doing something else.
This usually also leads to negative reviews because your readers are wondering why you didn’t continue with the cool plot in the beginning and why you ended up going to the side and creating something else. Like you had me! What the heck.

Standalone series are also some of my least favorite because if I’m gonna pick up a series, I want them to be as connected as possible or I will pick up standalone’s from that author when there is a standalone series it’s not only confusing to me, but I usually do not want to read it because it’s just going to have a similar element as another book it but it’s not going to be the same, and I do worry that they are usually going to end up making it so that I don’t like the first book as much anymore or so that I don’t really want to read any more books from the author because their first book was so good and the second one was not as good

I do not like very much I really like standalone

I have tried to get into romantasy, and I cannot do it

Dark romance from most authors, I hate

I also really don’t like Omega versus romances. I don’t know what omega verse means.

I am an old lady. I want my genre of fiction to make sense and to be in defined cubes of what I’ve learned growing up and when I studied and for it to match those expectations because that’s how I understand and operate in the book world.

Random tropes and completely retelling over and over again based off of one very successful book drives me up a wall

I know that there are several series that have broken sales records, and it makes me very happy that book sellers can rely on those four sales, but to have nothing but similar books to those beyond the shelves can be super infuriating and it’s hard to avoid them at this point when I look for any sci-fi fantasy or romance books, I am struggling to find books that are not in that category

Most dark romance books for me I hate because they glorify you know what

so yes, I’m very picky but you can also trust my opinions because I’m a weirdo OK thanks

Wrap it up girl

This was written via voice memo, and I went in to try to edit things so if there are errors or words that don’t make sense, you can blame the technology behind it, but I do not have the physical ability to type all of this out. It is voice memo.

Do you have a weird system for doing reviews?

Is this a standard system?

Am I weird? Let me know.

I know the standard Internet review is to do the tropes a quote summary, and then a deep explanation of how you felt, and what not, but those typically tend to be longer than the prologue.

Personally, I struggle to read a review that’s longer than the blurb itself.