One And Two Star Book Reviews: Useless?

Evening! Fancy seeing me here again, eh?

Anyway, I was involved in a heated discussion on a bookish page from my personal fb last night - and this morning - and the question was:

"Those of you who write book reviews, will you NOT leave a review if you rate it less than a certain number of stars? Authors, do you prefer that readers/reviewers not leave a review if it's less than a specific number of stars? What's the "cut off point" for you?"

I was astonished to see quite a few reviewers - some well known among the fb AND goodreads bookish circles - saying that they don't post reviews under three stars. 

What? Well, why the hell not? 

As a reviewer, is it or is it not your duty to inform me - the reader - of the contents of a book BEFORE I read it? Isn't your purpose to tell everyone how good - OR BAD, which was where the problem arises - this book was before I go and spend X amount of dollars and numerous hours I cannot get refunded on this beast? Why be a book blogger if the only reviews you post are for "good" books? How can you consider yourself a reviewer if you never have a negative opinion about a book you read? We know all of them aren't gems. We're reading bad books, too! And as the consumer - the most important person in this whole publishing/reading scenario - we owe it to the author to tell them whether or not their books need work. If we don't, they'll never grow and continue to write crap books.

Am I the only one outraged over this?!

I must be. Because when I mentioned that I don't descriminate between good and bad books; that they alllll get a review posted, most of everyone there almost shat their pants. You do everyone involved a disservice when you only post 4 or 5 star book reviews. Because to the unsuspecting public, it looks like you LURVE all the books you read. How am I susposed to believe the word of someone who doesn't dislike anything? We don't get to see that email you send to the author giving them your thoughts and critiques. We don't know any of that is happening. To us, you just look dishonest. And to be frank, your opinion on every book you've ever read has just been called into question. You've taken the honesty out of book reviewing. And I shant read another you write.

So, readers and reviewers alike, I ask you now.....would you review a book you rated less than three stars? And if not, why? 

--A.

Why I've Been So Quiet

My sincerest apologies for being silent for more than a month but the month of December is always monstrous for me and things tend to slip through the cracks. This past December was a bit more time consuming for me because my best friend in the entire world got married! *Claps* And I was actually her Maid of Honor. It was a beautiful day, she looked breathtaking and by the end of the month, I was pooped.

Anywho, I haven't really been writing much but lately, that has changed somewhat. I've added another couple thousand words to a bit of Caleb and even some to Caylee. A few of my other WIP's are coming along as well. Slowly, but coming along nonetheless. Usually, for me, writing is an escape from my daily monotonous life. Breaking up the tedium with pockets of creativity and new secret worlds no one knows about, can criticize, poke holes in or destroy because it is all in my head and generally, what I say goes. . And I love that I am able to step back from my life and live this other full and complete life without even having to leave the safety of my own home. But some time ago, writing became something of a chore. Not a bad chore per say, but I wasn't sitting down to write for pleasure so much as 'needing' to get it out. Other writers understand me when I say that. Alas, for the past couple of weeks, I've been feeling excited about getting home and sitting down at my laptop and spending time with these wonderful people inside my head. It would be sacrilege not to tell their stories.

So I've drawn the conclusion that I will just keep writing There is no 'until'. I write, therefore I am. And there is nothing more beautiful than that. -- A.

P.S. A little teaser/snippet of Caleb will be coming soon! Next blog post is alllll about Caylee!

Roadblocks =x

I find that once I'm in a writing rut, it's damn hard to dig myself out. With that said, I feel like I'm pulling my hair out trying to drag more than five to six hundred words out of myself. It is damn frustrating. And discouraging.

It sucks.

Also, I've stopped writing queries for a while now. For about two-three months, at least. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm trying to focus on a couple different things right now. I will be attending the Winter/Spring 2013 Semester at my local college and I still have TONS of things to do for that so I apologize right now for my lack of blog posts/updates. I think I've been successfully pulled from my reading rut, too.

