Tag Archives: book review

How to Be Critiqued

Posted on April 24, 2012 | 7 Comments

Discussion and controversy abounded on the Novel Publicity Facebook page last week over a blog post written by Anne R. Allen, “Amazon Reader Reviews: 12 Things Everybody and His Grandmother Needs to Know”.  Without going into too much detail about the original blog post, the NP folks seemed to agree that authors should not demand readers leave only 4 and 5 star reviews and never anything lower.  They also seemed to agree that readers and reviewers had a right to leave negative reviews if the book in question truly warrants it.

Glowing reviews are a wonderful thing, don’t get me wrong.  Nothing makes me smile wider than when I am praised by someone who has read my book.  But at the end of the day I am in the school of thought that says that the occasional negative review is one of the most powerful learning tools an author has.

Negative reviews, provided they are honest and not just someone with a bone to pick, are a fantastic way to diagnose the problems with your stories that you as an author might not be able to see.  They have the potential to set you on the right track and give you an honest look at areas where you need improvement.  They usually don’t come from people with a vested interest in keeping you happy, so you can trust them even more than you can the reviews your mom gives you.

Most of the time, someone who puts in the work to write a review is going to be a serious reader with a vested interest in seeing stories of the highest quality on the market.  People who are easily pleased or who aren’t as passionate about books probably won’t take the time to write a critique.  So chances are that if you’ve been reviewed it is by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

The things these people say should be taken very seriously!  It’s not going to do you any good as an author intent on improving your craft to get angry or dismiss the reviewer’s opinion or to lash out at them in any way.  In fact, please don’t lash out at a reviewer!  The best response to a negative review that you can give is no response at all.

And now for an example of what we can learn from a negative review….

I was extremely lucky a couple of weeks ago to get a 3-star review for my novel The Loyal Heart on Amazon.  This review exemplifies several different points about how to read, accept, and learn from a negative review.  Here it is:

“ *** Engaging

I enjoyed reading this book.  It was fun and engaging.

If I was going to offer the author some pointers I’d say:

a) Add a little more description to set the scene.  I kind of know what medieval England might look like but not everyone would.  It would also add to the atmosphere.  

b) All the characters need a little more depth, back history, motivation and detail.  Why and how is Aubrey so good with a sword?  What did Crispin do that was so awful in the past?  Why don’t the people of Ethan’s estates want him back?

c) Find another word for smirk!

OK, so that last one was a bit pedantic but it was used enough that I started to notice it.

In spite of these points and a few other minor quibbles it was a pleasure to read and I should say that the sex scenes are really well written.  It moves along at a good pace.  I liked it enough that I’ll be reading the sequel.”

So that is my 3-star review.  It’s actually pretty flattering.  But the meat of the lesson is in the pointers.  Each of the reviewer’s three points brings up a different issue in how to accept a critique.

The first point is about setting and description.  This is a Style Critique.  The reviewer would have liked more description.  My personal style is not to spent too much time on description.  I would rather create the setting through dialog and action.  But what this point tells me is that there are readers out there who would like to have more of a picture painted in their mind.  I can be mindful of this in my future books and look for ways to set the scene better going forward.

The second point is about character.  This is more of a Content Critique.  Of all of the points this reviewer raises this one goes the farthest to put my nose out of joint.  Why?  Because the answers to all of the questions the reviewer poses are, in fact, answered in the book.  The reviewer just missed them.  The critique makes it look as though the story is missing something that is not missing at all.  But that also tells me something.  Maybe I was too subtle in delivering my characters’ back stories.  Maybe the way in which I presented my characters drew emphasis to the wrong things.  The important aspect of this comment is to remember that while I know everything there is to know about these characters, the reader must figure it out as they go along.  Next time I need to make sure that I communicate everything the reader needs to know.

The third pint cracks me up.  It is a Technical Critique.  Yes, I absolutely had WAY too many “smirks” in the first edition of this book.  It was ridiculous.  I mean, completely silly.  And this reviewer wasn’t the first person to notice.  I have since gone back and removed 85% of the smirks and republished the book.

So there you go.  I’m sure I’ll get worse critiques at some point.  I like this one though because it covers a lot of bases and makes a great example.  I disagree with some of it, I agree whole-heartedly with some of it, and some of it makes me wish I could sit down and explain a few things to the reviewer.  I’m glad I received this review though.

Embrace those negative reviews.  They can teach you more than effusions of love can.

 

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Writing

Tagged , , , , , ,

Book Review – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 5 Comments

It dawned on me the other day that I haven’t done a book review post for my blog in weeks.  This makes me sad.  It makes me sad for a couple of reasons.  One, I want to review books on my blog and I haven’t been doing that.  Two, the reason why I haven’t been reviewing books in spite of having read a few in the last few weeks is because my Mom always told me if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.  I refuse to give a fellow Writer, especially a fellow Indie Writer, a bad review.  So I haven’t been able to review those books I’ve read.  I wish it wasn’t so.

