First and foremost, I express my opinion of the book read in each of my reviews. If it hurts your feelings, authors or fans, please tell me in the comments, so I will either learn something new or not care. Probably the latter. Even if the book was sent to me by the author or publisher, it is still 100% my true opinion.
One big thing is that I do not give blurbs, recounting of the plot, page numbers, links to buy the book, and other ISBN necessities. If you want that, go Google it on Amazon. If you want my opinion about the book, look here.
Now, I do take requests from authors and other big corporations. (Like they request me.) All you have to do is ask, through here or by Twitter. Both are fine, but both will receive consideration. My mountain of TBR books is quite high. Not everything can be accomplished so easily.
I work with the 10 point system, detailing the general basics of:
Plot- If it worked for me, had no deus ex machinas, and was reasonably intelligent. Minus points for predictability, which is very much subjective.
Characters- Rounded characters that have at least a few defining attributes make this an easy win for me. Dialogue that sticks to the person is always a plus. Reckless, stupid characters are not.
Setting/Atmosphere- Lump together the tone, mood, setting, and atmosphere into one category, and you have this. As long as it works for the scene, and is heavy for the book, I’ll make note of it. Most of the time, you either have it or you don’t.
Pacing- Thrillers and YA win this easily. If the book is over 500 pages and does good, I’ll write this down for importance. But remember, good pacing does not make a good book. Many times they’re the worst focus, in my opinion.
When it comes to points, I look at it like this:
10-8.5 – I’m going to gush, probably. This was an amazing book. Nothing more to really add. I have a hard time being critical of one of these books. Five stars without question.
8 – These are predominately good. I had a fun time. They weren’t hands down amazing, but they had a few problems. Nothing really major. Simply put, the writer knew his business. Four or five stars, depending on how I feel at the end.
7.5-7 – They were fairly good. They had a bit more problems than an 8, but still managed to make me continue on, even if in a series. If I had to, I would give the majority of these four stars. Low four stars, but still.
6.5-5.5 – Meh. They were okay. They had a few more problems, more major than I enjoy reading about, but I still made it through in one piece. They were probably fun at some point, but faltered around the middle or end. A solid three stars.
5 and below – I don’t know why I finished this. Probably because I felt obliged to, had to, or was too stupid not to. Usually a mixture of the three. It had a lot of problems, so much that I would consider putting down in the middle of the book, even near the end. Two stars easy. If it’s one star, I don’t know why I even tried.
And if I get about halfway through the book, but decide to put it down, I’ll write a post detailing the problems I saw. If I’m lazy and it wasn’t just one major problem that I can detail, you’ll probably see a lackluster review. It’ll be glaring with the lack of quotes. I won’t rate the book, except on Goodreads.
Acerbic Writing 