Reviews books they haven't finished .......
I had to open up with a meme here. Really? Why on earth would you leave a good or bad review before finishing the book?! What if it changes halfway through, or does a dramatic twist near the end that puts your whole idea of the story before into a new direction?! You don't know how it will turn out until you hit the last page. I get that some books are just sooo bad that you cannot finish them. The typos, the content, the dead characters with forced dialog and relationships; I've hit this issue before, but I am talking about the people who keep changing it because every five pages they have a new opinion. It doesn't make any sense, and blows my mind. Not to mention it gets really confusing to read, and I'm not going to stalk you for whatever the finished decision is. By the second or third change- if for whatever reason I am really stalking that book that long- I will give up and just go by the picture, or blurb, or something... So, please, stop and finish the book if you plan to. If you're never going to touch it again and you're only halfway through then by all means, warn us, and be descriptive in your review!
Four or five word reviews
Yeah, this kind of goes with the bit above. If you honestly hate a book, I want to know why. Nothing will help the readers out more than a few descriptive sentences on your true feelings, or thoughts, about the story. "I LOVED THIS BOOK!" Sweet! But... What made you love it? I'm not saying to type out a lot; I also get that some people have troubles putting those jumbled happy/angry thoughts into something decent. It doesn't need to be a paragraph or five, just a quick explanation. "I hated this book because it was just a repetitive and boring storyline." That makes my decision on whether or not to get it a lot easier, and we really do appreciate it!
Weird star ratings
Sometimes I come across reviews that don't match the star ratings. Now each site has their own sort of thing, and sometimes people make their own up. This just gets confusing, but two things are about the same no matter where you go: a four means you liked it a fair amount and a two means you didn't like it. When I see things like "I hated this book, huge waste of money- I give it four stars" I am even more confused. Or "I love, love, LOVE this book! - two stars!" I don't know what to think here, maybe they don't know? Could certainly be, so real quick here, five is the highest mark. It means you loved it! One means you hated it, some while different sites kind of change what the in-betweens mean, it is all about the same sort of scale.
On a side note here, if your rating system is different and you are using amazon or something, please check out what they say each star means before clicking it. I saw this one person who's five star meant 'better than Bram Stroker' (huge vampire fan) and that was an impossible feat for anyone to get to. I think I saw one book she rated five star according to her scale; the rest were four and under. It makes the whole thing more complicated than it needs to be.
Use text speak
I never fully understood text speak unless you were texting and driving, trying to text while giving a three year old a bath, or preforming some other attention demanding task. Even then the only text speak to be received is 'ttyl', and not something like 'i h8 dis book', 'U need an editor', or 'y dnt u understand proper english. ur suppsd to b an author.' Hey, we all make typos every now and then, just look around my posts and you'll see it. But why go this far? If your attention is that divided, why are you writing a review? It is hard to talk about your feelings and thoughts when something else keeps interrupting. Again, your review doesn't need to be long, but we all crave the inside scoop on the hots and nots of, well, everything! I am aware that this may look more like bashing than honest curiosity. A few of these topic fours are a little touchy to me, because I have seen them cause some trouble in the past. But if you have something to say for it, be my guest and speak up! I won't learn if nothing is brought to my attention. I do, however, want to leave on a lighter note. So here is one more question type thingy for all of you.
Professional reviewers
What makes someone a profession reviewer? Is it the proper use in star ratings, or the five paragraphs of well explained opinions without giving away any spoilers? I honestly don't know. I thought it was working for a newspaper or magazine and reporting top stories of fashion or NYT bestsellers. I think if anyone aims to be a 'professional' reviewer without the true passion and schooling behind it, you are trying too hard. I say passion and schooling because if you want to be super awesome good, get a sweet job with it! Hey, why not? Got the drive, aim for the stars! For those of us who simply like reading books, and want to talk about it at the end, don't fret too much. A simple 'I like/dislikes it because of insert something good/bad here' works well, and a close guess on the stars, or a swift search of the meanings, will make you number one to me- even if we do have different opinions. =)
*Disclaimer: Vampy's Book Blog aka Vampy's Ramblings does not under any means condone texting and driving, even if you use text speak to let the other person know you will talk to them late. One text, even a small one, could be fatal, so please put the phone away until you are off the road. Be safe on the roads! Love ya!
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