So what’s a girl to do?  I’ve been reading truly terrible Indie Pubbed romance novels and I’ve been rereading the Harry Potter series.  For the six thousandth time.  Yes, I got a Kindle for my birthday in July and the first books I loaded onto it were the Harry Potter books … the hard copies of which I had sitting five feet away from me at the time that I downloaded them.  But let’s face it, the Harry Potter books are genius.  So I figured, why not give one a review?

Here goes….

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

This is the middle book in the Harry Potter series.  It was the latest book to be published when I first started reading the series.  I gobbled up one, two, and three one right after the other, almost as if they were one book.  Then I read Goblet of Fire.  My first reaction?  WHOA.  The first three were kids books.  With Goblet of Fire stuff suddenly got serious.  I mean, a student dies.  It’s violent.  It’s raw.  Best of all, the third side of the triangle of opposing forces in the series begins to emerge.

But let’s back up a bit.

One of the things I loved so much about Sorcerer’s Stone was getting to know the world J.K. Rowling had created.  In fact, I would argue that the entire first book of the series is one giant world-building exercise with an “Oh yeah, and this is the plot that is going to extend through the entire series” thrown in at the end.  Goblet of Fire starts out with the Quidditch World Cup.  I freakin’ LOVE everything having to do with that bit.  Yes, there’s a little bit of plottage there, but there’s a lot of world-expansion to.  Suddenly we have an extensive series of chapters that takes place outside of Hogwarts.  It entertains just as it sets up what is to come.

From a writer’s perspective, the book is very nicely structured.  Part One: build-up to the Triwizard Tournament.  Part Two: the Triwizard Tournament.  Part Three: Guess Who’s Back In Town.  I personally have a thing for novels that are structured like a tv series season.  What I love about this book is how every three or four chapters fits smoothly together like a tv series with hooks and cliff-hangers leading from one episode to the next.  The first episode, for example.  The Quidditch World Cup is the meat of the episode, but there’s a hook for the next episode, something fun is going to happen at Hogwarts, and a cliff-hanger to end it, OMG, look at that Dark Mark up in the sky, does this mean Voldemort is coming back?  Rowling does this in all of her books and I think that’s what makes them so brilliant.  Episodic content is the anti-sag for the middle of books.

Another thing that has me worshiping at the altar of J.K. Rowling is that no chapter, no paragraph, no word, no detail is wasted.  She throws in hints and clues in every section of dialog, in every description of action and every detail.  But when you’re reading it through the first time you don’t even notice.  Take Rita Skeeter for example.  I didn’t pick up on any of the bug references scattered throughout the book the first time I read it until Hermione figures out the mystery at the end.  But when you read it the second time knowing what you know, it’s all there.  The craft involved in weaving such a tight story, nothing wasted but with the appearance of casual detail, is awesome in the truest sense of the word.  Not to mention that the titles are the shortest and most effective synopses I’ve ever seen.

It’s ironic to me that, from what I hear, this is Rowling’s least favorite book of the series.  I read somewhere that it annoys her because the publishers rushed her to get it out and she wasn’t able to make it everything she wanted it to be.  I can only imagine what it would have been if she had had the time to create everything she wanted to!  To my mind Goblet of Fire is a perfect transition between children’s book fantasy and dark coming-of-age tale.  They say that in a trilogy the second, middle book should be the darkest one.  Well folks, the darkness starts here.  Although personally I think that Order of the Phoenix is the darkest of the books … and my favorite one … aside from Deathly Hallows.  The overwhelming feeling as you read the last few pages of Goblet of Fire is “oh shit”.

What a great way to end a book and a book review!  Say what you want about YA, fantasy, or overly-hyped media extravaganzas, if you’re a Writer and you haven’t read the Harry Potter books yet you’re missing out on a brilliant example of craftsmanship.  And if you’re someone who enjoys a good story and you haven’t read the Harry Potter books yet you’re just missing out.  Don’t let the hype fool you!  These books have all that hype for a reason!

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Book REview

Tagged , , , ,

Book Review: The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.

Posted on August 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love men.  They are wonderful, fascinating, foreign creatures.  I don’t pretend to understand them for a moment.  To me their priorities seem all wrong, their sensibilities seriously underdeveloped at times, and their methods of going through everyday life highly questionable.  Yet as a writer I need to understand them at least to a certain extent in order to create realistic three-dimensional heroes for my stories.  What’s a girl to do?

