Showing posts with label romance reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance reviews. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2014

Writing Honest Romance Reviews

Ana wonders,"What's the best way to write a romance review?"

I wrote many a book report in school, but never for a romance. So I'm trying to devise a template for romance reviews so I can write them efficiently and concentrate on the sincerity.
So far, I have:

              section 1 - describe the book from a reader's perspective. Summarize the heroine and hero, their world, and the dilemma they face. Describe a bit about their journey and emotional arcs. No spoilers, if a suspense.

              section 2 - comment on the author's skill. Describe how I was swept up into the story. If a swooned over any phrases or passages. How I couldn't put it down.

Or not.

I have encountered writers who are super self-publishing technicians. From my perspective, they rushed to master the art of formatting, cover design, uploading, even making a box set, before investing time into polishing. When I try to read this type of author, my inner editor (the craft muse I am still nurturing through workshops and critique feedback) goes berserk. I can overlook errors in formatting, even poor punctuation, but I can't handle rambling sentence structure. Dialogue tags each time a characters speaks.   Incessant head hopping. Cut-and-paste restates of emotional status.

How does one review flaws? Is it better to decline to review? I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I want all every author to succeed.

How do you write honest reviews?