What is a book review?

Armchair Ghost Hunting by Cynthia Carver

What is a book review?  A short synopsis of your opinion about the story you read. Amazon rates the book by the stars it receives along with how many copies are sold. Book review sites offer their own version of review guidelines. The sure-fire way to let an author know how much you appreciate their storytelling is to leave a review.

Twenty years ago I did reviews for a site that reviewed romance novels only.  We had a three-

Armchair Ghost Hunting by Cynthia Carver
Armchair Ghost Hunting Cynthia Carver
https://amzn.to/31A0yBM

paragraph of three sentences for each paragraph.  The first paragraph was our opinion of the female main character. The second included information about the male main character. Followed by the last paragraph as a short overview of the story. To this review formula, I added a fourth-paragraph that begin, why I liked/disliked the story.

The like or dislike opinion might include information about bad editing which had nothing to do with the author and all about the editing or publishing company.  In today’s market where the independent author might have used an independent editor, I would not rate the book on the lousy edits but I will mention s/he might want to change editors in the future.  Should I contact the author before leaving the review? Maybe, though the difference might not show up for six months or so.

Focus on the characters and storyline for a review with a short paragraph about why you like or dislike the book.  Leave a rating without the focus on editing and your comment will be well received.

My books can be found on kindle unlimited.

 

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