Let me tell you, this book, The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. was a revelation.  Dr. Brizendine has decades of experience as a neuropsychiatrist.   At the same time she knows how to write and translate what she knows from the technical side of her profession to the common, curious lay reader like myself.  You’d think that books about neuropsychiatry would be dry and chocked full of fifty-cent words.  Not so!  The Male Brain and its predecessor The Female Brain (which I’ll get to in a moment) are as easy to read and understand as a novel.  This is probably why she was criticized for making neuropsychiatry into “pop-psychiatry” but the facts are the facts and just because something is accessible doesn’t mean it isn’t dead-on accurate.

In reading The Male Brain I learned things that I just had no clue about before.  Andy how would I?  I’m a woman.  Each of her books is organized by chapter, starting with pre-birth brain development and infant brain development, then moving through brain development at different stages of life, childhood, puberty, young adulthood, fatherhood, and old age.  She follows the same track for The Female Brain.  In each book you get a full sense of the instinctual impulses and chemical processes that create uniquely male or uniquely female thought.  And there are a LOT of things I didn’t know about how men think.

Did you know that girl babies will focus on people’s faces but boy babies are much more interested in moving objects?  Or that from early childhood boys’ play is designed to determine and maintain hierarchy within the group?  Or that when men play team sports their testosterone levels increase and the part of their brain that controls critical thinking and judgment skills actually turns off?  (which explains why the guys I score cricket matches for can turn into total douches during a game)

The Female Brain is just as vital a resource as The Male Brain.  Yes, I knew a lot of the stuff in this book already, but in reading about much of it I had an “Oh! That’s why I do that!” reaction.  I was fascinated by the discussion of how social networking and friends groups are essential to proper female brain development, how women suffer physically and chemically if they do NOT have girl group time, and how forming cliques (or clicks as some people call them) and deliberately excluding one or two girls is an evolutionary way of competing for mates.  Of course, I was the one who was excluded from those groups as an adolescent, BIG TIME, so it as doubly fascinating for me to read about all of the legitimate ways that damaged my brain’s growth in those years.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that all women should read The Male Brain to get a clearer understanding of the male creatures in their lives.  And all men should read The Female Brain to come to a similar understanding.  My best friend and I read The Female Brain at around the same time and were discussing it with my brother, and the look of sheer surprise on his face as we talked about things that were obvious to us that Dr. Brizendine had discussed cracked us both up.  He had no idea.  Now he does.  But I also think these books are important for writers to dive into because they can help you add depth to your characters.  It’s hard sometimes to write a character of the opposite sex and we need to have as much information as we can to go on.  The Male Brain was great for a single lady like me, but I can see how it would have a double benefit for my married writer friends.

Well, this turned out to be a big old informational post.  I’d love to hear what questions you all have about the opposite sex that have always perplexed you.  Why do they do that?  I bet Dr. Brizendine knows.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Book REview

Tagged , , , , ,

Book Review: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

Posted on August 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

I mentioned last week that I have three go-to favorite writers whose work I always enjoy thoroughly.  Elizabeth Boyle, whose It Take A Hero I reviewed last week is one of them.  Another is Elizabeth Hoyt.  Her second book, The Leopard Prince, is my favorite historical romance novel ever written and I have recommended it to friends and stranger so many times that Elizabeth might want to consider buying me a Big Mac.  I love that book!  I love that whole Prince series.

So it was with great expectations that I finally picked up Wicked Intentions after months of anticipation.  I began reading and cold fingers of dread began to sneak into my gut.  This book was dark.  Darker than her other works.  Really dark.  So dark that I squirmed a little bit as I read through the first few chapters.  I generally don’t like dark romance so I was deeply afraid that after reading and loving seven of Elizabeth’s novels I had finally found one I – gasp – didn’t like.  (cue horror music)

But then something happened.  Or rather something didn’t not happen.  I didn’t stop reading.  I didn’t toss the book aside with a sneer or a sigh like I have done with so many other romance novels that were a dime a dozen.  In fact, as uncomfortable as the mood of the story made me, I couldn’t put it down.  Because actually, it’s really, really good.

One of the reasons Elizabeth Hoyt sits comfortably in my top three favorite romance writers is because the characters she creates are vivid and captivating.  They pulse and breathe and have life.  And they are not perfect.  Far from it.  Lazarus, Lord Caire, the hero of Wicked Intentions, is, quite frankly, a douche when the book starts.  He views the heroine, Temperance, as his prey and his plaything.  But the unique set of troubles he buries under a mountain of douchiness, issues that come out during the course of the plot into the burning, healing light of day, make him more than just another cruel, wounded soul.  Temperance is also far from flat.  As I mentioned last week, I’m much more judgmental of heroines than I am of heroes because heroines are too often boring Mary Janes in bad writing.  Temperance has an inner demon that contradicts the face she puts forward to the world.  I love this contradiction.  I was a bit uncomfortable with it at first, but as her character arc unfolded I realized that not only was it fitting for the time period in which Elizabeth is writing, if something like that had happened to me I would probably react the same way.

