Every time I scroll through Facebook lately I see the same ad from author Lauren Landish quoting a review that called her latest book, “Vulgar and trashy.” That book is currently a Kindle best seller so I'm not the only who doesn't think trashy sounds like such a bad thing. But also, I'm impressed with the author's ability to embrace the criticism. It can be tough to see someone dislike a book you love. I'm sure it's even harder for the authors.
We all know in theory that not every book is for every reader. I saw a review on Instagram earlier this year that said something like, "This book was just not for me. It felt like a Victorian Weekend at Bernie’s." And my response was, "That sounds awesome. Sign me up!" But maybe that's just me? I read a three star review recently that said, "I just don't like the Fake Relationship trope." I usually enjoy it so that wasn't a bad review at all for me.
As a reviewer, I take some comfort in all of this. I often feel a little bit guilty writing a negative review so I'm going to try to keep in mind that I might actually be selling someone on the book. But I honestly can't think of a time when it happened. My really bad reviews tend to be more like "it was badly written" or "the protagonist was unlikable" and I'm not sure how that would be a selling point. So this all has me wondering:
Have you ever read a book because of a negative review?
We’re participating in the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Check out all the December discussions!
