“Sometimes reality has a way of sneaking up and biting us in the ass. And when the dam bursts, all you can do is swim. The world of pretend is a cage, not a cocoon. We can only lie to ourselves for so long. We are tired, we are scared, denying it doesn’t change the truth. Sooner or later we have to put aside our denial and face the world. Head on, guns blazing. De Nile. It’s not just a river in Egypt, it’s a freakin’ ocean. So how do you keep from drowning in it?” – Meredith Grey “Grey’s Anatomy”

If you are in the book blogging world, you are probably familiar with the infamous Jacqueline Howett who went postal on a book blogger (and still, to this day, refuses to accept responsibility). If you read her most current blog entry you will see a quick “apology” if you can even call it an apology and then she goes back to pointing fingers at the blogger, blaming his review on being “new” to the blog world.

I wonder if she knows how to pronounce the world denial?

But is Howett completely to blame for her outburst? What about all the people who have read her work beforehand and did not want to spare her the ill feelings and give her the honest truth? How much of her denial was based on our (the book reviewers) inability to be honest with the book we have read? Are we really helping the author by lying to them because we are too empathic to their feelings?

Recently I decided I would be honest with my book reviews; honest in the sense that I would put up a review no matter what. Even if I did not like it, I would say so rather than not review the book at all. For the longest time if I did not like a book, and it was that bad, I would simply put it down and move on to the next book. I couldn’t face the idea of hurting someone’s feelings. But then I thought, why exactly am I reviewing books? What is even the point in reviewing books if not to be completely honest about how you feel; the good books and the bad?

Publishers and authors alike email me almost daily with the request for my thoughts on their books.  I probably have a good few dozen books in my TBR pile awaiting review.  But this has me wondering, are authors really looking for my thoughts or are they just looking for reassurance that they have talent and their work is phenomenal?  But that really takes away the whole point of a book reviewer. Am I right or am I wrong?

Believe me, I hate writing negative reviews. Each time I dislike a book, I get this heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach and think, “Oh no..” Being a Pisces, I am incredibly sensitive and I hate the idea that what I have to say will hurt someone’s feelings and put self doubt in their minds. No one wants to feel unworthy or doubtful and frankly it absolutely sucks to know that you have to do it to someone on purpose. I have to remind myself, though, that it’s to help the author. The truth, whether it hurts or not, is told so that they may hear it and learn from it and take what they will to better their craft. Passing off their inadequate work as perfection does not help an author better themselves, but only pushes them further into the pits of denial.

Recently I reviewed a book by Megan Bostic titled Never Eighteen. Never Eighteen was the story of a 17 year old named Austin who was dying of cancer and wanted one last chance to remedy some relationships that have soured over the course of his short life. While the synopsis was interesting, the story itself was completely flawed and in my review I was blunt with saying exactly what bugged me about the story. After all, I received the book to do just that; to give my thoughts. No one said that I had to give a positive review. In fact, I am pretty sure that bartering for a positive review with gifts/products and/or cash gifts is illegal now. As an ethical blogger, I vowed to abide by such rules.

I did not like Never Eighteen and I said so. Bostic wasn’t a fan of the review, no doubt. (You can read her thoughts and feelings on the subject here). Her thoughts and feelings on the subject didn’t bother me. But her deleting my comment in response to her entry did. I simply told her that although my language may have been harsh or blunt or “unprofessional” as she states, I had to remind her that this is a personal blog. Had I written a review for People Magazine or the NY Times, the entire tone and language would have been professional and analytical. But Well-Read Reviews is not People Magazine or the NY Times. It’s a blog that I started to discuss what I was reading. Unless I am getting paid to right a review, I do not feel the need to censor myself in any way, shape, or form. When I write my reviews, I write the thoughts as they come to mind.

That being said, my comment to Bostic on her blog entry wasn’t an attack in any way. I simply apologized to Bostic for having to say what I had to say in my review and that her feelings were be hurt by it. I told her again, in an easier pill to swallow, what I found flawed by her novel and I hope that she could take from it and learn from it. Instead of responding, she deleted my comment. What is the purpose of deleting a comment not made in spite, but to only further your own denial on not wanting to face the truth? She either did not want to listen what I had to say, the person reviewing her book, or she didn’t want others to be influenced by what I had to say (or both).

But as Bostic states in her entry, people need to pick up the book for themselves and make their own choices. (I cannot agree, more.) However, she has to be aware that just because she is published does not mean that her work is perfection. Her books are then sent out for review and therefore when her books are out there in circulation, the chances that people will not like it increases. Don’t pass off negative reviews to be anything but a learning experience. Every negative review has something to learn from.

In regards to Never Eighteen, you see, Bostic failed  to follow my 3 Golden Rules (which any author can learn from):

Top 3 Mistakes Authors Make

1. Create an unlikeable first person character. Not all characters are meant to be liked, but if an author is going to write a story in first person, the character needs to be easy to relate to. If I cannot feel compassion and empathy and feel as one with the character, then the author has no reason for writing in first person.