Time period is another thing I love about Elizabeth’s books, this one especially.  It is set in Georgian England, much earlier than most typical romance novels.  1732 to be exact, I believe.  I love it when writers branch out and stick their feet into unusual waters like this.  Elizabeth captures this time period, old enough to be a foreign world, close enough to be recognizable, with deft skill.  And she doesn’t write exclusively about the aristocracy.  (A very well-known author once told me that studies show that if the word “Duke” is in the title of a romance it will sell better – to which I roll my eyes and hope for more stories about the common man)  This is a world that has teeth, that has sights, scents, and sounds.  All of them were captured brilliantly.

Perhaps the best part of Wicked Intentions is that it’s just the beginning of a series.  Elizabeth Hoyt knows how to work a series.  I read The Leopard Prince first when it is actually the second of a three book series.  It stood alone but also connected to the whole.  It didn’t matter that I read those books out of order.  I am glad I started reading this series in order because while I have faith in Elizabeth’s skill of being able to make each of her novels stand alone, the secondary characters introduced in Wicked Intentions are obviously going to get their own stories told.  I look forward to reading the next one, Notorious Pleasures, which I already have, and each of the rest as they come out.

So thank you, Elizabeth, for sucking me in to a dark world and not letting me wriggle free until the story plays itself out.  And for any writers out there who want to learn the subtle art of creating meaty characters in a non-traditional setting, Elizabeth Hoyt is a brilliant example of delicate craft expertly executed.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Book REview

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

It Takes a Hero, by Elizabeth Boyle – Book Review

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 2 Comments

There’s nothing better than finding an author who you really, really like.  One who’s writing hits the spot just perfectly and whose very name makes you want to clear your calendar to read.  I feel that way about three writers, Elizabeth Boyle foremost amongst them.  I’ve been working my way through her backlist this summer and I have to share a gem I discovered with you.

It Takes a Hero is part of a series about the Danvers family.  They’re all very exciting, swashbuckly men, of course.  There’s nothing like a hero who can buckle your swash!  Particularly if he is half Spanish, like Raphael Danvers.  I loved the way that Ms. Boyle created a hero who is both dashing and tough and at the same time a bit of a train-wreck.  There’s nothing like falling in a well to turn a girl on.  Ooo baby!

The book’s hero, Rebecca Tate, is even more of a treat.  I have a hard time with heroines, in my own writing and in far too many of the novels I read.  Yes, we all want a gutsy, independent-minded heroine, but I’ve read too many that just don’t sit right with me.  Rebecca is not one of those heroines.  What I like about her is that while she is feisty and clever, she has some looming personality flaws, such as greed.  I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but up until the end she pouts over having to do the right thing.  What a relief!  I would have done the same thing.  It’s a mark of Ms. Boyle’s  skill as a craftsman that she can create a heroine that really wants to do the wrong thing and still have her audience love them.

But what impressed me most about It Takes a Hero is something that I don’t know if the average non-writer reading it would pick up on.  It is incredibly tightly crafted.  The first three chapters especially blew me away with their technical prowess.  There is was, laid out in expertly subtle fashion: The hero and what he wants, the heroine and what she wants, why these two things are at odds with each other, and what had to be done, in theory, for each character to get what they needed.  Plus the external plot, pointed out, explained in brief, then tucked away for later until we explored the internal plot long enough to become deeply emotionally invested in the characters.  As a writer I was in awe.  We all know what we have to do in theory to write a good book and yet all too often I see these essential elements muddied and frustrating.  Or else over-simplified and cliché.

What Ms. Boyle (and gosh I feel odd calling her that and not just Elizabeth or Liz!) has done in her first three chapters is something I would encourage all romance writers and wannabes to take a look at.  The situation: Fashionable young ladies in town are refusing to marry in solidarity with their favorite novel character, Miss Darby, whose fiancé was killed in the latest book.  The solution: Rafe Danvers is sent to find the author and get her to stop writing.  As a reward he will be given an estate, the one thing he’s always wanted.  The problem: Rebecca can’t stop writing because her livelihood and that of her uncle depend on it for income.  The plot runs much deeper than that, but the fact that I can simplify it here into three sentences is, as anyone who’s ever had to write a synopsis knows, amazing.  Plus her supporting characters are a hoot!

So if you’re a writer, I recommend rushing out and reading this book as if it’s a technical manual on how to do it right.  If you’re a reader I encourage you to go grab this fabulous tale and prepare for hours of enjoyment, laughter, and thrills as you read it.  And to the incomparable Ms. Boyle, Elizabeth, thank you!

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Book REview

Tagged , , , ,