Do you 'Draw The Line' on what type of book you'll read and review?

[Lynda Coker]

We all have those invisible lines of preference, taste, and morality. How do you handle yours as you read, review, and blog?

[Parajunkee]

I really think you will give a better review if you stay in your preferred genres. Say if you really don't get into Westerns or SciFi - you probably will not give it a fair review. If you are offered a book that you think you will really not enjoy because of taste preference, I would think that the best way is to just be honest. And then if you know of another reviewer that does like that genre - recommend them. I've done this before with my freelance work and it usually goes over well. Parajunkee

[Lynda Coker]

This does seem to be a good way to handle individual reviews. Thanks for sharing, Rachy.

[Tracie Yule]

I couldn't agree with you more. I recently had an author contact me to read a Sci-Fi novel aimed at teenage boys. I was so uninterested. Instead, I asked the author if my son could read it (who is 15) and then I would interview my son about his opinion. My son hasn't finished it yet, but to me this seemed like a compromise because there was no way I would've given it a good review...and the author deserved a more objective opinion than mine.

[Lynda Coker]

This sounds like a great idea.

[Linda]

I always try to choose books I think I will like. I have only had one book that I accepted to read that I had no warning ahead of time how bad it was. Bad, as in crude and disgusting. I thought there could have been some type of warning on the book or in the review request, but I decided that I was definitely not going to read any further. I decided to give the book away through "Early Reviewers Member Giveaway" on librarything and requested that the winner review the book. I did post a warning about crude content, and then at least the author/publicist got a review from someone who might appreciate the book.

[Lynda Coker]

Hi Linda,
I also really hate to open what I think is going to be a great story only to be smacked with a lot of disgusting discription and diaglogue. It would be nice if they required books to be rated. Thanks for commenting.

[Christy Pinheiro]

I only review non fiction, with an exception for some fantasy. I don't mind crude humor or foul language. But horror-type stuff, no way. No killings or gore. I can barely watch the news.

[Lynda Coker]

I haven't seen the point in horror yet. I must be in the minority, though, because there sure is a lot of it that sells well. However, I want to come away from a read with a good feeling, and that genre just doesn't get me there... Thanks for commenting.

[Kaye]

It states in my review policy very clearly what I do review and what I don't. There are too many books out there to waste time reading a genre I don't like.

[Lynda Coker]

I really appreciate when policy is clearly stated on any site. And your right, there are too many good books in the genres we like to waste precious reading time on anything less.

[Anysia]

I don't accept unsolicited books and because it is so expensive to mail books to me I don't receive any. I don't get paid for this gig and reviewing a book takes hours so unless I would be inclined to read the book anyway I don't accept it. Newspaper reviewers get paid so they review a wider range of books but even then I see reviews where the reviewer should have stuck to a genre that they knew something about instead of being snotty about a genre they obviously don't read regularly.

[Lynda Coker]

So true. Sometimes authors forget how much time and effort goes into a thorough book review. And it is expensive to send out review copies plus their postage. I know, I just mailed 15 at my cost. So I definitely hope that the reviewers that accepted were really interested in reading the book.