Currently, I'm reading Glory In Death by J.D Robb. For those of you who may not know, J.D Robb is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts. The first in this series, I have to admit, didn't really do much for me. I didn't hate it but I wasn't in love with it either. The first book was published in the late 90's and as of now, there are 40-plus books planned for this series with no end in sight. For me, that is a bit excessive. How many books do I want to read about a Cop finding murderers in the year 2058 with her rich, ex-badass man on her arm? Yeah. I don't really want to read more than ten, to be completely honest.

Anysnooch, I'll update as much as I can. No promises, but I will try.  --A.

Muse by Susie M. Hanley

****4 STARS!****

**SPOILAGE**

I don't think there are enough nice things I could say about this book. It was well written, the characters were like-able, - with maybe one exception - I very much liked the concept and premise to this book and I really loved that I didn't have to try so hard to suspend reality to make this believable. It did take me a while to finish but it is not for lack of interest in the book. I'm kind of in a stinky-rut I-don't-wanna-read-anything phase. Meh. Hopefully, it'll pass.

The world of Muses and Guardians sucked me in from the moment I read the blurb about Muse. With so many books out there about vampires, werewolves, shifters - the list goes on and on. I was SOOO refreshed and excited to finally read something different.

Shelby is our lead. As a protagonist, I really liked her. She was relatable, sassy, smart - I could talk about her all day. I felt like the author really knew what/who to write about and how to enable readers to identify with Shelby. She really felt like a real woman with real issues you could sit down and have a drink with, [Probably not too much. Shelby's kind of a lightweight. Lol] talk about men with and bitch out your professor with when they give too much homework.

Cal - my G-d, I was really rooting for him. *Sad face* I won't give too much away, but despite his tool-ness, I really did like him, I understood him in some aspects and I *whispers* may have gotten lady wood for him a bit. *Giggles* Shhh. 'Tis a secret. ;]

I really liked how the existence of Muses and Guardians wasn't a secret in Muse. Ya know how usually in most - almost all - books the magic or supernatural element[s] in the story are secret and it's super important that no humans know about it. *Rolls eyes* No, I was so relieved and excited that it was known to the public. I sort of felt this book was a little - and I do mean just a touch - slow-going. And at first, I couldnt really pinpoint what the big-bad was going to be but when it hit, holy nucking futs, I was like "Ohhhh, snizap. This dude is INSANE." Yeah. It was that good. For a second there, at like 74% I got thrown. Maybe it was earlier....I don't remember but I *ALMOST* rolled my eyes.

One of the only things I couldn't really gel with in this book was the love/romance element. It felt a bit coerced. Like, the love triangle thing wasn't really thought out and just added in later. I just think a week is a bit too soon for anyone to fall in love with someone new. Especially since Malcom is a Guardian and Shelby has a bad history with Guardians. I just think she should have been less accepting of him in her life.

The other thing I didn't really like was how she treated Cal. Yes, he was a tool - when you read it, you'll see just how big of a tool - but he's the father of her children. Even when things with Tiffany - one of our big-bad's - and her plotting got better, she was still dismissive and I'd go so far as rude. Still, a full length novel and I only didn't like two things? Great book. Really great book.

I just hope theres a part two or something. The ending left it open to suggestion a little bit.

Click HERE to visit Ms. Hanley's website.

Click HERE to go to Ms. Hanley's Goodreads.

Click HERE to purchase Muse on Barnes and Noble.

Click HERE to purchase Muse on Amazon. 

I was given this book in exchange for a review but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own and are really how I feel. As you may have read, I don't give reviews for the fork of it.

That Dreadful "No".

Rejection. Ugh, I shudder with dread every time I hear it. 

Rejection is hard. We're brought up our entire lives conditioned to believe this, so we do. Want the truth? Yes, rejection is hard but it is not the end all, be all. You can get back up. And you get back up swinging, people! The moment you let the sadness from rejection filter out into your everyday life, is the moment you need to shake yourself and get a grip.

People tell you no when you're small, people tell you no when you're bigger and people will - guess what? - STILL tell you no when you're biggest. It's just the way the world works. Everyone can't get a yes all the time. Think of how insane this world would be if people's random - and sometimes dangerous - ideas weren't curbed with a no every now and then. It would be ANARCHY. 

Thus, we have the word no. Just remember, all those other people say no so that someday, somewhere, someone GREAT will say yes.