When a first person character is unlikeable, the reader is more likely to separate themselves from the character and therefore the story. Therefore the character needs to be someone to root for and cannot be so flawed and so dramatic that their emotions and actions are beyond anything  a normal reader would think, feel, and do. One of the reasons Austin from Never Eighteen was so unlikeable was how he treated the people in his life he supposedly loved.  He supposedly loved his best friend, Kaylee, yet none of his actions leading up to their coming together really expressed that or indicated any sort of romantic feel.

When describing Kaylee, I needed to feel what Austin felt. However I felt no passion for Kaylee. Instead I was confused. I knew that I, the main character, was supposed to love her — but why leave her in the car stop after stop and make her wait without explaining? If Austin really loved Kaylee, he would have brought her into his world and explained what he had to do and leave it up to her to show character enough to decide whether or not to accompany him into the homes of the people to be visited. He needed to show her respect by not keeping her in the dark.

Through out the book Austin puts himself  in scenarios that were completely selfish and most people would like to believe that they aren’t comparable to someone so selfish. I didn’t like Austin, and therefore, it was quite difficult for the book to pull me in completely.

2. Use the same voice for all of your characters. I hate when authors do this, but I don’t think they necessarily know they are doing this. However to me this indicates that a character was not particularly well thought out. While writing their novel they really need to pay attention to their characters. What makes each character different and unique (besides the way they look, their gender, or their name.) It seems a lot of emphasis are placed on details, rather than personality and the way they speak.  In my opinion, as a reader, personality is most important.

Most of the time I do not care how a person looks (I leave that up to my imagination) and most of the time I cannot remember if they are brunette or blonde or what their last name is. But I do remember the way they spoke and their personality as whole. However when these characters all speak the same, it brings down the story. It really does, and yet so many authors do it. Kaylee and Austin in Never Eighteen talked the same and their dialogue read as if they were talking to themselves. There was nothing particularly special about either of their (lack) of personalities.

What if Kaylee had been from North Carolina, or somewhere in the southern states? Maybe she speaks with a slight southern drawl. Maybe she’s from upstate New York or Chicago and pronounces my name like, “Eel-ison”. Either way, making her unique and set apart from the main character is important. What kind of things did she dislike in a person? Does she get overly anal about doing things a certain way? Does she bite off more than she can chew? What about her sense of humor? What makes Kaylee special and worthy of Austin’s love? But keep in mind, Kaylee can’t be perfect, because who is?

Authors really need to put in a lot of thought into their characters. Their voices each need to be different and unique because, well, we all are.

3. Overly Predictable – There is nothing wrong with being a little predictable (hello foreshadowing) but when a book is overly predictable to the point when it holds no surprise, then we have a problem.

The moment Austin wanted into his friend’s (I think her name was Alli) house, the way she was described I knew she had some sort of drug habit. The way their conversation took place I knew what was going to happen and how Austin was going to fly in there and “save” his friend with his 5 minute speech.  You know what? Be realistic — some people just cannot be saved. And supposedly this girl was all full of life before and yadda yadda. Then she was raped. Then she turned to drugs. It was just too predictable.

Another example is when Austin visits this kid with “nerdy glasses” (or something like that). Just from Bostics description alone, I knew what was to come. I knew Austin was a former bully coming to make amends. Why did I have to know all this? What is the point in pulling the reader through this just to retell what they already know; something I can gauge just by reading the “memory” of the kid? And the fact that he was a bully just further annoyed me with Rule #1: Making the character unlikeable.

You know what would have been unpredictable — if there was a bigger thread to tie between his visits. What did all of these people have in common besides Austin? Usually a character is brought in for a purpose bigger than what the reader initially believes. Why were THESE people visited out of all the many he probably pissed off in his life time?

And then another predictable thing happens, he dies. (But you knew that, or did you?)

I hate writing negative reviews but honestly — who am I helping by not saying anything? Who are we as book bloggers helping when we tell our readers a book was good when we really couldn’t have cared less about it but felt obligated to find SOMETHING nice to say about it (and leaving out anything that would do a disservice to the book?)

If you’re a book blogger — be honest. Maybe if we had all been honest with ourselves then the Twilight series wouldn’t have gone viral. Let’s nip bad literature in the butt and not enable it. Think about it.

If you’re an author, don’t pass off a review as insignificant just because your friends, family, and publisher all agree that your book was amazing. Think about their motives and their relationship to you. Think about how that creates bias in their review.

If you want someone to be honest with you, you need to have an unbias reviewer give you feedback prior to publication. Heck, I have no problem working with authors about critiquing their work beforehand. I vow to always tell the author the truth about how I feel while reading their novel but the question remains, can they really handle it?