READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 3 September 2013 | Page 21

Orange Peacock
To Review or Not to Review
By Alicia Jespersen
Choosing which books you should read and review is probably one of the easiest and hardest decisions for me. As a reviewer I know that each book I come across was written by a real person just looking for their book to get recognition and good reviews. This is one of the hardest things for reviewers to realize but also for them to put aside when reading a book. You can't just read and review books looking to please everyone. It just isn't possible. The way I decide which books I actually would like to read and then in turn review, is I try to one, find a book or author I've never heard of before. This gives me more of a chance of going into the book with an open mind, and chances are I'll probably like the book that much more for not knowing a single thing about it. Two, if I'm asked to review a book by an author or publisher I basically read the synopsis via Goodreads or some other book site. With having read the synopsis I can prepare myself for the style of book, but I do not read other people's reviews. I do this mainly because I am easily influenced by others opinions. For me to give a completely honest review I need to only have my own personal feelings and thoughts towards the book floating around in my head, not other people's opinions. Now for authors that are bigger or well known you as a reviewer or reader know that there are many reviews for their books out there. Which lightens the pressure and makes the whole "authors are expecting good reviews from you" thing easier to deal with and put aside. Which for me, it makes their books slightly more fun to read because I know that my one review in the vast ocean of other reviews won't make or break an author. But the truth is when I first went into reviewing every single book I read, I just wanted to get my thoughts of a certain book down on paper. Which by all means that should be how it is now, and it's still like that on some level. Though for me at some point reviewing all the books I read started to become a full-time job, which took the fun out of reviewing for me. But, even the best of reviewers can let the pressure of pleasing all authors get to them. When the pressure becomes to much, you should look back to your first reviews and see that you didn't pay any attention to an author. You were just speaking your mind and writing reviews for the fun of it, and to keep your joy for the book alive long after you finished reading it. My point being, once you find the joy of reading and reviewing again you start to realize that not every book you read will get a full review. Only the books that blew your mind will get the much needed attention of a review. Doing this will ensure that your reviews will magnify your passion towards the books you read and loved and that passion will burst out from your words into other readers that might have been looking for that one reason to start a book they had never considered before. So it all comes down to the same thing once again, you choose what you want to read, and by doing that you find books that you love and just can't stay quiet about. Which is all authors, fellow readers, and publishers ever want. They want the passion for books to consume you, and once it does nothing and no one will stand in your pursuit to find more amazing books to read and review!